How to Unlock a Shopping Cart Without Coins

How to Unlock a Shopping Cart Without Coins
November 7, 2019 363 view(s)
How to Unlock a Shopping Cart Without Coins

The chances are, we have all been stuck in this situation at one point in our lives, or if you are unlucky – more than once. You rush out to the grocery store reciting your items in your head over and over like you are back in school and they are the answers to an upcoming quiz. You dodge people, hurry through the crowds, get to the shopping cart area and realize...the carts need a coin for you to release them from their tethered jail. Who carries coins anymore in 2019? Not many of us, that’s for sure! If only there were a way to make sure you didn’t have to lie in wait at the front of the store for a rogue cart to appear or try and barter with a stranger for a coin! The good news is that this shows how Canadian shopping cart coin keychains can be a valuable item for marketing campaigns and users alike.

What is a trolley coin?

You have probably seen one of these without knowing what they are, or perhaps the name of the product has come up in conversation or online and you never had the chance to find out anything about them. These handy items are also known as shopping cart coins or shopping cart tokens, but basically a supermarket trolley coin is a reusable, non-monetary, coin shaped piece of metal that comes with a keyring attachment. This design allows it to be easily attached to whatever is most convenient for the owner, whether that turns out to be their purse, their bag, wherever they decide is the most useful! A trolley coin’s purpose is to replace the real coin that’s normally required in order to release a shopping cart, a coin not everyone always has on them when they need it! With so many shopping carts needing a coin before they can be used, grocery cart coin keychains in Canada are rapidly becoming a popular, highly sought after and valuable item in people’s day to day lives.

How reusable shopping cart coins can benefit the environment

But why are so many grocery chains choosing to use carts that need a coin before customers can use them? Surely this inconvenience and frustration must have a reason, or are our grocery store owners just evil overlords who like watching us scramble around for an item we probably don’t have before we can enter their store? One of the key reasons that shopping markets both large and small are choosing to use this tactic isn’t to make their customers pull their hair out, but to reduce the number of carts that never make it back to their storage corral. Without the incentive of getting their coin back, the sad fact is that many people choose to dump their cart once they have finished using it.

Eco friendly tag on a wooden background

This lazy behaviour can lead to anything from wasted staff time as employees rush around collecting them (and when you have a lot of customers that is a lot of time wasted!), to the more serious issue of dumping in public. Abandoned carts are large and even a few can easily pollute green areas, play areas and even rivers. Even if the person ditching their cart decides to leave it somewhere urban, things with wheels will travel and no one wants to see their company’s custom printed logo on an item that’s ruining a public area.

Printed trolley coin keyrings help towards solving the issue of cart abandonment, without the headache of customers needing a coin before they can start to shop. Few people would want to lose their reusable coin for the sake of walking a few steps to the cart corral and this helps keep both the carts we need tidily outside of grocery stores, and out of the rivers and greenbelt where they definitely don’t belong.

Why shopping cart coin keychains are becoming so popular

Reusable shopping cart coins are really taking off! Already a hit in many areas of Europe and Australia, they are heading to Canada and gaining popularity as they come. Part of the reason is because we are living in a world that no longer uses coins as much. With the majority of us preferring the ease of debit and credit transactions (most of us equally not sorry about leaving behind the dark days of riffling through our wallets for coins while an impatient queue forms behind us like some unwanted backing dance troupe), real coins could possibly be one day consigned to the pages of history as we move forward in these modern times.

Yet, with stores cracking down on pollution and cart theft, people still have the need for a coin. That is, if they don’t want to take their chances and try to stagger around the store trying to balance their groceries like some sort of second-rate juggler while other, more prepared shoppers give them the side eye. Shopping trolley coin keyrings allow us to bridge the gap between traditional items that are being phased out but still meet the needs of the 21st century consumer and this just might help explain why they are becoming so popular with advertising campaigns, fundraisers and more.

Are promotional trolley coins really that useful in advertising?

At Dynamic Gift Canada, we are confident that these humble little items have more than enough merit and advertising power to earn their own personal blog – but the key benefits of choosing custom printed promotional trolley coins can be broken down into these easy highlights!

Statistics chart showing increased success from advertising

They are easy to design

Creating promotional trolley coins is rarely a stressful process, no matter what your experience level. Sometimes even when you are working with a professional company it’s easy to become lost in the design wilderness with anything from unfamiliar terminology to being unsure if your colour scheme will clash with people’s belongings. Canadian shopping cart tokens are a simple, yet eye catching product that helps the creator get the advertising tool they need, without the production process driving them crazy!

Your choice of custom print style

For such a small item, supermarket trolley coins certainly come with a huge choice of design styles. From recessed enamel ink fills, digital and screen prints and moulded and polished, you can easily create something that is unique and give your branded product it’s best chance of standing out, as well as creating an item that’s more tailored to you and your company’s goals.

Supermarket trolley coins are portable and lightweight

No one wants to create a promotional item that literally weighs people down! Even a well designed and appealing product is likely to be left at home if it is heavy or difficult to transport, but shopping cart token key chains are sturdy yet very light, meaning they are likely to stay close to the person they belong to until they need it.

Shopping cart trolley coin keyrings are advertising that lasts

Disposable advertising is something that many companies are turning their backs on, and with good reason! From the increased cost of fast repeat investment, to short term advertising lifespans and the risk of being associated with environmental pollution, it’s no small surprise that businesses are looking for more lasting alternatives for promotions. Imprinted cart tokens are a lasting, highly durable method of promoting and this gives shopping cart tokens an advantage when it comes to creating a more lasting form of advertising that can keep your important message in circulation for several years.

How do trolley coins get branded with my logo?

We talked a little bit about some of the types of design methods you can use to create your shopping cart token key chains, but there are so many that it’s worth breaking them down into their own sections to help you choose the style that best suits your needs!

quarter shaped shopping cart token with white and blue screen printed epoxy dome and a trigger clip with split ring

Screen printed with an epoxy dome finish – Screen printing allows a vibrant colour print that can be achieved by using Pantone matched inks, allowing a crisp, sharp design to be created – even on a small surface like a coin cart keychain! This process is then sealed with a hard, clear epoxy dome coating that allows the design to potentially stay fresh for years to come.

quarter shaped shopping cart token with black, yellow and white hard enamel fill and a trigger clip with split ring

Stamped with raised enamel ink fill – Once stamped with an iron die, the trolley coin is filled with Pantone matched enamel until the entire product has a flat surface finish, allowing for a more lasting product that is scratch and dent resistant.

loonie shaped shopping cart token with black, white and blue soft enamel fill and a trigger clip with split ring

Stamped with recessed enamel ink fill – Iron stamped in the same way as the raised enamel option, this variation leaves recesses, creating an appealing 3D-like effect that is one of the most popular types we offer!

quarter shaped shopping cart token with full colour printed epoxy dome and a trigger clip with split ring

Full colour digitally printed with an epoxy dome finish – This method allows for creating a stunning full colour design with photographs or gradient logos, offering a highly tailored and unique style that is personalized to the customer! This, like its screen printed cousin, is covered by a hard wearing, clear epoxy dome finish to prolong its life and reduce wear and tear to your customized branding.

loonie shaped shopping cart token with simple mould and polish finish and a trigger clip with split ring

Simple moulded and polished – And finally, maybe printed or ink filled aren’t for you? If they’re not your style, no problem! Moulded and polished cart coins are simple yet highly appealing. We offer a huge range of metal finishes, so creating something that looks as elegant, or as much like a modern day pirate’s treasure as you desire – is easy, affordable and stress-free!

Whichever method you decide to go with in the end, this list gives us an insight into how the wide variety of design options are helping make grocery cart coin keychains in Canada so popular in all types of advertising campaigns.

Raising money and awareness – your fundraiser and printed trolley coin keyrings

Word cloud showing several terms related to raising awareness through merchandise

Did you know trolley coins are also becoming a popular choice for fundraisers? People are realizing that Canadian shopping cart tokens are a great choice for raising awareness, generating money for sports teams and almost any type of event! One key reason for this is their low cost for the person reselling. Having a low price point when buying trolley coins in bulk can grant more freedom to the reseller, with everything from their choice of sale price to the quantity that they can afford to invest in. This also means that even companies with more modest budgets can afford to buy a decent number of items but still stay within their allotment.

Customized shopping cart tokens also come with the bonus of being an easy item to design without the risk of distortion in print or ‘bleeding’ that many fabric-based fundraising items can carry. Inexperienced people can fall easily victim to these issues when using businesses that are less particular about the finished product’s quality than they are about fast delivery.

Finally, people just seem to love them! Fundraising can be difficult and frustrating as the economy is tough. People sometimes simply can’t afford to support your cause or aren’t willing to part with their money on an item they just have no use for. Creating an item that the public both want and need can make all the difference between a fundraising success to a flop – this helps make shopping cart token keychains a great choice for almost any campaign.

Custom shopping cart coins - the collectible promo item

When we think of collectors, we might be tempted to conjure up an image of someone crouched possessively over their items with the shades drawn and a single bulb lighting their prized belongings – but modern day collectors are as varied in age and lifestyle as what they choose to collect. Already popular in some countries such as the U.K., printed trolley coin keyrings are highly customizable and can be quite unique. This means these items almost effortlessly tick all the boxes when it comes to what makes something ‘collectible’ in the eyes of the public! Some of these products can even be highly sought after, meaning collectors may actively search out your creation while keeping your imprinted logo or brand message in their mind.

So now you know everything we have to share about the awesome power of printed cart coins, we hope we have convinced you to share our enthusiasm for these small, yet powerful advertising tools! If you’re a convert and looking to get some shopping cart coins in Canada, then what are you waiting for? Why not get on board and ride that promo cart to the next big thing – choose our shopping cart coin keychains when thinking of promotional products your next marketing campaign!