why cant people return their damn carts?
 

go to any parking lot of a large store with carts, there are carts strewn all over. why the fuck can't people put the damn carts back? often there are carts mere feet from the cart return place. in addition to carts taking up parking spaces and running into cars, it bothers me on another level.

you might think its a small thing, and in the overall picture, it is. but it's indicative of a larger problem, part of the reason we are sucking as a country. there is this laziness, this "the world revolves around me" attitude, this lack of personal responsibility, this lack of sense of community.

really, it bothers me. not cause there are carts everywhere, but because it shows the selfishness and lack of regard for others.

it's the small things that show the big picture, i think.

Indeed. I walk across the damn parking lot to put the cart away. Apparently, this is weird to some people.

Just securing employment, man....

Seriously, I am an offender. You're right, for the most part, I'm just lazy. It also has to do with the social anxiety I experience in parking lots, though. Usually, I'm not a socially anxious person at all, but there is just something about a parking lot that sets me on edge and makes me feel judged.

It's pretty weird actually...

I like putting my cart back. It's satisfying to slam it into the other carts.

Unless I'm parked right up close to the store or buggy home area thing, I'm also guilty. Strange how you mention parking lot anxiety. I'm not sure if that's necessarily my issue, but whenever I'm leaving the grocery store, I rush really fast. Like I MUST get home immediately. So I just leave the cart wherever.

But I realized if I just go ahead and let the bag person walk me to my car instead of me taking the stuff by myself, the cart is put away where it belongs. Easy enough solution.

I always used to return my cart, now I just dont give a rats ass since I'm tired of having to move carts out of my parking spots, that and the economy sucks so they can hire more cart rats.

I am pretty sure people are paid to go get the carts... are you saying that you want these cart wranglers laid off because of your inability to grasp that putting a cart in a little stall is a pretty small gesture in the grand scheme of things?

If there is a cart carriage within a few spaces, I'll return it to that, but I'm not walking that cart all the way back to the inside of the store, then walking back out to my car.

I'm also lazy.

I'm the bastard who rounds up three of 'em and returns them to their rightful place.

The rest of you lazy bastards better not let me catch you doing that nonsense.

Leaving the cart. Parking lot anxiety. Hogwash! It's pure laziness.

If one dents my little $Xk car, I'm going to be all wrath-of-god.

I didn't think this thing was still widely spread?
Over here, almost ALL shops have carts that require you to put a coin in to release the catch.
Which means if you want the coin back, you have to bring the cart back and secure it.

Seems like a small cost/big reward idea that I figured most stores would have taken up by now...


And yes, it's mostly laziness that it doesn't get put back. Especially if you're doing the shopping all alone. If there's 2 of you, it's more convenient, 1 drives the car, the other puts the cart back.
I doubt that's why you suck as a nation though ;)

one of my major pet peeves is people that dont put carts where they go and god help you if I come out of a store and find you in the space next to me getting in your car after having left your cart beside MY car

grrrr

I like to take the carts out of the return and take them all the way to the end of the parking lot and separate them and tip them all over. :rolleyes::thumbsup: jk, of course.

What Charlatan said.

This is one of my pet peeves too. I lasso all of the free-roaming bitches up like someone else said in this thread and put them all in the designated area. It's just pure laziness not to return them, no other excuse.

It is an actual issue because the carts roll into people's cars, or block empty spaces from being taken.

If I see someone leave one stranded, I walk up to it before they have left their parking space and grab it and return it to the receptacle to show them how responsible citizens function.

How could someone be so irresponsible to leave the cart in the lot? You do know that a cart can roll into a car and cause hundreds (sometimes a thousand) dollars worth of damage because of your laziness, right? Guess what, lazy people: if you ever leave a cart in the lot without putting it in its holding area, everyone around you (and I do mean everyone) is staring at you and commenting on how fucking lazy you are. Get a grip.

Yes! I used to be one of those guys who got paid to walk around wrangling carts for your lazy asses. I actually didn't mind it that much, it was kind of relaxing. Good summer job for a teenager who didn't want to do anything anyway.

On a more angry note, I recently had a cart pushed into my new car, leaving a nice ugly dent. I always return my carts. Why wouldn't you want to, anyway? I use it as an excuse to jump on and ride carts around because I'm really only ~5 years old.

Yes...yes. Riding carts rules.

QFT +1

I don't mind when people put them off to the side by islands or structures so they don't roll but leaving them astray in the middle of the parking lot is just downright inconsiderate.

I haven't looked at shopping carts the same since I bought The Stray Shopping Carts Of Eastern North America by Julian Montague.

First reaction: Yeah, bastards! Why cann't you punks put the shopping cart back into the holding area? GO BACK TO YOUR HOME, SHOPPING KARDT.

Second reaction: Why can't kids stay off my lawn?

Some days I am the Heroic Magnanimous Returner of all
the lost stray carts,

Other times, the cart is my cane, a crutch to lean on.
If the snow is deep enough and has turned into
that slippery powdered sugar consistency,
I'll abandon the cart.

I know how to hobble carts.

having been one of the guys who rounds them up and cattles drives them home, it's fucking annoying when people leave them all over the place (at times it's like some actually go out of their way to hide them).

Unfortunatly that idea has become internalised and i have to try very hard to stop myself going round supermarket carparks herding trollies after going shopping.

I always put mine back. Though i'm starting to consider the idea of watching for people who don't put theirs back and running it over and dropping it right behind their car when they are not looking and running away.... Maybe I should leave a nice little note on it to that says "Thanks you for putting your cart away so cars do not get damaged by stray carts".

If there is no cart corral near by, I at least hook a front wheel into landscaping so that it doesn't go rampaging around and damage vehicles. I'm not going out of my way to reduce some minimum wager's job security.

One of my top 5 pet peeves.

This is just going to be from my heart to those who leave cards scattered about, or next to other cars.

You are a lazy fucking douche bag who needs to have their car smashed in with the same cart that you are leaving. What self important task do you have that you cannot spare 20 seconds of your life to put a cart back???? Think about it, you leave that cart there and if its windy, the cart will roll away. Likely smashing into another persons car, a car paid for with hard earned dollars.

There seriously needs to be a liability for carts, hold a deposit of $5 on a card. Not a quarter, that's enough to ignore.

Fucking hate, hate hate hate those lazy bastards..

-


+1 To that sir!
--


Thanks, I feel better now. :)

No wonder most the world is overweight if it's such a struggle to push a cart a few extra metres and then walk back to your car. God forbid people should burn an extra calorie or three.

I put my cart back so that other folks don't damage their vehicles because I left a cart in a random area. A little personal respsonsibility is not a bad thing and it's not hard to do.

I almost always put the cart back. It's lazy and selfish not to.

I also used to push carts at Sam's Club in Phoenix during the summer back before those pussies had motorized cart pushers.

There is only one greater parking lot sin then leaving your shopping cart laying around: parking in a handicap spot when you don't have/need a handicap tag.


The level of laziness involved in both of these actions should be embarrassing to the violator.

What about those lazy bastards who park right up on the front side-walk zone. The clearly marked no parking, fire lane, zones...

Depending on the day, and my mood, if they park there in front of me while driving. I don't go around them, pull right up as if I wasn't aware of what they were doing. Wait a few seconds, then honk the horn for a good enough time to embarrass them. (I'm aware my self as well, but the overall goal has been met. ) :thumbsup:

Around this town, it's rare to see a free-floating cart. Most people, including my SO and I, put their carts back. It's also not uncommon for someone to offer to take your cart back with their cart, or for someone heading into the store to shop to offer to take it as their cart. Hooray for living where people are nice!

I try to park right next to the cart return, so that I don't have to go searching after I unload the groceries. When my son was younger, I really didn't want to leave him alone in the car to travel 10 spots down to return the cart, so I picked this parking method.

Please do not do this.
Some things are best left as fantasy.


I witnessed a near tragedy, when a hurried harried sort,
backed out quickly, and sent the cart hurtling towards
the two toddlers, that he did not take the time to see, behind his vehicle, either.

This is the weirdest dichotomy I've come to learn from reading this thread.

According to the accounted majority here, we're all bastards as soon as we step onto the painted parking pavement. As to which type, depends upon our thinking pattern and subsequent actions ruled by them.

We either maintain a nature of oblivion to those around us and after us, causing us to single-track our assertion that "we" have no further obligation to anyone else, for there are those whose entire description is to complete the task we left abandoned, and we are free to drive off to conquer more chores to the day.

Conversely, there is another side to us that push and play upon the grounds. We mosey and round up the stray carts as modern-day cowboys are wont to do, and disparage the usual civil folk for their ineptitude to complete the ritual of the "shop cart routine".

Lazy bastards and industrious bastards, the entire lot of us, it would seem.

After reading through this thread, I've realized I'm actually quite the parking lot douchebag...

Aside from the whole cart thing (though I do always prop the cart on something nearby so it doesn't move), I also have been known to park the car in the "No Parking" zone and wait in it while whoever I'm with goes in, my old car had a fake handicap sticker on it, and I park in senior citizen and expecting mother spots.

Perhaps that's why I have parking lot anxiety. Subconsciously, I know everybody's looking at me thinking "What a lazy douche!"...

punk..tell em you have a bit missing from your ear, and that its your diability because you cant hear from it properly.


me. i return my carts...especially if i put money into it. sometimes i feel generous and leave it so one of the low paid indian labourers can be content with the US quarter they just made. they have to work almost half an hour for that, so its nice giving back sometimes

I always put my cart back but I always get within 10 feet of the cart holding area and roll it as hard as I can and see if I can get it to "enter" the other cart in front of it. Like in pool I like to see if I can make one or more at the same time.

Before anyone yells about dents on cars or me acting like I'm 5, I always do this when there are no other cars around it. Or I will use the one at the back of the lot with no cars around it. I use that as an excuse to ride around on the back of the cart in the parking lot.

What really bothers me is the (excuse my language) cunts who take a trolley (cart in american) to the basket only checkout.

If ANY person does that in my opinion they should be tarred and feathered and thrown out of the store.

Basket only checkout like a speedy checkout? Basket = less items = speedy (Like our 12 items or less lanes)

Yes, the express checkout which is only for people with a basket rather than a shopping cart (or sometimes x number of items)

Sometimes I ask people (politely) if they noticed it was a basket only lane, some people apologise and go to another lane, but many dont.

If someone refuses, my voice goes grey on them and in me

"Taking me for a cunt would be the worst mistake you ever made in your life" I say

As they hesitate I pick up a garden rake and ask

"How about I smash this rake into your face so hard that you'll have to wear a scarf for the rest of your life?"

Then they leave the basket only lane normally

__

(the last part is a fantasy...)

I admit at times if I am far from one of the return spots I leave it, but then again when I park there I hope someone else left one so I would not have to find a cart. My wife however does not let me get away with this when I am with her (unless she is not looking shhh).

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.