"Victor Sack" > wrote in message
. ..
> ravenlynne > wrote:
>
>> Victor Sack wrote:
>> > ravenlynne > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Usually I have to go to the
>> >> ATM to get cash so that I can go and buy euro so that I can go rent a
>> >> cart
>> >
>> > Why don't you use a plastic chip instead of a coin? I always do. One
>> > cannot spend a plastic chip, so it is always there.
>>
>> What sort of plastic chip?
>
> A coin-like piece of plastic (or very occasionally metal) of the exact
> diameter of the needed coin (used to be 1 DM, now 1 euro, which are
> exactly the same size). It is usually thinner than the coin, as
> thickness apparently does not matter. The things are given out free by
> a lot of organisations, including groceries and supermarkets, often as a
> promotion. I have a boatload of them. One, from a bank, a metal one,
> says "175 years (of the bank)". Cart coin mechanisms may differ, but
> all require the same coin and are invariably mechanical, not electronic
> or optical, so any coin-like round thing of the needed diameter works.

One of the stores I rarely shopped at in NY had "keys" for the carts.
Sounds like what you describe. I can't recall now if we had to pay for them
or if they gave them to us for free. I do know you had to register with the
store and get a shopping card to get the key. Otherwise you had to use a
quarter.