Taman Jurong residents use trolley bags to ‘chope’ spot in queue for free fruit & veg at CC

Taman Jurong CC sees long queue of trolleys & other items instead of people

Drawn by periodical giveaways of free fruit and vegetables, residents have formed long queues at Taman Jurong Community Club (CC).

However, instead of queueing in person, they have used inanimate items like trolley bags to chope their spots.

‘Queue’ of trolley bags seen at Taman Jurong CC

Ms Liu (transliterated from Mandarin), a 32-year-old housewife, told Shin Min Daily News that she passed by the CC at about 4pm on 7 May.

That was when he caught the strange sight of a winding queue in its foyer — but with few human beings in sight.

Instead, it was a queue of items like trolley bags and cardboard boxes, she said.

The queue was for the distribution of free fruits and vegetables that would be taking place at 7.30pm that night, she added, complaining:

I think this looks so bad. Can’t they queue properly even to receive free food?

Taman Jurong residents come early to ‘queue’ with trolley bags

Shin Min reporters visited Taman Jurong CC on 21 May, which was the date of the next distribution event from 2pm to 4.30pm.

They found that a “queue” started forming at about 1pm, but it comprised mainly trolley bags, with some boxes, chairs and a stroller.

Only a handful of residents were physically present in the queue.

It was only closer to 2pm, when the event started, that about 80 residents turned up to queue in person.

Madam Han (transliterated from Mandarin), a 72-year-old housewife who was at the front of the queue, told the paper that she had arrived as early as 7am to “queue”.

She and her friends woke up early just to chope their spots with trolley bags, but did not cut the queue, nor did they get into any conflicts with others, she said.

After leaving their trolley bags there, they would come down periodically to check on them to make sure nobody had moved them.

71-year-old retiree Mr Han (transliterated from Mandarin) said he had seen people choping their spots up to 10 hours in advance, arriving at 4am or 5am for a distribution at 2pm, and 3pm or 4pm for a distribution at 7pm.

A domestic helper said her employer was busy, so she would queue up a few hours in advance on their behalf.

Another resident, 78-year-old retiree Madam Zheng (transliterated from Mandarin), said that as people would chope spots hours in advance, those who arrived on time “would not have much place left”.

She had tried to take part, but gave up as she found it too arduous and time-consuming, and people would get into arguments due to queue-cutting, she claimed.

Food distribution sessions aim to cut food waste & promote sustainability

The food distribution events, known as “Share A Pack”, have been going on for a long time, said residents.

According to Taman Jurong Kakis, the official Facebook page of the CC, the initiative involved surplus food no longer needed by businesses that was still good but could go to waste.

By giving it out to the community, it aimed to reduce food waste and encourage a more sustainable approach to consumption by increasing the appreciation of “ugly” food.

The food distribution sessions started as early as 2022 and were initially held twice a month, but later increased to three times a month.

Food distribution sessions cancelled

However, on 21 May, the CC posted on Facebook that the Share A Pack distribution sessions at the CC would be cancelled.

They were supposed to take place on 23 May, as well as three more times in June.

It did not explain why they were cancelled.

No response has been received so far when Shin Min contacted the relevant agencies for their input.

Also read: Bishan East food rescue staff asks people not to chope queue spots with items

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.