They are everywhere ! Littering parks or standing abandoned in suburban streets. Every " Cleanup Australia " day dozens of shopping trolleys emblazoned with the logo of their supermarket of origin are pulled out of creeks or dragged out of bushland.
The sad thing is that this scourge came as part of the grocery revolution. The grocery stores pre the introduction of supermarkets packed and delivered their customers orders. When the " self serve " ethic arrived, trolleys were necessary to allow customers to drag their selection to the checkout - and from there to wherever their car was parked. There were no restrictions on what happened when that trolley left the store.
Each shopping trolley represents an investment of many hundreds of dollars for the issueing supermarket - and you can be sure that the loss incurred when trolleys are not returned is factored into the price of those items you buy.
Councils have imposed fines on uncollected shopping trolleys and now there are moves to have them crushed as a financial punishment. All that is required to banish this problem - is a simple law change !
Have you noticed that of all the branded shopping trolleys laying abandoned in city streets, those with the Aldi logo are not to be seen ?
The difference is that Aldi customers are required to insert a two dollar coin into the security slot to have the use of an Aldi trolley - and they get that coin back when they return the trolley.
We humans are very predictable. If something is free - we abuse that priviledge. Put a small charge on that same service, and our way of thinking and acting - changes entirely !
If we want to free our streets and parks of abandoned shopping trolleys we need a law change to make all stores that provide shopping trolleys introduce this " coin hire " inducement.
Curbing the loss from trolley replacement may even deliver a small price reduction in the weekly grocery bill !
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