No pound for shopping trolley

[maddiie]

Outside Lidl today I had £1 coin in my back pocket specifically for the trolley and my phone, pulled my phone out to grab the £1 and just my luck the £1 fell out and rolled away, deep under all the trolleys, tried reaching it but it was unreachable. There were several people standing outside, and while I was there looking for it 4 people came back to return trolleys. After I admitted defeat several more people were returning trolleys. I'm a bit socially awkward so would never ever dream normally of asking, but I had no other money and it's a Lidl on the outskirts of the town so no cash points in walking distance. I asked five people, very politely and all of them refused. I had to drive back in to the town centre, find parking, walk 15 mins from parking to cash point and then back to car and drive to Lidl. Don't get me wrong I'm not entitled to other people's money and I know £1 might be a lot to some people.. but over 20 people saw I was trying to get a trolley/get my pound back and I found it so strange that no one offered, or was willing to help. I've given trolleys to people with a £1 in before if there's been long queues or something.. in my situation id definitely of helped.

What would you do?

I’d have helped - if I had a pound coin. Can’t believe no one helped you. I don’t have any spare money either but it is only a pound.

I would have gone in to the shop and explained I had no pound coin. I am almost certain they would get you a trolley to use.

I have done this in Tesco. The lady on customer services lent me a token thingy and I took it back when I'd finished with it.

I lost my last £1 at Lidl the other day. Usually if you explain your predicament to a check out person they 'lend ' you a £1 out of that till on the agreement that it goes back again when you finish your shop.

I have also had a lady offer me £1 when I was asking the checkout lady for help which I politely declined as the checkout lady was happy to help. Sorry you had such a poor experience OP

@happyasasandboy I tried that! The queues were ridiculous as they normally are in Lidl. Found one attendant on the shop floor who said to queue up if I wanted to ask at the till but he 'highly doubted' they'd help

I'd probably give you a quid (or more likely dispatch DS to go and fetch yours out ) but for one thing, I could afford to lose £1 so theres no 'risk' to me there. Also, there is an absolute plague around here of beggars who go from person to person with the same sob story (I just need £1 to make up bus fare/prescription fee/nappies - same story every time, day after day) that I think it's making people less likely to give the benefit of the doubt.

The round end of a normal door key works usually!

Id have given them change to the the amount of £1 or gone into the store to change some money, did you only have one pound on you, it's better to take extra money with you. Failing that I'd have asked the store manager if they could help, maybe there is a system where they can charge you an extra pound on your shopping. I wouldn't offer to pay for someone else, they could be regulars at this for all I know. You could also have just done a small shop with a basket, paid by card, got cashback then gone back again.

Doesn’t help you now but I know Lidl near me has little plastic tokens they let you borrow to allow you to get a trolley if you are pound-less.

I don’t carry any money at all and so have one of those key ring trolley pounds so if I gave you that I’d have to then go and buy a new one.

I would have just given you the trolley if I'd used an actual pound in it but my DH has a token thingy on his keychain that we usually use and I wouldn't have given you that ad it would be harder for me to replace. But i don't think it's reasonable to just expect some stranger to give you £1 considering most people shop at Lidl to save money.

I would probably not have asked people but would have gone into Lidl and found a box (they usually have some near the front door or you could empty one that was still holding a few tins of beans stacked up). I would have used the box to hold the shopping I needed and only bought the essentials that would fit into that box. That's what I've done before in that situation, anyway.

Maybe it depends where your Lidl is, I love in a 'naice' market town in Wiltshire so maybe they thought they'd get their £1 back 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’d have grabbed two of the pull along baskets and used them. I wouldn’t dream of asking someone for their trolley with money in.

Actually nowadays Lidl have baskets so I'd just have used one or two of them, no box or trolley needed.

I do wonder if people suspected it was a begging scam - like the missed my train, I need a pound to make up enough to buy a ticket scenario. I'd be happy to help if I knew you were genuine but I think people are a bit more suspicious about this sort of thing these days. It's a shame really.

No baskets at my Lidl?! Apart from the tiny metal ones. I was doing my big two weeker shop so that would of been a nightmare.

As I said I'd never normally ask, and I only asked people who had seen what happened themselves so they'd know I wasn't lying or anything. I resolved it myself in the end and I'm not angry, as I said was just a bit stunned as I wouldn't of thought twice to help out.

Without trying to sound braggy, I would've let you have my trolley and keep the quid. I'm not wealthy, but a small gesture of kindness isn't too much too ask.

I've made small kind gestures to strangers like this in the past, as well as being fortunate to experience the same kindness from some strangers myself.

In future, I'd suggest getting yourself a trolley token. You can get them on eBay cheap as chips.

I totally forgot £1 one day at aldi. One of the shop assistants gave me a token but said if you ever get stuck then you can use the round end of a key. Works just as well.
If someone was stuck I’d give them that advice.

You could have asked a member of staff in store.

Happened to me at Aldi recently, they opened the till gave me a £1 coin and asked that I returned it when I’d finished.
Other times I’ve asked and they’ve used the trolley coin and just got one out for me.

So sad for people to do that! Would have totally helped anyone out in that situation.

Use your House key next time!. Take it off the ring and insert the round end. Works with most trolleys. You just have to be carful you don’t jab yourself. I’ve only ever had it not work once but that was the type with the tray you put the coin in then push it closed.

I e dine this at Sainsbury’s. Customer services gave me a token!

I literally never have a pound coin or a trolly coin and have to use the round end of my front door key I have for my mum's house 😂. So I couldn't have given you the drop my but if I had been using a pond I would have. It's nice to be nice.

I had this at my Lidl recently and asked if they had any of the tokens or one of those 'magic' keys that some supermarkets have. The shop assistant told me to go to the till and ask and they gave me £1. You obviously have very tight Lidl staff where you are.

Oh my god!! Clearly you don't live in Ireland. All 5 would have given you the trolley and said keep the pound

Use your door key!! Never have a pound coin but round door key works!