Why Don’t People Return Their Shopping Carts? A (Somewhat) Scientific Investigation

Behavioral Scientist ^ | 19 Nov, 2025 | Hannah B. Waldfogel

[Inyo-Mono]

I always return my cart, no matter the distance. Integrity is what you do when nobody is watching and few people hold themselves to a high standard.

I do too, and so does my wife who had a stroke last year and has trouble walking.

[Lockbox]

Why don’t some people “return” their welfare payments by getting a job? Let me know what you discover. I think there is a connection in thought pattern….

[kvanbrunt2]

They don’t use the little hand carry carts any longer cuz people steal them.

[BitWielder1]

I always return my carts, sometimes I grab a "stray" or two along the way.
There are some valid excuses IMO: elderly, limited mobility, kids or pets in hot car, unsafe neighborhood; I'd give them a pass if I had anything to say about it.
Otherwise, I try not to judge.

[nitzy]

How would you feel if someone else thought the same way that you do, didn’t find a spot close enough to a cart return, left their cart out....and it drifted across the parking lot and crashed into your vehicle?

Would you be understanding that it wasn’t actually the person’s fault who didn’t return their cart? Would it actually be the store’s fault or maybe the low IQ employee who didn’t collect the cart in time?

Not putting carts back is very low trust society, high time preference, third world behavior.

Put your carts back every time. If it’s too much trouble, then don’t use a cart at all. Just carry everything in your hands.

[discostu]

I’ll put them in corals in the parking lot. I ain’t deadheading an empty cart back. Especially in a crappy parking lot where you can hear an empty cart rolling from a mile away. And if there was a “cart narc” I’d push the cart AWAY from the store just to piss them off.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The funny thing is she’s already a PhD. It almost sounds like she could turn shopping carts into PhD thesis #2.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’ll give you 10X points if you can unstuck two carts that are in a permanent coital lock.

Even more points if you can assure me that I don’t get the cart with the wobbly wheels or the stuck brake.

[nitzy]

Not putting your cart in the corral is similar to refusing to queue up in a line and crowding to the front or burping or farting in public or talking on your phone on speaker or laying across several seats on a crowded bus or train.

It is low trust society / high time preference / 3rd world behavior.

People who act that way are low class a-holes.

....and it actually would be crime if the cart got lose and hit someone’s car.

Flagging someone with a gun isn’t a crime either but if you accidentally shoot them, it becomes a big problem.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You're behind the times. It's KammyTurkey Time for the win! Click the pic...

[rlmorel]

Hahahahahahaha!!!!!

[Vaduz]

Two top excuses

1.Laziness

2.Fear of getting lost

[hole_n_one]

I wish this psychologist would test FReepers too lazy or entitled to mash ‘Preview’ before posting.

Same with the auto-excerpt option.

Auto-excerpt in most case does not provide the most relevant information.

Often, the excerpt has no relation to the article headline.

One most go to the source link and that’s fine as long as that link to the complete article remains active and available.

Once that link is dead, all FR is left with is a useless excerpt.

I always appreciate it when someone takes the time to snip the most important pieces of the article in their excerpt, thereby allowing it to be continued to be a useful source of information as long as it remains on FR’s server.

[bravo whiskey]

“Yep, lazy. We usually end up grabbing a cart in the parking lot and rolling it into store when we shop.”

I do that too. I will tell someone unloading their cart that I can return that for you. I am walking that way anyway and it makes me feel good.

[Sequoyah101]

Why? The same reason they don’t do a lot of things, like taking care of themselves or knowing how to dress decently in public.

Because they are:

Lazy
Self-important
Entitled
Dependent
Worthless
Inconsiderate
Bitter at something or someone
Angry at something or someone
Worthless Clock Suckers who never learned any manners, had lousy parents or ones who don’t care to claim them now because they are disappointments

There are lots and lots of little things that uncover much bigger character failures in people. Abuse to animals and returning shopping carts are two of those failures.

[one guy in new jersey]

Contra!

[31R1O]

Maybe a little autistic or ocd.

[9YearLurker]

Who needs Cart Karens, even if returning carts is the right thing to do?

[NFHale]

Te wheels:
Lol!! I think that’s a universal thing…

I think there’s a “shopping cart gremlin” that goes around and destroys at least one wheel on every cart

[StAntKnee]

I’ve heard said that, “Ethics is your behavior when nobody is looking.” I would add that simple consideration of your fellow men and women is what you do for others, even if it is a small thing with no expectation of reward or even a thanks. I live in a neighborhood where a dumpster serves 3 or four families. If you crush or dismantle boxes, you can extend the available space for the entire week. But. I have gone out the day after pickup and found an empty dishwasher size carton tossed in, upside down to occupy 90% of the dumptster for the rest of the week. That’s what inconsiderate behavior looks like. AND. No matter how many times I dismantle such boxes and stack them, the neighbors never seem to get the concept. I think the simple shopping cart study, a little, even trivial pursuit, tells a huge story about modern human behavior.

I think you could write a novel (even a nonfiction book) based on the character traits the cart study portrays. What is missing? I think I’d like to see what the study monitors would find if they ask those who returned the carts, “Why did you return that cart just now?”

I’d argue that heroism and villainy show themselves every day in the tiniest of ways. Whaddya think?

Now, if you asked me why I crush or fold mountains of empty cardboard boxes in our community dumpster, what would I say? For myself, I might need room for bags of leaves and trash when I rake and clean the garage later this week. So both pragmatic and selfish. Why do I crush those of my neighbors? I have to get along with people where I live. I can’t afford to express openly the hostility I feel. And maybe, just maybe, after 5 years with no effect on them, next year it will dawn on them to follow the example.

Oh, and I always return carts. No heroism. Just seems like the right thing to do. Or. Is it . . . I merely do not want to be one of the A-holes that don’t return carts?