No..not dirty words...anything but that.

[TruthHurts]

The carts in our store aren't in the best condition, one in particular is really hard to navigate. I spotted one of our customers shoving said cart in a corner effectively cutting off access to our barbecue section. Silly me, I thought she was just too lazy to put the cart back.

As she is leaving I go to put the cart back in it's place. As I pull it out, she suddenly runs over and stops the cart with her hands. "Don't put that cart back there. It's no good." She hisses at me.

I agree that it's not the best cart but that it has to be put in it's proper place. She stands there clutching the side of the cart and again demands that I keep it there. I tell her that it's blocking a popular section and needs to be moved.

She finally lets go and then says "Well you better be prepared to hear dirty words, that cart is terrible. You should be ashamed to have it in your store." She stomps out muttering under her breath.

[BrenDAnn]

The cart was terrible, but apparently not terrible enough for her not to use it while she did her shopping. Okay then. Also, I can see politely letting the greeter/cart person know about the cart being bad, but that sort of reaction? Over the top. If I find a bad cart, I take it back, let whoever is there know (politely) and take a different one. Easy.

[Jay 2K Winger]

At the wholesale club, unless a cart was actually MISSING a wheel, or so badly damaged in some way that it was dangerous or completely useless, the carts kept getting used.

And even then, some of the carts missing a wheel still ended up in use.

[depechemodefan]

And it's the crappy carts that stay at the store while the good ones are pushed off the lot, to a subdivision mile away or at the bus stop. Or, for some reason, in a ditch.

[Lore]

And it's the crappy carts that stay at the store while the good ones are pushed off the lot, to a subdivision mile away or at the bus stop. Or, for some reason, in a ditch.

If I recall correctly, wasn't there a sort of game people would play a while ago (Shopping Carts In The Wild or something) where they would take pictures of carts in ditches/the forest/outside the local brothel and record the 'species' and location from the nearest store and such?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

And it's the crappy carts that stay at the store while the good ones are pushed off the lot, to a subdivision mile away or at the bus stop. Or, for some reason, in a ditch.

This is what happens at our store all the time. And we're holding our breath that we don't lose many more - we just got a whole bunch of brand new buggies (including a number of smaller two tiered carts, similar to these.)

A lot of them go wandering behind the shopping center and into the wooded area between us and the 2 apartment complexes located behind us - needless to say we don't have anyone to go around collecting them so we end up with a lot less carts than what we originally started out with.

Two Thanksgivings ago, we were down to very few shopping carts - and would you believe the SM we had at the time refused to order more carts???

I'm hoping we don't lose that many that we're down to less than 100 carts by the time Thanksgiving week rolls around. Or else we're going to be in the same boat we were then - not enough carts and more pissed off customers.

[Grendus]

If I recall correctly, wasn't there a sort of game people would play a while ago (Shopping Carts In The Wild or something) where they would take pictures of carts in ditches/the forest/outside the local brothel and record the 'species' and location from the nearest store and such?

IIRC that was Retail Hell Underground, a site similar to CS except it follows more of a mod-driven communal blog format rather than the moderated forum here. They haven't done it much recently though, dunno if people stopped sending them in or they just got tired of them.

[cashierbex]

We lost so many carts that we got ones with locks on them. There were signs, but no one reads. Complaints everyday.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

We lost so many carts that we got ones with locks on them. There were signs, but no one reads. Complaints everyday.

One place I shop at has those chain locks with the coin slot - put a quarter in and you can get a shopping cart.

And if you put the cart back and connect it to the one in front of it, you get your quarter back.

Another place I've been to has those with the locking wheels - I don't think they've had many issues with losing their carts since they got those.

If they did, I would think the employees would laugh them out of the store. I mean, seriously, would you complain to a store that the wheels locked up when you tried to take the cart OUT of the parking lot?

[Merriweather]

We lost so many carts that we got ones with locks on them. There were signs, but no one reads. Complaints everyday.

I always thought the way many larger British shops do it made a lot of sense - all chained up, you put in a pound coin, you get a trolly - put it back when you're done, and you get your money back immediately.

Since most people want their money back, there are few carts anywhere exceot where they should be.

It would be hard to make it work here though, until the dollar coins are more common place - people probably wouldn't bother for a quarter or less, and having to have multiple coins for a larger fee would be a bit of a pain.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Nowadays, in the UK, it tends to be smaller chains that use the £1 locks on trolleys. Bigger stores often have magnetic lines that the trolleys cannot cross instead. But when I was a kid, the locks were everywhere. But then again, I suppose if you're a stupid prankster/lazy person who wants a trolley a quid for a trolley to KEEP isn't too bad a price <.<

[dalesys]

A certain science teacher I know discovered that if you lift and carry the cart over the boundary, the wheels don't lock up.

[Andara Bledin]

It would be hard to make it work here though, until the dollar coins are more common place - people probably wouldn't bother for a quarter or less, and having to have multiple coins for a larger fee would be a bit of a pain.

While a quarter might not be worth it to most people, it would be worth it to kids with nothing better to do than round up carts and rather than dumping them in ditches, they can return them to their corrals for cash.

^-.-^

[KatherineB]

Australian supermarkets still generally use the coin in the lock trolleys. You still see the trolleys in the wild though.

[Hyndis]

While a quarter might not be worth it to most people, it would be worth it to kids with nothing better to do than round up carts and rather than dumping them in ditches, they can return them to their corrals for cash.

^-.-^

Or someone who is homeless could rack up a decent amount of money by returning carts.

Either way, carts get put back without the need for cart wranglers.