Shopping Cart Theory - Agree or Disagree?

[George K]

Which grocery chain uses a mechanism whereby you put a "deposit" in a coin slot to pull a cart. If you want your $$ back, you have to return the cart.

Is it Aldi?

[bachophile]

Most supermarkets here require a five shekel coin deposit (a little over a dollar) to free the cart and return it. No carts lying around the parking lot. Problem solved.

[89th]

Yeah it's Aldi. It's funny how it works... you spend $50 there but you're worried about a 25 cent coin? LOL

[Mik]

Bigg's used to do that too. It works at Aldi because they are generally smaller stores with smaller parking lots.

We are very good about returning carts IF the store has cart corrals. If not, it can be pot luck depending on how far away we park. The store has to do their part.

[Axtremus]

@89th said in Shopping Cart Theory - Agree or Disagree?:

Yeah it's Aldi. It's funny how it works... you spend $50 there but you're worried about a 25 cent coin? LOL

That's psychology behavioral economics.

[blondie]

Ive always returned my cart, and would use the corrals if available. But ever since @jodi worked at Costco, I return my cart directly to the store. I think of her every time I see an employee pushing a line of carts.

[jodi]

@blondie just saw this. I think doing carts might have been the second time I almost cried at Costco! (The first was my first day in the bakery, lol). My daughter also worked at Costco for a year or two. She liked cart duty, she much preferred it to dealing with difficult customers boxing in checkout!

[blondie]

My happiest jobs were my soloist jobs! I’d prefer pushing carts to deboning chicken or cleaning bathrooms in a nursing home. Those 2 ranked high on my yuckiest jobs done to date list.

[Renauda]

@bachophile said in Shopping Cart Theory - Agree or Disagree?:

Most supermarkets here require a five shekel coin deposit (a little over a dollar) to free the cart and return it. No carts lying around the parking lot. Problem solved.

That’s how it works here as well.

[jon-nyc]

It’s common in Germany which is probably why Aldi does it here.

[Mik]

Works really well. First place I saw it was Bigg's, a French company. They had cart corrals with the gear to get your quarter back. I resented it at first but came to appreciate it.

[jon-nyc]

Video checks out. Maybe a pass for the very frail and elderly.

[George K]