Quote by Meggsy
Most of the Supermarkets here have a coin deposit to obtain (unhook) the trolley. In order to regain your deposit ($1 or $2), you need to return the trolley to the trolley return bays in car parks. There are very few abandoned trolleys as a result. If somebody leaves one you can be sure somebody else will return it to get the coin back.
At the moment most people use the trolley as a social distance tool to keep the imposed COVID distance.
Quote by Beffer
An even better test would be whether someone pushes a shopping cart that someone else has left out in the far reaches of the parking lot back to the corral, or even back into the store when that someone first arrives and parks her car. Yep... that's me!
Quote by seeker4
That works up to a point. There are problems with those system in my experience and they are "hackable", being simple mechanical locks with the coin as the "key". So someone really determined to be lazy can find a way.
Also, around here, my regular grocery store has stopped using them during COVID. One less touch point between patrons.
I have an thought of an option that I don't think has been noted here. Often the carts left at the disabled labeled parking spots are left there both as many of the handicapped users get in the car and leave not being able to return the cart and then walk unassisted back to their car, and also for the next user to have ready access to the cart to hang on to. In other words, the carts act as substitute canes/sticks or walkers.