I don’t mean just returning your shopping cart to the cart area, but actually sliding it back in. At my grocery store, some people half ass stack it back in or don’t at all. This drives me nuts because when I come to return my cart I have to fix the mess before I can return mine. Plus, I don’t want the workers who collect the carts to do any more work than they already do.
I caught this one guy who was returning his cart and I had to wait until he was done. Instead of stacking his cart, he just left it there in front of the stack and I said, “C’mon man!” He was surprised and said, “Oh!” then immediately stacked his cart.
I fucking hate it when people don’t return their carts, and yes I always slide them in and condence the stack as much as possible. I used to have to do carts while working retail, and I would have to pick up so many carts that people just left on the curb or even in parking stalls. Some of them wouldn’t even return them when right next to the corral, and instead just block an entire parking stall.
The worst was working carts in the 100°F+ heat. I had to take breaks every 15 minutes or so just to avoid heat stroke, and while resting I would see these people just leaving carts in the places I had just cleaned up. Infuriating.
As a European it feels so surreal reading the stories of Americans not returning the shopping carts
Years ago when I first bought one of those multitool hairclips it mentioned it could be used as a trolley coin and I had to look that up. I discovered that in a lot of European countries it’s customary for carts to be locked together with a lock that takes a coin to unlock then returns the coin if you correctly return and nest the cart. Now, it does take a decently curated social milieu to design systems that promote prosocial behavior. That said, that particular prosocial behavior not only had to be mechanically encouraged, but has also led to the development of something called a “trolley coin” to circumvent the mechanism for people who are diametrically opposed to that prosocial behavior.
In Norway, the trolley coined gained popularity as society went mostly cashless, yet the trolleys demanded their token. An earlier factor was that it was annoying to make sure you always had a coin of the correct denomination (physical size). Trolley coins can be part of your keychain, or won’t be accidentally used to buy a newspaper before going to the grocery store.
Most people still return the trolley and slide it in, like civilized humans should
Yep, in Poland we have those locked trolleys, but more and more stores don’t do that anymore, as people return the carts anyway
Tbh I think the plastic coins came around more as a convenience. If you have one in your wallet you always have the option of taking the trolley. You might not always have coins or the right sized coins. At least I know I don’t have any coins most of the time.
Generally yes. I don’t really point it out to people if it’s like… 2-3 carts in the corral, and they don’t fully stack them. Long as they’re in there. I’ve seen a massive pileup outside of one once, had to be about 10-15 carts? Couldn’t return a cart even if you wanted to. Ended up pushing them all together. I used to be a cart pusher, I know how bad it sucks, plus those loose carts can cause damage if the wind kicks up
I always slide the cart in. It’s rather satisfying when it slides and chucks against the cart in front, sort of like an acknowledgement of the attachment.
I believe I desperately need some new hobbies, on a side note.
No, it’s best to leave your cart in the carpark where it blocks cars, to incentivise taking the bus.
fuckcars is leaking again!
Damn I gotta subscribe to that comm, I want MULTIVERSE users to see it
Of course it is?!
Yes, it is common courtesy to return your trolley appropriately.
I’ve only really seen the system abused when visiting countries like the USA, shoppers seem feral over there.
Some stores seem to have removed about half of icart returns. My Costco barely has any, same at the two Walmarts in town. The Costco is only a couple of years old, so its parking lot was designed without them. Cart gets pushed up on the median. Both Walmarts actually took them out. The store is who broke the social contract. At least it gives some employee a chance to walk around outside for a while.
Seems wild. Are employees not a relevant cost factor?
The Walmarts just seem to have not replaced their cart corrals over the years. The ones they still have are bent from being hit.
Costco really seems to have been intentional. The parking spaces are wider than average so even if there are cars parked already on either side of me, that I can easily back out and use any cart left there. The medians between parking rows are full of rocks with no walkway.
Exactly. Some things just work in every civilised country.
As an American, it’s my god given right to be shitty and make the lives of children and underprivileged and/or retired people as terrible as possible to make myself feel good. As the founding fathers intended.
Not mine, credit to Portuguese Geese
In Germany, everyone does it. Yes, I think it is common courtesy. It is a matter of basic respect to others.
It’s not like it’s difficult or a lot of effort. You specifying it against “just in the area” - maybe you have more space for carts, but if you already move it into the designated area, I don’t see that aligning it could be significantly more effort or time investment.
Ehm, yes, but in Germany you also put a Euro into the cart to release the chain, and need to return the cart to get it back.
Not so sure this would work here without that…
Real pros carry a thing to unlock the carts without a coin. A small metal piece on your key chain or wallet dies the trick. We still return the cart every time. This is just common sense.
Not everywhere anymore.
Some years ago they had a person going around collecting and storing the trolleys. Then they switched to the coin thing, sparing staff.
Now I experience some already dropping that too. Just take and put it back in.
If I remember correctly, the coin thing was dropped during covid for some reason.
I’ve seen a lot of supermarkets recently where the mechanism is still there but all the carts are unlocked, so that you don’t need to insert a coin anymore. At least where I live this works just as well and people return their carts into the stack. We were probably conditioned to do it during the last years when the coin was still necessary, and now it just sticks.
I remember that a lot of supermarkets did that during the pandemic.
The stores also usually provide you with plastic coins to use instead of euros, so…
I think if you’re going to go through the trouble to return your cart to the cart area then yeah, slot that bad boy into the stack the way it’s supposed to go. Otherwise it’s like those people who pick up their dog’s poop and just hang the bag on a tree branch for someone else to put in the trash. Either do the thing, or don’t do the thing. Doing it halfway just makes a different kind of mess.
I found out a new (new to me at least) bit of cart-return etiquette last year when I was using the handicap parking spaces for a couple months following ankle surgery. Grocery carts double as walking aids for a lot of people with mobility issues while they’re at the store. Many people with those issues will purposely leave their carts in the handicap area as a courtesy for the next person with mobility issues so they can have it right away and not have to struggle all the way to the cart area. So there’s at least one instance where not returning your cart doesn’t make you a horrible person.
Many have failed the litmus test. :(
Of course it is. Not just for the workers but for the exact reasons you’ve stated.
Yes its common courtesy. Its lazy and disrespectful to just toss your cart however and just expect that the store’s minimum paid staff should deal with your mess
I usually organise them when I bring mine back to fix other people’s laziness.
Story time: in the mid 90s an IKEA store opened near by, the trolleys required a £1 coin, people would just either forget about the £1 as no where else was doing it at the time, or just think I can’t be arsed taking the trolley back. Cue teenage me, every time we went to IKEA I would come out of the carpark with between £10-£15 before my parents demanded I get in the car. It then evolved in to people connecting multiple trolley so only one person lost a £1, eventually they had a guy in vehicle and trailer pick them up after removing the coin lock from all the trolleys.
As someone who worked at more than one grocery store where the manager scheduled more people per week if someone needed to constantly be on cart duty (e.g., during the winter, because folks were less likely to put their carts back during the cold), I often don’t put my cart back in the correct spot. I do so because at the stores I worked at, that would help people who want more hours be able to make a case for those hours to the manager. I often had to do so when I wanted more hours, and I was the person who did the carts. I never do this when cart duty is otherwise hard (e.g., late at night, in the cold, in the summer heat, etc.)—in those cases, I always bring my cart back inside of the store and put it completely away.
So, yes, but there are sometimes reasons to do something besides what’s courteous.
