Abandoned trolleys a costly $150,000 headache for supermarkets
SINGAPORE - Mr Sebastien Chua usually walks home with his grocery purchases from the FairPrice supermarket three blocks from his flat in Rivervale Crescent.
But every few months or so, he pushes an extra-large purchase back home in a supermarket trolley, as he was doing on New Year's Eve, when he had bought two 5kg bags of rice and toilet paper, among other things.
The 54-year-old sales associate, who has lived in the area for about 20 years, said he always returns the trolley to Rivervale Mall after using it.
"This trolley doesn't belong to us. We may need to use it occasionally to carry heavy items, but we will also need to do our part and be responsible to return it," he said.
Not every resident thinks the same way, as The Sunday Times spotted nearly a dozen lined up and chained together at the side of the road on Rivervale Crescent that day.
So widespread and perennial is the problem of unreturned trolleys that the Municipal Services Office (MSO) has a "Spot Abandoned Trolleys" feature in its OneService app, which was launched in April 2016 with five supermarket chains - FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Mustafa Centre, Giant and Cold Storage. Furniture chain Ikea came on board in March last year.
The MSO, which is under the Ministry of National Development (MND), told The Sunday Times that it received 6,559 reports of abandoned trolleys last year through the app, which lets citizens engage the authorities on municipal issues. In 2019, 5,429 reports were made, and 6,662 in 2020.
An MND spokesman attributed the higher number of reports in 2020 over 2019 to increased downloads of the app.
Lost trolleys are a costly problem for supermarkets. A FairPrice spokesman said: "On average, the costs of repairing, replacing and retrieving unreturned trolleys is about $150,000 a year."
In the first 11 months of last year, FairPrice received about 4,000 reports of unreturned trolleys from the public, compared with some 3,300 in both 2019 and 2020.
Sheng Siong and DFI Retail Group, which owns Giant and Cold Storage, both declined to comment beyond saying that they get feedback on unreturned trolleys through phone calls, e-mail and the OneService app.
Aiyah 150K is chump change to these big ass supermarket chains, Sinkies please feel free to continue dumping them trolleys by the roadside....own time, own target!
So widespread and perennial is the problem of unreturned trolleys that the Municipal Services Office (MSO) has a "Spot Abandoned Trolleys" feature in its OneService app, which was launched in April 2016 with five supermarket chains - FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Mustafa Centre, Giant and Cold Storage.
Next time folks should be allowed to adopt the trolleys after using them; if you are too lazy to return it, go ahead and keep it for free. Would definitely help eliminate this islandwide "clutter" to a significant extent.
Lelong ah lelong🏷️💲
Poor baby kenna 丢弃 right by the longkang, jin 可怜 woh
The adventures of abandoned trolleys continue.....
Hats off to this uncle for going above the call of duty.
Still way better than having used sanitary pads strewn everywhere yes?
Abandoned trolleys a costly $150,000 headache for supermarkets
SINGAPORE - Mr Sebastien Chua usually walks home with his grocery purchases from the FairPrice supermarket three blocks from his flat in Rivervale Crescent.
But every few months or so, he pushes an extra-large purchase back home in a supermarket trolley, as he was doing on New Year's Eve, when he had bought two 5kg bags of rice and toilet paper, among other things.
The 54-year-old sales associate, who has lived in the area for about 20 years, said he always returns the trolley to Rivervale Mall after using it.
"This trolley doesn't belong to us. We may need to use it occasionally to carry heavy items, but we will also need to do our part and be responsible to return it," he said.
Not every resident thinks the same way, as The Sunday Times spotted nearly a dozen lined up and chained together at the side of the road on Rivervale Crescent that day.
So widespread and perennial is the problem of unreturned trolleys that the Municipal Services Office (MSO) has a "Spot Abandoned Trolleys" feature in its OneService app, which was launched in April 2016 with five supermarket chains - FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Mustafa Centre, Giant and Cold Storage. Furniture chain Ikea came on board in March last year.
The MSO, which is under the Ministry of National Development (MND), told The Sunday Times that it received 6,559 reports of abandoned trolleys last year through the app, which lets citizens engage the authorities on municipal issues. In 2019, 5,429 reports were made, and 6,662 in 2020.
An MND spokesman attributed the higher number of reports in 2020 over 2019 to increased downloads of the app.
Lost trolleys are a costly problem for supermarkets. A FairPrice spokesman said: "On average, the costs of repairing, replacing and retrieving unreturned trolleys is about $150,000 a year."
In the first 11 months of last year, FairPrice received about 4,000 reports of unreturned trolleys from the public, compared with some 3,300 in both 2019 and 2020.
Sheng Siong and DFI Retail Group, which owns Giant and Cold Storage, both declined to comment beyond saying that they get feedback on unreturned trolleys through phone calls, e-mail and the OneService app.
A lot more at https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/community/abandoned-trolleys-a-costly-150000-headache-for-supermarkets