I always find it interesting to see how others solve problems that seem so prevalent here in the states. Three simple ideas from Europe come to mind.

Cart coins.

Honestly, this is such a simple solution, I have no idea why it hasn’t caught on here in the States. When we were in Italy, more often than not the shopping carts were linked together with chains and interlocking tabs. To get one to use, we were required to insert a coin in a slot which we then pushed in / pulled back to release the lock and take our cart inside the store. When we were finished unloading our purchases in the car, we simply took the cart back, inserted the piece again (I may be getting the actual procedure wrong, but is was super simple, nonetheless), and got our coin back.

It took no time at all to develop the habit of keeping a couple of coins in the dash, and for those that really couldn’t be bothered there were always teenagers or other financially strapped individuals around who would take the cart off your hands and re-park it for you in exchange for getting to keep the coin.

What we didn’t have to deal with? Carts slamming into our vehicle from blowing winds, or taking up parking spaces after they rolled around the parking lot a time or two. Additional bonus? The cost of goods inside the stores was more under control because no staff members needed to be hired to chase down and organize runaway grocery carts.

Bag tax / surcharge.

It’s great that some stores want to give you a discount for every bag you bring in that they don’t have to provide. But the fact is, some people just won’t do it. Just like some people don’t bother to clip coupons. When we lived on the other side of the ocean, there was an extra charge for every bag you needed. Some stores were good enough to save left over stocking boxes, but not all.

What was interesting to me at the time (it was several years ago, now) was how many more people I saw bringing in their own bags than I ever noticed back home. Not sure what the psychological difference was between saving a nickel and getting charged a nickel, but apparently it did the trick for some. Just an observation.

Highly prevalent small space and vertical urban gardens.

This blew me away. I couldn’t believe how many people were so talented with using every nook and cranny of their limited urban living space to grow food. Shrubs growing on the sides of an entry walk planted with rosemary, climbing vines of grapes rather than flowers, narrow strips along the sides of buildings planted with fruit trees pruned to grow flat against the wall and along wires strung for stability.

Tiny back yard areas loaded with tomatoes, basil and aubergines . . . literally every small space and vertical opening in our little neighborhood in Northern Italy was brimming with edible plants. Of course, it didn’t hurt that there was a fairly long growing season, but still.

How much could a single, apartment or town home dwelling family reduce their monthly grocery budget with these skills? Bonus? Lots of trees and plants growing up alley walls means less room for graffiti.

I don’t mean to reduce all the wonderful things I experienced there to such a sort post. It’s just that these things struck me recently as things we could easily do something about in America. On a selfish note, I vote we start with tackling the runaway grocery carts.

Have a great day, everybody!

我總覺得看外國人如何解決我們美國普遍存在的一些問題很有趣。突然想到在歐洲看到的三個簡單的例子。

投幣手推車

老實說，解決這個問題真的很容易，可我不知道為什么這沒有在美國推行開呢。在意大利，那些購物手推車通常被鏈子和卡式鎖連在一起的。當我們要用手推車時，我們只需要投一枚硬幣到卡式鎖的狹槽里面，然后一推一拉把鎖打開了，就可以把手推車推到商場里面了。當我們把買的東西放到自己車里面后，就可以很輕松的把手推車推回去了。把硬幣一插（也許這步驟我說的不對，但是這超級簡單），然后硬幣就退還回來了。

養成留兩枚硬幣的習慣并不要花多少時間，但對那些怕麻煩的人來說也不成什么問題。因為總有一些青少年或者一些手頭緊的人愿意幫你把手推車退回去，以賺取那兩枚硬幣的小費。

這省了那些事呢？刮大風的時候，那些手推車會撞上我們的車，他們被推到停車場里有時會占用太多的車位。還有其他的好處嗎：商店的內部成本降低了，因為他們不需要雇傭人來尋找和管理那些被推得到處都是的購物車。

購物袋征稅/附加費

如果你自帶塑料袋的話，有些商場會因不用提供塑料袋而給你打折，這樣做很好。但事實上，有些人就是不愿帶塑料袋。就像有些人懶得去拿優惠券一樣。而如果我們生活在大西洋對岸，我們得為用的每一個塑料袋支付額外的費用。有些商場作的很好，會把回收丟棄的塑料袋，但不是所有的商場都會這么做。

當時（這是幾年前的事了），我覺得很有趣的是，我發現，在那邊自帶塑料袋的人比我們多多了。我不太清楚省一個硬幣和花一個硬幣心理上的差別，但是，很顯然，他們這么做很成功－－這只是我所觀察到的。

小面積的垂直城市菜園很流行

這讓我很震撼。我簡直無法相信有這么多如此天才的人們在他們城市中有限的生活空間里，利用每一個隱避處和小縫隙來種植。在入口出種植著各種各樣的灌木，迷迭香，那些藤蔓上的葡萄－－而不是花，街道旁狹窄的過道上靠墻種著修剪整齊的果樹。

小塊的后院種滿了番茄、羅勒和茄子。在意大利北部，我們鄰居們在每一小塊空間和垂直的空隙里都種滿了可食用的植物。當然，它們的生長周期也很長。

一個單人間，一套公寓或者一個家庭每個月可以通過這個手藝在食品預算上省多少錢呢？可以帶來多少利潤呢？大量的樹木和攀附在墻上的植物就意味著沒有多少空間留給墻上涂鴉。

我的意思并不是我在那里所經歷的美好的東西僅僅就只有這篇小文所說的這么多。只是這些事情最近震撼了我，而這些我們在美國很容易效仿的。出于個人私心，我建議我們從解決散落四處的購物車的問題做起。
祝大家好運!