Who owns a pound left in supermarket trolley?

[Zippyzoppy]

My son has a part-time job at weekends with one of the major supermarkets. One of his tasks is to round up any stray trolleys and put them back in the trolley park.

Apparently, from time to time ( maybe one/twice per day) people can’t be arsed to put their own trolleys back and so leave the £1 coins in the trolley. If this happens, he keeps the pound and puts the trolley back as required. When he first told me about this, I was quite pleased for him and thought it was a nice way for him to make a few extra quid.

However, when I mentioned this to a friend, she was aghast as she thought that he was cheating /stealing from his employer as the money is rightfully theirs.

Who is right?

It's definitely his. If there's kids about and I can't be bothered taking the trolley back, I give it to them to do. In a smaller shop we'd have a jar that we'd put uncollected change in, it could be taken home by anyone on shift, but we'd usually put it in the charity collection. I think that they do that in the supermarkets, so either his or charity box.

Whoever takes the trolley back gets the pound. Whether that's the person who put it in in the first place, a staff member collecting the trolleys, or another customer who happens to spot it and take it back.

Either way, nobody who originally put the pound in the trolley could possibly
complain that anybody had 'stolen' a significant amount of money - as, if you believed it to be a significant amount (to you), you wouldn't have abandoned the trolley and lost it in the first place, would you?

Like with the bottles with a deposit on them, first dibs go to the person who originally paid the money, but if they then decline said dibs and exacerbate the problem of abandoned trolleys/bottles, there's a second chance for another person to do the job for them and be suitably rewarded.

I'd say this falls under the ancient law of finders keepers losers weepers, but he better be careful because supermarkets are tightfisted and might be arsey about it.

If the supermarket bosses are convinced that there are significant riches to be had from all the abandoned trolleys, there's nothing stopping them from going out and collecting them themselves!

He is right.
Your friend is crackers.

Someone has chosen to leave the 'tip' for the trolley collector, rather than walk back across the car park them self.
NONE of those people thought "Ooh, I'll leave this tip for Mr Sainsbury / Tesco / Asda / Waitrose.

The supermarket will likely have a policy on this.

Cash handling procedures will mean he cannot have money on shift, particularly money that isn’t his (a lot of retail jobs have a no tips rule anyway, not that people really tip in retail but just in case), so if he is caught and it’s against their policy they could fire him for gross misconduct.

So whether we think it’s finders keepers or not, he needs to play this carefully with his employers.

If I find one I always leave it for the next person to get a free trolly! Like fuck does it belong to the supermarket tho, they wouldn't share an unexpected windfall with him I'm sure.

Nah, moneys his 😊

I was away to say the same. When I worked in retail we weren’t allowed any cash on us. If they did a random spot check it could cause huge problems. He’d have no way of proving it hadn’t come from a till.

I worked in a supermarket 20 years ago and any money I found I would have to be handed in to a supervisor. Lost property and would typically end up being donated to charity if unclaimed. I should imagine things are stricter now if anything. I'd be incredibly surprised if the policy is for the staff member to keep it. He should definitely check with a manager.

I’d suggest whacking it in one of the charity boxes in store 🤷🏻‍♀️

Same here.

Morally I see no issues with him keeping it but if he is in uniform and on site he could get into trouble. For that reason it's not worth him keeping a couple of quid a day when it could lose him his job.

Finders keepers.

However, when I mentioned this to a friend

There is such a thing as discretion.

Wouldn't it technically belong to the person who originally put it there? (Not that there would be any way of tracing them)

Your friend needs to get a grip. The multimillion pound a year business will survive without the few quid they never had.

It’s not a loss control issue, the money was never the supermarkets to begin with.

Has your friend never seen The Terminal? Quarters from returning trollies is how Tom Hanks paid for Burger King meals.

100% this.
She sounds the type to inform the supermarket about your son....don't trust her.

Whilst I wouldn't think of it as stealing, he should be very careful. When I worked for a supermarket, having cash about your person whilst at work was an immediate sacking offence. Perhaps times have changed.

This is madness. It’s totally fair game for the person who finds it. If I find one when I’m doing my shopping it’s mine. I definitely don’t go and give it to the supermarket! I suppose I might donate it if I felt like it and there was a bucket.

I am pleased to know that the trolley staff pick up a few quid this way. Especially in winter!

....but I'd think it was fair enough if they were taken as a tip!

I would think itnOK for him to keep it to be honest.

When I was little there were still some pop bottles that you could get 10p back on. I used to go to the park early on weekend mornings and collect them up. Once I found eleven, I was so excited, honestly felt like a millionaire!! ( it was 1982 and I was 7.. it represented a lot of sweets 😁 )

Please don't mention this to anyone else. If someone decides to complain he may get into trouble.
But he should keep the money.

depends if theres anything in his contract about it-could get on tro9uble if hes found with cash on him