• jqubed@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Spent the past couple weeks in France visiting my wife’s family, and was surprised that most of the stores had the coin locks but were not using them, as in they had all been disconnected so you didn’t need to use a coin to release them. I think the only store we needed coins at was E.Leclerc.

    • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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      9 hours ago

      Interesting. Presumably, enough of their customers now show up without the appropriate coins, due to electronic payment methods being available otherwise, that they decided to not require coins.

      Here in Germany, where we hold onto cash a bit more dearly due to our Stasi-past, I don’t know any shop where I can take a shopping cart without sticking a coin in…

      • garbagebagel@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Yeah there’s a few in Canada too that still use the coin. They usually will give you a coin to use if you go to customer service and ask. Most places just gave up though and abandoned that system. I wonder if it was costing them more to try to maintain or something. I’d imagine that people who have a cart tend to buy more, whereas if they’re forced to use baskets because they don’t have a coin, they might not buy as much. I know that’s the case for me at least.