Coming up on my local news... Why people are...

[MushyMushy]

I'm another who doesn't buy the kids excuse. The kids came out of the car long enough to go grab the cart and go into the store, so it won't kill them to wait a minute or two to take the cart back to where it belongs (and people can engage in all the hyperbole they want about lightning storms, extreme heat, and blizzards, but come on).

Besides, isn't that why we have kids? To do those unpleasant chores that we don't want to do? My kids couldn't wait to be able to run those carts over to the corral! When they were too little to do that, they just went with me to return it. Took 30 seconds. They're healthy and thriving today and they seem to suffer from no ill effects from cart return.

 

[aprilgail2]

okay, so for example with the hot car here; why isn't it possible to load the bags, then walk to a cart corral with kids to return the cart, then walk back to the car with the kids?

because they need an excuse to cover the fact they are just lazy.

 

[MosMom]

My kids go with me to return the cart and then they go with me back to the car/van. It isn't that difficult.

 

[aprilgail2]

My kids go with me to return the cart and then they go with me back to the car/van. It isn't that difficult.

 

[merryweather20]

To gather them from the cart corrals. Not to chase them all around the parking lot wherever the wind happens to send them.

To me, it's all the sense of entitlement. It just blows my mind, the sense of entitlement of people these days. Even if it WAS someone's job to chase carts all over the place, why not help someone out by putting it where it BELONGS? You really don't have an extra 30 seconds in your day to return a cart?

My grandma thinks they will fire the person who goes and collects carts if she returns them, even to a corral. In her day a young man bagged all the groceries at each checkout and walked them to her car, and the cart stayed inside. Now that they've fired all those young men she is not about to let them toss the boy who gathers the carts under any circumstances.

 

[lsyorke]

As one who had $500 worth of damage done to a car door from a shopping cart....put the darn things in the corral. No excuse! Your children will survive in the car for 20 seconds while you put the cart away, somehow they have for years.

 

[Mom2Nick]

I have 3 kids, one with special needs. My cart is returned every single time and not once have I had to leave my kids in a hot car alone. That's just another excuse people use.

If you want to do it or have to do it (like around here you have to "rent" carts for a quarter) you find a way to get it done.

 

[Teacher03]

My kids go with me to return the cart and then they go with me back to the car/van. It isn't that difficult.

! You had to take the kids with you to get the cart. Just take them with you to return it. No excuses.

 

[ajk912]

Do you guys remember the last time there was a thread like this, a DISer said that she saw someone abandon a cart, so that DISer went over and pushed that cart behind the person's car so they couldn't back out till they got out of the car and moved it again? Actually, it would have been funny (in a mean way) if the abandoner never saw the moved cart before backing out. Oh, my bad. Good thing you don't care about anyone's cars when you leave your wayward carts in the parking lot. Because you just hit an abandoned cart.

Sometimes karma doesn't always work in your favor.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

The Publix I usually shop at doesn't even have a cart corral. I've never seen anybody push the carts back into the store. I, like (apparently) everybody who shops there leaves the carts in the grassy medians between the parking strips and the employees retrieve them.

I'm not sure why this is such a huge issue to people...maybe because you actually get to see what choice each shopper makes and have the opportunity to feel indignant? I, personally, am much more shocked and appalled by people who don't wash their hands after using a public restroom (another opportunity for seeing the choices people make ). It also really bothers me to see people tie up their dogs (illegal in my city if they're tied up more than 3 hours). The worst is to see a parent smoke around their child or, even worse, slap them.

 

[worm761]

I am anal about returning carts. And I was a single parent from day one. Before DS was old enough to sit in the car by himself he went with me. Now he is old enough to wait for me. And the cold/heat issue doesn't fly with me either. I have lived in Ohio, New York, and currently live in Florida. Even pregnant and 100 degrees outside, I walk my cart to a coral or an employee if one is out getting carts. Now the woman that just irritated me is the one that put the cart in the empty parking spot RIGHT NEXT TO the cart coral. Really? Are you so lazy you can't walk 3 more feet and put it IN the coral?

 

[MushyMushy]

The Publix I usually shop at doesn't even have a cart corral. I've never seen anybody push the carts back into the store. I, like (apparently) everybody who shops there leaves the carts in the grassy medians between the parking strips and the employees retrieve them.

I'm not sure why this is such a huge issue to people...maybe because you actually get to see what choice each shopper makes and have the opportunity to feel indignant? I, personally, am much more shocked and appalled by people who don't wash their hands after using a public restroom (another opportunity for seeing the choices people make ). It also really bothers me to see people tie up their dogs (illegal in my city if they're tied up more than 3 hours). The worst is to see a parent smoke around their child or, even worse, slap them.

When their choice does damage to something expensive that I work very hard for and own, then yes it does make me indignant! Are you telling me that if you have a car that's less than a month old, you're going to be happy with the person who didn't put a cart away properly and left a nice little dent in your door?

I don't know about anybody else, but when I buy a car it has to last me a good long time. I can't just go out and buy new ones whenever I feel like it, so I want to take care of the ones I've got and keep them looking decent. The three dents I have in my doors are from cart damage.

 

[RadioNate]

To gather them from the cart corrals. Not to chase them all around the parking lot wherever the wind happens to send them.

To me, it's all the sense of entitlement. It just blows my mind, the sense of entitlement of people these days. Even if it WAS someone's job to chase carts all over the place, why not help someone out by putting it where it BELONGS? You really don't have an extra 30 seconds in your day to return a cart?

Actually no....

The Publix I usually shop at doesn't even have a cart corral. I've never seen anybody push the carts back into the store. I, like (apparently) everybody who shops there leaves the carts in the grassy medians between the parking strips and the employees retrieve them.

I'm not sure why this is such a huge issue to people...maybe because you actually get to see what choice each shopper makes and have the opportunity to feel indignant? I, personally, am much more shocked and appalled by people who don't wash their hands after using a public restroom (another opportunity for seeing the choices people make ). It also really bothers me to see people tie up their dogs (illegal in my city if they're tied up more than 3 hours). The worst is to see a parent smoke around their child or, even worse, slap them.

My Publix also does NOT have any cart corrals. NONE. I'll take photos the next time I am there.

They used to have 2 which were at the very end of the parking lot (so they were usually further away than the store entrance!) about 6 rows apart.

Our lot has 8 rows. The old corrals were at the very ends of rows 2 and 7. That is it.

They have employees who walk you out and return your cart. If on the off chance you don't have someone walk you out the 'bagger' who is returning to the store will take your cart.

And frankly, I'd like to know where all these cart damaged cars are. In my 18 years of owning a car I have never had it damaged by a cart. And I've lived in 7 states so it isn't like I haven't gotten around to different areas of the country.

 

[GoodFairies]

My grandma thinks they will fire the person who goes and collects carts if she returns them, even to a corral. In her day a young man bagged all the groceries at each checkout and walked them to her car, and the cart stayed inside. Now that they've fired all those young men she is not about to let them toss the boy who gathers the carts under any circumstances.

I am reminded of Mickey's Christmas Carol when Mole and Rat come to Scrooge's asking for money for the poor. Scrooge responds, if I give you money, they won't be poor anymore. And if they aren't poor anymore, you two won't have to ask for money for them anymore - oh please don't ask me to put you out of a job, not on Christmas!

 

[bicker]

Duplicate message. Please delete.

 

[lsyorke]

And frankly, I'd like to know where all these cart damaged cars are. In my 18 years of owning a car I have never had it damaged by a cart. And I've lived in 7 states so it isn't like I haven't gotten around to different areas of the country.

Come to New Jersey. No baggers, no one to bring your groceries to your car. I have witnessed at least 10 cars damaged in the last two years. Mine was seriously damaged when a loose cart was picked up by the wind and hit the side of my car between the driver and passenger doors. Both doors had to be repaired.

It's simple..you walk through the grocery store you can walk in the parking lot. It's just common courtesy for your fellow shoppers.

 

[bicker]

oh please- that is the worst excuse of them all. How did they GET the cart in the first place- they WALKED their children with them or carried one and walked another over to GET the cart why can't they walk their lazy butts back over to put it away??

why isn't it possible to load the bags, then walk to a cart corral with kids to return the cart, then walk back to the car with the kids?

I have 3 kids, one with special needs. My cart is returned every single time and not once have I had to leave my kids in a hot car alone. That's just another excuse people use.

! You had to take the kids with you to get the cart. Just take them with you to return it. No excuses.

Granted -- perhaps I was being too generous in my earlier message.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I'm not sure why this is such a huge issue to people...

Again, it's important enough that a Boston news station investigated it and aired the results.

I just got back from shopping. At Walmart, the aisle opposite where I was parked had a big, amoeba-shaped crosshatch-painted area, then five parking spaces, then a cart corral. The driver of the vehicle between the painted area and the corral - i.e. with two cars in each direction between the two just-described spots - took his carriage to the painted area and spent about thirty seconds adjusting it so it wouldn't roll. In that time, he could have instead gone to the corral, left the cart, gotten back into his car, and been pulling out of the space.

 

[Inigo]

It's one of my big pet peeves for people to not use the cart corrall. To me, it's just laziness and rudeness to not return the cart.

I also get bugged by people who will not nest their carts together in the store when they don't take their cart out with them. It's really bad in our Target. They will push the cart up perpendicular to the nested carts, so that it's in the way, instead of walking three extra steps to push the cart where it should go.

 

[Carly_Roach]

Sorry people, but my kids are more important than your car.

Nothing defines the bottom-line reason for today's attitudes more than this statement. B&S's mom shouldn't think I'm just picking on her - I simply see this attitude every day in every situation, not just the shopping cart return one:

Sorry, but my "X" is more important than your "X".

My time is more important than yours, therefore I'm going to

• Cut you off in traffic
• Not hold the elevator door for you if I see you running for it
• Talk on my cell phone when we're having a meal
• etc..

My car is more expensive/important than yours, therefore I'm going to

• Take up two parking spots instead of one so I don't get dings in my doors
• Drive like a maniac on the highway because if I get into an accident I know I'm not getting hurt

Children are our future, therefore my children are more important than you. So I'm

• Not going to control them at restaurants and movie theatres. They CHILDREN! They need space to explore and grow!
• Going to allow them to cut in front of you at buffets and take the best of everything while they're messing up the food and utinsels for everyone else. They have to learn how to do things themselves, right?
• Going to teach them to scan our groceries while there's a line waiting behind us. Again, it's a learning experience and you're expected to have patience. If you're running late then that's your fault; you should have planned for this.

Until we as a people start to respect others, using our imagination to put ourselves in other people's shoes, there will always be this attitude of putting ourselves and our needs above everyone else like a child would. Unfortunately, the "me first unless it's convenient for me to be second, then I expect a pat on the back for allowing someone else to go first" attitude has been encouraged by parents, teachers and society since the 80's.

I doubt the common sense and decency our parents and grandparents experienced will make a comeback, therefore I'm grateful any time I see real-life examples of people doing the right thing without expecting something in return for doing the right thing. It's so rare now that an insurance company even made a commercial about it.