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1. cjboffoli
   Member Profile

   

   Being that I'm someone who always takes an extra minute to return a shopping cart to where I originally retrieved it, I've never understood the supreme laziness that people exhibit in just abandoning shopping carts the split second they cease having any further utility. But this issue is worse for the residents of the blocks around the Junction QFC who on a daily basis see the parking strips littered with empty shopping carts and plastic baskets.

   I just watched some idiot push a shopping cart with groceries all the way down 41st Ave from QFC, cross Oregon, and go up the hill on the other side to where his pickup truck was parked. He loaded the groceries and took off, leaving an empty cart on the parking strip more than a block away from the store. How this person thinks that is a considerate act – for the store owners or for the residents of the neighborhood – is beyond me.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

2. wsguy
   Member Profile

   There's a concept - thinking about someone else besides themselves...

   Original WS Blog WSGUY

   Posted 4 months ago #         

3. Sue
   Member Profile

   

   Christopher, I live near Fauntleroy/Dawson and cannot tell you how many carts I've found in our alley from QFC, Safeway and Thriftway. I call each store to pick them up, and sometimes they do get them, sometimes I have to call several times. It's very frustrating. Especially since they're usually turned upside down or on their side, so not even easy to move. When our church met at the Masons, their lot was often littered with these carts too. The sense of entitlement that people need to take these carts is just baffling.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

4. rsws
   Member Profile

   When I was living in Montreal a few years ago, always shopping at urban grocery stores, this was a problem too. There, some stores had grocery carts that had wheel locks that engaged if the cart left a certain perimeter...I've never seen them here in the US.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

5. sweetflutterby41
   Member Profile

   When my cousin was in school for graphic design, she did a photo project on abandoned shopping carts. She made it seem like they were homeless. :-)

   Posted 4 months ago #         

6. Jiggers
   Member Profile

   

   I see it all the time. It is exactly like stealing property. Regardless if you return the cart later. There is no security at the front so people know they can get away with it. Someone should be made an example of. It is on the bottom of the list of store priorities. There should at least be a big sign in the front of the entrance saying there is absolutely no taking of shopping carts beyong this point. Then again, people ignore signs. I used to work at a major grocery store for years as a stock clerk back then. We all had to pitch in and retrieve carts from around the block and down the street. It was a bitch!

   Posted 4 months ago #         

7. JoB
   Member Profile

   this is why stores are increasingly blocking shopping carts from leaving the vicinity..
   sometimes, from leaving the store at all...

   Posted 4 months ago #         

8. Jiggers
   Member Profile

   

   How's that JoB?

   Posted 4 months ago #         

9. luckymom30
   Member Profile

   My pet peeve are the shopping carts left in parking spaces.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

10. jissy
    Member Profile

    rsws: Actually, the Marshall's store at Westwood has the locking carts... good idea but major pain if you've got lots you bought and a kid locked in you need to get to the car.

    Can't remember if it was visiting Canada or college in Calif. that all the carts were locked together and you had to deposit a $1 Cndn coin or a quarter to unlock them.... then when you took it back to the corral and relocked it, your money popped back out. Kinda of a smart incentive I thought.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

11. Sue
    Member Profile

    

    jissy, I remember a lot of the supermarkets in New York having the $ incentive for returning carts. It was a bit annoying if you forgot change, but it did get you to bring the cart back.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

12. Jiggers
    Member Profile

    

    Anyone remember the Tom Hanks movie Terminal? They rewarded people a quarter for every cart returned. Rewarding customers to return carts for a quarter is a tiny price to pay rather than to purchase new expensive shopping carts.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

13. 2 Much Whine
    Member Profile

    

    Although Italy is in many ways far behind us, they have carts that require a Euro to unlock them and you get it back when you return it to the cart rack and hook it back up. Works really well and for those that are too lazy to return their cart there is always someone else willing to do it for them. I've always wondered why we haven't figured that out. . . .

    Posted 4 months ago #         

14. Betty T
    Member Profile

    Walgreens at Morgan had locking carts, don't know if still do. One time I tried to push a cart from the lot back to store from outer edge of parking lot and couldn't. Our manager will not allow "any" shopping carts to be brought and kept here.

    Dollar Tree in Burien did have them . Had to get a person to unlock and escort you to your car.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

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