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I've noticed a few things at the Fred Meyer store and the fast-food places near me:

1. Apart from the self-service lines, typically only about three of the seven or eight checkout stands are open.
2. I'm seeing more older people working in the store - people who are clearly past retirement age.
3. Security has increased from no guards a few years ago, to a Walmart-style "greeter," to one uniformed security guard, to two uniformed security guards at each door. The guards now check your receipt as you leave the store.
4. About 90% of the fast-food workers are young Hispanics, and many have heavy accents as if they haven't been here long.
5. There has been a dramatic increase in "people of color" in my area over the past 30 years. When I moved out here to the suburbs in 1987, it was probably 85-90% white. Now, it seems to be barely 50% white. The great replacement, indeed.
6. There has been a huge increase in abandoned shopping carts along the street in the past seven or eight years. It used to be that you'd see one every few weeks. At the peak about four years ago, I counted as many as 40 in one three-block stretch. Since then, FM introduced carts with wheels that lock if you try to take them too far from the store, so now I typically see "only" seven or eight carts a day. There has also been a huge increase in roadside trash, including abandoned furniture and other household items. Also, there are usually three or four old RVs parked along the road.

The trash problem is because of the moronic policies of charging people to dispose of stuff like tires.

I understand the need to pay for the DPW with either taxes or fees for trash, but charging for things like the tires will just result in people dumping them along roadsides, like I see happening.