As C and I get accustomed to our new home in CU Land, we're constantly noticing things that are different here than in the states. Most of these differences are not necessarily positive in our minds. For example, we cannot buy any sort of alcohol in the grocery store. Further, we can't buy beer and wine at the same store, which means we have to make two additional stops should we want both. The likelihood of us wanting to buy both, however, isn't very great considering beer is twice what it costs in the States. Wine, thankfully, is more reasonable, as is liquor. In fact, rather than buy beer last week, C actually purchased a liter of vodka last week because it was $10 cheaper than a 12-pack of any beer he was interested in.
We have found one custom that we think is absolutely brilliant and think it should be adopted in the States immediately. Let me give you a bit of background first.
Last week, in our attempts to find a nice and affordable grocery store (apparently the two are mutually exclusive in CU Land), we visited a discount store. The store was fittingly named "No Frills," and it had none. We were a bit appalled when we realized we'd have to pay for shopping bags; luckily I had just purchased a bunch of reuseable shopping bags, so this wasn't an issue. We were, however, equally appalled when we realized we had to pay 25 cents to use a shopping cart. After much digging for a Canadian quarter (we are, after all, still getting used to the currency), I went to get a shopping cart, muttering to myself that the savings at this store better be significant if I had to pay for a shopping cart. As I put the quarter into the slot and pulled the cart away from the others, I realized that I wasn't paying to use a cart; I was leaving the quarter as a deposit, which I would get back when I returned the cart to the proper location and reattached it to other carts. I think this is absolutely BRILLIANT! As I looked around the parking lot, I noticed there were absolutely no stray shopping carts anywhere. I hate it when people are too lazy to return shopping carts to the store or to the storage areas in the parking lots. This method ensures that people return their shopping carts, saving the company money as employees don't have to spends lots of time rounding up stray carts or haggling with customers whose cars have sustained damage from stray carts. In a week of learning odd customs, we found one that we love!
3 comments:
Hi M,
This is actually an urban thing, more than a Canadian thing. They have these in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Chicago, anywhere where people walk to the grocery store. This is an attempt to keep people from taking the cart home. There is also a thing I saw in Chicago in which there is a sensor that locks one wheel of the cart at the end of the parking lot.
Glad you're finding happiness in C land! The markets on your other post sound wonderful.
Give Wild Man and C a hug for me (and tell Wild Man that the puppy misses him).
Ciao,
Amy
Amy Reads, I think this should be employed everywhere--if only to encourage those of us who see fit to park their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot rather than return them to the proper location!
Hi M,
Amy Reads, I think this should be employed everywhere--if only to encourage those of us who see fit to park their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot rather than return them to the proper location!
I agree! I go out of my way to return carts to their proper locations because it is just about the most annoying thing ever to see them straying into parking spots. The worst ones are the people who are TWO SPOTS AWAY from a cart depository, and they cannot bring themselves to walk it over?
I was once thanked by a grocery store working for returning the cart. That made my day!
Ciao,
Amy
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