Aldi shopper’s ‘annoying’ trolley problem

The customer had finished their shop and went to return their trolley – only to experience a situation that’s divided other shoppers.

An Aldi shopper has taken to Facebook to complain after leaving back their trolley in one of the supermarket’s carparks – only to discover there were no trolleys in the bays for him to redeem his coin back.

Unlike Coles and Woolies, all Aldi trolleys are coin-operated and require a gold coin or Aldi trolley token to be inserted into them to use.

To get your coin or token back, the trolley must be clipped into another trolley or chain which releases the coin.

Aldi says the coin operated trolleys reduce theft and save the supermarket money, however, one shopper said they also created a headache for them this week.

Taking to the Aldi Fans Australia Facebook page, the man said he had been shopping at Aldi’s Lake Haven store in NSW and had gone to the shopping centre’s downstairs carpark to unpack his groceries into his car.

Aldi says their coin-operated trolleys prevent them from being abandoned.

“Went to return my trolley like a good boy, but alas there is no chain with the release for the token, so have to return it back upstairs to Aldi,” he said in the since-deleted post.

“Just a pain because this particular Aldi is in a shopping complex.”

The man also said that when he complained to Aldi about the incident over email he received a response “saying thank you for your abandoned trolley report”, adding to his frustration.

“Really why do I bother,” he said.

The complaint got a mixed reaction from other shoppers, one of whom suggested he tell a store manager next time.

Some who empathised with the man, said they too had experienced a similar situation and it was “annoying”.

“If you went back into the store (I know a pain) but they would have given you a token or coin,” one shopper suggested. “I’ve done that before.”

“I’ve had two issues and the store has gladly reissued me with a token free of charge,” one wrote.

“This happens at a lot of shopping centres,” another said.

Others said they too had experienced a similar situation to the shopper. Picture: Aldi Fans Australia/Facebook

“Either the chain is missing at the designated Aldi trolley return or it is blocked with trolleys from other shops like Coles, Woolworths, etc. People don’t think.”

Unlike its competitors Coles and Woolworths, Aldi has used trolley tokens since it arrived in Australia in 2001.

While the decision to have trolley tokens might annoy some shoppers, according to Aldi it’s one of the reasons they can keep their prices cheap.

“On the rare occasion there are no trolleys in the return bay we encourage customers to return their trolley to the store where they will be able to retrieve their gold coin or token,” an Aldi spokesperson told news.com.au.

“Aldi uses the trolley token system as a key preventative measure against trolleys being dumped in backstreets, waterways and public areas.

As a result, we find almost all of our trolleys are returned to our stores. By incentivising customers to return their own trolleys, we save money on trolley retrieval services and pass those savings on to customers in the form of our low prices. It’s part of our Good Different operating model.”