Posted on 11/28/2025 8:03:12 AM PST by MtnClimber
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I have seen many vehicles damaged by shopping carts, including mine.
I think that self-centeredness is the basic and biggest issue.
It’s a pet peeve of mine. I’ll grab carts to take into the store. Aldis has the quarter deposit thing going on and that helps a lot.
Best to park uphill and upwind……
I always return the shopping cart to the collection area. It’s called being courteous.
Very long article justifying taking jobs away from low income ppl during the holidays.
What’s their next target, the store greeters?
It’s like tossing an empty beer can onto somebody’s lawn because you know they’ll pick it up in the morning, regardless of whether or not it’s worth 5 or 10 cents as a returnable.
.....I spoke with someone who left a car literally steps away from a cart return corrall or whatever they are called...the reason...? a common four-letter word.....L.A.Z.Y. .......
Yep, lazy. We usually end up grabbing a cart in the parking lot and rolling it into store when we shop.
i’ve never seen loose shopping carts outside an Aldi. Apparently even a quarter is more important to people than good manners...
Aldi’s solved that problem with a 25 cent charge that is refunded when you return the cart.
I made a dollar returning the carts at Aldi's.
I'm with the writer. The failure to return a cart is an expression of self-importance, laziness and utter lack of respect for the store employees who have to wrangle the carts and to other customers whose vehicles the stray carts may damage.
It's not a huge ordeal to return a cart, and if you're smart, when you're looking to park, just look for a space near a cart return, knowing you'll be inevitably using one once you've loaded your groceries into your vehicle.
My complaint is that they never have cart return stations near the handicapped parking spaces.
I always return mine to the corral. Even if it’s raining.
It’s a small thing.
But simple actions like abandoning your cart randomly says a great deal about an individual.
It’s often said, character is demonstrated by what you do when no one is watching.
i’ve never seen loose shopping carts outside an Aldi. Apparently even a quarter is more important to people than good manners...
Unlike the Detroit Lions defense, at Aldi’s you actually can get a quarter back.
Some months back my local Wally World removed all of the farthest-out cart racks from their mammoth parking lot. The rate of cart abandonment sky-rocketed, with carts drifting all over the far reaches of the lot. Then a couple of weeks ago they relented and replaced the rural cart racks. Abandonments went way down. There have to be enough cart racks that customers don’t have to hike a quarter-mile to do the right thing. There must be some sort of sweet spot. Perhaps that could be the author’s next research project. He could even apply for a grant from a big-box store.
After losing a lung to cancer it is difficult to return the cart. I usually part near a cart in the parking lot and use it like a walker to get to the store. If I return the cart it is difficult getting back to my car.
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