Always, and I even try to take a stray cart with me into the store if one’s nearby.
I’ll admit to being a bad guy sometimes. I don’t ever leave them just sitting in the middle of the parking lot, but I occasionally deposit them behind the parking bumpers instead of trekking over to the corral. I try to park close to avoid having to do this, but it doesn’t always happen.
I consider it somewhat mitigated by the fact that I almost always grab the cart I’m going to use for my shopping out of the lot on my way in.
[slightly off topic] What was the situation before corralls became common? I remember them starting to pop up in parking lots when I was 10 or so, but before that was there a standard cart-return system? Or is it that corralls became needed as the grocery stores started skimping on the workers who would help you out to your car?
Not always. If it’s -30 degrees out and the winds blowing, making it -40, I put it on the divider. sorry. In decent weather I always return it to the corral. One thing I do do though is I always get a cart outside to bring into the store. My son, who is in college, sometimes has the job of bringing back into the store all those carts scattered all over the lot, so I think of him. I was in a Wal-Mart in Nebraska when I was traveling and they enter you in a drawing for a free shopping spree if you bring a cart in from outside. It’s a good idea. Of course I never leave a cart in the actual parking space or where it could roll for obvious reasons.
I never used to. Then, this year, I decided to lose a few pounds. So I figured an extra two minutes walking in this heat was worth at least three pounds of sweat! Now I do it all the time. I’ve even been known to relieve a leaving customer of their empty cart on my way in to the store. If there’s nobody about to abandon their cart in the middle of the parking lot, I try to snag a random one on my way in.
Yes, I leap into the cart and attempt to steer it back into the corral using energetic body english while shouting “Ramming Speed!”, however, since it’s pretty flat in these parts I really can’t develop any momentum, so I have to get out about halfway back to the corral and meekly return it back using the mundane “pushing” method.
Always return my cart either to the corral or back inside the store, whichever is closer. I try not to park adjacent to the corral because of the way some idiots return their carts. If I pass by a stray cart on the way inside after parking, I’ll take it along to use (or exchange if I don’t like the way the casters behave).
Every single time. Even when I lived in the Arctic with -40 F plus wind, every single time.
Neither of the supermarkets where I shop have corrals in the parking lots. I either bring the cart back to the store, wheel it over to the person collecting loose carts in the lot or leave it between the parking bumpers thingies.
When I was younger, they always had people bring your stuff out. The bag boy would bag, then push the cart out and load your car. I think the warehouse type stores where you bag your own became common later - in the eighties, perhaps?
There is still one store in town that bags and take the groceries to my car and loads them, but their prices are higher and the selection is smaller. My regular grocery store has a drive up option, but I only use that if it is really nasty out.
Always. And I try to park near the corral. If I see a stray one as I’m walking in I’ll grab it and use it. I’ve even occasionally gathered up one or two strays and put them in the corral or the store.
Almost always. As mentioned above, if it’s raining really hard, I’ll put it up on the nearest grass island.
I used to work at a grocery store and collecting errant buggies was part of the job description. We didn’t have corrals back then (ca. 1981).
I always return carts, either to the corral or to where they are lined up in the store. I don’t do any strategic parking - it doesn’t matter to me if I have to walk a bit to return the cart. I sit on my butt for work all day, so any exercise I can get is a good thing.
Always.
Wish more people did, as it would eliminate the rogue cart smashing into the side of your car.
Yes! Always! Every, every time! Drives me f*king nuts to watch people just give their cart a half-hearted shove into the nearest empty space where, you know, people park their cars :mad: :mad: :mad: A couple of times I’ve glared, walked up, and taken the cart back to the store myself.
You should have the system we have in the UK. You need to insert a £1 coin into a slot to get a cart. You get this back when you return your cart to the corral , simple!
No, that happened to me, too. It was a na$ty dent (it left a $harp crease!) that was fortuantly removed by the paintle$$ dent repair guy.
It really sucked, because I always park in the sticks and I always (I mean always) take carts to the corral or back to the store.
They have these in some Aussie shopping centres but as yet I haven’t seen them here in NZ. Personally I found them a nuisance as I didn’t always have the right change, and if you were unable to park close to the store, it was a real pain to have to trek all the way back.
There has been the very odd occasion when I have not returned the trolley to the bay, but I do make the effort most of the time. The only time I might not bother is if it was pouring with rain and there was no bay within cooee. Where I shop now the bays are numerous so there is never a problem, but at my previous shopping centre, they were few and far between.
You don’t have to return the trolley back to the store . Usually there are corrals in other parts of the car-park where you can retrieve your money without having to treck back to the main building.
Most of the grocery stores either had drive-up service or someone to take the cart to your car and load them in. With the drive-up service each cart had a number attached to the front and the cashier would give you a slip with whatever cart number(s) were yours. When you pulled up in front of the store the employee would take the slip, locate your cart and load it in your vehicle.
The carts never went out in the parking lot under the guidance of the customer either way so no corral was needed.
I was a grocery store employee for six months, the guy who rounded up carts and helped customers put groceries into their cars. This was before that particular store had corrals.
Not only do I return my carts to corrals, I always try to get one not in a corral or at the front of the store to use for my shopping. If I’m not near a corral or in a lot without them, I’ll return the cart to the front of the store or a grassy perimeter. I hardly ever do the latter, though.