Strategies to Prevent Trolleys in Front of Your House

Hello OzBargainers,

I wanted to start a discussion on a common issue that many of us may face - trolleys being left in front of our homes. It can be frustrating and inconvenient when this happens, but there are steps we can take to prevent it.

Let's share our experiences and ideas on how to keep trolleys from being put in front of our houses.

Solutions from below:
https://trolleytracker.com.au (they don't do Coles trolleys)
https://www.snapsendsolve.com/
Report it to the shop

Update: these are coin operated ones that I am referring to but it seems like the coins have already been removed but connecting two trolleys

Issues: robbers can use the trolleys to jump your fence and that's why I'm worried about trolleys sitting around

Comments

    • +37

      Oof. Didn't know so many OZbargain'ers lived in Berowra, really hit a nerve there hahahaha

      • +9

        I think you got downvoted for being trashy and dumping your trolley on the street

        • and dumping your trolley on the street

          Huh? Where did I say I did this? Why are you just making crap up?

          I think you got downvoted for being trashy

          Potato potato. I thought it was funny, and the number of upvotes to my reply (30) vs the downvotes to my original (16) seem to agree.

  • +33

    Stop bringing them home with you :)

  • +7

    Put up one of these signs out the front of your house.

  • +10

    I really don't $ee a problem.
    When you have lemons, make lemonade.

    https://trolleytracker.com.au

  • +11

    many of us

    🤔

  • +1

    bikies

  • +11

    Usually its the same handful of offenders.

    • Keep reporting them for collection.
    • Report them to Council via Snap Send Solve. Yes, it is up to the shop to collect but they are technically illegally dumped and it creates a pattern of complaints for the Council to move towards planning changes.
    • Write a complaint to the Council or planning committee asking for a review to request coin returns or perimeter locking systems

    The shops are equally frustrated. It costs them a lot to deal with but often the wages of trolley collection and replacement isnt enough to force a change.

    • +9

      Snap Send Solve

      I've been using this for years and it works for trolleys, dumped rubbish, graffiti, broken toilets and water fountains and, well, everything a council can fix. Maybe we need a PSA promoting this app.

      • +2

        Depends on the council - one street near me has people parking next to double lines on a tight bend (both sides) every day, and they don't care enough to issue a fine.

  • +1

    Keep giving the trolleys parking violation tickets in increasing amounts until they stop parking there.

  • +22

    Trolley once out front,
    Months passed, its fate unknown,
    Hollow thoughts persist.

    • +18

      Abandoned steel wheels,
      Trolleys block my homely view,
      Lament in the breeze.

    • +17

      Or in more limerick'y fashion

      In front of a home, all alone,
      Lies a trolley, not where it's known.
      If it took coins to glide,
      It wouldn't reside,
      On this doorstep, it'd find its way home!

    • +19

      A problem we all face,
      With a grimace on our face,
      The dreaded trolley out front,
      Left by a selfish c$#t,
      Next time I find a home,
      I'll make sure the shops are further to roam,
      Cause I'd rather be far away,
      Then look at trolleys each day.

      • +2

        So, to all the trolley leavers out there,
        I have a message to declare:
        "Please take your trolleys home with you,
        And don't be such a lazy (profanity) shrew."

    • +13

      In twilight's hush, a sight of despair,
      Empty trolleys linger, a burden to bear,
      Front of my home, a haunting display,
      Frustration and anguish, day after day.

      I stand at my doorstep, feeling so small,
      Helpless to halt this relentless sprawl,
      Trolleys abandoned, a symbol of plight,
      In this battle for order, an endless fight.

      With each passing hour, my patience wears thin,
      As hapless as can be, I sigh from within,
      In the realm of my haven, once peaceful and neat,
      Lies the tormenting echo of shopping cart's beat.

      But I'll persevere, though it seems quite absurd,
      To restore my abode to a home undisturbed,
      For in the face of frustration, I'll find my own grace,
      And banish these trolleys from my sacred space.

      • +10

        Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
        Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
        While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a rattling,
        As of some trolley grating, rattling past my front door.
        “’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “pushing a trolley past my front door—
        Only this and nothing more.”

        Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the balmy September;
        And each separate meth head bogan wrought their trolley past my front door.
        Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
        From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for my lost front lawn—
        For the rare and radiant trolleys whom the bogans left there on my front lawn—
        Trolleys here for evermore.

    • +7

      Roses are red,
      OP is feeling blue,
      Dear strangers leaving trolleys, stop it, why don't you.

      • +4

        Let's gather 'round, a discussion we'll start,
        To heal this trolley-wounded heart,
        Frustration and inconvenience, we admit,
        But together, my friends, we'll find our fit.

    • Aren't you meant to have 7 syllables in the middle line?

  • +7

    OP, apparently you can make $18 per trolley selling them to other stores. Just remove the branding and clean 'em up a bit.

    • +4

      Tell me more, and how did you come across this information?

      • +2

        I think I learned about it in a Canadian documentary, but we're basically the same country so should work fine here too.

        • -1

          If Albo didn't have a speech impediment he'd pass for Truedolt.

  • +4

    Magnets

    • +7

      How do they work?

      • +1

        Yea!!! Science..Mr.White… magnets!!!

  • +2

    Dont you get a draw into winning a $1000 voucher for calling it in?

    Could use a trolley in the garage to help get the heavy stuff from boot to door, push one my way :D

    • +1

      Yep, there was one left outside my house for months with the wheel fallen off. In the end I fixed it, used it to help pack house to move, took it interstate with me to help unpack and now it helps in garage.

      • +2

        Unpacking the car from shopping and loading the kids in 1 go would be amazing. Damn now I actually want one 😂

  • +16

    Ah, so this is what the "Trolley Problem" dilemma is

  • +1

    Tell your neighbour to buy a car.

    • Not sure which neighbour

  • +3

    Did you check them for money?

  • Test them with your angle grinder then throw the pieces back into another trolley around the corner. 5 trolleys later and continuing….

  • +4

    Request the supermarket to install coin return system and locking wheels which restrict the user from leaving the shopping centre. I hate loose trolleys whether in the streets or car parks, a hazard to cars and pedestrians and a blight on the landscape.

    • Thanks I'll do that

  • +3

    Councils I believe already have plans to fines those supermarkets I'm near future. Supermarket generally will apply auto brakes on them so it doesn't go far from their locations.

    • +1

      The coin thing works better. Wherever there is a coin operated trolley there is never a dumped trolley in the surrounding suburbs or car parks.

      However it means you need to carry a coin which is annoying.

      • +1

        some think of $1 donation as the cost of convenience

      • Surprisingly this includes count operated trolleys too

      • +1

        I've seen one dumped in the creek with a dollar coin still in the slot. I guess the teenagers valued the fun of throwing it in the creek more than the dollar they'd get for taking it back.

      • +1

        I got news for you. It solves nothing around here. Even the houso spawn are too lazy to take the Aldi trolleys back for a gold coin. And there's plastic things on ebay (or a pattern on thingyverse) for a "key" that unlocks them, that you just turn and pulls out without locking the trolley.

    • Supermarket generally will apply auto brakes on them so it doesn't go far from their locations

      lol, so you're one of those people who has never tried to get a trolley past its stop

    • These ones don't have auto brakes like the ones in the big shopping centres

    • +2

      They should hire a sniper to be on the roof of the shopping centre.

  • +5

    a common issue that many of us may face

    LOL… yeah, ok, champ. The true scourge of Australian suburbia.

    You call the number listed on the website for the owner of the trolley and they come an collect it… Crisis over.

  • I wanted to start a discussion on a common issue that many of us may face

    I don't really think that many face it….

    Either way, snapsendsolve the trolley, problem solved.

    As for stopping them, won't happen.

    • Thanks sounds like the two solutions I will be using

  • +2

    this happened to my mate, some old man kept going shopping twice a week and leaving the trolley in front of his house lol, it drove him insane and he went and bought a 500 dollar CCTV with instant notification to see who it was, what specially pissed him off is that out of the whole street he kept choosing his house to place the trolly in front of

    • +1

      So, what happened? Did belt the culprit to a pulp?

      • +2

        he confronted him one day, told him to put it a few houses down lol, I think he still recorded someone else putting a trolley there now, idk i guess his house is very inviting to leave a trolly in front of

    • +2

      What I dont get is why dont people use a messages cart? You know, the old granny ones?

      https://www.kmart.com.au/product/33l-shopping-trolley-black-…

      • looks much smaller than a standard trolly where u can just leave in front of peoples house

      • +3

        A trolley costs $20 less.

  • +6

    Build a moat.

    • +5

      add Crocodiles.

      • +3

        You ever tried to pull trolleys out of a moat infested with crocodiles? I’ve learnt that there are certain challenges, which unfortunately I don’t have the time, or the limbs, to go into right now.

    • +2

      That would attract them as their natural habitat is the rivers and lakes of cities.

  • +1

    I think I have used chat gpt too much, I can now identify stuff written by it within the first couple of words.

    • Either that or Grammaryly ai.

  • Install a cheap camera. Fixed the constant dog poo on my nature strip.

    • How?

      • +1

        I guess the people not picking it up didn't want to be caught on camera.

        • More than likely a poop shy doggo

        • Now figure out a way to stop them putting it in my bin after it's been emptied. The garbage truck keeps changing the time it drives by, so I never get to bring the bin back in right after it's emptied. Some scumbag uses these thin blue bags so their dog's crap somehow must break through the bag to stick to the bottom of the bin for several weeks until the truck finally shakes it free. The next nearest bin is in the park so they must walk for 1/2 km holding a bag of excrement hoping they can put it in my bin instead of taking it home like they have to when I get out there first. Everyone else is sick of it too so they all sprint out and pull their bins in before the next incoming shitmine hits

  • +1

    I read the title and expected this to be a Pam post….

  • Bold of you to assume that the supermarket is your house

  • +1

    OP, I am more concerned about dog poop being left on the nature strip than trolleys.

      • I reckon my silly neighbours who don't bother to take back their bins (they leave it out for a few days after collection) really cops it with those thin poop bags.

        At least these poop walkers are depositing the waste into a bin rather than leaving it out in the nature strip.

        • +1

          Yeah only after it dumps its bowels on the grass the rest of us walk on, sit on to do the front garden, play cricket on, etc. The only time I'll be grateful to the Nanny State is when the make it illegal to own a dog unless there's a genuine need like being blind or living on a sheep farm. So sick of walking along the path to, and the beach itself, and seeing dog shit every 20m.

  • +1

    Have you tried leaving a bottle of water on the lawn. I’ve heard it’s a deterrent for unwelcome visitors

  • +2

    To quote the meme: "The Shopping Cart Theory"

    The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of serf-governing.

    To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we alll recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. The return of the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart present itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not retunrning the shopping cart, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct.

    A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.

    The shopping cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.

    There's this one family down the road from me which abandons at least two trolleys a week at the park— I might start dumping the trolley back in their driveway for a laugh.

    • -2

      serf-governing

      Appropriate Freudian slip.

      The Shopping Cart Theory is fun but mostly bs.
      - Doesn't account for conscientious objectors, refusing to return their cart to protest poor car park planning/layout.
      - Doesn't account for the opportunity cost of trolley return time, for example: people running late - they have to choose to impact or insult either a trolley collector or an individual or group awaiting their arrival. What is the lesser evil?
      - Job security for trolley collectors: the less work for them to do, the fewer needed to be employed by the supermarket. The supermarket is not a benevolent entity and they are legally bound to maximize profits at the expense of trolley collectors, reducing the number of low-skilled jobs available.

      I would argue that, often, the moral imperative is to discard one's trolley on the outskirts of the car-park, still within the Trolley collectors purview, but maximizing Time To Retrieve (TTR). One should ensure the Trolley can't blow against other cars, so should leave one wheel in dirt or a garden bed, rather than all wheels contacting bitumen. This is the ethical approach to Trolley returning.
      QED

      • -1

        Are you crazy— A conscientious objector would refuse to shop at the shopping centre.

        Don't want to give the shop profit, don't shop there.
        Don't have time, shop somewhere more convenient.
        Don't like the parking, visit another centre.

        • Are you crazy— A conscientious objector would refuse to shop at the shopping centre.

          Why would somebody protest a shop they don't have a problem with, when they could directly protest the one thing they do have a problem with. You're basically suggesting people shouldn't protest anything due to the object of the protest always being part of a larger system, the argument reduces to the absurd case that protesting only makes sense when you protest life itself, i.e. suicide.

          Don't have time, shop somewhere more convenient.

          That's a very abelist and entitled suggestion, but I suppose it's stupid to expect ethics among the sort of people that trolley-shame others.

    • Over their fence would be better. Keep them in your garage until you have 30+ of them. Bonus points for phoning the supermarket anonymously from a public phone and telling them your neighbour steals trolleys, cuts them up, and sells them for scrap - check his backyard at blah blah there's about 40 of them there right now!

  • Catch them in the act. Hurt them

  • +1

    I lived in a street that had apartments on one side and houses on the other. I'd move the trolleys to inconvenient locations like down the stairs or flip the trolley on the driveway.

  • +1

    You can jump the fence without a trolley.

    • Damn… I've been doing it wrong all these years. THANK YOU.

  • Confront the person doing it. I did, while it got ugly and they were extremely aggressive… it never happened again afterwards.

  • +4

    I had seen one In Logan turned on it's side and used for a bbq times are tough 😅

  • Sounds like you need to call the Cart Narcs.

    • -2

      Funny how everyone thinks they're NOT the Karen while displaying Karen behaviour. The guy whining about not returning shopping carts is the real Karen.

  • Move trolley to middle of the road

  • Generally happens in areas with a lot of government housing, people shop and then walk the trolley home instead of carry the bags or get a taxi etc, then they just intentionally dump them before they get home on other people's property or in front of. Inconsiderate people like that is why the country is turning to shit, if you can't do something as simple as put your trolley where it needs to go then geez… That's why cart narcs is great on YouTube.

  • report it to the shop, if they don't come to reclaim them, then claim ownership of them yourself and sell them back to them at a discount price.

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