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After all, shopping carts are considered store property, no different than if some one walked out of the store with thier shelves....
100% YES!! I used to work at several supermarket chains, and people don't understand just how EXPENSIVE one cart is! I think at one store I worked at, each cart was about $200, and the smaller double decker carts were $175, give or take. when you think about just how many carts a supermarket has, and you can easily see how expensive t can be for a store overall (let's just assume a store uses 200 carts. that's $40K right there!). then realize that carts don't last forever and need to be fixed or replaced even if they aren't stolen
stolen carts not only cost a lot to replace, but it costs time and money for employees to have to chase after them (at one store I worked at, we would actually drive our delivery van around to pick up missing carts, wasting time and money).
it costs other people money when their cars get damaged by one of our carts, or when a housing complex needs to remove them (it's not just homeless people who steal carts. one store I worked in was surrounded by high rises and the people living there (and sometimes paying $1k/month on rent) would take the carts too, and leave them at their complexes, where they created clutter and caused damage to parked cars in the garage and the carpeting inside). then of course, there's the risk of traffic accidents from loose carts being blown into streets.
another store I worked at was a brand new store. when it first opened up, there was no cart locking system. in 6 months, nearly a quarter of our carts were stolen. the number jumped up when summer rolled around, and by th fall, less than one year after opening, we had to order brand new carts b/c we only had about 50-75 of the original shipment (ie, barely a quarter of what we started with). we got plenty of angry calls from management of local apartment complexes demanding we remove our carts, calls from angry car owners whose cars were damaged by our carts blocks away from our store, and during one really windy day, a cart someone had abandoned near a bus stop got blown into the street and caused a car to veer wildly into another car. last I heard (haven't worked at that store for some time), a cart lock system was put in place, and of course people, likely some of the same people taking the carts home with them, complained that now they had no way to bring their groceries home. boo freaking hoo, call a cab or get a granny cart!
FYI tmston, these people wouldn't have to go to jail, just pay a hefty fine. again, don't assume it's just homeless people taking carts
ok, let me stop ranting (no clue why I'm so worked up over this!)
100% YES!! I used to work at several supermarket chains, and people don't understand just how EXPENSIVE one cart is! I think at one store I worked at, each cart was about $200, and the smaller double decker carts were $175, give or take. when you think about just how many carts a supermarket has, and you can easily see how expensive t can be for a store overall (let's just assume a store uses 200 carts. that's $40K right there!). then realize that carts don't last forever and need to be fixed or replaced even if they aren't stolen
stolen carts not only cost a lot to replace, but it costs time and money for employees to have to chase after them (at one store I worked at, we would actually drive our delivery van around to pick up missing carts, wasting time and money).
it costs other people money when their cars get damaged by one of our carts, or when a housing complex needs to remove them (it's not just homeless people who steal carts. one store I worked in was surrounded by high rises and the people living there (and sometimes paying $1k/month on rent) would take the carts too, and leave them at their complexes, where they created clutter and caused damage to parked cars in the garage and the carpeting inside). then of course, there's the risk of traffic accidents from loose carts being blown into streets.
another store I worked at was a brand new store. when it first opened up, there was no cart locking system. in 6 months, nearly a quarter of our carts were stolen. the number jumped up when summer rolled around, and by th fall, less than one year after opening, we had to order brand new carts b/c we only had about 50-75 of the original shipment (ie, barely a quarter of what we started with). we got plenty of angry calls from management of local apartment complexes demanding we remove our carts, calls from angry car owners whose cars were damaged by our carts blocks away from our store, and during one really windy day, a cart someone had abandoned near a bus stop got blown into the street and caused a car to veer wildly into another car. last I heard (haven't worked at that store for some time), a cart lock system was put in place, and of course people, likely some of the same people taking the carts home with them, complained that now they had no way to bring their groceries home. boo freaking hoo, call a cab or get a granny cart!
FYI tmston, these people wouldn't have to go to jail, just pay a hefty fine. again, don't assume it's just homeless people taking carts
ok, let me stop ranting (no clue why I'm so worked up over this!)
All of them are good points. But you forgot to add that angy customers who walk in and complain that there are never any carts for them to use.
Well Eevee...do you know the ins of a grocery store operation. You said that you had several yrs experience. Did you know the markup of the different items...canned goods...Deli items and spoilege...meat dept markup...produce profits after spoilege. Cost of mgmt to unlock the front door every day and how much gross they have to take in during business hrs. Have you spoken to the owner and maybe talked to the accountant pertaining the business operation. I did during 23 yrs in the grocery trade. Imagine adding .01c to the price of every item sold during a business day. Add that all up in a 30 day period...then figure how much is taken in during a 13 week (one quarter period) and the numbers will surprise you. The shopping cart expense can be absorbed during the calendar year. It only means that the store NET PROFIT will be down a small percentage point. Its called the "COST OF DOING BUSINESS". I have seen areas where "SHOPLIFTING" was considered at 2% of the gross (They charged more for some items to make up the loss) Have seen it all. Steve
They do make a shopping cart that has a built-in wheel locking device that prevents it being rolled beyond the perimeter of the parking lot. Of course, the retailer would have to install the electronics.
Then, if someone rolled a cart beyond the lot, the wheels would lock and it could not be pushed further.
One of our neighbors brought a cart home a few months back, which ended up sitting in or around our front yard for a while. After giving them a week or two to return the cart (we know them better than that - they were never returning it but we thought we'd give them the chance), I loaded it into my minivan and took it back to the store. As I was unloading it, the yellow-flashy-light security guard drove over and gave me a good stare-down. I'm not sure what his problem was, as we were returning a cart, not taking one...
Anyway, I think that it should be up to the store. If they want to press charges, I'm all for it - theft is theft. If they don't, then it's a non-issue, as the property owner has to press charges in a case like this in order for there to be a crime. I can see some stores looking the other way when a homeless person takes a cart - it's a relatively small donation to help someone transport everything they own, and they get to write it off anyway. As for people like my neighbor, well, I would hope that the stores would be a little less forgiving with them. I figure that if they get the cart back, though, they probably don't really care enough to bother.
Wow eevee, I never knew it was such a big problem and worth SIX paragraphs.
I don't know why you're worked up about it either.
volatile combination of holiday stress, end-of-the-semester stress, anxiety over money issues, a migraine, and some strange illness I'm enduring. in other words, I'm cranky
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