# You're a goddam cart thief, and they should call the cops on you. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 28, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181 "2012-09-28T20:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/41 "2012-09-29T12:27:45Z")
Human nature must be different in a small town, especially with low housing density. I never see abandoned carts in the street; I never see anyone pushing them outside of the parking lot, and there are no security measures at any store. There are some apartment buildings (2 story) not far from the supermarkets, but the residents don’t seem to use carts to take groceries home. If they don’t have a car, they can call up the free senior ride service and get taken door-to-door in a van. That’s a lot better than schlepping a cart down the street. So the problem simply doesn’t exist in my neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/42 "2012-09-29T12:46:27Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > I guess the problem would be that a quarter or dollar isn’t enough. To be effective, it would have to be high enough to be worth somebody’s time to push an empty cart all the way back after it’s traveled. You’d think, wouldn’t you? Surprisingly, it really works. It’s a behavioral/psychological mechanism, not a financial one. The only time I’ve left a Quarter Cart out in the 7 years or so since they’ve been installed around here is during a heavy rainstorm when I was with an infant. Fuck it, not worth the quarter to walk all the way back to the store with it, let the cart roll. And I remember it 'cause I still feel rather guilty about it. (I did ram it over one of the curbs in the parking lot so it wasn’t terribly likely to drift off, but I admit I did not return it to the corral. Sue me.) Part of it is my own convenience - I have a “Cart Quarter” in my car. It is a sacred item, to be used only for a Cart. It shall not be used for tolls, candy, handouts or offerings to lesser gods as it is my Cart Quarter!!! If I leave it in the cart, I have to remember to get another quarter and leave it in my car or risk being quarterless next time I go to the store. But it’s not just me. There really aren’t the number of loose and stray carts in our neighborhoods that there used to be. There are certainly still the homeless for whom a quarter invested is worth it for a mobile storage unit, but there is far less lazy/opportunistic cart thievery. I do see kids and adults alike bringing carts back for other shoppers. There’s a dude at one grocery store who does it all day long…offers to bring back carts for people and keeps their quarters. Apparently, he’s making a living at it; I guess if it’s a busy enough store with busy enough shoppers, he can return dozens an hour…better than minimum wage! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/43 "2012-09-29T13:08:38Z")
In Paris, the enterprising locals (possibly illegals) set them up as mobile barbecues. They have a can of hot coals in them and roast corn cobs to sell to the tourists. I never saw the appeal. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/44 "2012-09-29T16:39:01Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I want to be able to sit in the store’s parking lot and shoot paintballs at people who try to take carts home! You know, that might be just the job for you! Out in the fresh air all day, duties not real strenuous, and wouldn’t it be _swell_ to have a paying job again! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/45 "2012-09-29T16:44:01Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’d think, wouldn’t you? Surprisingly, it really works. Except when, as **Jamicat** says, it doesn’t. Stores in some places are _still_ employing people to go get stray carts, or they’re taking the losses–and that’s _after_ the extra up-front cost of the gizmos. > [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s a behavioral/psychological mechanism, not a financial one. The only time I’ve left a Quarter Cart out in the 7 years or so since they’ve been installed around here is during a heavy rainstorm when I was with an infant. Fuck it, **not worth the quarter** to walk all the way back to the store with it, let the cart roll. Would you have taken it back for for $20? If not, I guarantee somebody else would have, right quick. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/46 "2012-09-29T16:48:40Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Except when, as **Jamicat** says, it doesn’t. Stores in some places are _still_ employing people to go get stray carts, or they’re taking the losses–and that’s _after_ the extra up-front cost of the gizmos. > > Would you have taken it back for for $20? If not, I guarantee somebody else would have, right quick. Dunno. The point is, hundreds of times, I have taken it back for the quarter. Once I didn’t. Hundreds of times before that when there was no quarter, I wouldn’t take it back more often than not. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/47 "2012-09-29T17:11:51Z")
Right, and hundreds of times I’ve taken mine back for no money at all. Where I live people don’t steal “buggies,” not ever, and it’s quite rare for one to even be left loose in the lot. The problem with using money as “behavioral/psychological mechanism” is that it looks like a price. A daycare I read about had problems with late pickups, so they started charging $1 per minute. _Late pickups increased._ In that affluent area, this seemed a not-unconscionable cost for the freedom to show up late. Tagging the behavior with a price was like an authorization. I forget exactly what they changed the policy to, but it became ‘no-tolerance,’ with a penalty that inconvenienced the parents a lot more than a $5 or $10 late charge every few days. Similarly, while a quarter may be enough to get you to return your cart most of the time, it’s also an extremely low price for taking a cart all the way home. I can easily imagine some people somewhere who wouldn’t have “stolen” a cart before feeling somewhat authorized to do so when their quarter is in the slot. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/48 "2012-09-29T17:13:54Z")
> [@Meyer6](#): > > I always thought this was universal - we had it in Western Canada back in the 80s (or possibly early 90s). But spent some time in Eastern Canada and never once saw a loonie corral there, and when I tried to explain it to people it was clear that most had never heard of such a thing. The thing is, I shopped at the same chain in both places (Real Canadian/Atlantic Superstore). So what gives? Do the different branches of the company not talk to each other? Maybe Western Canadians are really huge cart thieves. 🙂 > [@WhyNot](#): > > You’d think, wouldn’t you? Surprisingly, it really works. It’s a behavioral/psychological mechanism, not a financial one. \ I agree. When it’s time to give the cart back and someone wants to use it, I want a quarter from them to give it up (and they always offer one). I have Cart Quarters in my car, too - they’re there for _carts only!_ ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/49 "2012-09-29T18:24:37Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > From the store’s POV, you may be a goddamned cart thief, but you’re also a regular customer, and the carts you take don’t go far and do make their way back to the store with only some bother. Isn’t it a possibly reasonable business tactic to continue to put up with it quietly? I don’t get this rationale. I was reminded of this again in the line cutting thread the other day, which brought up **Sauron** ’s ‘I met the Emperor of the World thread’. There, too, people would say that line-cutters are regular customers and it’s in companies’ interest to just put up with the shit they pull, lest they lose these deadbeats’ invaluable business. What about the non-asshole demographic? Shouldn’t their business be valued, and shouldn’t companies worry about losing out in the non-asshole demographic when they continue to tolerate the stunts that jerkwad nation likes to pull, at the expense one way or the other of people that are not completely morally, socially, and intellectually stunted half-witted oafs? I think being a ‘regular customer’ may entitle you to them not taking you round the back and beating you to within an inch of your sorry-ass life with baseball bats - but not much more. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/50 "2012-09-29T18:26:18Z")
I don’t know if the pay to use cart corral thing is really meant to prevent people from taking the shopping cart to the bus stop/ apartment. I think its just to encourage people not to leave the cart in the middle of the fucking parking lot. I love the idea and keep my quarters handy but I still see the occasional cart at the bus stop. Its annoying, its theft, and it sounds like it is more of a problem in some places than others; but I suspect lot of the people doing this are struggling in more ways than one. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/51 "2012-09-29T18:56:32Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I don’t get this rationale. I was reminded of this again in the line cutting thread the other day, which brought up **Sauron** ’s ‘I met the Emperor of the World thread’. There, too, people would say that line-cutters are regular customers and it’s in companies’ interest to just put up with the shit they pull, lest they lose these deadbeats’ invaluable business. What about the non-asshole demographic? Shouldn’t their business be valued, and shouldn’t companies worry about losing out in the non-asshole demographic when they continue to tolerate the stunts that jerkwad nation likes to pull, at the expense one way or the other of people that are not completely morally, socially, and intellectually stunted half-witted oafs? > > I think being a ‘regular customer’ may entitle you to them not taking you round the back and beating you to within an inch of your sorry-ass life with baseball bats - but not much more. A big problem is that people who pull crap like this will usually make an enormous scene if they aren’t catered to. And the floor manager isn’t interested or invested in the long term profits of the company, all he wants is to get the customer calmed down. This results in the assholes learning that they can get what they want if they make a big enough scene, and ALSO people who previously had not been assholes learning this as well. A nonasshole who has tried to act reasonably won’t get as much as an asshole who goes ballistic because of foam on his coffee drink. Bottom line: in most cases, being an asshole gets better results than being reasonable. Unless you happen to wander into the past, and go into [Gord’s](http://www.actsofgord.com/index.php) game store. Then and there, acting like an asshole will tend to get you thrown out of the door. If Gord is feeling generous, he might even open the door first. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/52 "2012-09-29T19:48:15Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Right, and hundreds of times I’ve taken mine back for no money at all. Where I live people don’t steal “buggies,” not ever, and it’s quite rare for one to even be left loose in the lot. It’s obviously a bigger problem in some places than others, but the quarter/loonie corrals do seem to make a noticeable difference. Around here, Superstore uses them and WalMart doesn’t, and there are definitely more WalMart carts wandering around town and the WalMart parking lot is more of a mess. I’m sure there are people who see it as a small fee that gives them the right to just take the cart. But, for one thing, when they do eventually abandon it somewhere, it’s more likely that someone else will take it back. Perhaps more to the point, I’m sure the larger chains have collected data on whether or not it’s worth the expense of installing and maintaining the locking mechanisms, and they must believe it works or they wouldn’t keep it up. The grocery business has very small margins and I can’t believe that nobody would have ever looked into it. It would be nice to live somewhere where people didn’t see the need to steal carts, but I don’t know how you could possibly just compel them not to. In my experience, some people will steal anything that isn’t nailed down. A reward-and-punishment system, no matter how minor, does seem to make a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/53 "2012-09-29T20:57:35Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Are there really places that don’t have the [quarter corrals](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHrd2NcbCF4MFqXkbcCAq9utF-PvFOegZHPXJpEH3vhqVHFOID)at any of their stores yet? I resisted at first, but really, the pros far outweigh the cons. They’ve got those at the Aldi’s stores, and the Costco and BJs and other warehouse-type stores around here. Outside Aldi’s, there’s always an enterprising person asking for a quarter when you return your cart. No sense asking for plain old “spare change”, he just asks for a quarter. And he damn well knows you have one! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/54 "2012-09-29T22:28:12Z")
About half the supermarkets near me have now switched to the £1 coin version (most recently, my local Tesco superstore switched from invisible-fence to coin-deposit). I think it’s quite a good solution, as long as the devices can be made resilient enough to resist tampering - then if people can’t be bothered to return their trolley and get their money back, I’m sure some enterprising youngster will exploit it as a source of pocket money (just like I remember collecting deposit bottles as a kid). Interestingly, the £1 carts have become so widespread in the UK that it’s also quite common for people to buy a £1-coin-shaped token to use in them. These often actually cost £1 themselves, but they make sense because: [ul] [li]They can’t be spent (so you don’t find yourself unable to shop for want of a single coin)[/li][li]They often have a hole allowing them to be threaded on a keyring[/li][li]They’re marketed as a fund-raising item by charities[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/55 "2012-09-29T22:37:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > About half the supermarkets near me have now switched to the £1 coin version (most recently, my local Tesco superstore switched from invisible-fence to coin-deposit). > > I think it’s quite a good solution, as long as the devices can be made resilient enough to resist tampering - then if people can’t be bothered to return their trolley and get their money back, I’m sure some enterprising youngster will exploit it as a source of pocket money (just like I remember collecting deposit bottles as a kid). > > Interestingly, the £1 carts have become so widespread in the UK that it’s also quite common for people to buy a £1-coin-shaped token to use in them. > These often actually cost £1 themselves, but they make sense because: > [ul] > [li]They can’t be spent (so you don’t find yourself unable to shop for want of a single coin)[/li][li]They often have a hole allowing them to be threaded on a keyring[/li][li]They’re marketed as a fund-raising item by charities[/li][/ul] If they were doing this here in the states, without the express approval of the grocery store, and without some kind of label on the machine saying it accepts tokens, I’d guess that would be illegal from the Treasury Department’s point of view – some form of counterfeiting. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/56 "2012-09-29T22:51:00Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If they were doing this here in the states, without the express approval of the grocery store, and without some kind of label on the machine saying it accepts tokens, I’d guess that would be illegal from the Treasury Department’s point of view – some form of counterfeiting. Seems to be A-OK here. They’re not selling anything that remotely resembles a pound coin - it’s just a disc of metal that’s the same diameter and thickness - [here](http://www.poundforlife.co.uk/category-55.html) are some examples. ETA: in all of the situations where these things are used, nothing is being purchased anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/57 "2012-09-29T22:53:02Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The city doesn’t like this. The carts clutter up the edges of the road like the skeletons of giant dead bugs, and so they’re fining grocery stores that don’t gather their metallic diaspora soon enough. A wonderful society we have going…make it impossible to stop thieves thanks to the guarantee of a nuisance lawsuit, then fine the victim when he is stolen from. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/58 "2012-09-29T23:13:18Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > In Paris, the enterprising locals (possibly illegals) set them up as mobile barbecues. They have a can of hot coals in them and roast corn cobs to sell to the tourists. I never saw the appeal. Are you kidding? I’d love me some hot buttered french shopping cart corn on the cob right now. Zut alors! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/59 "2012-09-29T23:14:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Seems to be A-OK here. They’re not selling anything that remotely resembles a pound coin - it’s just a disc of metal that’s the same diameter and thickness - [here](http://www.poundforlife.co.uk/category-55.html) are some examples. > > ETA: in all of the situations where these things are used, nothing is being purchased anyway. The look isn’t particularly important. For instance, if it could be used in any vending machines that accept coins of that size, they could be in deep shit. And I’m pretty sure the fact that they charge a substantial amount for it wouldn’t matter to a prosecutor. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-goddam-cart-thief-and-they-should-call-the-cops-on-you/636181/60 "2012-09-29T23:35:49Z")
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