I was thinking … Canadian Looneys

While we were in Canada last summer we went shopping at a local Costco. All of their shopping carts were locked together outside the store in a cart storage area in the parking lot. When we went to get one we could not separate one from the rest. Finally, someone came by and said “You need a Looney.” (my first thought was huh?, my second was that’s not very PC.) Then she said “You know, a Canadian dollar coin.” (There is a Loon on one of the sides of the coin, hence Looney and the Twoney.) Basically you put the Looney in the lock on the cart and the cart separates from it‘s neighbor. When you are finished with the cart you take it back to the cart storage area, rejoin it to another cart, and your coin reappears in the lock.

I thought “Wow, what a good idea! Our Costco must spend a fortune in FTEs (Full Time Employees) collecting the baskets from all over the parking area.” My next thought “Of course this idea would not work in the US. For one thing, we do not have a popular dollar coin and for this concept to work you need a coin that: 1) most people would have in their pocket and 2) has enough value that people would consider it worth their while to return the cart to the cart storage area.”

Oh well, a good idea, someday there will be one that works for us.