HeerlijkeDropAs a European it feels so surreal reading the stories of Americans not returning the shopping carts
ApyteleWhen I first bought one of those multitool hairclips it mentioned it could be used as a trolley coin and I had to look that up. I discovered that in a lot of European countries it’s customary for carts to be locked together with a lock that takes a coin to unlock then returns the coin if you correctly return and nest the cart. Now, it does take a decently curated social milieu to design systems that promote prosocial behavior. That said, that particular prosocial behavior not only had to be mechanically encouraged, but has also led to the development of something called a “trolley coin” to circumvent the mechanism for people who are diametrically opposed to that prosocial behavior.
In Norway, the trolley coined gained popularity as society went mostly cashless, yet the trolleys demanded their token. An earlier factor was that it was annoying to make sure you always had a coin of the correct denomination (physical size). Trolley coins can be part of your keychain, or won’t be accidentally used to buy a newspaper before going to the grocery store.
Most people still return the trolley and slide it in, like civilized humans should