'Love it': Shoppers react to new Woolworths trolley feature
Supermarket shoppers are going wild over a new feature in a Woolworths store introduced earlier this month as part of a trial.
A trolley disinfecting machine, highlighted in a customer's TikTok video, was installed in the Oran Park store, southwest of Sydney, on April 16.
The device was specifically designed for shoppers and allows them to use a freshly disinfected trolley after less than two seconds inside the machine.
Woolworths said the machine had so far just been installed in the Oran Park store and feedback would determine whether it would be rolled out elsewhere.
The TikTok video, shared to the platform on Monday by user sezzarellaruby, has been viewed 1.4 million times and has attracted comments from more than 60,000 people.
"I love this! Those trolleys are never cleaned, sit outside and then we put food in them? I was hoping we would get this one day," one comment read.
Some sceptical about Woolworths trolley cleaning machine
Others were slightly more sceptical about its practicality, arguing that shoppers had to touch the trolley to move it into the machine, then press the same button as everyone else to start it.
"But you still have to touch it to put it In there to sterilise it, so then anything that was on it is now on your hands," one person wrote.
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"She’s already touched it," another agreed.
"I like the idea but everyone is touching the sane button to turn it on," someone else wrote.
Others speculated money collected from Woolworths wage cuts or its 15 cent reusable bags was used to pay for the machine.
"Great waste of money," another person wrote.
Trial has proven 'popular', Woolworths says
Woolworths told Yahoo News Australia the machine was one way the store was trying to keep its "customers and teams safe".
"As a food retailer, we already have very high standards of cleaning and hygiene in our supermarkets including the thorough cleaning of high touchpoint areas including shopping trolleys," a spokesperson said.
"As part of our Covidsafe program we are trialling a bespoke customer trolley disinfectant unit at our Oran Park store, which enables customers to push a trolley into a dedicated standalone unit where it is sprayed with disinfectant.
The spokesperson said the cleaning process had proven "very popular with customers looking for a fast and efficient way to clean their trolleys".
"We're always looking for ways to make the in-store customer experience more convenient, and will closely monitor customer feedback over the coming weeks."
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