A Fair Price to Pay
Additional measures are taken to secure NTUC FairPrice’s shopping trolleys as trolley misuse rises
Abandoned shopping carts at the foot of the overhead bridge opposite Ngee Ann Polytechnic
By Nguyen Thanh Tung
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With losses of about 1,000 trolleys every year since 2012, NTUC FairPrice may consider implementing additional measures to ensure their shopping carts are not misused or stolen.
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The supermarket’s traditional system for securing trolleys is a $1-coin system where a coin is inserted into a little slot machine attached to the trolley, following which it would unlock and be ready to be used. At some NTUC FairPrice outlets, souvenir coins are also used over real ones, and for the past decade this system has been the staple of trolley security.
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“They have done a decent job, but there have been pros and cons,” said Mr Hew, Branch Manager of both Yishun MRT NTUC FairPrice and the adjacent NorthPoint City NTUC FairPrice, which together fields a combined 250 staff. “Over my years here we’ve lost a couple of trolleys, some due to the convenience of customers bringing it all the way back to their door steps because they live nearby, and some even sell the trolleys for steel. It is a problem.”
With an estimated annual loss of S$150,000 for repairing, replacing and retrieving misplaced trolleys according to a report by the Straits Times, and the consistent mounting losses of about 1000 trolleys every year, it is easy to understand why Mr Hew said that. For these reasons, it is important that additional security measures are applied to manage these shopping trolleys.
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“They cost between S$200 to S$300 apiece to replace,” he said, adding, “one way to deter them from stealing may be to have fines imposed, since Singapore seems to have a fine for everything.” He laughed, however, as he mused the idea over, “but there would be a lot of debate if fines are discussed, so the idea may not take off.”
A fully-loaded shopping cart abandoned in the middle of an MRT connector at
Northpoint City at 11:30 pm on a Sunday Evening
Ms Avril Joy Lim, a Republic Polytechnic student currently working part-time at NTUC FairPrice’s North Point outlet as a cashier, felt that a possible solution for the problem of misplaced or stolen trolleys is to increase the number of parking trolley bays.
This way, it would be more convenient for the customers and some third party can even help install a GPS to track where these trolleys might be taken. She also thinks that while the current one-dollar coin return system has been decent, it could be improved to do more.
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Her co-worker, Mrs Max, also felt that additional security measures will be helpful. She said, however, that trying to implement them may prove to be a challenge as consumers may not be aware of these new changes and continue to take it for granted that someone else would be there to help bring the trolleys back.
Failure to spread awareness about additional security measures may lead to continued loss of revenues from having to repair and replace damaged or lost trolleys.
Despite these concerns, Mr Hew viewed the possible addition of more security features to help curb misuse of NTUC FairPrice’s shopping carts a positive, as he felt that it would reduce the overall losses. Discussing the potential for a tap-in, tap-out system where customers can use a specialized FairPrice card to take and return their trolleys much like how buses use cards to track fares and entry or exit, he admitted that it was not a bad idea.
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He suggested a small token of appreciation, or some form of monetary reward. “S$0.30 to S$0.50 for customers who keep up a history of returning trolleys properly, like reward points, could be good,” he said.