Please tell me, am I the only one that thinks that it is ridiculous that the NEX and Commissary are charging 1 euro to use their carts? I understand that there are carts all over the base, but honestly how hard would it be to hire a HS student to walk around the base and bring the carts back.

I dont see how this is going to keep the carts from traveling all over base. I mean if you live on SS, then all you have to do is take it home with you and for 1 euro you have a cart you can continue to use as usual.

Hiring someone would just be too easy for them to do. Its better that we spend money to get the change machine, buy new carts, and build the cart corrals than to actually hire a student to walk around the base and gather them up.

They make no sense at all. But this is the same crew who puts up all kinds of policies and then doesnt enforce them. So we can probably expect more of the same lunacy in the future.

They aren't charging, it's refundable, like at Auchan. When we first moved here all the NEX carts had the charge on them and the Commissary wouldn't let their carts leave the store and there were no carts all over the base. Now you go into the commissary and there are 6 customers in the whole store but no carts, or you drive around and kids are using upside down carts to climb trees, or people are hauling their leaky trash to the garbage in a cart.

The CO already said months ago that if people want to take a cart home but can't be responsible enough to take it back to the store (and 99% of them can't be bothered), he would do this. I'm glad he did what he said he would.

Well at least we do get the Euro back when we return the carts. Hopefully this will work, but I am not sure it will keep people from not returning them. Some people could care less about a euro. Lets just cross our fingers and hope this works!!

It is about time they started this. How many of us have gone into the Commissary and there were no carts available. Someone will make some money on finding stray carts around the SS. Hope this stays for the present and future.

I agree this is a good idea, I'm all for it. However, whats to stop someone from gathering two carts near their home and locking them together, then someone adds another and more and so on and soon their is a chain of carts in front of other buildings not the commissary/NEX

I see all these kids destroying the carts and people taking them and not bring them back in our building alone there are few from one family i think it looks tacky and makes the base looks dirty. I use to shop at aldis and it was the same way u get your money back so why complain. When they had it like that when we got out here i had no problem with it. It was said it was a trail and if people did exactly what they did do they would go back to the money thing im all for it i like having carts at the store when i go

The only problem I have with the system that was put in place, is that it takes Euros, and personally, I very seldom bring Euro money to shop at the NEX/Commisary. It has however, encouraged me to do more of my shopping out in town, there are many things that can be found cheaper out in town than at the Commisary especially, like all fruits and vegatables, most raw ingredients, the one large exception is meat, but if all you're buying is meat, then why use the carts? Grab a hand basket, do the shopping at the commisary that saves you money (which is seldom more than 15 items), and get out in town to do the rest of the shopping. They might believe they have a captive audience, but if people disagree with their policies on things like this, bring your business elsewhere, there are other places you can shop, and experience more of Italy while you do it.

Daniel ~ The reason I assume they chose euros vs. dollars is that the largest denomination for the USD coins is a quarter. If all it took was a quarter, I am pretty confident people would not worry about not getting just 25 cents back and they would leave the cart wherever it is most convenient for them. People are still leaving the only few carts without the euro device around the base. I have counted at least 4 in the area where I live.

I don't live on the base and I have 3 small children. It is very hard for me when I come to the base because I have to find a parking spot and then leave my kids in the car and run to get a cart or I have to get them out of the car carrying one (11 months old) holding anothers hand (2 years old)and looking out for the other one and then go get a cart. Trying to get a Euro out and put it in with my 11 month old on one hip, pulling the cart out and still trying to hold on to the 2 year old and watching for cars is not a thing I like doing. And yes I have tried to get carts inside the NEX but sometimes there aren't any carts to get. Once I get the littles ones in the cart I still have to go back to my car and get stuff out of it like my purse, diaper bag and if I am returning anything to the Nex or anything that I might need to mail. It actually makes me want not want to go to the base. I use to like it when I pull up in a spot and there was a cart sitting right there.

Daniel, Colleen are totally correct!

I rarely carry Euro cash either; I have to remember now that if I want to do any substantial shoppiDaniel, Colleen are totally correct!

I rarely carry Euro cash either; I have to remember now that if I want to do any substantial shopping in the NEX/Commissary that I need to bring Euro to get a cart.

The layout of the Commissary makes it awkward to retrieve your cart as well, having to walk around the staging area, then get your cart and head back to the produce area if required.

Also once you get to your car, if someone happens to be waiting to take your spot, they have to wait until you return your cart.

I understand the reasoning, but it is definitely a major inconvenience!

ng in the NEX/Commisary that I need to bring Euro to get a cart.

The layout of the Commissary makes it awkward to retrieve your cart as well, having to walk around the staging area, then get your cart and head back to the produce area if required.

Also once you get to your car, if someone happens to be waiting to take your spot, they have to wait until you return your cart.

I understand the reasoning, but it is definately a major inconveince!

So now that it has been a few months, can we say this "cart lock down" is working? NO! I still see carts all over the base, plus people are breaking the chains and jamming the locks. Wonder what's next? One base we were stationed at had the cement polls so you could not drive the cart past the front of the store, but they also offered a wide covered parking lane that butted up to these polls allowing you to put your groceries in your vehicle.

Hmmm! wonder who's bright idea it was to make the carts (again) a paid luxuary???? I don't have a problem paying, I just wish there was a machine where you could put in $$ and get a Euro. I would love to buy a key chain with a Euro permanantly fixed to it so you always have it on your key ring. They have them in the UK for the pound coins, that I would pay extra for to always have.

Could be worse. In Yokosuka, we couldn't take our cart that we used in the NEX into the commisary for sanitation reasons (???) so we had to switch out our stuff from the NEx cart to the com cart. Couldn't take their cart out of the store, either, so you had to try to hide a cart or hope that there was a cart somewhere nearby outside (and that it wasn't raining) that was available that could be grabbed to take your groceries home (if you lived nearby on base) or you had to pay the baggers to bring it to your car if you were parked in the lot. (You could bring your groceries to your car using their buggies, but they made life hard on the customer for doing so.) My makeshift solution there could work here as well: Bring a baby stroller or one of those portable shopping carts and have the cart when and where you want it!

I agree with Brian, we were stationed in Yokosuka over 10 years ago and it was that way back then. However, it wasn't such a big deal to take the carts back to the apartments (towers) on base because they would have a little truck with a cart trailer go around to the buildings every day or every other day to round the carts up. The thing is, the workers weren't that lazy. Now back home in Australia we have the carts that require a $2 coin but if you pay $5.00 you can get a coin 'key' which eliminates the need to find a $2.00 coin in your purse. That way you never have to worry about change. They could have done that here and sold the key's for say $5 - $10 then people would be more inclined to return them because they have their reusable key on it and it will be another $5 - $10.00 to replace. Then upon pcsing just return the key and get your money back. It was so simple because we could attach it to our keyring so that we wouldn't loose it. It wasn't brain science but I guess it was just another case of 'poor planning' on the base....

I think that the euro deposit system has made things worse. Most carts now have the chain broken or locked together in a mish-mash way that you can't undo. I see more carts near my building now than I did before. At my commisary back in the States they had someone clearing the carts from the parking lot and had lanes outside for you to put them in. I understand the theory behind the deposit, but I can't even bag my own groceries or have someone bagging it without having to pay. I feel like I am getting nickled and dimed (or euroed) to death. Why not create more jobs by hiring a cart collector and actually hire baggers so we don't have to supplement the baggers salary? I miss State-side grocery shopping where a conversation like this won't ever need to exist!

I totally agree with you Cole. I had made it a point to go through the Self-Checkout only so I don't have to feel obligated by a bagger that doesn't even say "TWO WORDS" to me!!! That makes me so mad! But the 'quality' of customer service is no joke here either! The cashiers at the commissary will 'stop scanning' my groceries to stretch, answer their cell phone, text their friend back or do absolutely 'whatever' but WORK! It is absolutely astonishing to me as to how in the world or who in the world gave them a job!!!?? I could go completely on and on about that so I will stop here...I have another solution to avoid paying someone a tip (which I used back in the states): If a bagger is rude or just doesn't have any kind of interraction with you while handling your groceries - then turn to you after loading your items in your car and 'expect' a tip = Tell them this, "Your tip for today is WORK ON YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS!"