I park in the cart corral to streamline the whole process.
Somehow, I believe you. 
Let me tell you how this cart thing is managed in Europe. ALL over Europe. It’s simple. They make you pay a deposit for them. Just one Euro, or fifty cent. Not much. But it is enough of an incentive for people to bring them back to the designated area (which is never far away anyway, there are usually several). So if you are too lazy to bring them back, if one Euro or fifty cent are not enough for you to bother: no problem. Some kid will gladly do it. The mechanism for that looks like that:
If you don’t do that in the USA, I may have a suggestion for a franchise that could bring in big bucks. It is a simple an effective mechanism: a lock, a chain, and a slit for the coins. It works. I think 1% of your sales would be a correct commission for the first five years, afterwards I give you the idea for free, forever.
Wait, what? You don’t have dollar coins? Only quarters? Should be enough, stop worrying. Some people even have plastic chips the right size in their key-ring, so they always have the right “change” handy. They sell them cheap in packs of many, and still people bring the carts back.
Civilized, we are over here. (looks smug)
Oh, here is an [spoiler]asshole[/spoiler] who proudly shows how he cheats on that. In-cre-di-ble. With proletarian East-German accent, probably votes AfD (yeah, I am proud of my prejudices too).
Deary me, and they think they are good at technical solutions, those gringos? Ts, ts, ts…
ETA: Aha, blurr spoilers don’t work in links? Never mind, I showed good will.
We do have these at some stores. I think most of them have been removed actually at least around here.
Why did they remove them? Too simple? Too effective? Does it infringe the Second Amendment?
Aldi is the main chain I can think of that uses them. If some store removed them, I’m going to guess it’s because, in today’s electronic-driven society, no one carries quarters on them. Then you go to a store that requires a quarter to use a cart and customers either get upset, buy only as much as they can carry or else just go to a different store (or some combination thereof).
What future do y’all live in? Ain’t never seen those.
Based on what I see, appx. 90% of the population fits that description.
I lean on the cart all the time, sometimes I ride on it.
If I had to rent the damn thing for $0.50, I’d leave the damn thing where ever I pleased.
Mrs. Plant, who used to work at a Kroger grocery store, tells me that not returning the carts provides employment for the people who are paid to return them to the store.
You’re saying that 90% of the population is so aged and/or disabled, that they need to lean on the cart?
I think I push a cart for the intended purpose. Always have big needs. We feed so many. I’d like to ride in the cart too. But Ivy won’t push me. And my feet would drag the floor.
No, I’m saying that based on the sheer number of carts left scattered around the parking lot, 90% of the population is elderly/disabled. It was sarcasm.
Hell, I’m disabled and I manage to put the cart away where it belongs.
Our cart wrangler at Walmart was disabled himself. He would line up about 20 at a time and start yelling “Muleteam!!” As loud as he could. And running them in.
He was famous for it.
He got fired for running a lady who was walking into a moving car with his cart mules.
Sad day in South Arkansas.
I have to disagree with that. As someone with a mild sciatic condition in one leg that makes me less than agile when walking, I’m one of those who does find a shopping cart a useful support. I was particularly aware of that today when I just needed a few things so went in with just my grocery bag. It’s a big store and I wished I had taken a cart.
But here’s my point: I always return the cart, either to the cart corral or back to the store, whichever is closest. I’d feel like a total jerk if I did not. Same reason that if I accidentally knock something off a shelf in the store, I always put it back. One may ask what difference it really makes. The answer is that if everyone did the same, the world would be a better place, so it’s a basic tenet of morality. It’s the same reason I don’t try to steal things at the self-checkout.
As for those who are sufficiently disabled that they can’t even make it from a proper cart parking place to their car, how the hell did they make it from their car to the store in the first place? And how do they get around in stores that don’t have shopping carts? I’m not unsympathetic, I’m just saying that anyone in that condition should be using a walker, and that leaving shopping carts lying around – sometimes in the middle of the best parking spots – is almost always the result of just pure inconsiderate laziness.
Nothing in the above diminishes my admiration for our Beckers’ wonderful response to the obnoxious Karen in the parking lot, who should have kept her mouth shut or, preferably, stayed home. Some have expressed a willingness to kick her in the ass. I my capacity as a lovely but large Bernese Mountain Dog, I’d like to express my willingness to bite her in the leg.
My point exactly!
Yet I see elderly doing just that. Using the cart as a defacto walker. Occasionally you see some with those fancy walkers that have baskets and seats built in. Handy since Walmart has removed the benches, in our store. No loitering in Walmart, I guess. I thought they were handy, myself.
A cane or a helper if they’re to infirmed to manage seems to be needed.
It’s not really a rental. More a deposit on good behavior. If you return the cart, you get your coin(s) back since attaching it to another cart pops your coin(s) out. If you abandon the cart, you abandon your coins with it since they’re in the lockbox.
But the whole thing only works if you have a quarter in the first place. Which, more often than not in this age, I do not. Or there’s outfits that will sell you a slug to keep on your keychain or something but I’m not invested enough in shopping at Aldi to make special purchases so I can use their carts. On the other hand, if I was a woman with a purse, maybe I’d be more likely to have a quarter on me at any given moment.
My brother’s version was “Eat shit and burp!”. I always thought that was meaner and nastier.
my mother would not use a walker, but would enthusiastically use a cart. i did consider just buying her a cart.
I think it’s assholish in general (there may be emergency circumstances on occasion) to not return to the cart. It’s inconsiderate, makes them a risk to other cars, etc. And shoppers should absolutely be responsible for their cars while unloading and care if they roll away, because they can damage other cars. It’s just selfish to leave the cart wherever and let it do whatever.