The ALDI Cart 'N' Quarter Swap

[liamy1]

We can't do that anymore,

As mentioned upthread, we have had coin carts in UK for about 20 years now - in nearly all supermarket chains.

It's got such to the stage now where most people have "poundsavers" (a metal disc, the shape/weight of our £1 coin, which is the coin the we use in the carts (or should I say Trolleys))

So you never know who has actual £1's and who has poundsavers.

But yes, at one time, this was standard parking lot (or carpark lol) etiquette.

Mind you, the UK is changing their £1 coin next year, so the existing pound savers will be useless. And I can't see them not changing the coin slots on the trolleys, as the original £1 will be out of circulation.

Just thinking, this may explain why some supermarkets (namely Morrisons at the moment) are doing away with coins on theirs.

 

[liamy1]

Lidl vs Aldi

Over here, I tend to find they're pretty much on equal footing.

However, the newer Lidl stores are actually really trendy (even being compared to Waitrose (which is considered the ultimate high end supermarket).

One thing I have notice with Lidl's is they tend to sell a lot more mainstream brands along side their own brands, Aldi tend to focus more on their own brands, with a small selection of the popular selling brands.

I have linked an article discussing the new type Lidl stores, sorry for the newspaper it is from (UK folks will know that no self respecting person reads the Daily Fail).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arket-rival-bid-attract-wealthy-shoppers.html

 

[mrboilwash]

Don`t remember exactly for how long we`ve had those coin lock carts here. Might be way beyond 20 years. However it doesn`t keep some individuals in poorer neighborhoods from accumulating carts on the sidewalk.
"Costs" just one Euro, so it`s no more expensive than a reusable bag and it has useful wheels.

 

[rapunzel]

Cart or Trolley

In New Zealand they call them trundlers and if you have 6 you'd call them sex trundlers.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

ALDI's, not Un-dies! Prefer no "s"/apostrophe-&#

Sometimes if I'm in a generous mood I do pass my cart to another shopper, which I think of being a good way of "paying it forward", and often I get a free-pass if someone does that gesture towards me, though most-often it's a parent with hands full is prone to leaving his/her cart in the lot after loading
Kids, groceries, etc. into the family vehicle, in a hurry to leave, afterward...

Surprised how mine is the best place to get refrigerated biscuits that come in the "explosive tube", gallon jugs of milk and even REAL maple syrup!

-- Dave

 

[earthling177]

About 20 years ago, around this area, BJ's had carts with the coin return thing.

I don't know what it says about this area, but it worked for, I dunno, maybe a year?

Then people started going "screw it, it's just a quarter!" and leaving carts all over the place, and they removed the locks from the carts. My impression is that actually more people return the carts to the corrals now that they don't have to pay to use the carts and there are plenty (at least 6 or so) corrals at the stores distributed throughout the parking lots, and you don't have to walk that much to return the carts.

A similar thing happened a few years ago, when childcare facilities started charging 20 bucks each time parents were late picking up their kids and found out that parents will, in fact, *happily* pay the 20 extra bucks to be able to pick up their kids late, particularly given traffic at that time of day, so they had to stop charging and being more strict about the policy of "you pick your kid on time or else", and given that I am not a parent I'm not sure if they send the kids to the child-protective services or what, but I'm told compliance improved.

 

[rapunzel]

In less affluent suburbs carts are left standing around anywhere. Usually they end up clumped together curbside in front of apartment buildings, as people walk to their local supermarket and then cart their shopping home.

There are cart collection bays in the shopping center car parks and the center management employs people to collect the carts. They drive around on small tractors with a specially modified trailer that carries dozens or even hundreds of trolleys. It pays to keep an eye out for these as they are merciless speed freaks, ready to scare the crap out of unsuspecting shoppers.[this post was last edited: 5/20/2016-01:17]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Ha, ha! I collect carts at the store I work at... We use a machine we walk behind and when moving carts with it that attach to the front of it... Often by the HUNDREDS!

So in order to get these buggies out of the parking lot and in the store, just for droves of them to be put back out, we ourselves go at blindingly fast speeds, and believe me, we NEED right-of-way to shoppers, fellow-workers, pedestrians, vehicles--you name it!--'cause this is hard to stop on a dime, and to me, the slightest second to allow a car to back out of a parking spot, which is the only thing I give right-of-way to, cuts production time--I just got too much adrenalin going and too little patience to stand around for--no, no, you gotta think of me as a server at a restaurant trying to get stacks of plates of food to ten parties of hungry patrons waiting for their meals they are paying (and probably going to be tipping) dearly for, that I better not drop a crumb of... So have that kind of mercy on us Lot Asscociates, then, too...

-- Dave

 

[rapunzel]

The cart collectors take their vehicles on public roads as well. They scour neighborhoods for stray trolleys; not only the shopping center car parks. The tractors and trailers are registered with number plates. I approach the trolley collectors with caution and fear. It's the only way to survive them. Here they hire Indians and Pakistanis to do this kind of work. Apparently they are used to dodging all kinds of road obstacles in their own countries and are highly adept at weaving in and out of tight situations. If you make them angry they yell at you in their own language.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Off-topic Detour:

Ani metaber katan Ivrit... (I speak a little Hebrew!)

 

I'm studying and trying to learn my in-law's language or native tongue--and what I'd wished I'd learned in Sunday School forty-years-ago, that my daughter knows a little of from her grandparents & from her other mother's relatives, as well as going to Sunday School, herself...  --And to think if I'd hung out w/ 'em, for ten-years, marrying into their clan, I would be bilingual by now...

 

With all the foreigners we have here and the "Speak English or Leave!" attitude we have, I figured I better have a sort of 'answer language' to all the non-English speakers we have--and a tongue meant to be SHOUTED, rather than spoken softly, at that... Just need to learn colors and numbers, and have confidence in counting...

 

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 5/20/2016-07:27]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

"You're under my cloud", he said--Get off mine!

Well, here is where the renting or hiring a cart for a quarter DIDN'T work for me:

 

A gentleman gave me his cart for me to shop with, but wanted the quarter for it, which I gave him (although why couldn't he be like this lady who let me keep the quarter--as I seemed to have mostly saved her the trouble of giving it back) and me only going into my corner Aldi grocery store was only going in just for a couple jugs of milk that I would've just carried in each hand--though with me being the impulse shopper that I am, would'a probably just filled that cart right up! (Even though I had to quickly stock up on milk & be out of there ASAP...)

 

Anyway, little did I know that quarter stuck in the cart had to be used to pay for my purchase...  The check-out gal would not let me hitch the cart up to one she had at her register... Or let me keep my cart up there until somehow the quarter I was giving her would get to her... (I wanted to carry the jugs of milk without the use of a cart... --After all, I didn't even need them to go in a bag or bags...)

 

But, she made me run the cart out side, retrieve the quarter that was in it & give it to her after she'd begun ringing up the next orders, and my milk sat on an adjacent counter--and I didn't even get a receipt... The drawer randomly open at the moment, she'd impersonally took the owed money from me & threw it there...

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 1/27/2017-09:55]

 

[rapunzel]

To my utter shock and amazement Costco, of all places, introduced chained-up carts. Now, most people here don't use coins much and I've been caught out twice without an appropriate coin to release the cart. I had to go all the way up to their service counter (three flights and the elevators always take ages), to get small change. I was more than mildly annoyed and even played with thought of NOT shopping at Costco (god forbid). Apparently the local council had a lot of complaints about those huge Costco carts being left standing about in their neighborhood and they can cause some serious damage to passing cars. So they forced Costco to chain them up and there is no other store nearby from whence to source alternative carts - they'd be too small and the Costco door bitch probably wouldn't let me in with an alien cart anyway.

They should have a card tapping facility on them or something. One hardly sees people paying in cash and who still carries coins? Tapping and swiping are the norm not cash. That is how I pay for stuff 99% of the time - tap'n'go. Coins are annoying and they damage one's wallet.[this post was last edited: 1/27/2017-20:13]

 

[yogitunes]

if a quarter saves a bit of money at the register, I am all for it.....

I am also in favor of shopping carts returned to the front of the store....versus some jackass slamming a cart into the side of my car....

oddly enough, for visiting numerous ALDI's in the tri-state area......and don't know where they find them, but they have some of the most upbeat, friendliest cashiers around....

plus they can ring merchandise through those scanning registers like no ones business...

unlike any location of WalMart, those cashiers don't know the word speed, you could grow a beard standing in line....and that's the Express Lane!

 

[gyrafoam]

One of the first Aldi stores around Atlanta opened in the suburb of Fayetteville back in '96.
I've been shopping at Aldis stores ever since.
I have never had a problem with a cart and over the years have passed off carts and quarters many times.
Martin, it's the same story here, the cashiers at Aldis are friendly and fast.
I have found the quality level of their products to be high. Their store "brand names " are certainly different, so don't look for familiar brands.
I understand they are owned or share the same parent company as Trader Joes another of my favorite places to shop, although there isn't one here in Roanoke, there is an Aldis.
We only have a Sams, nearest Costco about an hour away.
Given the choice if there were a Costco here I would never step foot in Sams again except for the Pharmacy and maybe fuel.

 

[joeekaitis]

Time to settle this once and for all:

You're welcome.

 

[gyrafoam]

Ok, so all that information and no explanation of the difference between the two Aldis?

BTW Happy Birthday!

 

[michaelman2]

Yogi/Martin....Everything you said, cubed!   I love Aldi and always have a good experience when I go to one.  Walmart, I dread going and really since I have been single for a good while, have not gone to a Walmart for anything in quite a while.

 

I laughed out loud about "growing a beard" in a Walmart "quick lane"....there is nothing "quick" about a Walmart, well maybe they are "quick" with bad attitude when you ask for assistance with something....

 

I assume the usual poor service and attitude comes from the "top"...likewise the decent conditions and attitude at Aldi come from decent management as well.

 

[yogitunes]

one fun thing of ALDI.....

there may be school kids out front, offering to push your cart, help load your groceries in to the car, and return your cart......in exchange for the quarter, as a way of fund raising for their school activities.....

I will even offer a dollar or more...at least they make an effort to offer some sort of service!

UNLIKE WalMart.....where you have 6 or 7 little kiddies standing at the exit doors, texting on their phone with one hand, and a tin can in the other...BEGGING for money for their school functions.....CHECK THAT, shoving that can in your face, expecting money....

my thoughts: what sets that from panhandling?

well, I do understand why some animals eat their young, or at least swallowed while they had the chance!

 

[joeekaitis]

See if I'm not right . . .

Go to Yelp, read ALDI reviews and note how many environmentally enlightened Millennials (who drive to ALDI in mommy's gas-guzzling Fordillac Escascursion) piss 'n' moan the loudest about bringing your own shopping bags and the whole quarter-in-the-cart thing, as opposed to us planet-bashing Baby Boomers who happily load the Subaru with our reusable grocery bags brimming with ALDI comestibles.

 

[brucelucenta]

Aldi is one of the best places to get quality groceries for a cut rate price. I personally think that the quarter to use the cart and then get it back when you put it back is a stroke of genius on someone's part! It give them the ability to hire less staff and be able to keep prices lower. They may not have much selection, but what they have is quite good. I shop there whenever I can. I have never had to bring my own bags, since there are always boxes that are almost empty I can pick up along the way. It is somewhat like shopping at Sam's or Costco.