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Random Thoughts...or...What's on Your Mind?

So, I'm asking out of curiosity, but how common are coin-based cart systems in everybody's part of the world? Basically, you unlock grocery store carts with a coin or token in order to be able to retrieve them and get them back after you return the cart. I know the system is popular in Europe, and Aldi brought the system to the U.S for its stores, but it hasn't caught on beyond that, from what I hear. Meanwhile, in Canada, I think this is very commonly used for most grocery store chains across the Country. In my part of the city before this system was implemented, stores would often get their carts stolen, or more like shoppers walking them home and not taking them back and then dumping them in ditches. At one time our ditch would get several each summer and from what I hear carts aren't cheap!
 
So, I'm asking out of curiosity, but how common are coin-based cart systems in everybody's part of the world? Basically, you unlock grocery store carts with a coin or token in order to be able to retrieve them and get them back after you return the cart. I know the system is popular in Europe, and Aldi brought the system to the U.S for its stores, but it hasn't caught on beyond that, from what I hear. Meanwhile, in Canada, I think this is very commonly used for most grocery store chains across the Country. In my part of the city before this system was implemented, stores would often get their carts stolen, or more like shoppers walking them home and not taking them back and then dumping them in ditches. At one time our ditch would get several each summer and from what I hear carts aren't cheap!

Over here places like Aldi have them and that seems to be the only place. Kmart tried it a while back in selected stores but it didn't work out for them so they brought back regular shopping trolleys.

We call them shopping trolleys in Australia and the UK
 
Meanwhile, in Canada, I think this is very commonly used for most grocery store chains across the Country.

I have to admit, I'm not really a fan, because I very seldom have actual physical money on me. Fortunately, a kind stranger once gave me a token that fits the carts one time when I was struggling without a cart. Now I just carry that with me wherever I go and I'm set. :)

I've seen this system at both No Frills and Walmart. I don't go to Metro all that often because of the prices, but last time I was there (December), they just had regular non-coin carts. I used to sometimes go to RCSS, and they didn't have coin carts at the time, but it's honestly been quite a while, so they might have changed. I don't know about Sobey's, because the closest one to me is too far away to bother with.
 
^Yeah, little known fact is that most locations that use that system, you can ask for or buy a token to use in place of a coin, that you can then put onto a keychain. They're usually pretty good about it. I feel like it's cut down a lot on the shopping cart dumping.
 
Bit of a random question here but has anyone heard of images like .bmp files or such that when you open the image to look at it you get sound effects as well, with the sound embedded into the image?

The only example I can think of was an old Babylon 5 CD rom that I had many, many moons ago that had a photo gallery and each image had a unique sound or sounds when you opened them.
 
So, I'm asking out of curiosity, but how common are coin-based cart systems in everybody's part of the world? Basically, you unlock grocery store carts with a coin or token in order to be able to retrieve them and get them back after you return the cart. I know the system is popular in Europe, and Aldi brought the system to the U.S for its stores, but it hasn't caught on beyond that, from what I hear. Meanwhile, in Canada, I think this is very commonly used for most grocery store chains across the Country. In my part of the city before this system was implemented, stores would often get their carts stolen, or more like shoppers walking them home and not taking them back and then dumping them in ditches. At one time our ditch would get several each summer and from what I hear carts aren't cheap!
I saw one for the first time A few weeks ago in China, though it wasn't in use, the cart rolled just fine without using it. My fiance (European) had to explain what it was to me as I had never seen such a thing. I guess It just isn't viable in a society where only the elderly use cash.
 
Over here places like Aldi have them and that seems to be the only place. Kmart tried it a while back in selected stores but it didn't work out for them so they brought back regular shopping trolleys.

We call them shopping trolleys in Australia and the UK
UK for me and it varies store by store, even with the same brand.
I think most of the Aldi stores do, but tesco, it depends on which town you're in. The ones that don't have the pound/token chain locks in theory have a range lock on the wheel (Effectiveness varies :D )

What I find slightly more unusual is where the trolleys aren't metal as until recently, that's been the usual for me. Overseas, I've tended to see more plastic ones - though all of those didn't have a coin slot.
 
Trader Joe's uses plastic carts.
Fred Meyer uses metal, and Safeway uses a mixture of both metal and plastic carts.
It varies by location.
I posted on my Facebook page the other day that the local Fred Meyer that I shop at, has added security checkpoints to their location.
You can only enter in one door and go out the other, you can't go out the way you came in, and you have to pass through a security gate with a guard watching.
They've also added locks to the carts.
If you try and take a cart out without having paid for your merchandise, an alarm sounds, and the wheels lock up.
 
So, I'm asking out of curiosity, but how common are coin-based cart systems in everybody's part of the world? Basically, you unlock grocery store carts with a coin or token in order to be able to retrieve them and get them back after you return the cart. I know the system is popular in Europe, and Aldi brought the system to the U.S for its stores, but it hasn't caught on beyond that, from what I hear. Meanwhile, in Canada, I think this is very commonly used for most grocery store chains across the Country. In my part of the city before this system was implemented, stores would often get their carts stolen, or more like shoppers walking them home and not taking them back and then dumping them in ditches. At one time our ditch would get several each summer and from what I hear carts aren't cheap

Some of our Aldi stores have them, and the LuLu stores in the UAE had them when I was teaching there…


^Trolley is such a cute word, I find :D


❤️😜😁
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