As if shopping isn't enough hassle, it annoys me when shops eg my local Morrisons expect you to have £1 coin to use their trolleys (all my £1 coins go to feed car park meter at work but that's another story).

So well done to Homebase who sent their card holders a token that not only fits their trolleys but has a pretty Marie Curie symbol on it - so the charity must have benefited as well.

Waitrose, which I pop into when I'm feeling flush and in need of cheering up, doesn't enforce the £1 rule - presumably because the Waitrose customer is not interested in running about town in a trolley and leaving it in a ditch. The £1 coin rule is annoying - no more so than when you don't have a pound coin. When I've very organised I keep a stash of them in the car for emergencies. Worse than not having one, however, is when they jam or break. You have to spend an age at customer services trying to retrieve your trolley and your pound.

My local garage was selling the tokens for trolleys in aid of a charity recently. It sounds an excellent idea. Tesco do not have that type of trolley.

And, aside from the trolley issue, I would love to see more of a recycling scheme at supermarkets for plastic bags and packaging in general - like what happens in mainland Europe. Remove the packaging you don't want before you leave the store. Also, I don't like the fact that I'm advertising the supermarkets as I'm walking about carrying their bags for all to see, so I sometimes forget about the bags altogether and try and fit everything in my rucksack - sans plastic bags. Not the best idea if you have a large family to feed, but I don't wear clothes with brand names emblazoned all over them either. Why should I pay to advertise French Connection etc? Crazy. They should pay me.

On the subject of trollies. At the Cardiff show this weekend there were a few people with a marvellous collapsable plastic trolley crate on wheels. These looked great for carting plants etc back to the car. Evidentally they were on sale at a previous RHS show in London and sold like hot cakes but sadly the supplier didn't have a stand at Cardiff. Can anyone give me any clues as to how I can buy one of these?

Makro sell these trollies, and I know that Ive seen them somewhere else (but can think where at the moment), so they are around. They are OK, but would flex a bit if you had a very heavy load in them.
Re plastic bags, I carry a hessian bag in my handbag at all times, so I have a carrier to hand when I need one. I also have a larger one in the back of the car (along with a collapsable plastic crate) for when I do the weekly grocery shop.
I heard that the average person in the UK uses 135 plastic carriers per year, so have set myself a goal this year of 1 per month. So far, so good........

Hi Cleonie & Kiwigirl

Yes - we were trying to track down a supplier for the magazine and couldn't find one despite ordering wholesale catalogues. I tried the web but just kept getting metal trolleys.

Never thought of Makro!

We use a lot of plastic carriers on the weekly family shop - we just can't seem to remember to take in old ones - re-using cardboard boxes from supermarket would be good.

Hi all,
Generally I do my shopping in town since I only live 5 minutes walk from my town centre, so I've bought one of those 4 wheeled trolleys you normally see elderly people with. I just put everything I buy strait in the trolley, although if it's fruit/veg and meat I do put them in the small plastic bags so they'll be easier to move in the trolley and won't get squished...
It might not be ideal for someone else that has kids (plus I don't work at the minute unfortunately so I got time to mess around in town) but for me its local, saves gas and it keeps me fit pushing it around :D

reg the £1 for the trolley in the supermarkets, the easiest sollution is to buy one of those key rings that you can use on the trolleys. our Asda doesn't need a pound coin since there's no local ditch I think, but other places do have them and that's why they "charge", stops the kids messing about.

Tesco in Northern Ireland do have that sort of trolley and several years ago they sold for £1 a token in aid of a charity it was complete with a hole and split ring to attach it to your car key ring. I still have mine it is battered but still works:)

I've just been told by my partner, that Lakeland do them. The collapsible trolleys I mean:) www.lakelandlimited.com

Hi again,
The company that was selling these trollises in the NEC show is :
http://www.thetradersclub.co.uk/
but they're not on the website.
either way, they'll be abit too small for food shoping :)

i have a trolley token keyring with a welsh falg on it but i use big trolleys in asda now for the baby to sit in so i dont use it. its still a funky keyring though lol.

also i got a tesco home delivery today, and not only do they give you the option to recieve your shopping without carrier bags, they will take ANY old carrier bags away with them to their recycling station. how good is that?

Gemma,
I used one cymru token keyring for a somerfield trolley a few weeks ago talk about a problem mawr big mistake the placing in was easy but the replacing back was comical.
The trolley attendant was almost frothing at the mouth poor guy, these tokens blah d blah he retrieved it after much deliberation and I took my shopping out and off like some told off school girl.
Will have to go to asda I like lidle very good wouldn't it make life a lot easier if those conglomerates would oblige by supplying their own business trolley tokens.
Then we would feel the weight of our shopping preferences on our key rings just a thought.
Blessings,
Yvonne.

Hi
I had a trolley token which was sold on behalf of a Local charity in Sheffield. Great, but once again, gets stuck in some trolleys. I think some of them do it on purpose so you have to buy their token and cant use one you bought somewhere else.

Hi The folding shopping carts that were on sale in london RHS was from a company called traders club and the website is www.tradersclubuk.com, They are fantastic i use my one for everything, the salesman informed me it will hold 80 pounds in wieght. hope this helped

Hi aaron

Many thanks for this - I've been trying to track some down for ages