h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have this irrational fear that when I return a supermarket trolley into a stack of its colleagues and click the chain lock shut, that somehow the mechanism won't work properly and I won't get my pound coin back.

Strange but true...

um . . . get a life?


az

You have to pay a deposit to use a shopping trolley??

Yes. That's because in Europe people could actually get the idea of *walking* home from shopping, meaning that some might not leave the trolley at the parking space.
(And the trolley might not even be so big that it can't be *in* a car. )

Over here they just use barriers - either electronic or concrete - to prevent the trolleys being taken off store property.

And I can honestly say I don't think I've ever lived within walking distance of a store.

The UK is smaller.

I've got a plastic token I picked up in Spain - fits most trolleys where they still request a deposit. (Which is ALDI and ASDA near me)

It does happen occasionally, Deskers, but if you ask a member of staff they'll fetch the special key to release it. Failing that, they'll refund your pound from the till, then take your trolley away and attack it with allen keys, screwdrivers, hammers etc. until it gives up the coin.

Trolleys go missing with or without the £1 deposit. To be honest, a quid isn't much to pay if you want a handy little cart for your allotment, garden or business. Most are just dumped - I have personally recovered one from three miles away from the shop! In Dartmouth, however, a common fate was for the trolley to be dumped in the Boatfloat (the inner harbour). Occasionally we would have to retrieve them from the mud at low tide at council request, though they were rarely fit to be used again.

Hiya PF, long time no see. Good to see you back

Back in my youth when I worked in a supermarket, I would get occasional Sunday overtime going around town in a truck looking for wayward Sainsbury's shopping trolleys and bringing them back.

We used to pick up the Tesco's ones as well. But they would get dropped off of the top of the multistorey car park at the end of the shift. Of course this was in the days before town centre CCTV and Sunday opening, so you could get away with such things

Shame on you GD

Maybe it's not quite the same sort of thing, but I have had a truly horrible recurring nightmare in which I am forced to work in a call centre.

I had the sane nightmare Ormy. For the last six years even! Wait, it was no nightmare. I am glad it's over.

So you've got to pay a deposit to use a trolly in the grocer? Sounds completely foreign to me, but I can see it's utility. Around here shopping trollies are used for shopping and the odd random act of vandolisim (rolling them down a big hill in traffic (no I've not done that, but I've seen it done)).

My recurring irrational fear is CJD. Don't know why. Doesn't stop me eating rare steak and panicking every time I get a headache, mind you.

B

a deposit for using a supermarket cart is no inconvenience... unless you just don't have a 1 euro coin in pocket! of course most places have tokens which they will give you at the counter, often with a keychain to hold it in. good advertisement, though of course the token works everywhere. we use an auchan token, but shop at carrefour ...

my trolley paranoia is about taking a caddy from someone who's just unloaded it: the euro goes from hand to hand (quite a common practice saving both the walk to the trolley stand). i'm always afraid i'll give someone a real euro and get a token or a counterfeit coin in return. it's never happened, which seems statistically improbable... either humanity is more honest than given credit for, or supermarket parking lots have a special saintly effect on us.

lastly, once i did walk a trolley all the way home and used it to move house (just a block down the street...) of course i took it back

I did have another irrational fear about shopping trolleys and the pound coin deposit. And that was that the pound would drop out of the slot whilst I was wandering around the shop, and that I wouldn't notice.

What cured me of it was the day that the coin really did drop out. I went to customer services and said, "Me pound has dropped out!" and they said, "Oh dear, how terrible. Have this pound coin as a replacement."

Then they gave me a bit of advice that I should always give the pound coin a bit of yank each time I unlock a trolley just to check that it is safely in place.

Well I do that every time nowadays. And when I find a coin that falls out, I put it back in my pocket, and go tell customer services who give me a replacement.

I'm about three quid up to date

Was tempted to nick a trolley yesterday, as not quite everything would fit in my rucsac. Sanity prevailed however, and I went for the carrier bag option.

I once moved house using a shopping trolly, in the days before I owned quite so much junk. I took it back at the end of the move though, the new house was right next to the store.

I've helped someone move by bus before.

It's quite entertaining. The first person gets on the no.52 and says, "fifteen singles to Crookes please." Then we all troop on carrying suitcases and boxes and hi-fi stuff etc and generally fill the place right up

The terms of the deal usually involve the person being moved providing food and alcohol at the other end in appreciation of our efforts.

That's COOL.

There are advantages to living with a lorry driver, when it comes to moving.