I’ve listened to all these excuses, and none of them hold water. Unless you and your children are all in wheelchairs or something, there is no good excuse for a cart-leaver. You are simply lazy and hiding behind your children as an excuse.
Yes! And tonight I shall do an interpretive dance in honor of their triumph!
Seriously, it appears this is a very touch subject for some. I’ve stated my take on it, as have others, and I’m done now. It’s certainly not anything I feel strongly enough about to argue over.
Yes. Once when I was young and impressionable, a strong gust of wind slammed an abandoned cart into my parent’s car with enough force to leave a large dent. They took the opportunity to teach the lesson that “…the trolley you abandon today may just be the one that hits your car tomorrow…”
Somehow I just never seemed to outgrow a lot of the little lessons I learnt as a child, and I couldn’t dump my cart in the lot without feeling like I was being naughty…
I rarely use a cart, rarely take it to the lot if I use one and in most instances would return it to the corral. Also, I usually take a stray one into the store with me, to make it easier for others.
Exactly … I do what I can, when I can. If a few message board posters want to get their panties in a wad over it, well, okay, you go have fun. Keep living your selfless, perfect widdle lives; I’ve got other things to do.
Of course not. You’re not the one dealing with a rude, inconsiderate shopper!
As opposed to all the perfect people who have posted, I usually don’t. I just find another cart nearby that someone else left and nest them together.
What are you talking about? I park in the same lot as everyone else, and somehow I manage to deal with the trauma that is uncorraled shopping carts. If you feel compelled to pick a fight over something so minor, I must insist that you at least *try * to be logical about it.
Shopping cart? pshaww, I scoff at thee. I shop like a man. No user of cart in parking lot am I. Just slide those babies up over my wrist, walk to my car with head held high, and slide them off into the trunk. A return to the cart corral would require turning back around, and would destroy the magnificence of my manly departure. 
Well, obviously you don’t care about your car (either that or other people), so you really aren’t dealing with it. You’ve probably never had a nice car dented because some self-centered shopper just couldn’t deal with social politeness AND parenthood at the same time. I dunno…maybe you drive a real beater and another dent won’t make a difference. It still doesn’t explain your lack of consideration for other people.
My philosophy is “Do what you can do to make a difference”. Usually I corral the cart. Many times I wheel it into the store. If the lot has numerous abandonned carts, I feel no remorse in nesting my cart within an abandoned cart. Chalk me up in the category of what’s-the-big-deal. Most shoppers that I have noted don’t just arbitrarily abandon a cart, but do make an effort to group the carts. Also, I nearly always take an abandonned cart in with me.
Originally posted by Mycroft Holmes
It’s a good system. Especially since you can find corrals close to the parking lots. No more trolleys in the canals either.
However; Since I’m truly Dutch, I get my groceries on my bicycle.
When I have bags on the front, the back and on the handles of my bike, I sometimes leave the cart where it is - next to my bike.
Some kid - a truly Dutch one 
- will return it to the corral and pocket my 50 euro cents.
Now, THAT’S the hot set-up. Heck…I’d shag carts all day for half a buck a piece. There’s worse ways to make a livin’!
Thanks for finding that, Bad News Baboon.
Like most of you (which is funny because we seem to be the minority), I return the cart to the corral or, if I’ve parked close enough to the store, right back inside where the carts are stored. It irritates me too because almost all of my cars have either been cart-dented or door-dinged. At this point, I’m not really worried about more dents. What irritates me now is the sheer laziness and/or lack of concern for others that it represents as madmonk28 pointed out.
suzeekay, it’s admirable that you’re willing to return the cart in decent weather since your son has worked as a cart-retriever, but I wonder if you could picture your son retrieving carts in -30 degree weather for hours on end. Surely, it’s not as uncomfortable as the extra 30 seconds it would take you to return the cart. It seems to me that carts need to be returned to the store regardless of the weather and that attitude is probably shared by many making the time spent by those unfortunate cart-retrieving souls outside in nasty weather that much longer.
I also wonder what all those people who don’t return carts to corrals would say if they walked into a store and found no carts because the cart-people finally gave up and decided to make the customers retrieve their own damn carts. Serves them right, I’d say.
I have a solution to the people who won’t risk the safety of their kids just to be considerate to fellow shoppers. Ask for assistance out to your car before you leave the store. I can’t think of one store that would not oblige such a request even if they hadn’t offered it. Or are you too embarassed? There’s no shame in asking for a service that used to be standard. It’s called good customer service and if your store doesn’t offer that, find one that does. Particularly, if your kid is in a wheelchair (that’s still not a good excuse if the store would be happy to offer an alternative to you sucking it up on your own).
My wonderful husband, who takes this particular peeve to the extreme, tried to teach one lazy lady a lesson. We couldn’t have been parked more than three spaces away from the front of the store and the cart corral was directly across the aisle. We had finished loading the car and hubby was on his way back across the aisle having just corralled our cart. The woman in the car next to us loads her groceries and pushes her cart in between our cars blocking our driver’s side door. Hubby, with supreme calm, quietly grabs her cart after she got into her car and pushed it directly behind her car. Then walked back to ours, got in and backed out. As we drove away, we could see her standing behind her car with a look that could have killed. I, for one, was laughing my ass off. Hope it sunk in to that thick skull of hers.
Our grocery also has the vending carts. Stick a quarter in to release, get quarter back upon hooking it up to another cart. I think it’s a brilliant idea. And the last time we were at the store, we had a kiddie car cart and ran out of space loading the bagged groceries at the register. Just as soon as I told hubby we needed another cart, the cashier hands him a quarter to go get one. I’m proud to say that not only did he corral both carts, he went back into the store to return the quarter to the stunned cashier. He’s a kinder person than I, who would have pocketed the quarter exactly as the cashier expected him to do.
Ditto.
Sometimes we have some time in the car while one parent runs into the store for something. If I’m the one still in the car with the kids we’ll do something to entertain them while Moxmaiden is making the run. Sometimes this is donuts in the parking lot(they love that) but the thing that reall gets them going is “cart rescue”. I’ll roll down the driver’s side window and pull up alongside an abandoned cart. Reach out the window and grab the front corner and drive to the nearest corral to return it. Now the thing that gets the kids really going is that I’ll pick those carts that are the absolute farthest from anywhere. The ones least likely to be picked up by employees. Stranded on medians, that sort of thing. All the while we’ll be talking about how lonely the poor cart must be and how happy it will be when we get it home safely. The kids love it at the moment(oldest is eight) but I’m reasonably sure they’ll grow out of it. In the meantime we have mini adventures and do good deeds at the same time.
Enjoy,
Steven
Actually, yes, I have run into that; luckily it usually doesn’t bother me that there are no carts inside because I often grab a cart while I am on my way in.
A few “no frills” stores make you bag your own groceries, but other than that, most stores still offer service. I did a double check on my way in today; our grocery store has NO cart corralls, but there are many grassy appendages and the previously mentioned double cement bars that many carts are stored in.
Applause for your husband! I’ve thought of that, but prefer to not be chased after via automobile (again).
I dunno…maybe you drive a real beater and another dent won’t make a difference.
/mini hijack
I can’t speak for the other sinners in this thread but you’re damn straight I drive a (slightly) beat up car. Ya know why? Cars depreciate. I’d have to be 7 kinds of stupid to go out and take out a big loan for something that is going to take me 5 years to pay off, and while I’m in debt for it I get to pay what would almost equal a SECOND car payment a month just to insure the damn thing. Clunkers RULE. My car insurance is $60 a month, it’s totally paid for and next year I’m sending my kid to private school.
So neener.
Ok I’m done now.