In my country we have dedicated people in the parking who literally follow you, can even push and collect the cart from you.
It’s interesting to read the comments, as there are people who are like
I sometimes don’t return the cart and I attest myself to not be a bad person. Therfore the test is bullshit.
But then they behave like a dick in the comments; showing involuntarily that the test is a good metric.
So I think even a post about this test works like the test on a more meta level.
Yay, I’m good!
As a combination cart pusher and cleaner for a supermarket, absolutely fuck anyone that doesn’t return their cart or worse, throws it into a gardenbed
I used to see threads like this on reddit where people would defend the act by claiming it keeps people employed. Anyone who has worked in retail knows otherwise, but it doesn’t stop these neanderthals from existing and making their bullshit toxic arguments.
100%
And knowing how corporate works in these sorts of places, they ain’t gonna hire/roster more people to deal with the extra work, just push the existing staff even harder so they don’t have to pay out extra hours.
The worst shit is when I see someone dumping a cart, they see me, smile and nod at me and then walk off like they haven’t just been caught being shitty.
I like the idea that there’s some shift that’s just getting carts all day.
“Sorry, Johnson, people haven’t left enough carts out lately. We’re letting you go.”
At least when they do, you can pretend you’re Bubbles for a little bit?
Depends on your beliefs. There are people who believe in being judged for every action by an almighty force or being, so it’s probably not absolutely perfect. I might be smitten in my next life for it.
Murica, fucked up because of shopping carts. In germany you have to put money in the cart, and get it back while bringing the cart back to where it is from. Problem solved.
Don’t know about you people, but here in Hungary (Eastern-Europe) I haven’t ever seen a cart not returned at least as far as I remember.
i once visited Lewiston, Maine and none of the carts had been returned to the proper spot. more than a dozen carts were just scattered around the parking lot. as soon as i found somewhere to park, i got out and collected every cart in the lot. the boy i was dating at the time looked at me with concern in his eyes
A lot of countries use coin operated cart releases, which give you a coin back on return. This is very uncommon in the US. Generally there are just metal “corrals” with guardrails you return a cart to in the parking lot.
The only store that I know of that uses coin returns is Aldi, but that’s still regional in the US.
And a German company no less.
Yeah, every store has those here. Also Aldi is nationwide.
Yeah, both are uncommon here. Aldi is regional in the US. Trader Joe’s is generally in the other regions, which is owned by the Aldi nord part of the family.
I don’t think the lack of overlap is that intentional, it’s just a big nation and Aldi/trader joes just haven’t really tried to expand in the areas where the other setup first.
Now I’ll upset some people here, I’m sure but…
Here in the UK, you can see how decent an area is using this method.
Go to the nearest Tesco Extra. If they have the coin traps on the trolleys, probably a dodgy area. If they don’t, not so dodgy area.
In both cases, you’re going to find the trolleys are generally not left lying around. Read into it what you will.
I only use Tesco extra as an example because from my experience other supermarkets either have the coin traps, or don’t. It seems only Tesco (correct me if I’m wrong) vary the behaviour by area.
Do some houses in areas that are struggling have barred windows? Are grocery stores likely to put laundry detergent and liquor behind plexiglass?
This is accurate is my city with no coin traps. Nicer areas have no carts laying around. “Lower class” areas have lots of carts around.
Funny thing is in the high class area I never see an employee doing cart return, but in the lower class area they’ll be 2 or 3 doing it.
So it’s not a matter of staffing. It’s the people not having good cart etiquette.
UK here, no coins in any shop’s trolleys.
I’m outraged at the number of people leaving carts everywhere. Do they have other people wiping their butt for them too? I don’t understand.
I’ve gone out of my way multiple times to put up multiple cats that were blocking parking spaces, including handicap spaces. While the handicap ones make it seem like the person is an extra asshole, I wonder if it’s the handicap person that leaves it there and it just moves into the space. There’s are very few stores that put a corral by handicap spaces.
“No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart…”
Hmmmm, I wonder if this is always true. Maybe somewhere there is someone who does not let such things stand.
The wind howls through the empty parking lot as the dim streetlights flicker above interrupted by the faint screech of an unreturned cart, left abandoned in the cold silence, rolling aimlessly across the asphalt. A masked man steps out of the shadows…
“You think it’s nothing. A small act of carelessness, a moment of laziness. But that cart, left adrift, has a price. A price in scraped cars, twisted ankles, in the chaos that spreads like rot in the hearts of men. You see, I don’t care about your excuses. I don’t care if it’s raining, if you’re in a hurry. Order is what keeps us human. And you… you spit on it with every cart left behind.”
Knuckles crack in the darkness
“I’m the reckoning you never see coming. You think no one’s watching when you shove it into the next spot, but I’m always watching. Every cart out of place, every rule ignored, it leads to something darker, something worse. And that’s where I come in—to stop the small sins before they become something more.”
The masked man takes a step forward, his voice low and gravelly.
“I am Cart Noir, the last line of defense between order and chaos. You think it’s just a cart? It’s never just a cart.”
In Germany, shopping carts typically have a deposit system, where you have to insert an Euro into the cart to use it, which you get back when you return it. So that is basically a build in fine for not returning it.
Some people go as far as to use a tool similar to the one mounted on the front cart to extract their money and still not return the cart they took.
In Spain we used to have the same system. However it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, most carts still have the euro slot, but they are not chained, so you don’t need to insert a coin.
In Spain a lot of stors disabled the system during covid, for highiene reasons. Some have returned and some still have tbe coin system disabled. Most people return them anyway. There is always the occasional asshole.
This is how it works in all of Europe
There’s a store chain, Costco or Aldi’s maybe? In America here that dies this but it’s only a quarter. Which is next to nothing. For reference, a load of laundry is between $1-2 in just a normal machine, plus dry time, (so 4-8 quarters). So just to wash and dry a single load of laundry for me, for example, is 12 quarters, $1.50 each of l for washing and drying.
So that cart deposit thing could use some improvement. Regardless I’ve never shopped at that store, but I do just return my cart like a civilized person.
The past year or two I’ve found several stores where they are abandoning it. I presume because people carrying cash, especially coins, is becoming rarer and they don’t want to inconvenience their customers?
Strangely enough, carts still get returned even at these stores.
Yes, me too. This only seems to be a problem across the pond.
They’ve started doing it in some places in America with quarters and it works. Turns out the price of laziness is less than 25¢ haha.
Cart Narcs
Yeah check out the Cart Narcs on YouTube. Absolutely hilarious content.
In Germany (and other parts.od Europe as well to be fair) carts need you to put a coin in them to unchain them from their bay, which you get back when you chain them back up - so yeah, kinda, if you don’t put it back you loose your euro
Same in Canada, (I hate that I need a loonie to shop with dignity).
Even so, people still leave their carts around. And really that is even worse.
Same in the Netherlands, and I pretty much never see stray shopping trolleys anywhere around here. Seems to work really well.
I’ve always told my family I like to build up “cart karma.” You get karma by bringing a cart in with you from the parking lot, or returning the one you use after. You lose karma by leaving your cart in the parking lot. Even if I’m going in for a single item, I’ll take a cart in from the parking lot with me and leave it in the rack by the store.
I don’t really care about cart karma, it’s just a way of saying that it seems like the nice thing to do.
st peter at the pearly gates: “yup, looks like you’re up 14 carts overall. welcome to heaven.”
All sins and virtues get converted to cart return equivalent.
“14 carts positive, plus those 4 times you helped old ladies cross the street adds 12 more carts, minus 8 carts for the time you tried to help one but ended up punching her instead (it would have been 10 but it’s reduced by 2 because Dionysus was watching that one and said even he would have had trouble holding his temper and he’s a pretty chill dude). You’re up 18 carts overall, congrats!”
“update, your next of kin bought 2 model golden shopping carts from the temple and put them by your gravestone, getting you to a nice round 20. here’s your all-access pass to the Garden of Delights”
I do this by necessity because the medium-sized carts are most popular and they’re usually only available in the parking lot anyway.
Typically parking lots are filled with cars, and I need to drive between the parked cars. If a cart is in the way it makes it harder for me to leave, just saying
Ive been to ~7 grocery stores ~80 times in the past couple weeks. Was driving instacart at night to get some bills paid I was worried about. Not once did I come across carts that were just in the parking spots/street, they always are in the cart holders that take up parking spots. I standardly pull my cart from one of those and wheel it into the store which leaves it at a net 0 move when I put it back… That said, with the number of people who are hunting for jobs right now that I know, this may be the first time I would say the store hiring someone to return carts is another employed person. Kroger really isn’t going to go bankrupt supporting the local populace with 1 extra job. Publix on the other hand has employees actively asking to take my cart before I can close the trunk. Had been pretty impressed by it. One day I went to 4 different Krogers, it is a bit interesting to see the difference in the stores based upon the people/house cost that live in the areas.
I don’t know where you are, but the Krogers by me are all way understaffed.
I was concerned this was going to be a comment about what I put in my shopping cart.
But I can tell I’m an individual of extreme self-discipline because after I filled my shopping cart with chocolate and vodka I return it to the carousel.
Everyone praised me.
This is only true in the US. In Europe if you don’t return the cart you can be sure people will give you looks and think about you as an asshole
People in the US give you a look and think you’re an asshole too.
But America bad.
I’m going to start recording people not putting their carts away. Endless content for my future channel.
