Abandoned trolleys cause inconvenience to shoppers
Shopping trolleys abandoned in parking lots of malls are inconveniencing shoppers looking for parking space or trying to remove their blocked cars, The Peninsula has reported.
Though most shopping centres have places where trolleys should be kept after use, most shoppers neglect the practice or are lazy to return them to the corrals after removing their last grocery bag into their cars.
Instead they choose to push trolleys away, leaving them behind parked vehicles.
"It's common after shopping in a mall to find your car blocked with trolleys behind it. Then you have to remove one by one and take them back to their place," said Abdullah Badr, a Sudanese shopper at a hypermarket.
"It is also frustrating to see a parking space blocked by an abandoned trolley. The shopper must either leave the car in the parking space and take care of the trolley or find another space."
The negligence is mostly due to the belief that malls must have staff to collect the trolleys. Some have workers while others rely on their security guards for the purpose.
However, according to a Kenyan security guard who was collecting carts at a shopping centre, the responsibility lies on the shoppers to return their trolleys to the designated area. "We are supposed to collect a trolley once a shopper does not leave it in the designated area.
"It's not that we don't want to do our work. We are so busy striking a balance between keeping abandoned trolleys from hitting cars and guiding traffic," he said.
He said some shoppers had complained that abandoned trolleys had dented the finish of their vehicles.
"If a trolley pushed by the wind hits a parked car, who is responsible?" he asked. "And this is a common occurrence as trolleys can move freely in parking lots."
He said there were also instances when shoppers took the trolleys far beyond the designated area and because the guard had to account for every cart, they had to go in almost all the neighbourhood looking for them.
Some shopping centres don't employ such workers and expect every shopper to take the responsibility and leave the trolley in the designated area.
"Putting something where it belongs is not a bad idea. The idea is not that you just move the trolley out of the way so it does not damage other vehicles.
"The idea is that efforts should be exerted to return it to its place," said Nayem Mohammed, a shopper at Al Meera Shopping centre on Airport Road.
According to him, some families are reluctant to leave trolleys at the designated area because they are scared to leave their children in their cars, but most trolley corrals are only a few seconds walk. [The Peninsula]
Outside of taking the cart back inside, I have only ever seen one cart area at Lulu and I have not seen one outside of FCC at all. Where I am from, shopping centers have a cart return area in each row of parking to avoid this. Some even require a coin deposit to get the cart (which are all chained together and the coin will unlock one cart) and then you get your coin back once you return the cart, if you don't return it, then whomever does gets a free coin.
everyone should feel there responsibilities unless this will continue as it is.
But mall can do some thing to organize these things, they can modify there trolleys that the customer need to put 1X2 Coins inside the trolley to get the trolley from the section, then even if they left it as it is, the workers those who are roaming in the parking areas will get these trolleys and put back to its section and he will get these coins, and he will benefit too, this what the good resulted system in UAE,
Be a responsible consumer, after loading your goods to your car be sure to set aside your trolleys or place in safer place that does not make any inconvenience to another patrons. Don't just leave the trolleys behind someones vehicle. It may block or cause an scratch to others car and to mall supervisor, please deputized your staff on parking areas wherein this issues is highlighted.
Where are these at Landmark and Villagio? Hyatt Plaza is OK if you are at the right end of the parking row. As for people taking responsibility for returning the trolleys, don't make me laugh. People can't take responsibility for following the rules of the road (no mobile phones, no speeding, making sure their children are buckled up) let alone the mall "rules" for returning trolleys.