Shopping Cart Heaven

Call me part Swiss, but I return my shopping cart in parking lots, no matter what the weather.  Stray shopping carts look untidy, block parking spaces and you should generally put things that you borrow back where you found them, or at least where the owner expects them to be. Not to mention the higher prices when stores pass the cost of stolen carts along to consumers.

Well, for people like me, Swiss shopping is Nirvana.  They have a system that makes sure shopping carts are properly returned.  We could use this back home!

To borrow a cart, simply slide either a franc coin or a two franc coin into a slot near the handle.  This in turn pushes out a “key” which is attached by a chain to the cart in front of it. Commence shopping and being stunned by the prices in Switzerland. After unloading your expensive provisions, return your cart, replace the key into your shopping cart by grabbing the chain from the cart before yours.  Insert the “key” back into your cart, and your coin is unceremoniously ejected from the slot.

I have heard that some less fortunate people try to help shoppers by returning carts and collecting the franc coin in return. That’s one way to earn some cash, I guess!

And, while I don’t need reading glasses yet, the Swiss store Coop has ingeniously added a magnifying glass to some of their carts to help us old folks read the tiny print on packages.  I think it may be even smaller here since all packaging requires the directions and contents in three languages.

Happy Swiss Shopping!

Top photo courtesy of Gary Wescott
The Turtle Expedition, Unltd.
Writer, Photographer, Producer
www.TurtleExpedition.com <http://www.TurtleExpedition.com>

About My Red Shoe Adventure

  
Welcome to my blog about my life and observations in Switzerland. My name is Kathy, and my husband and I just moved to Schaffhausen, Switzerland about two months ago, and I am finding life in Die Schweiz quite interesting.

I visited Switzerland around two and a half years ago and happily posted on my Facebook page that “the Swiss Should Run the World” to which a friend posted back, quite rightly that, the Swiss would not want to run the world. Quite frankly they are too smart to want to run the world! Two months into my stay here, and I still think they should run the world.

I plan to blog about life here in Schaffhausen and the things that I love - wine, entertaining cooking, traveling, gardening and crafting. It should help all my friends and family back home in Florida and California keep up with our lives and entertain my new friends in Schaffhausen as well.

Why “My Red Shoe Adventure”? Prepping for my big move to Schaffhausen I read the book, Swiss Watching: Inside Europe’s Landlocked Island, in which the author, Diccon Bewes, noted that the Swiss wear red shoes more often than he had seen elsewhere in the world. He wasn’t sure if this was due to patriotism, since the Swiss Flag is red and white, that the Swiss are friends of Dorothy, subconsciously wanting to wear ruby slippers, or that they just have poor fashion sense, since the red shoes seldom match anything else in their ensembles. I think it’s just a quiet attempt to rebel against the Swiss need for conformity in all things, including conservative clothing. I have read a few other blogs that made the same red shoe observation. Who knows why?

I passed on this tidbit to my girlfriends before moving, and at my going away party, I was ceremoniously given my own pair of red shoes, so I too could “fit in”. I assure you that the red shoes will only be worn when red is seen elsewhere in my outfit. Not to worry, my fashion conscience friends!

So this is My Red Shoe Adventure, a place where my friends and family can keep up with my escapades in the middle of Europe and my new friends can share in the adventure.



Grüezi mitenand!