Grocery store workers are having a tough time of it lately, so let’s do all we can to help them out by putting the carts back in the cart corral when you’re done using them.
Not only does it save them time, but it also decreases the chances of a loose cart damaging a vehicle in the parking lot.
Also, don’t leave used gloves, masks, wipes, etc. in the cart, that’s just gross.
82 comments
You cant fix stupid.
You really cant.
@ Mike Wagner Don’t worry, we gave up on you a long time ago?
Good point
Some stores like Winco have an employee round up the carts. If you do it yourself you are taking away somebody’s job.
False. They have to do their own tasks and then put those carts back. I see you never worked in retail before.
I doubt it. Don’t worry know one will do it. Ha Ha.
That’s what the people who throw their trash out of their car windows say.
🤐 if I can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.
as an ex retail employee that use to work carts, I can tell you I had a lot of other things I could be doing…..like maybe bagging to get the customer out of there faster…..
At my store when the clerks do a cart roundup they spend more time on their phones instead of gathering carts. I went in the store once, the clerk was standing by the corral and when I left 30 minutes later he was standing in the same spot.
Kirkwood, by putting them in corral, they still have to be brought to front of store, so how is this taking away a job? I think you misunderstood the post. Try reading again.
Many years ago I pushed carts at Sam’s Club. In nice weather, I did love the exercise. Had the best calves then. 🙂
Thank you for putting this out there!
A habit to get into when you start driving, and never let it go.
What on earth does one have to do with the other?
People drive to the store, and then they put the cart back. Common courtesy when you’re done shopping. Reading comprehension.
I agree, but……
….grocery stores need to put up garbage cans next to the cart corrals so people can actually dispose of gloves and masks safely.
Make it convenient…
Here’s what I do:
Put cart back,
Walk to front of store to garbage can
Dispose gloves in garbage can
Walk to car
Drive home
Omg the inconvenience!
Yes these are the right things to do. Thank you for dealing with this. I am so tired of lazy people and people that are taking off their contaminated gloves and leaving them behind on the pavement, parking lots etc. GRRR. I would love to give them a litter fine for that. It is disgraceful. I always have a litter plastic bag in my car. Oregon has a law I think, that is mandatory to keep a litter bag in your car. You would think California with all their PC and regulations would have had that requirement a long time ago.
The “right things?” Seriously? I hate to think what you might consider the “wrong” things. By most standards this is a “trivial” thing.
Nearly every day ilovepopcorn surprises me with how much he or she relishes the idea of government controlling every aspect of our lives.
The right thing is to leave a place in the same, or better condition you found it, not such a hard concept.
I always do this and I throw my trash in the trash cans…
The guide lines for the “right things” I think are pretty clear if you were brought up properly. Always leave the place in the condition you found it or better. Don’t expect others to clean up your mess, treat others as you want to be treated. Not a mystery or difficult to understand.
I don’t see the government have anybody standing outside the store checking if you put the carts back. How about not worry about the government in this particular case and just put the cart back out of common courtesy?
I always put my cart back. Its one good habit I am glad I have.
I’ve always put back my grocery cart to the store or cart corral.
A province in Canada has a system to unlock the grocery cart you put .25 cents in the machine, you return your cart & you get your quarter back.
Great idea
several places around the bay area tried the quarter thing years back; a huge failure. Because it was tried mostly in specific demographic heavy areas and deemed racist. Elsewhere people thought it’s only a quarter and walked away from the carts.
The 99¢ store in Park and Shop has a system like that. I wonder how it’s working for them.
I always put my cart back, and I definitely don’t litter! I’m still surprised at how many carts are strewn about, taking up parking spaces. It’s pure laziness to not put the cart in the corral. It’s the last part of the shopping trip. Just do it, people! It’s not taking anyone’s job to finish your own…
Great idea. However, here in California something like would be considered discrimination and racism. The liberal democrat politicians would immediately make it illegal, just like they did with their monumental law that bans hairstyle discrimination.
Aldi’s does that, and that’s why I don’t shop there.
Cowellian: the nearest Aldi’s to Claycord is in Clovis. I look forward to getting one in this area. They have great deals on occasion for bicycle tools and parts. Who’d a thunk it? BTW, this post is in no way a criticism of you or your post. You are welcome here.
“BTW, this post is in no way a criticism of you or your post. You are welcome here.”
I’m sure Cowellian’s heart is full of joy. Do you even read the things you write before you hit the “submit” button?
Right! Who wants to put groceries in bags when you could be outside tearing your rotator cuff trying to separate stuck carts, pushing a metric ton of carts with wonky wheels up an incline, or navigating that same train of carts through a parking lot of indifferent drivers?
I don’t always do this. Sometimes, I’m too exhausted from lifting my groceries so many times … off the shelf and into my cart, out of the cart onto the conveyer at checkout, sometimes bagging them myself and putting them back into my cart, and, finally, loading them into my car. That doesn’t take into consideration getting home and lifting them out of the car and getting them into the house, then lifting them again to put them away. Sometimes that involves lifting them seven times before I’m done and since I only shop once a month that’s a lot of groceries to lift seven times. There is usually someone in the lot rounding up the carts anyway. I might push it up on the walkway outside. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. It’s a service the grocery stores offer and they offer so few anymore. So, nail me to a cross!
You sound like a whiner….
Maybe just ask for assistance with your groceries and then the employee will not only help you with the heavy lifting, but they’ll also return to the store with the cart.
I have never seen it noted that stores actually offer a service to round up stray carts. They do it because they have to because people don’t put them back in the corrals, and the carts are super expensive, so they HAVE TO get them. It’s not meant to be a customer perk.
I love how much information people write here.
I used to think gittyup was a young horse enthusiast.
Not anymore. 🙃
@JJ Lol . No, I’m a 77 year-old frustrated dominatrix! They won’t let e change my name! Lol.
I hate to keep mentioning Uncle Theodis but he looked over my shoulder & laughed about Gittyup… he said he had a girlfriend back in the 80’s who would tell him to “Gittyup or Gittyoff!
@Brandi Lol.
Seriously?! 😳🤦🏽
@Old Fart Better them than me. They’re getting paid for it.
It’s called a job they are getting paid to do that
@Cool Thank you!
The problem with the 99cent only store on Willow Pass it does not always work, I usually don’t have much change on me, but try to keep a few quarters etc. in my glove compartment. I think 99 cent started it because the carts were being stolen.
Putting the carts back in the cart corral isn’t hard to do. But if you are parked a great distance away from the corral, you might be giving an open invitation to thieves stealing your belongings (purse, cell phone, etc.) while you are returning the cart. Also, probably not a good idea if you have small children in the vehicle.
And use a garbage can or take your garbage home with you. Unbelievable how many pairs of gloves or wipes I’ve seen laying on the ground in the store, outside the store, in the parking lot etc. Even worse, on the floor NEXT to the garbage can. DISGUSTING.
Well, that was all clear as mud. I guess I will carry on as usual. One thing I never do is leave garbage in the basket. Sometimes I have to dispose of a piece. I try to avoid that. Who knows what dirty hand was on it. Please people, get rid of your own garbage. Yuck.
I have to admit, the ones rounding up the carts seem to enjoy it. I have to laugh because I can see myself preferring to be outside.
For every cart that is not rolled to a cart corral there is one lazy individual, simple as that. I seen people leave a cart in a parking space a few feet away from a corral. It comes down to one being lazy and rude.
@ChuckStir Maybe they’re just disabled or physically challenged in some way.
I’m sure that’s it, Gitty. They can push a full grocery cart around the store and out to their car, but they’re just too disabled to walk three extra steps when it’s empty to return it to the corral.
@Chicken Little Too much for me. I’m sure some healthy, strong, just out of high school young person can do it for money much better than I can, just like I moved heavy things around at that age. Your retirement and later in life physical impairment are going to come as a brutal shock to you, I can tell. In fact, many of you have no understanding of the physical limitations of aging and your bully comments are pathetic and hateful.
Gittyup, am I in some sort of strange dream, or did you just express unhappiness with pathetic and hateful bully comments?🤪
@Silva Did I ever express happiness with hateful and pathetic bully comments?
Gittyup, what I meant by that is that there’s some of irony that you’d take someone’s pathetic and hateful bully comments to heart when you’re often on the giving end.
I always put the cart into a coral when I’m done simply because I don’t want to be a lazy assh@le….you know, like those of you who leave the cart blocking a parking spot or jammed up halfway in the planters. Thanks for your inconsideration.
You nailed it Brandi, thank you.
I’m with you Brandi. Sometimes I’ll even offer to take someones cart when I’m on the way in. Seeing a cart in a parking spot or in the bushes is so annoying. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
Can’t believe the virtue signaling going on here. Like anybody is telling the truth when they all post anonymously!
Yeah, if it’s a nice day it’s enjoyable. But if it’s pissing down rain, or 100+ degrees, or you’re feeling miserable because you’re I’ll and have no sick time left. Do try to think of others, and not just yourself.
Can learn so much about people just by watching from a distance. Just got back from taking Grandma to a low cost food market on Clayton Road. While sitting in the car waiting, ’cause Grandpa ain’t goin’ in, watched people abandon carts next to their vehicles because there are no cart corrals.
One rotund gentleman with bulbous snoz, were talkin’ a Jimmy Durante nose. Carefully abandons his cart. adjusting it several times so it doesn’t roll into his car, peels off his gloves an deposits then in his now empty cart.
Has anyone seen a Cart Corral with a receptacle designed for used gloves and masks ? ? ?
There are sharps disposal containers, why not used PPE
(personal protective equipment) disposal containers.
Any budding entrepreneurs, there could be a new market out there.
Gittyup, if they can get the cart to the car they certainly can get it to the corral. Just saying.
Maybe you can, but by the time I get it to the car, I’m exhausted. I park in front, or as close as I can. I pick up a cart that is not returned to the corral, and return it where I found it. In fact, I appreciate that I can get a cart without having to wrestle a stuck cart out of the corral.
You people should be thanking you lucky stars that you are healthy enough to return the cart to the corral, not saying mean things about people who can’t — because one day you won’t be able to yourself. Why don’t you offer to return one of these carts yourself? In fact, why don’t you grab one of those stray carts instead of getting one out of the corral? If you think it is so horrible, why don’t you round up the carts yourself and return them to the corral?
@ChuckStir, you know most stores will assist you in getting your things to the car and take the cart back with them, so it’s not sitting in the way of another shopper?
Meant my reply to @Gittyup
@ranchgirl I shop three grocery stores. Only one of them offers help out.
Lazy, lazy, lazy with all kinds of excuses. Grocery workers enjoy collecting them? I know plenty and that’s wrong. Things may be stolen from my car? Lock it! I’m too tired? If you just pushed the full cart around a store shopping and loaded the car, you can push and empty cart a few feet to a corral. I hope all the people who steal carts abandon them outside Gittyups house. Still trivial?
@Smee I’m 77 years old. I hope you make it that long. Then when you do we’ll discuss it. Until then, you don’t know jack about how it feels.
Thank you to those who leave their carts parked at the heads of parking slots (or up on the sidewalk nearby)! Pushing the cart back to a place I am going anyway is actually a help as it stabilizes me while I continue to recoup from a broken leg. It also keeps me from throwing my back out when trying to unjam the carts lined up near the door…. actually sometimes NOT even near the door!
On the way back to my car, the carry-out helpers seem glad for the job and eager to pass the time of day. Then they take my cart back to the door…. meanwhile collecting others along the way.
But leaving garbage in the cart? Off with your heads!!!
I appreciate this Claycord, thank you.
Shame on those people for not putting their carts back into the proper corral.
How much effort or energy does it take? Especially considering that many people have spent the time loading up on tons of groceries, pushing their carts out the store and then unloading them into their cars. You are lazy and ignorant if you cannot do the simple task of placing the carts where they belong. If you have a shoulder injury you probably shouldn’t be pushing a cart in the first place. Silly excuses.
What wonderful examples you must be setting for your spoiled children at home.
@Rod Barton I don’t have children, I’m setting a nad example for everybody else’s children. Like I said, I pick up a stray cart and take it into the store and shop. Then, I put it back where I found it so the next person with torn rotators doesn’t have to wrestle it out of a stuck cart at the corral. Actually, I’m quite energetic for my 77 years and make people younger than I look like they’ve got one foot in the grave. Must have something to do with not returning the carts to the corral.
in Germany all the grocery stores use the coin system and it is a 1eu coin . You don’t see stray carts anywhere.
The Germans are much more disciplined than Americans, and that is not always positive, although it makes for a more orderly society.
It’s just a lot easier to brand and castrate them when they’re in the corral, just ask Rowdy Yates… “Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’…… “
I try to put the cart back, sometime when I shop on my way from work, 8 hour day at Macy’s being on my feet, I’m exhausted. On top of that I deal with dressing rooms all day where many customer’s leave what they tried on the FLOOR, we are talking $200-300.00 nice evening gowns etc. One interesting observation, I transferred to Sun Valley Mall from the Stanford Mall in Palo Alto, the customer’s at Palo Alto were much more likely to leave the clothes on the floor than here, could be more well to do customers, feel more entitled, or perhaps they have maids at home. I once after a very busy day at Stanford removed 250 pieces of clothing from one room, yes I counted them, and most on the floor, not from one customer, but we had been too busy to clear the rooms between customer’s.
We don’t expect the customer’s to put things back on the floor, just put it on the hanger and bring out of the dressing rooms and place on rack outside.
Oh My Gosh, Hanne, I never even imagined people were leaving new clothing on the dressing room floor.😯 So tacky. Makes me feel better about washing new clothing before wearing it though.
OK, I don’t do that.
That’s a commendable suggestion. But the reality of the matter is the poor planning of the wheel locking sensors. You go to push the cart yo your vehicle, when the wheels suddenly lock. And of course that’s where the carts stay until the wheels are unlocked. Why place these locking sensors within the lots?
Now as far as the homeless people, you’ve got to come up with your own plan.
One more point the customer leaving the clothes on the floor is usually the first ones to complain if a room isn’t clean enough, or yell for a sales associate if we are not standing by the register all the time. Since our duties are several, although the customer ALWAYS come first, we have to tidy up the floor and keep the dressing room free of clothes as much as possible, we are not always by the register, but we are usually close by, and can assist customer in a few seconds.
itsme
I agree, I think as a society we have become very accustom to a lot convenience, and any little deviance from what people are use cause a uproar. I like convenience as much as anybody, but because I grew up in Denmark in the fifties I didn’t grow up being able to drive to the store. My parents never had a car, we took our bike, the nearest general store was about a mile away, if we wanted to a bigger town, we had to ride our bike to the train station (a mile or more) and of course the weather in Denmark is nowhere like the weather in California. Times like these make me reflect and realize I have become a little spoiled too.
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