this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Over here in Germany using a shopping cart "costs" between 50 Cents and 2 €. You have to put a coin in them to release the chain by which they are attached to eachother. Of course when you return the cart and close the lock you get your coin back.

Little metal plates without monetary value but still the right size are common marketing gifts by companies and organizations yet they still provide mostly the same unconscious effect of "I want my coin back".

Of course there are also people who use little gadgets to unlock the carts without putting anything in but I wouldnt know about such things...

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's one of the things Aldi brought with them when they came over to the US. I've always thought it was a pretty cool idea, though as inflation keeps going the 25-cent lock-in becomes less and less of a motivator. Maybe a good reminder, though.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

With how rarely I use cash I need my quarter back so I can use it to get a cart next time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Good point. It's really just a cheap key you have to have with you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

It is. In Germany it's pretty common to have little plastic Keychains or coins to use instead of money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

It can cost much less than 50 cents

0.5 RON can be used, which are about 10 cents. You can also use fake plastic coins

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's a thing in the UK as well

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Slovenija too. It's probably a thing in a large part of Europe.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Putting a quarter into a cart is a thing in Canada but it's only ever at the low income grocery stores. The ritzier stores use a locking mechanism to lock the wheels if they leave the parking lot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Didn't someone make an audio file that can lock/unlock them at will?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I can't find it now, but it was for some defcon thing 2 or so years ago.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

We have these at airports in the US for luggage carts - though they don’t return any of your money if you bring the cart back they l’ve seen, so it doesn’t do much to modify behavior.