Shopping trolleys are being stolen on a massive scale, costing supermarkets a lot of money. Some are imposing new rules on customers.
Having a trolley at hand before going shopping at the supermarket is practical and has become the norm for all consumers. But some supermarkets are somewhat going back on these trolleys provided. If customers only had to insert a one euro coin or a token to retrieve it, the rules will change for some of them.
The reason? Large retailers want to combat the theft of shopping trolleys, which are often found abandoned on public roads.These carts serve as barbecues or children play with them and break them.“, declared Laurine Dauget, director of the Auchan Val-de-Reuil supermarket in Eure, to France Bleu Normandie. Especially since they represent a significant cost for stores: it costs between 80 euros and 130 euros and many of them need to be replaced.”We bought 600 carts last year and I don’t have any left. I had 150 brought back from another store earlier this year and I don’t have any left again.” explained the director who decided to implement a new, unusual measure.
From now on, customers who want to take a trolley to do their shopping must go to the supermarket reception to leave their ID and come back to collect their trolley. Other municipalities have also chosen to tighten the rules to put an end to these thefts.
This time, a fine system is being implemented, as in Guyancourt, in the Yvelines. For two years now, a municipal decree has considered that abandoning a trolley in the streets constitutes an offence in the same way as illegal dumping of waste, punishing this act with a fine of 135 euros. In Montigny-lès-Cormeilles, customers risk a fine of 38 euros if they do not put the trolley back in its place. Finally, since last May, the city of Pontoise has introduced a new restrictive rule against supermarkets, which will have to pay 30 euros for each trolley found wandering in the streets of the city.