Ha! That will be my story!

You should really do that...

I'd pick a new lane. :expressionless:

For the basket thing ... I think that's bullshit ... I buy the huge 24 water bottles in 2 packs and they will not fit in a basket. So there we have it, two swipes of the gun and I'm ready to go.

Also, I return my carts as well and leave it at that, it's just uncivilized not to do your part.

I return my cart every time.
Then again...

- I often don't purchase enough in one shopping trip to merit the use of a cart.

- I don't have a physical disability that prevents me from returning my cart.

- I don't have 5 children hanging off of me demanding attention as I'm trying desperately to load the groceries into my car.

It really doesn't bother me that people can't always return their carts.
Sometimes it means that there's a cart conveniently located before I get into the store.
Definitely not one of my personal pet peeves.

SF..tarring and feathering? you have a warped sense of justice!

like xeryxs said..what if you buy 1 item that just happens to be a bulky items that you can put in a basket? or you buy 1 item x 24 no.'s of 25kg basmati rice for the next civil war

its just 1 item...id ignore you

I return my cart as long as it isn't pouring down rain or I have a major issue that day that would prevent me from making it back inside and back to the car.
However, I am also the person that will collect a couple on my way into the store in the first place. So sometimes it makes up for it. I also park next to the cart corral in the parking lot if I know I'm in some ridiculous hurry or not feeling up to the trek in and out and in and out of the store. Of course, the spots next to the cart corral are usually a little bigger and I park closer to the corral so a cart can't get in between my car and the rails, and the idiot in the SUV next to me can't slam his door into the side of my car anyway. Everybody wins! :thumbsup:

I have a little game where I ride my cart about halfway to the corral thingy, and then shoot it the rest of the way. I get 10 points if it goes into the corral, another 10 if it stays in, 100 if it nests correctly with another cart, and -100 if I hit a car.

I like the word trolley,
much better than, cart.

I am going to call them a trolley, from now on.

It's fun to say: "trolley trolley trolley."

What's your point tally so far?

I have never seen anything like that around here. That would be awesome though. In some of the stores around here they have locks on the wheels that lock them if the cart leaves the property. Reason being some people would walk to the store, buy a cartload of whatever and then push the cart home and abandon it.

The only thing about loose carts that annoy me is the potential to damage other people's property. If there is a stray on my way into the store I grab it, especially since if there is a ton of carts in the parking lot there is a possibility that no carts will be waiting for me once I get in the store. I return the cart to the appropriate storage area about 90% of the time. The rest of the time I park it in a manner where gravity, wind, etc wont move it, such as on top of landscape curbing or in a snowbank

Some of the bargain stores around here do that. I still don't return my cart. Sorry, I'm not leaving my kids alone in the car for a quarter.

Just to add to the slamming of one cart into the other... it is also a bonus to ride the cart. It's all about getting the right push off and keeping the balance so it doesn't tip.

It's been years since I've been able to do this. Because I don't drive here, I rarely see a parking lot these days.

Am I doing it wrong? :thumbsup:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...Cart_Grill.jpg

Wow. I'm shocked at the number of people here who admit to leaving their carts. It just seems like such a basic citizenship thing to me, like not littering. I'm not trying to be judgmental...ok, wait. Fuck that. I *am* being judgmental.

You people. You not-putting-the-cart-back people. You're being lazy, inconveniencing other people, and possibly causing them financial harm if your cart damages their car. Returning your cart is no trouble at all, except in certain special circumstances. I hereby challenge you to become better people and start returning your cart every time. Any takers?

I chime in on the lazy side :(.

I'm kinda anti-cart to begin with. When I go shopping, I'm the fool juggling items in her hands as she walks around. Or I use a basket. I hate carts. I hate pushing them around people, and cornering aisles. Damn carts feel like a nuisance to my power-shopping methods.

But, if I do use a cart, the last place I want to lug it is into a big ass parking lot. I'll grab the bags and put that cart back in line with the rest before I go out with the damn thing! Pfft.

I work at a home deco store, and we don't have those cart recepticle-things in the lot. So we go out and pick them up I'd say every 2 hours or so, depending on how busy we are. I don't mind it unless its winter. Damn frozen carts, trying to push those things in slippery snow is a dangerous business.

The store's lot is rather sloped, so carts roll all around, without the aid of wind. Some people let them slam into other cars carelessly, and others push the carts onto the grassy islands, where they get stuck.

<sarcasm>super duper fun to get those carts out of mud!</sarcasm>

Even with all I've said, I'm not passionate about the topic. Its not a pet peeve of mine. In fact, unless I'm hauling carts at work, or struggling with one of those big awkward carts that are bigger than me, I really don't care. :P

That's me as well....cool. I guess it's just something I learned from my father. You used it, bring it back.

This happens all over the world. I live in Asia and their are millions of lazy bastards here as well. And, just like in Canada/ America, there are lots of people here that park in handicap parking spots....that actually makes me more crazy BUT that's another thread.

I'm not sure of everyone's gender - I get the feeling women are slightly less likely to put their carts back from this thread.

No one has an issue with a guy carrying two heavy items in a cart using the basket lane... but when a man takes a shopping cart with for example 45 items to the basket lane, I would have no problem morally or legally with having that man horsewhipped.

I always return my cart. I don't really care if others do, but I for sure am going to.

I was parking my car and bumped a cart that was in front of me. It started rolling, so I quickly got out of my car and made a mad dash to catch it before it ran into another car. Some guy who saw me said "You made the team! I have never seen someone move so fast before."

Not only do I not return them, I push it into the handicap parking spots.




Ok I kid.

I usually park far enough away from others that I don't have to worry about people hitting my car. I'm paranoid enough to walk that far. I walk my cart all that way back too when necessary. I despise people who don't return their carts, I agree it's indicative of the ignorance and laziness of a lot of people in the U.S.

So this Friday Im in the store - queuing at one of the two basket only lanes, when in the next lane two guys come up with a smaller size shopping cart with a MIN of 30 items. I thought about my comments in this thread, so I didnt let it slide. I said, politely, "excuse me mate, this lane is for baskets only"... both guys were Polish so I dont know if they understood completely, so I showed them the basket in my hand and said "baskets only" again.

One guy said basically "its nothing to do with you"

___

At this point my voice went grey on them and in me, and I said... well, not really. There was a girl aged approx 15 standing one place behind me in the line so I couldnt swear or use strong terms to them when I addressed them in front of her. But I stuck to it and said "look, its for baskets only, its not fair on everyone else if you use this lane". The guy kept loading his stuff onto the conveyer belt. At NO TIME did either of the lady's working the checkouts say one word about this. In the end I figured without a confrontation they were just going to ignore me, so I left it.

Walking out the store I felt kind of angry that they had disrespected me by ignoring my (perfectly reasonable) request - treated me like they could do what they wanted and I couldnt do a thing about it, like Im nothing... but short of placing my hands on their troley and shoving it away from the till I dont know what I could have done. Language may have been a part of it, but one of the guys could speak English so I dont think they didnt understand me at all.

__

I wish I had followed them out the store, followed them home, and then late at night took a piss through their letter box and then climbed on their roof and took a shit down their chimney, then knocked on the door and straight told them what I did and ask THEM what the fuck they want to do about it... how THEY like to be treated in that way.

Like I said in other places, I know I probably do have a temper that is on the edge of being more than bad....

Dude, let it go. Not only are you going to ruin a business by chasing away customers for that kind of behavior (assuming of course, your not banned there first) your gonna wind up hurting or being hurt over, what ... a lane?

It's not that serious. Let freeworld behave like assholes and do your part to learn from it.

There has been a total of 3 or 4 times here at TFP when comments have made me wish unspeakable physical harm on internet strangers. Some comments on this thread now qualify.

To the people saying you're taking away work from the min-wagers: that's a broken window fallacy. Creating extra work that doesn't produce anything costs the stores more, which raises prices, which costs you. It can even contribute to inflation! (Ok, so I doubt there's a huge nationwide impact from carts left, but still.) If the supermarket needs 1 less kid grabbing carts, he can go work at McDonalds for the same pay.

You don't need to.
The next one that passes by that needs to return his cart, will probably take yours along, since you can put them together and just put the 1 cart back for 2x the "profit"


The system is pretty much like the one in Fremen's picture for those who don't know it.

good point. i was unaware of the broken window fallacy, but that was kind of my argument. people say "it takes jobs away" but it doesn't really.