The hygiene pumps appeared in the supermarkets by the dozen, so that people could disinfect their hands and clean the shopping carts. At one point even the supermarket staff did. Albert Heijn will soon decide whether the pumps will remain standing or whether they will finally clear the field.
“Some of the stores still have those pumps,” says a spokesman for the supermarket. “We want to draw a line in that in the coming weeks.” The so-called splash screens have already been removed from all supermarkets. That is not the case in stores.
“You still see them here and there,” says a spokesperson for retail trade organization INretail. “That offers a form of protection. And it may also be effective against the flu virus.” The hygiene pumps are still in many shops. “And people also use it,” says the spokesperson.
Not only shops stick to the pumps, gyms do too. “In this way, athletes can continue to clean the equipment and weights if they wish,” says a spokesperson for Basic-Fit.
‘Another stray specimen at stations’
While travel came to a standstill at the start of the corona pandemic, airlines and carriers took rigorous measures when we did go on the road again. They used stickers to remind us to keep our distance and to wear face masks.
It was no different at Schiphol, where most of the corona souvenirs are now gone. “Here and there you will come across stickers and posters,” says an airport spokesman. You can find them, for example, at passport control. “There is still a sticker there to take off your face mask. We still have to decide whether it will also go away.”
NS spent months with a special team removing all stickers for keeping distance and walking directions in the trains and at the four hundred stations. “That started in September last year and lasted until the end of the year. The stickers in the trains, station halls, stairs and platforms are now gone, except for a single stray copy,” says an NS spokesperson.
The corona pandemic has also yielded something positive for the shops, and in particular the home furnishing shops. “In hindsight, with the emphasis on hindsight, you can say that,” says the INretail spokesperson. “And that is working by appointment. Customers can then receive good advice and the shops can better schedule staff in this tight labor market.”