PETALING JAYA: Life is easy if you live near a supermarket – but not necessarily for the supermarket owners.
A considerable number of residents who patronise these retail stores have been taking trolleys home with them – and it is costing retailers hundreds of thousands of ringgit.
For Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd, the loss is far from trivial.
Missing or stolen shopping trolleys across the company’s 76 outlets cost them about RM500,000 a year, with each unit priced at about RM500, said its managing director Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin.
He said most missing trolleys are carted away by customers who live near his stores.
“They live at apartments or housing areas nearby. They take the trolleys home and discard them at road shoulders or other areas. Scrap metal collectors pick up these trolleys and dispose of them,” he told The Star.
Ameer Ali said the company has had to hire workers to search for missing trolleys and return them to the stores.
“Recovering the carts also incurs costs. Some of the recovered trolleys need to be repaired as the casters or wheels are damaged after being pushed on tarred roads.
“As it is, we already lose about 1.5% and 3% of the annual turnover to shoplifters,” he said.
Ameer Ali said multiple police reports have been lodged over the missing trolleys.
“There are times when we tell customers they cannot take the carts out of our premises but they become upset and accuse us of being inconsiderate as they need to lug a load of groceries.
“Unfortunately, in the end, the cost of these losses is passed on to consumers,” he said.
A former senior supervisor who worked for major supermarket chains also said the theft of shopping trolleys usually occurs at outlets near housing areas with many apartments and flats.
The man, who wanted to be known as Mohan, said he had seen trolleys being put to various uses at these homes.
“Often, these people do not own a car. They use these trolleys when shopping at wet markets, as a pram and even to move house.
“Within their houses, they are also used for storage or to dry clothes,” he said.
Mohan said the trolleys are discarded when they are no longer of use and then picked up by scrap metal collectors.
Scrap metal dealers, however, say they do not buy trolleys that are stolen from supermarkets.
Dealers are strictly prohibited from doing so, said Malaysia Indian Metal Traders & Recyclers Association secretary-general Mutappan Subramanian.
“If trolleys are sold via a tender by companies when they upgrade, we may purchase them. This is done formally with all the paperwork to show it is legal.
“Our members will not buy trolleys when they are brought to us. We are aware it is illegal.”
Mutappan said stricter enforcement by police and local councils is crucial in weeding out illegal scrap yards and collectors.
“They are mainly foreigners, and dozens of them go on their rounds daily on tricycles and motorcycles with sidecars.
“They do not have driving licences or a scrap metal collectors’ licence.
“They are mushrooming all over the Klang Valley and it seems no action has been taken against them,” he claimed.
