Outsmarted

What in the world? I've never seen anything like this before. Deposit a quarter in the lock, pull back, and remove the cart. There are two cute old ladies trying to do the same.

"I don't know how to do this. My husband always does this part, and he left to get a haircut!"

"Let me see, maybe it's just stuck", says cute old lady number two. They're not related, but happened to walk up the instant I did.

"Have you got yours figured out, young man?"
I struggle with mine because it seems the quarter won't go in far enough to 'pop' anything loose. I can't believe I've never even seen anything like this in my thirty two years of living and going to the grocery store.

I hear a click and an "ahaaa", but it isn't from me.
Old lady number one just got hers to work. "How did you do it?", asked the shorter one. "Just take the metal thing and really push on the quarter. Like this"
as she demonstrates. There you have it. Two old ladies manage to free their grocery carts from the Alcatraz of shopping cart lockup before I can manage to break mine free. The second old lady tries to help me, but it seems my lock is particularly stubborn.

At this point, the contraption has taken my quarter and laughed at me for trying, as if my ego wasn't trampled enough after watching two seventy-somethings David Blaine their way into shopping cart pushing bliss.
Pop, click, slide. It's out. Just as old lady number two gives up trying to help me.

I can put in a fuel injected, computer-controlled motor into a 1982 Jeep CJ, but I can't work the stupid lock on the shopping cart. Hmmm..

So, this was the beginning of the weirdest grocery shopping experience ever. It's a place called Aldi. I came here once when it opened a couple of years ago, but they didn't have the 'deposit' shopping carts. Anyway, it's small, but they have almost everything your name-brand retailers have in generic names. Almost everything is cheaper than say, the big monster I hate feeding: WalMart.
I can't say exactly how much I saved, but I know I got a pound of ground chuck for $2 when it would have been $3 at the monster. Pork chops were $5 for 6, when I normally pay that for 4 chops. The jury is still out on the quality of everything, but I'll let you know. The chopped ham and artichoke hearts I bought were put into my Taboli this afternoon. It was fabulous, so there's reason enough to make a return trip. Milk wasn't any cheaper, and I didn't need any milk, but I'll get some there to see if I can taste a difference since it doesn't say 'Hiland Dairy' or anything.

I'm going to do a little more research on this place to figure out what gives. If any of my readers know, feel free to chime in.
If you're thinking about going, though, be sure to bring boxes or something to put your groceries in because they don't have bags. Yep. Nothing. I piled everything into the front seat of the Taco for the two minute drive back to the house, but next time I'll be prepared with a quarter and some cardboard.

CZ