Carts go in the "Cart Corral,"

[Toad_Passenger]

Not up against the car next to yours, not in the middle of a parking space, but in the cart corral.

...that is all.

 

[Metro West]

I agree...some people are just too lazy to put the carts where they should be.

 

[Boo'sMom]

 

[luvmy3]

Do you expect this to become a heated debate?

I agree OP, if you are too lazy to put your cart back where it belongs, how did you manage to even push it around the store full of stuff just fine and dandy

 

[Scurvy]

Well, I agree with you. (Other than calling it a "Cart Return" instead, for some reason.) And every time I see someone push their cart somewhere it doesn't belong before backing out of their parking space, I have the mad urge to helpfully roll the cart right behind their bumper so they don't forget to put it where it belongs again. After having had a new car dented a week after I bought it by a rolling runaway cart that wasn't properly secured, I feel very strongly about this issue. I think anyone who doesn't return the cart to where it belongs is being lazy and/or completely self-centered. That said, after seeing the hideous arguments that a similar thread spawned on another board which is normally even more civil than this one, I predict that not everyone will agree.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Do you expect this to become a heated debate?

Always does.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

It's just something that is fresh in my mind after a trip to the grocery store this morning. I came back out and the cart was up against my driver's side door.

Seriously?

Someone made a conscious decision to just leave the cart in a position blocking the door of the car parked next to them. The cart return was 2 spots over!

 

[luvmy3]

Always does.

I would think that most of us could agree on this one, but it is the DIS and I've been wrong about that before

 

[daughtersrus]

This is one of the reasons that you need to put a quarter in to get a cart at Aldi. They don't have to have an employee go out and get them.

 

[Kathi OD]

I would think that most of us could agree on this one, but it is the DIS and I've been wrong about that before

There is one store where I shop that I rarely put the car in the corral. Two corrals in the entire parking lot, and the parking lanes are separated by planters. So depending on where you can find a parking spot, to put the cart away, you have to traverse over 1/2 the lot to put the cart away. Sorry, call me lazy, but I'm just not doing that.

 

[VAfamily1998]

When I was in college, I worked at a grocery store. Amazing what you see in a grocery store parking lot! Some people would unload their groceries, and literarlly just shove their cart away, not caring where it ended up! Unbelievable!

 

[kaytieeldr]

When I was in college, I worked at a grocery store. Amazing what you see in a grocery store parking lot! Some people would unload their groceries, and literarlly just shove their cart away, not caring where it ended up! Unbelievable!

What? You mean the carts don't have a homing device that automatically pulls them into the cart corral/return if you shove them away when you're done?

 

[lovetoscrap]

I would think that most of us could agree on this one, but it is the DIS and I've been wrong about that before

Maybe if I summarize we could avoid the debate?

I can't return the cart because:

I have a small child, toddler, baby, high schooler, college age child, homeschooled kids, public school kids, quadruplets, my mother, father, aunt, cousin and I can't leave them alone in the car while I return it, they could be kidnapped, run away or die of heatstroke/frostbite. It is too hot or too cold. I am disabled, my back hurts, my feet hurt, I broke my leg, twisted my ankle, broke my arm, have a headache, have a cold, have a migraine, am throwing up, need to go to the bathroom. I might get kidnapped, shot, stabbed, raped or murdered on the way to the Cart Return. I am late for work, an appointment, picking my child up from school, catching a plane, curing cancer. They put them too far away from my car. I can't find the place to return them. The cart return is full. It is not my job, that is what they have employees for. I am morally opposed to putting things where they belong. I took the cart in from a parking place so I am just putting it back where I found it. Someone else left the cart in my parking place so I have every right to do it too. There were already a few carts around the space so I just added mine. If you don't want your car scratched by a cart then shop somewhere else. If the store didn't want the cart left in the lot they would have someone to take my groceries out for me and take the cart back.

It's been a while so I hope that I covered it all.

ETA: Oops, forgot:
I am pregnant, TTC, just had a baby, thinking about becoming pregnant. It is raining, snowing, sleeting, hailing, windy, leaves are falling. I forgot my coat, sunscreen, mittens, hat, shoes, pants, umbrella. I am helping the economy by creating job security for the bag boy/cart gatherers, and auto body shops, parts manufacturers, insurance agents, lawyers, car painters, doctors, chiropractors, police officers, and of course shopping cart manufacturers.

I'll add more as I think of them.

 

[Lanshark]

This always turns ugly.

Let's try to head some of it off....

1, If you are handicapped than ask a bagger to help you out with your groceries.

2. If you have young children and do not want to leave your children in the car while you return your cart, see number 1

3. All others have no excuses. Basic consideration says that you would safely secure the cart in the cart return as to not damage anyone elses property.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not buying it, lovetoscrap. All good excuses, but only excuses

The three real ones:
Not my job, man
I'm too lazy
I just plain don't care (if your car gets scratched/dented, that you can't get in/out of a parking space, that you can't get into your car...)

Disclaimer: These aren't my excuses, they're the real reasons people don't return carts.

 

[jodifla]

This always turns ugly.

Let's try to head some of it off....

1, If you are handicapped than ask a bagger to help you out with your groceries.

2. If you have young children and do not want to leave your children in the car while you return your cart, see number 1

3. All others have no excuses. Basic consideration says that you would safely secure the cart in the cart return as to not damage anyone elses property.

And if there is no bagger?? Not all stores have them any more, or have enough to send them out to the car with you.

Where I shopped in Florida, there were no corrals. You left the carts in the lot by your car and the baggers came and rounded them up.

Here in Michigan, the corrals are all over the place and easy to use. I agree with a PP that I'm not hiking through half the parking lot to use them, though.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I am morally opposed to putting things where they belong.

Thanks for the list. This one was my favorite though.

I should have looked at the bumper stickers on the car next to me on my way in, to see if they mentioned any sort of anti-cart-returning religion/political party.

 

[KristaTX]

Maybe if I summarize we could avoid the debate?

I can't return the cart because:

I have a small child, toddler, baby, high schooler, college age child, homeschooled kids, public school kids, quadruplets, my mother, father, aunt, cousin and I can't leave them alone in the car while I return it, they could be kidnapped, run away or die of heatstroke/frostbite. It is too hot or too cold. I am disabled, my back hurts, my feet hurt, I broke my leg, twisted my ankle, broke my arm, have a headache, have a cold, have a migraine, am throwing up, need to go to the bathroom. I might get kidnapped, shot, stabbed, raped or murdered on the way to the Cart Return. I am late for work, an appointment, picking my child up from school, catching a plane, curing cancer. They put them too far away from my car. I can't find the place to return them. The cart return is full. It is not my job, that is what they have employees for. I am morally opposed to putting things where they belong. I took the cart in from a parking place so I am just putting it back where I found it. Someone else left the cart in my parking place so I have every right to do it too. There were already a few carts around the space so I just added mine. If you don't want your car scratched by a cart then shop somewhere else. If the store didn't want the cart left in the lot they would have someone to take my groceries out for me and take the cart back.

It's been a while so I hope that I covered it all.

Can you just go ahead and do us all a favor and do that for EVERY thread??

As soon as I saw the thread title I also thought, "Oh, the cart debate again. I wonder how many posts until someone says 'I don't because. . but. . .and. . . so. . .blah blah blah blah blah blah'. "

And for the record, I call it the "buggy drop-off", and I always try to park next to one . It keeps people from parking on that side of me, and it also makes it easy enough to drop off the buggy.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Not buying it, lovetoscrap. All good excuses, but only excuses

Disclaimer: These aren't my excuses, they're the real reasons people don't return carts.

I was just summarizing the other side in the past DIS debates, hoping if I threw all their reasons out there at once we could avoid the prolonged fight. Could work! You were able to refute all of them all in one post instead of having to address each person one at a time as they post one of those excuses.

 

[Becky2005]

Where I shopped in Florida, there were no corrals. You left the carts in the lot by your car and the baggers came and rounded them up.

Actually, I was thinking this, although not in FL. I remember way back when, there literally were NO cart corrals. Your only option was walking it back into the store, leaving it by one of the plant curbs with all the other ones left there or basically somewhere out of the way.

Of course, this was a million years ago when the dinosaurs roamed the earth but I distinctly remember when someone I worked with had a second job at Cub Foods and was making a comment how they had just installed the cart corrals and "just wait, it's going to be like Aldi where you need to PAY for your cart"....that never transpired as far as I know (I think that Cub foods went out of busines) but the cart corrals did show up at all the other stores though. Still don't have to use a quarter to get the cart the first place though other than Aldi's (and YES, I HAVE seen carts just left in the parking lot at Aldi's too).