'Disgrace': Man slams Woolworths over common sight on street
A man has vented his frustration at Woolworths after seeing several trolleys abandoned on the side of the road, which he claims had been there for over a week.
"What a sheer disgrace this is," the man said on Facebook, adding it was near the Carnegie Woolworths in Victoria.
"A dozen or so trolleys strewn across numerous nature strips that have been there for over a week! Complained to each and every department to no satisfaction."
The photos shared to the Woolworths Facebook page show several discarded trolleys on the side of the road.
Someone in the comments suggested the man contact Trolley Tracker, a service which works with local governments, trolley collection contractors and supermarkets to "achieve collaborative, measurable results to the benefit of all parties".
Trolley Tracker allows people to report wayward trolleys and for them to be collected by the right party.
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Woolworths partners with Trolley Tracker, as does the likes of Big-W and Dan Murphy's in several parts of Australia, so in response to the man, Woolies suggested he report the trolleys through the service.
However, the man said on Facebook he had already contacted Trolley Tracker.
The supermarket giant apologised for the trolleys causing an inconvenience to the locals.
"We never want our trolleys to be the cause of inconvenience and work with the community to reduce the problem," Woolworths said on Facebook.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the capacity to stop our customers to take the trolley outside of the shop as this can be initiated from the store."
The man then suggested the Carnegie store could utilise a coin system, as the store did a number of years ago, but when that stopped "this problem has got worse", the man alleged.
Woolworths responded, assuring the man the store management was made aware of the issue and suggested he speak to the store manager directly, should the issue arise in the future.
"I’ve spoken to numerous store managers for over 6 years about the problem without resolution," he said.
Yahoo News Australia understands trolley collection services do a daily run around the perimeter of a store to ensure there are no wayward trolleys and if the problem is known to be particularly rife in an area, that area is included in the patrols.
In a statement to Yahoo News Australia, a Woolworths spokesperson acknowledged abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance.
"Trolleys are provided for the convenience of our customers and the vast majority do the right thing in returning them," the spokesperson said.
"We understand abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that's why we invest many millions in collection services to help mitigate their impact in the community."
The spokesperson also said Woolworths closely works with dedicated collection contractors who respond swiftly to reports of abandoned trolleys so they can be returned to stores.
"They also conduct regular sweeps for abandoned trolleys in the streets surrounding our stores," the spokesperson said.
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