Supermarket chain Albert Heijn is ending the system under which customers have to put a coin into a shopping cart. According to the supermarket, it turns out in the time of Corona that coins are not actually necessary.

Company spokesperson Anusica Asplag says in Radio NOS 1 News.

The coin-operated system was introduced around 1985 to reduce the number of roving shopping carts. Customers often take the carts home or use them for other purposes; Then the relatively expensive carts were not returned to the store.

For a long time, coins – guilders and later 50 euro cents – had to be put in the cart to be able to use it. As fewer and fewer people have coins in their pockets, nowadays a plastic coin can be used. These coins are made and distributed by the supermarket itself. According to a store chain spokesperson, stopping the coins saves thousands of kilograms of plastic annually. NU.nl.

According to the supermarket, the irritation factor will disappear with coin cancellation: customers often don’t have a coin with them or have to look for it.

Albert Heijn branches can decide for themselves exactly when to stop coins, according to the spokesperson, which will be “somewhere in the coming weeks”. Slots on shopping carts are initially recorded. “Eventually we have to remove it, but this is the second step.”

When asked, other supermarket chains have not yet responded to the question if they intend to discontinue the coinage system.