Woolies responds after dumped trolley photo sparks debate online

Woolworths has spoken out about a “lazy” act many shoppers are guilty of – labelling it a “nuisance” that costs the retailer millions.

Woolworths has weighed in on a fierce debate over who should bear the responsibility of cleaning up dumped supermarket trolleys.

Conversation on the topic began when a Facebook user who lives in the Whitsundays, North Queensland, took to the social media platform to level his frustration at the supermarket giant.

Dumped and disguarded trolleys are an issue that face all supermarkets in Australia, including Aldi and Coles – but the commenter took issue with Woolworths, asking when the supermarket was going to take responsibility for rogue trolleysthat were “littering” his town and nearby Port of Airlie.

“Go to any city and they have geo-locks on them, which means the wheels lock up as soon as they pass an imaginary line, meaning people can’t remove them from outside the supermarket’s determined area. Please, someone do something,” he pleaded.

People have blamed the supermarket and tourists. Picture: Facebook/Whitsundays Chat

Trolleys have been left in the marina. Picture: Facebook/Whitsundays Chat

Images alongside his post showed seven trolleys dumped along roads, with some even pushed into the marina’s waterline.

Other commenters revealed they had seen the same thing and were equally frustrated – but everyone was split on who to blame and where the responsibility lay with collecting the trolleys.

Many agreed with the man, with some blaming the issue on staffing cuts.

One person said: “Woolworths Airlie doesn’t have a designated trolley person anymore, staff have to do it during their shift.”

Woolworths has responded to the outburst. Picture: Facebook/Whitsundays Chat

Another added: “Should put magnetic locks outside Woolworths like they’ve got in Alice Springs.”

One man blamed tourists, Woolies and the council in one sweeping comment.

“Councils should have an ordinance inspector to collect trolleys and fine Woolworths. Also it’s not the locals, it’s the grubby boaties and lazy tourists, who have no respect for the local community and environment,” he wrote.

“Wake up Whitsunday council do something out of the ordinary.

“Note: Those trolleys in port of Airlie have been their for the last 18 months, now that’s POA responsibility to maintain that marina.”

The Whitsundays community has grown frustrated over dumped Woolies trolleys. Picture: Facebook/Whitsundays Chat

However, the majority of those who weighed in said the problem rested with the people making use of the trolleys.

“Terribly lazy of people not to return the trolleys,” one user commented on the thread.

“Maybe the marina could have a trolley bay area for those boaties that don’t have cars to drop their trolleys off? Then at least all those trolleys are easier for Woolies staff to collect.”

Another said: “Why can’t people be responsible for their own actions? Woolies doesn’t make them take them out.

“They use them to take their luggage to transit centre sometime a dozen there. They take them to the cab rank and leave them there. Woolies didn’t do it. Individuals did.”

One person added: “What’s woolies to do? Put all their trolleys on a leash? When will humans beings stop being lazy, vandalising and destructive is my question?”

The original post conceded that people were the problem but argued Woolworths still had the responsibility of collecting and tidying the trolleys.

One man blamed council, tourists and the supermarket. Picture: Facebook/Whitsundays Chat

Woolworths has since responded to the outrage from customers revealing it is a huge problem.

“Trolleys are provided for the convenience of our customers and the vast majority do the right thing in returning them,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“We understand abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that’s why we invest millions in collection services to help mitigate their impact in the community.

“We work closely with dedicated collection contractors who respond quickly to reports of abandoned trolleys to return them to our stores. They also conduct regular sweeps for abandoned trolleys in the streets surrounding our stores.

“These efforts not only help preserve local amenity, but also ensure we have enough trolleys available for our customers in our stores.”

News.com.au understands that Woolworths partners with Trolley Tracker, which is a service that allows members of the public to report abandoned trolleys via a free phone call (1800 641 497) or online so trolleys can be removed from the area in a timely fashion.

It comes after an image posted in April by columnist Samantha X of a Coles trolley dumped in the middle of a parking spot in an underground car park.

“The world is divided into. people who dump their trolleys like this. And the rest of us,” Samantha X captioned the post.

A Coles spokesperson said at the time they understood abandoned trolleys were a nuisance and did it’s best to remove them.

A poll conducted by news.com.au following that incident showed the majority of people did return their trolley.