Coin curb on trolley 'blight'
Wes Hosking
30Jun08
Supermarket manager Clifford Karghoo in favour. Picture: RICHARD SERONG
COIN-OPERATED shopping trolleys will become compulsory across Kingston if an Aspendale Gardens residents' group gets its way.
Management of an independent supermarket is backing enforced use of the trolleys, which usually requires shoppers to insert a $1 or $2 coin refundable after use.
Ritchies IGA Supermarket Aspendale Gardens manager, Clifford Karghoo, said the store would be willing to install coin-operated trolleys if competitors did.
Each week the supermarket loses about 10 trolleys valued at $150 each.
"We find them in the park around here and on the roundabouts," Mr Karghoo said.
"People go to their houses and leave them nearby."
Kingston Council last Monday voted to investigate introducing the law.
Aspendale-Edithvale-Aspendale Gardens Village Committee acting chairman, Ken Carney, told the meeting similar policies were in place in other council areas, including Casey, Frankston and Greater Dandenong.
"Trolleys have also become a danger and an eyesore in many parts of Kingston," he said.
"What is needed is an incentive for shoppers to return them to a safe position."
Carrum Carrum ward councillor Topsy Petchey said abandoned trolleys detracted from the amenity of an area. "They are indeed a visual blight," she said.
The coin-operated trolley plan has failed to win favour with the big supermarket chains.
Woolworths spokesman Benedict Brook said the company paid $50 million a year maintaining and replacing its trolleys but preferred to use a tracker system.
