I place carts in their corrals in the parking lot, to get them out of the way of traffic, but I never ever return carts back to the store. The reason? Fetching carts is someone's job. They feed their kids with the money this work earns.

The one I posted above is from Naples, FL

Well then I might end up in a Florida jail. This country has no shortages of Karens like that guy

I agree. What a jerk.

I always take the cart to the corral.

Laugh if you want, but before my local grocery store retired their big take out carts, I mentioned to my friend the owner that the wheels were shot on one of his carts. He told me he had been trying to get someone to fix it but no one was able to take on the job.
One day I asked his store manager if I got the wheels and swapped them in if she would reimburse me for the cost. No problem. The next week I got the wheels, hijacked the cart for a few hours and did the deed. I don't think my friend ever found out who did it.

Best
Les

Well you guys don't live near me. It seems to have gotten better with maybe a little over half returned. Some stores don't have cart corrals placed well and it can be a long walk. Oh well....

What gets me is multiple stores in a strip mall with carts of all brands co mingled. I don't get bothered much by this unless some fook leaves the cart slap in the middle of where a handicap van would lower the ramp. Usually I yell at those people,

"You expect a wheelchair user to get out and move your cart?!!"

I yell loud enough that anyone within 200 feet hears me. Then I go move the friggen thing to the corral while dumb nuts stands there looking as stupid as they are. And everyone in the parking lot is staring. I always get at least one laugh. No props though because IDT anyone wants anything to with a crazy man.

I'll leave it at this — never is this a white male.

Maybe that jerk should be hassling the homeless. They don't take the carts back to the corral, they just take them

To me, and I think most people, what it means to "return a cart" is not leaving it any random place in the lot.

It's placing the cart in a designated spot be that a corral or back at the store if it's closer than a corral or there are no corrals.

I usually look for a corral that is reasonably close and use that or move it to a place where a car won't hit it. I'm pretty good but I could be better and probably will now.

Our local Walmart always offered the blue baskets with the red handles for shoppers that only wanted a few things.

In the last year or so...they don't have any.
One day I asked the lady greeter and she said "They were all stolen...we won't be replacing them."

Prob the same people that leave their carts in the lot.:)

Doesn't surprise me with the self checkouts. CA stores are supposed to charge 10 cents for a bag. The ultra light weight ones are outlawed so the new ones are supposed to be 'reusable'. They get reused here for cat poop.

So don't pay the ten cents, steal the basket. I feel slimy in a WM.

For a long time during the pandemic we weren't allowed to bring any kind of bag to the check out. Some stores dropped the .10 charge. CA had just gotten to the point where people were bringing their own bags.

Good idea or no? Think about it. The person before you probably got their bags from the back seat from where the dog's ass was. Seriously, I've seen enough filth in my 50 years as a contractor that some days I had to pour my tools out of the bucket so as to not bring roaches home. I don't want to know where other people's bags have been.

(Didn't read the replies)

Never used to but I God got a hold of me and I realized that the measure of a person is what they do when they know they won't get caught or when no one is watching.

without fail

Andguys don't live near me. It seems to have gotten better with maybe a little over half returned. Some stores don't have cart corrals placed well and it can be a long walk. Oh well....

What gets me is multiple stores in a strip mall with carts of all brands co mingled. I don't get bothered much by this unless some fook leaves the cart slap in the middle of where a handicap van would lower the ramp. Usually I yell at those people,

"You expect a wheelchair user to get out and move your cart?!!"

I yell loud enough that anyone within 200 feet hears me. Then I go move the friggen thing to the corral while dumb nuts stands there looking as stupid as they are. And everyone in the parking lot is staring. I always get at least one laugh. No props though because IDT anyone wants anything to with a crazy man.

I'll leave it at this — never is this a white male.[/QUOTE]
Well, I was taking a cart back to the store and a guy, older White guy waiting for me to pull out, and I lazy A-holes who are too inconsiderate return a shopping cart.
He smiled and said that he was one of those *******s. I said that I am not surprised and slowed my pace.
Another time, I saw an individual, as you described, well, after unloading his cart, just pushed it away from his car. A lady and I watched in disbelief as the cart just kept rolling across the parking lot towards a handicap space. Since the spot was empty, we just watched it until it stopped at the curb while the Asswipe pulls away with out a care in the world. And yes, had a car been in the spot or one was coming up I would have intercepted it.


""Maybe that jerk should be hassling the homeless. They don't take the carts back to the corral, they just take them""

Many year ago, I responded to an ad in the Coastal Trading Post about a Snap-On upper box. Well, the guy lived in trailer park,
Not far from the local Winn-Dixie. I didn't even know that there was a trailer park there, and when I turned in, and there was a crap ton of shopping carts in a little field, out of view from the main road . Clearly, residents of the park would walk over, do their shopping and bring the carts back to the trailer park, never returning them. That was the local store I shopped at so next time I was in there, I told the manager .
He said he had no clue where the carts had been going, until I told him.
I think I read somewhere that target and wallyworld had new carts that locks the wheels if taken a certain distance.

That's great!
Actually reminded me of my first project. When I was a about 4-5 years old, I found a shopping cart wheel in an alley near my parent's house. I took it home, and tried to make a scooter out of it. My dad took over, and made something like the scooters / skateboard Michael J Fox used in back to the future to escape Biff.

All the stores here have a perimeter like the invisible fence for dogs. Once you hit the line a wheel chock falls in place and it needs a special tool to release it. I think the city actually mandated these systems to sort of clean up the place. It has worked fairly well.

Nevertheless, there are still carts out on the streets carrying someone's possessions.

+1

I went to a psychologist in my very early 20's for some minor therapy.

I mentioned I liked sports cars and he asked a hypothetical question to aid in the therapy. Why don't you drive your Opel GT really, really fast on a deserted secondary road where you can see there are no cops a couple miles in front of you? I struggled with an answer.

Finally he says "Because you are responsible"

At 20 I was intermittently responsible but what he said rings true. Either you give a shiet about others and the potential harm/inconvenience you can cost them - or you don't. Responsible people process the potential downside of their actions to others and take steps to mitigate it's occorence.

I have not seen that mechanism...but no one takes the carts here. Almost everyone takes them to the corrals at Walmart and even more at the grocery stores. I shop at a small commissary at a naval base a lot...and they do not even have corrals (other than one in the front of the store). I have never seen a cart not returned. The same at the large AF commissary I shop at sometimes (one corral in the entire large lot). Much of the large amounts of groceries are carried out by folks (that work for tips only) ...so there are not that many in the corral. I think the baggers retrieve them as they return with their empty carts.

I have seen the blue baskets at Walmart with some sort of device on the handles once when travelling. I guess it was for tracking them down f they were taken.

I'm always amazed when you find a stray cart 200 miles from where that store is located.

In some circles those get reincarnated into engine stands and utility carts.

I would guess that those carts cost the stores at least $50 apiece. (maybe more)
It's no wonder they are watched after.

Is that a Nissan Leaf that she is driving....would expect better from her.

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