Watch Better by Design with Richard Seymour and Dick Powell online: Episode 4 A better shopping trolley

hopping trolleys are used by millions of customers each week, yet they steer like bicycles on ice and won’t go where they are pointed. The problem with these indispensable but wayward machines is that the four floating castors, which allow them to move in any direction, also make it impossible to keep the trolley on the straight and narrow. "A law unto itself" is how designer Richard Seymour describes the behaviour of the shopping trolley, especially on a slope. Seymour and his partner Dick Powell visit a local supermarket to ask shoppers what they think of the current struggle with the trolley. They are vocal in their criticism. "I can’t get it to go straight," says one. "You have to use a lot of force," says another. "It’s worse outside when you have to negotiate ramps," says a third. The shopping trolley may have revolutionised the modern shopping experience, but Seymour Powell decide that it’s time for a better solution.

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