Pound in the trolley?

[DingleyDel]

Having a slightly drunken argument with dh. We are both early 30s. He swears that a staple memory of his childhood was putting a pound in the supermarket trolley, IN ALL SUPERMARKETS!! I swear this was never a thing until Aldi and Lidl arrived in the U.K. I swear I remember news articles about how great they were but you had to have a pound for the trolley, it was so notable. I don’t remember ever putting a £ in the trolley in my childhood. I grew upon the SE, Dh in the SW. was it really a common thing in the 90s?

YABU pound in the trolley was completely normal

YANB pound in the trolley was introduced by Lidl/ Aldi

90's child here too, I definitely remember the £1 in trolleys as a kid and trying to pocket it when mam asked me to return the trolley, but she was on to me and always got her £1 back 🤣

First encountered them as a student in early 80s in a v student area so understandable. Generally area dependent but kwik save always had them I think.
Wasn’t a pound as they didn’t have them.

Btw all trolleys accept the old pound coins, I keep one in my car specifically for this

we put a pound in the trolley at Safeway and co-op supermarkets YEARS before aldi and lidL arrived.

Don't think any supermarkets need a £1 coin round here- but I never use a trolley in Lidl or Aldi. Sainsburys, Asda, Waitrose and Tesco don't need a coin. (Suffolk)
However, I don't think the Asda trolleys will leave their grounds, apparently the wheels seize

I don’t remember about trolleys when I was a kid but I do remember that the notable thing about Aldi when it first appeared around where I lived (late 90s and barely anyone went there because it was full of highly suspect items) was that they didn’t have carrier bags so you had to take your own or use a cardboard box.

Your DH is right. I remember when I used to go to Asda with my mum in late 80s/early 90s and there were always teenagers hanging round the carpark offering to take people's trolleys back so they could make a few quid! I do think it wasn't all supermarkets though. Perhaps in more unsavory areas

I'm also 30s.

I remember going shopping with my mum and whoever took the trolley back got to keep the £ from it.

Was definitely at our local Tesco and Asda.

I worked in Germany in the very early 1990s and you needed to put a 1DM coin in the aldi trollies then !

The sainsburys near where I used to live, in a not at all rough area had coin trolleys 20 years ago.

Presto used to have coin trolleys when I was a student 30 years ago. They took 50p coins.

Fine fare had them when I was a kid 40 years ago. They took 10p coins.

was that they didn’t have carrier bags so you had to take your own or use a cardboard box.

I remember Fine Fare used to have a big pile of boxes you used to carry shopping home.

1980s I was a Saturday girl in Sainsburys and they had to give a £1 deposit.

Some trolleys had them in 80's but tended to be in cities/town centres. Sainsburys definitely had coins on them in my local town (public car park) but not at the superstore with a big car park owned by them

I'm 31 and always remember putting a pound in any supermarket I went to as a child. We never went to Asda and I was amazed the first time I went as an adult that they didn't have pounds in their trolleys

I worked in Safeway in 1993…it was a 50p piece to unlock the trolley!

I don’t know when Aldi or Lidl came to uk but I know when I did - 1992. The then local food store to us in London, Safeway I think, had trolleys you needed to put a pound in. Distinctly remember et this because I didn’t know you got the pound back!

Definitely about in the 90s. I remembered the manager of a catalogue company I worked for buying 3 trollies for the warehouse and costing £150 a pop. Told him, he should have gone to Morrisons as they were only £1 each

I swear this was never a thing until Aldi and Lidl arrived in the U.K.

Nah, I used to get to keep the pound for taking the trolly back in the 80s at Tesco!

@WestendVBroadway

There's a trolley sticking out of the river in this Somerset town right now, I told sainsburys security guard yesterday, there's no coin required here

Early 90s it was definitely a 50p at morrisons

Definitely remember my mum using a trolley token for shopping at Morrisons, around 1990.

I'm in Scotland and remember needing a pound coin in the 80s

You sure it was £1? The £coin was only introduced in 1983. And we kept £notes in Scotland for a really long time.

I recall 10p and 50p coin trolleys over the years, the £1 are definitely more in the last 20 years or so.

We never used £s in trolleys in the small city I grew up in. But mum used to shop in a city centre Sainsburys in a neighbouring town & needed one there. Can't remember if it was actually £1 as she had a trolley token.

It did exist but as pps have said, wasn't seen much in some areas.

Yes, being a trolly boy/girl was a sought after job when I was at high school due to all the extra pounds when pekoe didn't take trolly back. Long before I heard of Aldi or Lidl. Also remember occasionally funding a trolly with a pound and returning it to get the pound too, would have been about 30 years ago.

We still don’t have them in the big Sainsbury’s that’s quite far from any housing, but the newer (2000ish) small Sainsbury’s in the middle of the housing estate has them.

Never saw them in my town in the SW growing up in the late 70s/early 80s. Pound coins only came in in 1983 though.

No need for them if it’s miles away from home and you have to drive to get there.