Why do people leave shopping carts in the parking lot?

[kgle]

None of these excuses are legitimate. If you have kids, park near a cart corral and you aren't leaving them. Or lock them in the car while you take the cart back. If you have chronic pain, yeah that sucks, but you just spent all that time in the store doing stuff yourself so an extra 30 seconds isn't going to hurt you worse. If you are parking in the extra large handicapped spaces, you know (or you should know) that the reason for the extra space there is for the handicapped people who require that space to get in and out of their power chairs and that leaving your cart there is rude and inconsiderate. I can't think of any disability that allows someone to shop in a store for however long but for some reason doesn't allow them to put their cart where it belongs.

I'll be damned if I leave my two year old in a car by himself locked or not.

 

[kgle]

Sorry, but this law isn't targetting taking 30 seconds to put your cart back. Nice try though. That is why you park near the cart corral so you aren't leaving the kids for an extended period of time.

And I agree that if it takes you longer than 30 seconds to put your cart back and it causes you immense pain, it's time to find another plan. Grocery delivery perhaps.

Apparently you don't know anyone who turned their back for 30 seconds and their car was stolen

Grocery delivery because someone doesn't put their cart back? Are you frickin kidding me? I am not sure where you shop, but where I live its extremely hard to find a space near the cart corral at Walmart. Most of the corrals are near the entrance and guess which parking spots go first?

FTR, I do put my cart back. DS actually loves to make a game out of it. If its sickeningly cold out and I am far away, I will move the cart out of the way instead of walking it to the corral, but 99% of the time I do run it back WITH my child.

 

[MoniqueU]

I'll be damned if I leave my two year old in a car by himself locked or not.

I wouldnt either. Not to mention it is hotter then hell here in the summer 116 ia not uncommon. My kids would be melting and when they were younger I couldn't just leave the air running with the keys in the ignition and go put my cart back. My husband worked a ton of nutty hours sometimes 80 a week and I didn't have any family by me. By the time he got home I was to beat up to go to the 24 hour store so sometimes I had all 3 with me. Parking near a cart corral migjht work if they designated those as for parents with small children but they aren't always avaialbe. What was though were carts in the parking lot on the rounders and I REALLY appreciated that. I used to crack up at all the help I got when I was pregnant but the seconed you pop that baby out and it's in its carrier and you actually NEED the help the help disapppears. I got around just fine pregnant but once the kids came it was hard navigating. Not societys problem I chose to have my children but I always found it ironic.

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

Apparently you don't know anyone who turned their back for 30 seconds and their car was stolen

That happened to a friend of mine who left his car running while he went in to pay for his gas. They found it 3 days later in the mall parking lot. Stripped of all stereo components, empty, and bald tires.

 

[NMAmy]

Wow 14 pages already.

I know. It never ceases to amaze me how wound up and judgemental people get over shopping carts. I think I liked it better when I didn't know.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That happened to a friend of mine who left his car running while he went in to pay for his gas. They found it 3 days later in the mall parking lot. Stripped of all stereo components, empty, and bald tires.

Bald tires? How far had the thief driven it??????

 

[MushyMushy]

After reading this I called my brother. He owns insurance agencies all over the state. Not 1 claim has ever been made to any of his offices due to rogue cart damage in the 20 years he's had his agencies. Before this he worked as an adjuster and again he said he never had to look into rogue cart damage. DB said a cart would have to be moving awfully fast or deliberately pushed or accidentally driven into or backed into for damage to occur.

Do you really think people are going to claim in the low hundreds of dollars worth of damage, having their rates go up, and have to pay a deductible? Think about it! I don't know anybody who ever claimed it on their insurance when their car was keyed either, but that certainly happens all the time.

Yeah, well, I don't go around labeling people over what they do with their shopping carts. I do care about dings in my car but again, life is too short to be so concerned with material possessions that I get ticked at other people about it. I have a child. HE matters to me. I would totally judge someone and get VERY pissed if someone did something careless that hurt him. Some people get more irritated about things like rogue cart damage than they do about caring for children. I just don't have the emotional time to go 'round worrying about grocery carts; it's not worth it. SO many more important things. LOL, I think this is a funny(odd) thread because it's as hot a topic as spanking evidenced by your 'careless, thoughtless people' statement and others. When I came back tonight, I was suprised to see it still had life.

You don't think a cart flying through a parking lot on a windy day could hurt a child even more than it would hurt a car?

I still think it's funny when people use their kids as an excuse. How does anybody take them anywhere or do anything with them out in the real world? How do you even get them into the store? I managed just fine with two kids and never once had to lock them in a car.

I NEVER return the carts to the Corral.

Years ago I was Christmas shopping with my wife. I loaded up the car, and she went to return the cart. I never seen her again.
The Police told me that 99.99% of all criminal activity that takes place in Store parking lots, happens at the Cart Corral. Most always that is where your towns criminal element commit their crimes.


The other reason is Real Men dont use carts!

Apparently, neither do cool kids. DH and I were shopping a while back and there was an attractive-looking college girl with her boyfriend. She was loading him up with groceries and he suggested they go get a cart. She laughed at him and said that carts were so uncool. My husband and I laughed because, you know, the guy with his arms loaded to the ceiling with grocery products is SOOOO much cooler than pushing a cart.

And besides, carts ARE cool. Back in my college days we used to steal them and ride them down hills.

 

[mickeyboat]

And besides, carts ARE cool. Back in my college days we used to steal them and ride them down hills.

Ahh - but did you bring it to the cart corral when you were done?

 

[GoodFairies]

Apparently you don't know anyone who turned their back for 30 seconds and their car was stolen

Grocery delivery because someone doesn't put their cart back? Are you frickin kidding me? I am not sure where you shop, but where I live its extremely hard to find a space near the cart corral at Walmart. Most of the corrals are near the entrance and guess which parking spots go first?

FTR, I do put my cart back. DS actually loves to make a game out of it. If its sickeningly cold out and I am far away, I will move the cart out of the way instead of walking it to the corral, but 99% of the time I do run it back WITH my child.

No one is talking about leaving the car running, or even leaving the keys in the car, so I don't know where you got that from. I load my groceries, lock my car, then return the cart (doesn't even take 30 seconds). If I'm parked next to the corral, I don't even have to lock my car, but I have the keys.

Grocery delivery wasn't mentioned for that reason. If you had read it, you would see that grocery delivery was mentioned as an alternative for someone who apparently is in SO MUCH PAIN that she can drive to the store, get her groceries and load her groceries, but can't return the cart...because of the pain.

 

[stego]

this is one of my pet peeves, and for years it just set me off to no end. It's gotten better. I just have to remember to keep my big fat mouth shut...because NO ONE likes an unsolicited opinion. NO ONE. Taking the family shopping, we get out of the vehicle and I round up two, take them over to the cart return. Then on the way in, I get two, my wife one, and my son one. I specifically focus on keeping my big fat mouth shut. When I am done unloading, I return my cart, then go get some more carts, and return them. No one has said anything to me in years...and I don't expect them too. I am just thankful I have the ability to return carts. I feel good doing a good thing, and don't expect anything in return. People will continue to do inconsiderate and rude behavior and no matter how many times I might model this good behavior, it has no attraction to them. The focus is entirely ME repeating good behavior, and not expecting others to. Today, I no longer have to be bludgeoned into these behaviors because I am quite simply, willing.
Many years ago I would have verbally exploded like a volcano on someone and I don't think their reaction would be so pleasant. Quite possibly I would have picked on the wrong person and it would attract the attention of local law enforcement authorities (not a good thing).

 

[GoodFairies]

I'll be damned if I leave my two year old in a car by himself locked or not.

I wouldnt either. Not to mention it is hotter then hell here in the summer 116 ia not uncommon. My kids would be melting and when they were younger I couldn't just leave the air running with the keys in the ignition and go put my cart back. My husband worked a ton of nutty hours sometimes 80 a week and I didn't have any family by me. By the time he got home I was to beat up to go to the 24 hour store so sometimes I had all 3 with me. Parking near a cart corral migjht work if they designated those as for parents with small children but they aren't always avaialbe. What was though were carts in the parking lot on the rounders and I REALLY appreciated that. I used to crack up at all the help I got when I was pregnant but the seconed you pop that baby out and it's in its carrier and you actually NEED the help the help disapppears. I got around just fine pregnant but once the kids came it was hard navigating. Not societys problem I chose to have my children but I always found it ironic.

Except no one is talking about leaving a child for any length of time . We are talking about safely securing a child while you return a cart which should take 30 seconds tops.

I can't figure out if people are being purposely obtuse now or what. Any excuse to not admit laziness...

 

[MushyMushy]

Ahh - but did you bring it to the cart corral when you were done?

They were good storage devices in the dorms. That's all I'm sayin.

 

[jodifla]

Except no one is talking about leaving a child for any length of time . We are talking about safely securing a child while you return a cart which should take 30 seconds tops.

I can't figure out if people are being purposely obtuse now or what. Any excuse to not admit laziness...

Wow, pretty judgmental.

Publix in Florida traditionally does not have ANY corrals in the parking lot, so you have to return them back into the store. Now for many years Publix also had the bag boys escort you out to the car, put groceries in and take the carts back. So most Publix shoppers have totally gotten out of the habit of taking their cards back (now it's more hit or miss about them taking your groceries out to the car). I actually never even knew this was an issue until I heard all the raging about it on these boards.

If there's a corral, I return my cart. But if I have kids with me and the weather's too extreme and there's no corral...then no, I'm not taking it back to the front of the store.

And I'd never leave my child in the car for even 5 seconds in the hot Florida summer sun. It's like leaving them in an oven.

 

[MinnieMe87]

They were good storage devices in the dorms. That's all I'm sayin.

We did this too a few times only with those greenhouse carts. There was this massive hill right beside one of the dorms, and we had a grand ole time riding those carts down them!

 

[OctMtnWoods]

I've been googling trying to find some stats on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

I've been googling trying to find some video on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

Closest I came was cars damaged in a parking lot after a tornado, but no proof it was from rogue carts. If you experience a tornado, I would think a rogue cart might be the least of your worries.

I did find advice to park your car on highest ground if its something you are concerned about. I thought that was a good tip.

Just how much speed can a cart pick up when parked between cars or up on the grass? Anyone have stats on that?

While googling, I found lots of kids riding carts downhill.
Also, found this funny fail video. http://www.break.com/index/massive-shopping-cart-fail-by-two-morons.html

 

[Charade]

Wow, pretty judgmental.

Not really. I think for the most part it's laziness. Of course there are exceptions as you have stated.

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

Wow, pretty judgmental.

Publix in Florida traditionally does not have ANY corrals in the parking lot, so you have to return them back into the store. Now for many years Publix also had the bag boys escort you out to the car, put groceries in and take the carts back. So most Publix shoppers have totally gotten out of the habit of taking their cards back (now it's more hit or miss about them taking your groceries out to the car). I actually never even knew this was an issue until I heard all the raging about it on these boards. \

I find it hard to believe that people have gotten out of the habit of taking their carts back...I don't consider its something that needs to be a habit it is something you just do out of consideration for others and their property.

My parents had over $500 in damage to their car from a shopping cart blowing across the parking lot of a large store and when my parent's went in to find out if anything could be done to help pay for the damage the store simply said it wasn't their responsibility or fault.

I return our cart EVERY time...if it means I have to walk back to the front of the store in the poring rain..so be it. If it's raining I'll try to get everything to the car without having to use a cart and then put the cart where it belongs inside.

Maybe all stores should adopt Aldi's strategy and make you put a $.25 deposit to get a cart....you don't see any carts floating around their parking lots..i wonder why?

I just noticed this in FL since we have moved in August......instead of taking the shopping cart back to the designated space..people will put a wheel of their cart up on a curb so that way it won't blow away. I saw this the other day LITERALLY 10 feet from the cart area. It has to take more effort for you to do that than to walk it over to the area. Laziness and lack of consideration for others is the only thing I can think of!

(I do sympathize for those who have medical issues, but at Publix if no one offers to assist you and you need help you should ask and they will do it.)

 

[Mom2Nick]

I've been googling trying to find some stats on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

I've been googling trying to find some video on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

Closest I came was cars damaged in a parking lot after a tornado, but no proof it was from rogue carts. If you experience a tornado, I would think a rogue cart might be the least of your worries.

I did find advice to park your car on highest ground if its something you are concerned about. I thought that was a good tip.

Just how much speed can a cart pick up when parked between cars or up on the grass? Anyone have stats on that?

While googling, I found lots of kids riding carts downhill.
Also, found this funny fail video. http://www.break.com/index/massive-shopping-cart-fail-by-two-morons.html

Not sure what you're looking for but it does happen. A simple google search yielded a whole page of chatter.
http://search.aol.com/aol/search?qu...llover&c.userid=49b5310a-001c4-03886-6b89bccd

 

[MushyMushy]

I've been googling trying to find some stats on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

I've been googling trying to find some video on all this rogue cart damage. No luck.

Closest I came was cars damaged in a parking lot after a tornado, but no proof it was from rogue carts. If you experience a tornado, I would think a rogue cart might be the least of your worries.

I see Mom2Nick found you a search page, and I easily found a whole bunch of results on google: http://www.google.com/search?q=shop...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Might I suggest brushing up on your search skills?

 

[friendofgusgus]

It may be a regional thing. In my 44 yrs of living in New England, shopping here & working here, I've never encountered a store that asks if you need help getting food to your car. I'm also not aware of any stores here that have curb-side pick up of groceries. Last one I saw of those was in the 1970s.

Only place I see people being offered help is at big box stores like Walmart & Kmart if you buy something like a TV or furniture and they bring it to the register for you from the back room on a dolly cart, then bring it to the front door and that's as far as they go. They'll help get it into your car if you need help.

If you ask, I'm sure they would page someone, but it might take 2 pages to go outside.

Again, I'm sure different areas of the country are different since someone mentioned valet parking at a grocery store in Boca. That would NEVER exist here in New England. I think we are cheap & old fashioned here. We don't want our grocery prices going up by paying for these extra "luxuries" like curbside pickup & valet. I don't think we tend to drive cars we are all that concerned about a ding in. Heck, if you live here your car is filthy 6 months out of the year due to snow & road salt/sand anyway. We as a whole aren't polishing our cars in our driveways every Saturday.

Wanted to add, even my elderly parents aren't offered help getting food to the car. I mean you live here, you can clean off the snow, shovel out your car & get to the store, they probably figure you can get the food to the car just fine too. LOL

I think we are a tough breed up here sometimes. lol

I'll go along with this.

The only store I ever knew to offer help was Angelo's on the Cape - and they were bought out years ago by Stop & Shop.

Also, cart corrals are new for us up here - when I was young here in NE, there were no such things. Everyone left their cart "on the X" - where the corners of four spaces met. If there was already one there, you pushed them together. Someone would come and collect them - it was called "shagging" carts, and everyone took a turn. On busy days, lots of folks would jump at the chance to get outside for a few minutes.

Cart corrals were not designed to protect cars - they were desgined to get customers to do something that the store used to pay people to do more regularly. They are in the same category as self-checkout lanes, ATMs and lots of other modern conveniences that are really about businesses shifting work onto consumers.