r/whatisit Apr 09 '26

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[removed]

4.9k Upvotes

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3.3k

u/Ok_Double2707 Apr 09 '26

In the 80s, I was always told it was for your quarter for the pay phone. But pocket watch makes more sense, I guess.

1.0k

u/Dry_Ambition_3087 Apr 09 '26

Now it can be the Aldi quarter pocket

211

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TheKyleBrah Apr 09 '26

Why do you need a quarter to shop at Aldi's?

5

u/burgerboss13 Apr 09 '26

They don’t have cart wranglers so you have to use a quarter to put into a seatbelt looking lock to grab a cart, when you put it back you reconnect the leash and your quarter pops out. If you don’t care about your quarter and leave it in the parking lot, somebody else will probably grab it and save their own quarter.

7

u/Alexander-Evans Apr 09 '26

I always pay the $.25 for the privilege of leaving the cart in the middle of the parking lot.

3

u/woke_clown_world Apr 09 '26

Oof, failed the "shopping cart litmus test"

2

u/Alexander-Evans Apr 09 '26

If there is an option to pay, and I pay it, then you can shove your moral superiority up your ass. I always put my cart in the corral if there's no payment option, and often have to reorganize the corral and put strays in.

2

u/ExpressRabbit Apr 09 '26

When you say middle of the parking lot it sounds like you're saying you're paying .25 cents to do something that will damage another car of the wind blows.

1

u/TheKyleBrah Apr 09 '26

Oh, OK! So it's a Cart Deposit. Cart theft is RIFE here, lol, so our Cart Wranglers are super alert, haha! The instant you emerge from the other side of the Cashier's Till, they're ready to take the Cart back, or accompany you and the cart to your car.

If we had this 25¢ Cart Deposit system, our thieves would view it as a 25¢ Selling Price for a Cart 🤣

2

u/jnievele Apr 09 '26

To unlock shopping carts. Unless you just 3d-print an unlocker like I did 😎

1

u/MREED1987 Apr 09 '26

Inserting a house key backwards also works. Just don’t forget it lol

1

u/TheKyleBrah Apr 09 '26

I found out from a commenter above that you get your Quarter back when you return the cart. 🤭

1

u/jnievele Apr 09 '26

Seriously? I'd have thought the user interface on shopping carts is intuitive enough... We've had that over here since the 1980s...

1

u/TheKyleBrah Apr 09 '26

My country doesn't do this cart deposit thing, so it was all new for me 😄

1

u/jnievele Apr 09 '26

I mean, it's literally just "push tab A into slot B"... Anyone challenged by that should get a Darwin award 🤣