Where I am, to unlock a cart, you have to insert a coin, and afterwards, to get the coin back, you have to lock the cart to another cart (that’s hopefully part of the pile). It mostly works.
They stopped doing this at a lot of places, but after years of having this coin system it seems people are decently behaved.
But i’m certain it’s a matter of time until they realize they can just stop giving a shit.
They do this at one particular store here. They also pay really well, have incredible prices, and let their cashiers sit in chairs while they check groceries. I like that store.
Aldi?
Yep!
That’s how it should be.
I’ve seen a lot of places here drop this system. I have no idea why. Then again, you could also just go to the info and get a plastic thing to unlock them.
They stop doing it often because it gets homeless people coming to the store specifically to return carts that people didn’t return so they can collect the refund.
“Oh no, we accidentally provided an opportunity for homeless people to make some money! This must be stopped IMMEDIATELY.”
It’s probably even worse:
“Ew these dirty bums are scaring away customers and I might lose money. This must be stopped IMMEDIATELY!”
I really don’t think it’s the reason where I live. People just return the carts in general and we don’t really have homeless people as a visible issue
I would hope someone realized it accomplishes nothing except being a mild annoyance for customers. Most people return the carts anyway and it doesn’t really stop anyone from stealing them if they really want them (or rather buying them for ~1 euro).
I’m not so sure. It’s a really small push but people from places where it exists only in some places and where in others they don’t return the carts it seems to be working. Here they are returned, but we are so used to the coin system that it might be leftover from that. Anecdotally I’ve noticed people leaving them wherever more if there’s no coin system. But also my area has a lot of first generation and very recent immigrants so they might’ve never been with the system to begin with. Or it’s a cultural thing. Dunno. Might be all the reasons.
I do think there’s regional variation. In general, we don’t have this system in the US, except for a few grocery stores that are US divisions of European companies. I’ve lived in a few different areas in the country, and in some areas it seems like very few people return their carts and just leave them wherever, while in other areas, people are more conscientious about it. I rarely see a stray cart in the grocery store lots where I live now, for example, but when I lived for a few months in another city, it seemed like everyone just left the cars where they wanted.
I think there’s kind of a peer pressure thing going on, too - people start doing one or the other, and everyone else follows. “He didn’t return, why should I?” vs “Oh, she returned her cart, I should, too.”
Sorta “broken window theory” for shopping carts heh. Unreturned carts cause lawlessness that makes it seem more okay to leave the cart.
Based on your username, I’m going to make the wild assumption that you live in Finland. I’m old enough to remember when we didn’t have this system in Sweden, and stray shopping carts was never a problem back then. Anectotal and my memory may be a regional thing, sure, but where I live, most people would just put the carts where they belong because it would break the societal norm if they didn’t. And my point is just that this system probably costs more than it pays off for the stores that uses it.
Aldi’s (used to?) do it in the US, but it’s the exception.
Leave it in the “Reserved for Law Enforcement” spot
Chaotic good?
This is a benefit of having kids. You can tell them to go put the cart away for you.
Depends on their age. They were the reason I didn’t take the cart back when they were very little. I didn’t want to leave them in the car and go to the other side of the parking lot.
I choose my parking spot knowing I’ll have a cart to return. Though around here, places with cart corals have a bunch throughout the parking lot.
I choose the one that’s available
Edit: what I mean is you don’t always get a choice of parking spot. Of course I took my cart back if it was within reach. But in the cases it required going too far from the car when I had babies inside, I didn’t.
Instructions unclear, nailed shopping cart to the wall
Schau wie sie dieses ausgestopfte Gittertier zugerichtet haben D:
I don’t see a stuffed animal?
There is a bit of German internet lore here. Shopping carts are called Gittertiere (grille animals). And there’s also a community Gittertiere on feddit.de where we post grille animals in the wild, living their natural lives (abandoned shopping carts).
This grille animal was “stuffed”, more accurately translated to taxidermied, which I expressed my sadness about.
Gotcha, thanks for the explanation. That’s pretty funny :)
Grumbling this to myself for the thousandth time in a Costco parking lot, I looked out at the sea of parked cars and realized that the majority of people probably DO put their carts away responsibly, otherwise the dozen carts I saw askew would’ve been a hundred-fold.
On a side note, my grandmother is always thankful when someone leaves a shopping cart by the parking space, because she leans on them to help her walk, and it’s often hard for her to walk the distance from the car to the stall.
Generally though, yes, return your cart psycho
Not returning your cart should be the one and only criteria for the naughty list.
Interestingly, there was a time not too long ago where there was no such thing as returning your carts. No place to put them, and store employees fetched them. I always return my cart so it doesn’t blow away and smash into someone’s car - but I bet a lot of boomers think nothing of leaving it wherever - because that’s kind of what you did.
I’m sorry but there’s No way even boomers get a pass. It’s been expected to return your cart to the stall for longer at least 30 years. In some places you even had to put $1 into the cart to use it and got it back when you returned it ($1 was also a lot more 25 years ago).
There’s really no excuse for not returning the cart today and anyone who fails at this simple task of self-governance is no better than animal.
But who expects you to return it? The company that owns the store? What if I don’t return it in protest of their corporate greed? Who are they to make me do manual labor for free after I just paid them‽ Back in my day they would load your car for you. Lazy company CEOs are too busy counting money to keep their parking lots in order! lol
It’s called the “cart corral”. I just love that.
I’ve heard of golden corral. I don’t want to eat at cart corral.
Poetry
I’ve heard of Elf on the Shelf?
When I worked at a store we had two sizes of shipping cart and they couldn’t interlock but people would force it anyway or back them in to engage the coin latch. The cart sheds became a total mess and the store was too understaffed and the manager often ended up doing the cars, badly, in favor of pulling people off indoors cleaning or w.e. I often left the cart over a parking separator brick so it can’t roll into cars, but doesn’t add to the jumbled mess in the shed.
+1 for creating your own stall out of an abandoned trolly, even if it goes across the entrance or a disability parking spot
Or people who push them to remote spots like bus stops and abandon them there. And more and more accumulate…
My local Big Blue Store has a cart corral right next to the bus stop, which I actually think is cool. I hate the Big Blue Store make no mistake, but that one particular thing they do is cool.
Cart near the mart.
