Do you return the shopping cart?
 

I have to admit I don't. But I've had an epiphany. Guilt is a strong motivator and I want to be a good human....but of course, because I didn't before this means that I am not. But at least I'll be an animal that returns the shopping cart in the future.

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Yes.

Every.

Single.

Time.

edit: Okay, I went back and watched the video and, other than the hyperbole at the end, agree with the premise.

_

I always do...if there is a cart corral in the parking lot. If there isn't, it goes anywhere near the entrance door.
I hate to see one running loose in the parking lot...esp on a windy day.

I have been known to leave one in the middle of the store when it won't steer straight.:mad:

I should add that if my 90-year-old mother can return a shopping cart (which, against my admonitions, is always holding the handle waiting for the moment the last bag is taken out so she can strike out across the parking lot) then few people have an excuse not to.

_

Me too, even on windy days.

Always

Yup, plus one if I pass it on the way back to the cart corral. My parents also taught me to pick up garbage that isn’t mine and put away others’ dishes after dinner if I’m doing mine.
Crazy, right? 🤔

(Part of the 11th commandment I believe )

100% of the time.

Always!
It would feel so weird not doing so.

Aldi's carts take a quarter to unlock from the paddock - so when you return it - you get your quarter back. They don't have to have an employee chasing around the parking lot picking up strays.

I do as well, 100% of the time.

My favorite parking lot move is when I am turning around to take the cart back and a person will ask me, "I need a cart..." and walks it in for me.

If you don't, the cart narc will get you.

Always, whether to the provided corral or back inside. Also, any carts that have been left near where I end up parking. This especially true at the home improvement stores.

I always return it but can't help but wonder if I'm contributing to cheating a teenager out of a cart wrangling job

I do it 90% of the time I also try to grab a stray cart off the lot on my way in.

You’ve got to be pretty damn lazy or pretty damn selfish to not be able to wheel a cart 50’ so it doesn’t block a parking space.

Man, I suck. Caveat - I don't block the parking space, I hook it on the curb on those little planters in the middle of the parking lot, but I don't walk it back. I'll own it.

Like I said, I'm an animal. I don't deserve the fellowship of Pelicans.

Around here the stalls in parking lots are within a few cars of you regardless of where you park.

Ya gotta be a supreme ahole to not return them.

It's almost more effort to NOT return them.

If I am close to the entrance, absolutely. I prefer to take the carts back. If the weather is crap, and I am not within 20 spaces from the door...it goes in the cart rack. I never, never, ever leave a cart in the parking lot.

Small town, I've known the series of owners over four decades. I'm always taking my carts and strays back into the store.
If I have to shop at a bigger store to get something my local store isn't allowed to carry, I can carry what I buy in one bag. No cart.

Best
Les

Yup, and I usually collect any blocking handicapped spots and put them away as well.

I also will bring in those motorized carts if they are left in the lot.

Perfect.

My Mom and Dad are the reason I return my cart.

It's just how I was raised.

To put things back where I found them.

LOL
Davis Blvd in Naples, FL....been there many times.

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Always.

There is some council (State) housing not far from my place and the area is littered with shopping carts. Carts, rubbish and tagging.

I'm so "not that sort of person" that I always return them.

I understand the reasoning. But I have always had an opposing question on this.

First. We don't pump our gas in Oregon. We could if we wanted, but we choose to prohibit the public (in Urban areas) from pumping gas as means to increase employment. This extra slice of labor does not seem to increase gas cost.

So the question is this: does NOT returning the cart increase the labor demand for a grocery store? And if it does, which is the moral choice?

As someone who has rounded up carts professionally - for the amazing wage of $3.35 / hour - I am comfortable asking this.

We are all quick to say that returning the cart is the right thing to do. And, on one level it is. But, isn't there a morality in making work???

The same argument could be made for bagging groceries. We all can do this. But many don't. It would be "nice" to bag your groceries but then the person tasked with bagging would be unemployed if we all did it. So much for being nice.

And so on.


Hopefully I have rocked the boat a bit here. I would love to have a rousing conversation on this. And, if you are wondering, yes - I return my cart but continue to question my action.

I usually park a distance from the store entrance. Less chance of someone denting your door and I like the exercise. These spots are usually near a cart corral, a win-win.

Yep, I always park a little further out next to the cart corral so on the way out, its a 5 second walk to drop the cart..

The work is collecting the carts from the corrals and bringing them back into the store. Leaving the carts all over the lot causes damage to vehicles, damage to the carts and making less available parking spots.

I bring mine to the corral not all the way back to the store, although I will sometimes grab a cart from the corral on my way in.

I have difficulty in making work to just make work. I think there are so many needed task that improve all of our lives and we should try and get more people doing that sort of job rather than creating menial work.

Yes always .

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With Cindy having MS, we often use hadicapped parking. Understandably, always not returned carts there. I'll stack and return 2 or 3 of them when entering the store.

Any mention of shopping cars warrants a video of Bubbles <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ZX91SyQVsA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

That is me!

I usually park far enough away to avoid idiots in the parking lot. Often over next to the far corral is perfect. Load up the vehicle, and park the cart in the corral.

After 32 years of driving my El Camino, there is not one door ding on it. Not a one.

Now always. When I had a baby/toddler in the car, nope. Stayed near the kid and sorry not sorry ( I made sure it was stuck though).

Always .... I usually park away from the store and grab one on the walk in, and offer to take others' for them too as I walk by.

I always return the ALDI cart to the cart rack but half the time I set the cart a few feet away from the chained together carts and don't collect my quarter.

I'm not sure why I do it. Maybe I'm defying the control system?

However, I think that it's more of a faux charity thing and I'm doing it to make myself feel like I am Mr Philanthropic.

On a related note, there was a Seinfeld show where the topic was do you give to charity to truely help folks or does it just make you feel good?

If anyone could find a clip from that episode I would be grateful.

^^^
The Human Fund? It's the only episode I can remember about charities.

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And to others who wonder about taking jobs away… a big part of the stockboy/girl/persons’ job is bringing the carts back inside the store and (supposedly) disinfecting them. The carts I mean, not the They/Them that returned the carts… but I go PARF a bit here 😜
I’m sure there are enough lazy, self-centered customers to keep the cart wranglers busy harvesting carts from the far ends of Walmart.

Every single time. I have never once left a shopping cart in the wild. If I did, the guilt would likely drive me nuts.

To me, it is akin to parking in a handicapped space or urinating/crapping on the toilet seat in a restroom. Something anyone with the least bit of civility would never do. When I see people leave their carts (or do one of the other things above), I... like the op post...think of them as little better than animals. I really do not understand why anyone would demean themselves so in public. I will usually comment (to any passenger) about the disgusting behavior. They usually agree. If I saw an associate/business partner do this...I would likely assume that they had very low standards for themselves/others and would do almost anything if they thought no one was watching. I would never trust them again.

If any of you do this, I am sorry to be so blunt...but that is what a lot of folks think (and you should know) ...whether you agree or not. Little things separate people from animals.

Always, at least to the corral. Anal retentive as I am I even do a quick sort to stack the little ones with the little ones and the big ones with the big ones. The cart kiddies are few and far between these days so I usually even grab a cart from the lot to use in the store.

Seems normal from my experience in NM and CO - but out on Long Island I was blown away by how they were just tossed everywhere.