in paper yeah the pragmatic solution would work
the next problem though is the asinine amount of people who bring their boxes to customer service stuff and expect the store to take care of it the trash can would only work if people were either asked to break down their boxes (unlikely) or if it was mechanically able to break down the boxes for the person. then there’s the next problem of making it idiot proof because crunching machines and flesh don’t work well together.
sorry I’m extra salty because I just got back from a shift were I deal with these kind of people for the whole day. there’s no winning.
cynar@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I’ve noticed that people often put in near minimum acceptable effort to go optional tasks. The trick seems to be to make the easiest “acceptable” solution, to be an acceptable one.
Shopping carts are another example. The perfect solution is for people to return them to the front of the store. But that’s too much effort for many. They leave them wherever they can dump it. An acceptable one is to return them to collection points. It’s not optimal, but it’s better, and most people will actually do it.
wdx@feddit.org 17 hours ago
In Germany (and I assume all throughout Europe) we solve the shopping cart problem by shoppers having to deposit a coin or chip into the cart to release it.
You get it back when you lock the cart again back where you took it
cynar@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
That’s common in the UK as well, though mostly in the cheaper supermarkets. A lot of places rely on the honour system, and convenient drop off places.
I’m of the mindset that you can judge a society quite well by how they deal with shopping trollies.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 7 hours ago
Also done in Slovakia. Well, was. Most shops have them unlocked even without coins nowadays, probably because people don’t carry cash much anymore.