Shopping trolleys

Submitted by louiseds on October 4, 2010 - 3:43am
Body: 

What is it about shopping trolleys??? They were designed by Satan!

I refuse to fight them. There is always a point of balance somewhere on them, which you can steer by, with one hand. I have found that it is usually along one of the sides, about 200mm towards the front from the handle. It might be in a slightly different place, depending on whether you are pushing or pulling it directly up or down a slope, or across the slope. Get it right and they almost steer themselves, in a good way. You can find it by sliding your hand along from the handle and around the corner, and along the top edge of the side until you can turn it either way, almost effortlessly.

I should probably add a new term for it; Trolley Whispering.

ps I have only discovered this since having POP. I am not sure that it would work with children in tow.

Louise :-)

kiki

October 4, 2010 - 11:33pm

I love that you are thinking aobut this! I hate them! I usually refuse to use them. When i go shopping i take my wheeley trolley from Ikea, and put everything in that, take it out to pay, and put it back in. I have yet to be accused of shoplifting, so so far to good.
but sometimes, the trolley just has to happen. had to this saturday night at Ikea with a very tired DS2 and bad parents who dared to drag the kids out tooooo late to go get things... So he was in it, and I had to push a bit. argh! it actually makes my back vag wall ache! not a good sign. you are so right...satan was definitely involved somewhere along the way.

i will try your method Louise, but definitely don't think it would work with a heavy child in it...
let's hope the shops let em keep packing my wheely case (which btw once heavy, i find better to push in front of me than to pulll)

(and for anyone who thinks shopping bags on wheels you pull are, well, not hip, i saw that Orla Keeley does one for a mere $350--so they must have entered the age of hipness! Ikea also do one for £14...I know which I go for)

louiseds

October 5, 2010 - 12:49am

... shopping trolleys are really only a really big box on wheels, so you can theoretically buy heaps more than you need, and get it all to the checkout, then out the other side and out to your car, without needing help from anybody who is being paid $$$$$ by the Chain. The other requirement of a shopping trolley is that it needs to somehow be able to take up less space than it occupies, so that it doesn't jam up shopping centre car parks, and can be reasonably easily collected into a snake for bulk handling back to the shop.

It does not have to be easy to
push,
pull,
steer eithout bashing into a wall, or display, or cabinet,
keep from overturning,
stop,
keep in one place on a slope, while removing a toddler or bags of shopping,
steer without dislocating a knee,
start,
transfer shopping into your car,
park safely,
not put dents in cars,
not have sharp bits than make holes in people's ankles,
have a solid compartment that small items won't slip through and get lost,
wheel quietly,
etc.

Seatbelts for toddlers mean that Mum can shop at 'leisure' without a child on lhe hip, or dismantling displays or getting lost and squashed by a forklift, without any help from the aforementioned paid staff member.

ie they are very shopping centre-centric, not customer-centric. Am I surprised that they don't cost anything to hire? Yes.

I really think having a little trolley of your own is a much better option, except that, like our shopping bags, it is sometimes hard to remember to put it back in the car when we have unpacked the shopping.

Yes, pulling a heavy trolley would be harder than pushing it. Pulling requires hunching the shoulders, or twisting and pulling, which will be bad for POP, whichever way we do it.

I am going to keep an eye out for a foldable box type trolley that I can keep in the car.

clavicula

October 5, 2010 - 12:49am

Louise, you are so funny! :)
Yeah, I never use them. My husband does all the shopping for me! I am so lucky! :)

Liv

louiseds

October 5, 2010 - 2:43am

Actually Liv, shopping bores me s&*^less. Thinking about the design of shopping trolleys is much more interesting than shopping itself. Yes, I admit it. I'm a nerd.

tullyleaf

October 7, 2010 - 4:58pm

im so pleased im not the only one who seethes inwardly at the shockingly poor design of shopping trolleys. pushing them is horrible,making shopping even more of a consumer obstacle course/nightmare!
i find pushing them from the end, instead of using the handle end.this stops me having to jerk my body so much to adust its wild trajectory.my son also likes to 'drive' as he is at the front.
my pelvis seperated during my first pregnancy(S.P.D) and pushing a trolley would have my pelvis literaly grinding together at the seperation,pretty painfull!
when i had my pop,3 months pp,second baby, i bought a pram,as i had previously worn my babies, i didnt have one suitable for a baby,only a simple pushchair that my toddler used occasionaly,and carrying my baby was impossible for any length of time for me. my main requirements were that my baby would face me,and that it have a ridiculusly huge under carriage storage space.it took a while to find,but i have one with a flat open platform that i put a shopping basket on when i go shopping,when we are out and about my son can hitch a ride,(sitting cross legged on the platform) colouring in or munching a snack when his little legs tire. x