Some bright supermarket proprietor, many moons ago, realised that it would be much easier for people to shop at his supermarket if they had some sort of hand-propelled vehicle in which to pile up their shopping. He doubtless came up with a few different ideas and eventually settled on some sort of neo-cuboidal wireframe device with a handle at one end.
But then, something happened. Somehow the world managed to agree on the design so far, but something was to cause something of a schism in the realm of supermarket improvement.
If this was a Discovery documentary, there would now be a commercial break.
Somehow, the mechanism of steering a supermarket trolley in the United States ended up being different to that used in Europe. The Americans opted to have the rear wheels fixed on their vertical axis and the front wheels able to laterally rotate, much like the type of steering mechanism used on a car, or any other goddamned wheeled vehicle. The Europeans, however, elected to have all four wheels steer. This has the great benefit of making the device able to travel sideways, or diagonally, or through time, or across dimensions, with the only side effect that it cannot be deliberately moved in any direction whatsoever. The only way to steer a European shopping trolley is to crouch down behind it, stretch your arms down the entire length of its sides and rotate it using a shuffling motion like some sort of Russian dancer with an early Communist kidney dialysis machine. It is a common site in Europe to see old ladies, drawn and haggard, being led down the street by errant supermarket trolleys on journeys that had originated in a supermarket, sometimes one in the next town.
I believe this a useful and important thing to discuss. I would like to see some thought as to why America is good at shopping carts.
My hypothesis is that we are an intensely car-based society and we quickly applied our car knowledge to our shopping carts. If we could put horns on them and indicators that we could not use, we would. Myself, I often bring an airhorn to the grocery store just so I feel secure.
Although I found your ‘rant’ quite amusing, I must say I feel compelled to write a comment as an American living abroad in the UK for many years. In short, I can honestly say I’ve never had the problem you describe here in the UK. Perhaps you do not include the trollys in the UK in your assessment of ‘European trollys’ as problematic, medically disadvantaged Russians?
In fact, having shopped at big named shopping stores in the UK such as Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tescos and ASDA quite frequently over the past five years I can say that the trollys here work rather flawlessly, However I will concede the point that yes there is always that one ‘wonky trolly’, but I think every store across the planet has one wonky trolly amongst their herd of trollys– I am of course comparing my experience grocery shopping at stores such as Safeway, Abco Foods, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the USA, specifically Arizona.
Finally I would say that the US trollys are not that much better in practical use in my humble opinion, in fact, I found them to be not as well maintained (they constantly have something stuck in the wheel so that one wheel doesnt work at all leaving the shopper to have to shove their trolly around the store like a mule) and certainly they are not nearly as clean–all of which I am doubtful is specifically just an Arizona shopping trolly problem.
Whatever the case, keep the rants coming– rooted in reality or not, they are as I said before quite entertaining and good fun!
I have to disagree with you on this. Trolleys with all four wheels steerable are very easy to steer: you just push the handle sideways until the trolley is pointed in the correct direction, then push it forwards. (Admittedly having non-steering front wheels would possibly be an improvement). Having non-steering rear wheels means you have to swing the front of the trolley around which, if the trolley is full of heavy shopping and you are foolishly holding it by the handle, requires biceps like Geoff Capes’.
I agree with you on this one. UK trolleys are the most horrible things on wheels- unless you ever experienced a Mini-Moke. They steer poorly, wandering off like a drunken sailor. How could I ever teach my kids to drive one of these? Having said that (and needed more space) I must admit that we Yanks have done a great job of messing up a perfectly good design by often installing square wheels, bent frames and carts that permanently steer to the left.
Agree with you here. If you want to recreate that cart-wanders-with-a-mind-of-its-own experience, try IKEA. With what I suspect is a kind of sadistic smirk, they offer carts that feature 4-wheel independent steering, which is particularly, um, challenging when you want to slide an 80-pound box o’ unassembled furniture onto them. (“Hey! Damn it, come back here, you stupid cart!”) Not that _anyone_ would ever need to do that at IKEA, of course.
I do agree that a lot of American shopping carts* are wonky and have their own steering issues, due to (as noted by someone else) indifferent maintenance. The best thing to do in those cases is to offer your cart to a nice old lady and then go get another one. Similar issues transpire with the carts offered by places like Home Depot, which are supposed to help you wheel 12-foot plans and 4×8 sheets of plywood to the cashier. (“Our motto: How about if you do most of the work at our store?”)
A couple more observations. Target (among others) has introduced carts that are largely made of plastic. An interesting feature of these carts is that they build up shockingly (haha) high charges of static electricity, ouch. And a sociological observation is that carts at places like Costco are HUGE — the better to buy a bunch of stuff with, my dear. That said, the local supermarket is experimenting with some boutique carts, you could call them, which are slightly larger than the normal hand-held baskets — useful when you send grandma out for that 24-pack of Budweiser and a selection of chips.
* Not including the virtual kind, like on Amazon.
“plans” == “planks”
I completely agree! Shopping trolleys were not managable at all for me (I lived in the UK for five years….until 2007) with the only exception being Waitrose.
Both the trolleys AND the customers at our local Waitrose were orderly! 🙂
Regarding the other stores…..all I can say is if you shop anywhere else with the (trolley/customers), expect a nervous breakdown!
Great article, I certainly had a laugh!
Funny article, although in America shopping carts must be made reliable as so many are used as mobile storage bins during extended self-discovery ‘walk-abouts’ in the larger cities.
You learn.
The four-steerable wheels is ok on level ground but becomes an onerous activity on undulating surfaces such as footpaths. The natural action of the four-steerable-wheel trolleys is to go down the line of steepest slope, which is not often the intended direction of the pusher.
The supermarket trolley technically is no different from a child’s pram where only the front wheels are steerable.
Man… finally somebody brings this up. I’ve lived in the UK for three years.. and yes, as some readers point out above, the shopping “trolleys” here are not too difficult to use, until that is, you begin to fill them up… I’m a big strong lad, but a full, particularly heavy, cart with four castors is just about one of the most unwieldly inventions on the planet… which is especially frustrating since somebody actually purposely designed them that way. Going to your car on a slope is a joke… or turning corners… the whole damn thing just goes into a sideways drift that requires wrestling skills to curb. Having lived in the UK for a while now, I know I will get flack for this (the Brits have a lot of hang-ups about Americans, and the whole bigger and better thing that they think we have.. which may just be an inferiority complex at work… or maybe it’s just sometimes true…but I digress), but I genuinely think that given a choice of fixed rear wheel, or four free wheels, anyone who wasn’t predisposed to one type or the other would chose the fixed rear wheel… especially with a full cart… oh, and can I also mention the “shelf” on the bottom of American shopping carts… perfect for awkward items like small children, or bags of charcoal… plus they make a good place to stand when you want to “ride” your cart…missing in the UK. Give me Tesco’s fleet of carts, and a spot welder, and I could revolutionize shopping in this country.
I’m an American living in Ireland, where we also have the crazy four-wheel-steer carts (trolleys). We lived in Scotland for 4 years, as well. I’m amazed at the ridiculous design flaw on these things. I was thinking about it this morning when i blog I read was talking about the “two hole standard” ring binders here. Those are silly, too. The shopping carts trump them by far. So, I googled “Silly European shopping carts with all wheels spinning” and found a slew of people to share my frustration. Thanks for posting!! And Matteo, please bring your spot welder to Co. Cork, Ireland!!!
A Trolley with Steering! (From Australia of course.)
See this video of S/M Cart being steered perfectly and easily with one hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cniRd0jIFzc&feature=youtu.be
Here’s introducing a ‘conventional looking’ trolley that steers perfectly.
How is it done? A steering mechanism is incorporated into the rear castors.
Simple and Easy Operation
Direct the trolley where it is to go, and it will do so. Straight ahead, sharp turns, gentle turns, across slopes, loaded or unloaded; the EASY Trolley gives the operator perfect control.
I moved from the UK to the US 20 years ago, but I would swear my local Gateway had trollies that only steered in the back and had fixed wheels in the front. These were a piece of piss to steer. Of course I may have imagined them and inadvertently missed my chance to patent the idea.
I suspect America have missed a trick, as I am convinced that Europe’s shopping carts keep you in the shop longer. This in turn could potentially squeeze more money out of the customer. After all the name of the game is to make money and it is obvious to fix the rear wheels to make easier steering. Therefore why else haven’t they opted for this easy, and possibly cheaper solution?
I am a Kiwi…. (New Zealand’er) now loving in Australia and I absolutely hate the shopping trolleys here. They all have four wheels that swivel and the trolleys are impossible to steer in the slopping car parks….NZ have fixed rear wheels in most shopping centres. I am working on a solution and will keep you posted.
I live in New Zealand too as Ross.
I had an accident a few years ago and lost my walking for a while. Now I have recovered enough that I can walk with canes. To get a break from people who stare at me, I look pretty “normal” when I push a shopping trolley with fixed back wheels in NZ.
Now on holiday in Australia and I can not find a supermarket with proper shopping trolley. Because of my leg muscles are not strong enough, I look like a drunken sailor pushing the trolley and can bump into others or the shelves!
Hilarious!! And so true!
The British and the Irish were not too smart in trolley design when they incorporated casters on the back wheel design. As others have said spot Weld the back wheels. In fact next time I go to Ireland or UK I’ll bring a little portable spot welder and run it from the trunk/boot of my car.
I wonder if someone could invent some clips to keep the rear wheels straight? I’d buy one for sure! And take to my weekly supermarket shop to avoid unintended drifting on a slope, or straining my joints to negotiate corners!