Layout:
Home > Shopping cart effect

Shopping cart effect

October 12th, 2007 at 05:51 pm

We went to the grocery store last night.
First the cute part, my almost 2 year old wanted to eat the broccoli...out of the bag,It was frozen! He was adorable insistent that he get broccoli....when Daddy told him mommy had to cook it first he decided he wanted broccoli for snack! Of course you know if it was cookies he wanted I would be embarrassed not indulgent....(we had apricots for snack anyway)

Now the shopping cart effect...I think shopping carts are driving up the prices of food.

Consider that I have never been to a store in recent years (since having kids) and needed a cart and NOT seen at least one out of place..in the middle of the parking lot, or just up on a curb...not once..in 5 years.

Yesterday I counted as we put 10 shopping carts away (in corrals or in the store). 10! at least 10 people were so inconsiderate as to leave their carts less than 10 yards from the corrals or store entrance....

Now I will admit my kids thought it was great fun to round them all up (we were cart wranglers) but I found it very irritating as a fellow working for the store was on the other end of the parking lot getting paid to move his 10 carts back to the store...(plus the 50 or so actually neatly in the corrals)

The store has to spend more money on the workers time to fetch and carry carts....This has to drive up the price of the food in the store. Why on earth anyone would willingly make food cost more for themselves and everyone else is beyond me.

My husband went to the store (different store) the day before and while putting a cart he found beside his car back offered to help a lady who took the last item out (by all appearances physically fit lady) and just picked two wheels up and left it on the curb...then as he is coming back from that he witnesses another lady doing it as well.....why a simple trip to the store to buy yogurt has to take 15 minutes longer due to the rudeness of other people I just don't get it.

Do people not think about others anymore? Maybe it is the video game mentality..you walk out of a room and the 'stuff' 're-pop's and the mess is cleaned up...walk back in and find a fresh new no work needed place.....real life isn't like that, you make a mess someone else has to deal with that...

I suppose someone is going to tell me it is a safety issue..if you do not feel safe walking from your car to a store, stay home or hire a body guard. If you must go out then call 911 or your mom while you put your cart away....but please don't stoop to the level of not caring about your surroundings.

7 Responses to “Shopping cart effect”

  1. Kikee Says:
    1192208508

    Consider yourself VERY lucky. Other than at Aldi (where you have to pay $.25 to "rent" a cart and then get the $.25 back when you return it)where I rarely see a cart out of place, all I see are shopping carts littering parking lot after parking lot.

  2. princessperky Says:
    1192208752

    I think everyone should adopt the Aldi quarter method..I sure would have loved to get 2.50 four our round up yesterday!

  3. kimiko Says:
    1192220243

    I admit I'm one of the guilty one. Unless the coral is within my lane, I usually don't put the cart back there. There are several reasons why I do this.

    1. I park very far from the store entrance because I don't want to get into an accident with eager shoppers. Unfortunately, most corals are not located that far out and there's always an employee recovering the carts nearby.

    2. Security is a valid reason because the people who hang around the store to ask for change AFTER you walk out are very aggressive and persistent. Those people don't stand at the entrance anymore because I suppose security won't let them, but the parking lot is fair game. They're always huge men. If you're a small woman shopping by yourself and was follow around in the parking lot by someone like that, won't you be scare? Sure it's daylight and there are plenty of people, but I also read plenty of stories of people get assaulted and kidnapped in daylight, on busy streets. I don't want to run to security every time that happen so I reduced my time from putting the grocery into the car and driving away as much as possible.

    3. Timing. Unfortunately, most of the time I alloted to shopping was spent in their shop, buying products that I haven't anticipated buying. So if they want me to put a cart back, make more corals. But more corals means less parking spots. They still have to get an employee to take the carts from the coral to the front of the store anyway. They will always need this type of employee because some people steal shopping carts.

    4. Customer mentality. When I go to a restaurant, I don't expect to bus my own table. Same concept here.

    So if I just happen to shop on a weekday morning, where I can park close to the entrance without worries, I put the cart back, otherwise, I let the employees do it.

  4. princessperky Says:
    1192220775

    See the quarter idea would be great for you, you are willing to pay to not have to put your cart back, and I am willing to make a quarter while my kids and I do put it back....

    Complain to management if there are fellows pestering you in the parking lot, or call the police, not safe for you is not safe for anyone, if you don't call about it, who will?

  5. db1974 Says:
    1192237313

    I usually don't put mine back because my kids are already strapped in their car seats and the air conditioner is already on. I won't walk very far away from them.

    I have a hard time believing food prices would drop to any significance if the shopping cart wranglers weren't employed.

    I do try to park next to a cart station, not only because it is convenient to put the cart there when done, but it eliminates some of the chance that a car will park next to you and ding your door with theirs.

  6. denisentexas Says:
    1192242440

    Having worked in retail for awhile I'll say that it's my opinion that the carts have very little, if anything, to do with food prices rising. The employee at the local dollar store gets no more hours and no more pay to round up the carts. If she/he wasn't doing that, she/he would be doing something else. And once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take long at all to do. The same applies for Wal-Mart and other stores. Employees aren't paid more for rounding up carts and they don't stay longer to do it. It's simply part of the the job for their alloted shift.

    I'll be the first to admit, though, that if carts weren't lost/stolen it would help the bottom line figures and that might affect the price of food. It's a fine line, though.

    As for putting carts away, I'm pretty faithful about that. I like the idea of paying a quarter for the cart, though.

  7. princessperky Says:
    1192289700

    I don't leave my kids in the car either, which is why they help put them away Smile
    I really do wish more stores would adopt the quarter idea...you get the quarter back if you bring the cart back.

    That and the 'rebate' for bringing your own bags...I think more folk would use reusable bags if there was a refund.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]