Clever gadget for supermarket trolleys

Every supermarket in France, as far as I can tell, gives tokens freely - they are usually in a bowl on the counter. They come out of the trolley just as if they were a €1 coin. I haven't seem many trolleys being misused in France, even though it would be just as easy to steal them as it is in England.

In our Waitrose there is a sign telling us that if we take a trolley out of the surrounding area, it will lock. I don't know anyone who has tried this as my friends are a law-abiding lot, but I presume it's a deterrent to those who would dump trolleys in the local lake. So no need for coins or tokens here.

A clever gadget for a supermarket trolley would be one that enabled it to automatically take itself to the repair bay when the wheels stopped steering straight.

I have just googled Nolen

Apparently they are a sanitary ware manufacturer

Noken

These have been available for years haven't they? One of our local supermarkets provided little plastic wheelie baskets as well as the usual type. One day I noticed most of them had gone. Upon enquiry I was told that OAPs stole them as they make great laundry baskets.

How did they know it was OAPs? If they saw them wheeling them away they should have gone after them to bring them back.

It is not only OAPs who put their washing into plastic baskets to take it to hang up.

My local Waitrose must think that the local punters are a law abiding lot because the trolleys are free. Some are dumped around the car park but not by many as most folk return them. At every other supermarket and also eg Homebase a £1 coin is required.

Last week every trolley was replaced and I am enjoying the new experience of not struggling with trolleys.

ninathenana I saw that too but it seems to be a completely different company. The difference in the email address is an s: www.nokens.com.

They have been around for years and are usually on sale for charities, ie you pay £1.00 to the charity and get the keyring with a metal token with their logo on it. I have a CHAS one - Children's Hospice Association. Are charity ones only around in Scotland?

I don't understand this. I thought the idea of the £1 coin 'deposit' was to make sure you'd return the trolley to the trolley park afterwards.

I don't get it either. Defeats the object of the pound thing.

My local supermarket in France gives out free plastic jetons that you use in the trolleys instead of euros. They also work in other shops.

I find the advantage of them is that you do not accidentally spend jetons. I always find that when I need a £ or eoro coin to put in a trolley mechanism I do not have any.

I appreciate the point about charging £1 to ensure that trolleys are brought back, but for me there are practical considerations. a) I don't have to rememebr to have a £1 coin handy b) I have previously forgotten to take my token/£1 out of the trolley when I've finished shopping, and most importantly c) I have arthritic fingers and it is hard to get the coin/token out. This noken is about 2" long and narrow so I can get a good grip on it.wisewoman it is not the sort of token you get in charity shops etc, it is more anchor shaped.

Oh I haven't seen those grandimars Sounds like a good idea. The charity ones just mean you don't need to worry about having a pound coin in your purse as you always have a token on your keyring. You do remember to take it back so you can use it again so it serves the purpose - if you know what I mean.

Yes, I used to use one but once didn't remember to take it out after I'd unlocked the trolley and extracted my bags. With this one, you insert it, unlock and remove so it never leaves your hand.

Grandimars thank you! Sounds like a very good idea. Our local Waitrose has recently gone over to coin-in-the-slot trolleys and dished out tokens to everyone. Problem: the tokens have beveled edges and are almost impossible to remove without tweezers, especially if you have arthritis.

Just found them on e-bay £1 + £1.50 p&p

Tim Dowling in The Guardian is embarrassed to use his "trolley token" - can't say it bothers my husband.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/01/tim-dowling-shopping-trolley-coin

Eleothan my DH and I have one each. I really don't see how they are gender related as reporter seems to think.

This sounds like a great little gadget that my poor fingers have been waiting for! Have just visited the web site and bought one via Paypal - at least I hope I have bought one as it is a very confusing purchasing system (not the Paypal bit) I must be more stupid than all the other grans on here.

I really wish I understood how these are better than a real one pound coin. If you forgot to take it out it would cost you £2.50 to replace it. A real pound coin would cost you, well... £1.

Please someone, let me in on this. (probably being really thick)

We have so many different shops around our Arnison centre,some of whose trolleys require £1 coin some free. Many people just abandon their trolleys and late one evening I calculated that if I could be bothered I could have made around £10 just re homing the trolleys. A bit like taking pop bottles back as a child. DH was quite taken with the idea.

If kids could get something for returning empty bottles and cans there might not be as many of them lying around.

Arthritic fingers must find that gadget easier to extract than £1 coins.