Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, there have just been rules we have come to follow. As Belgium slides into something resembling a new normal, these rules shift and adapt.
Mostly.
Sure, there have been times when long-awaited changes were delayed, but the measures have become such a part of daily life we seem to move with the ebb and flow of it all remarkably well.
That is unless that rule is the fact we no longer have to use trolleys in stores, which according to Dieter Snoeck, spokesperson for Aldi, is a change that "fell between the cracks."
"The rule that shopping carts were compulsory was actually dropped by the government in May," Snoeck told Het Nieuwsblad. "But that decision seems to have fallen between the cracks, a lot of people don't know that. As far as our stores are concerned, we still ask you to use the trolley. It's still a good way to keep your distance, but we're no longer making it mandatory."
This sentiment has been mirrored by other stores contacted by the Belgian paper.
Delhaize: "That has been the case for a while, but we have indeed not communicated this explicitly," says spokesman Roel Dekelver.
Colruyt: No rule (as of July).
Okay, Spar, Bio-Planet: Nothing, but they're owned by Colruyt.
According to the information available on the Carrefour website, they want you to disinfect your trolley, but you don't have to take one.
So the next time you go into a store to buy milk, you probably don't have to take a trolley. Even if everyone else has.
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