for the germ-o-phobes in the group
- From: blake murphy <blakepmNOTTHIS@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:03:31 GMT
Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page B01
The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
is now safe to lick the shopping carts.
Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
toilet seats in terms of germs.
And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
next customer.
"It kills all the nasty stuff, salmonella, staph, E. coli," said Bob
Schwei, a technician with PureCart Systems, the Wisconsin-based
manufacturer of the glossy white machine, which looks like an airport
X-ray machine. "They're very popular in Korea -- bird flu."
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As Schwei finished installing the unit next to the row of checkout
aisles, customers stopped to see the first sanitized carts roll
through. Suzi Walsh, a self-described germ-phobe and a regular shopper
from Kensington, said she had been waiting for the new system since
the store announced it was coming several weeks ago.
"I'm the kind of person who uses a bit of paper towel to open the
bathroom door," said Walsh, who said she prefers shopping in the
winter when she can leave her gloves on. "This is great. I see the
kids scratch their diapers, then grab the cart. No, no, no. I'm way
beyond that."
[..]
Like all grocers, the Kirsches have seen concerns over cart
cleanliness grow over the years. They used to pressure wash the carts
on a monthly basis and more recently added sanitary wipe dispensers
near them so customers could scrub their own handles, and more.
"We'd see people out in the parking lot trying to wipe down the whole
cart," said Walter Kirsch, who has worked at the store since 1963 and
owned it, with his sons, since 1985. "We're a small family business.
This is just another way that we're taking care of the neighborhood."
more at:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072201787.html?sub=AR>
your filth-encrusted pal,
blake
.
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