People who don't return shopping carts (narcissistic, woman, mom, parent)

[ClaraC]

Scooby Snacks,

So when you go to return a library book, do you put it in the bin that's labeled "library returns" or do you just pull up in front of the library and toss the books out your car window onto the sidewalk?

When you donate to goodwil, same thing. Do you bag the items neatly and go into the donation area, or do you pull up in the parking lot and open your trunk and toss the items out on to the grassy area?

When you get done pumping your gas do you just leave the gas nozzle on the concrete and the squeegee somewhere in the parking lot?

When you get your milk out of the refrigerator at the grocery store, do you bother to close the glass door?

[Scooby Snacks]

Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks

I already said I don't allow my cart to hit other people's carts. I put them on the grass or otherwise block them from other people's cars. Just because I refuse to do an employee's job for them doesn't make me a rude person. Unless you believe that every business that has turned to automated systems, kiosks, and robots instead of human employees to save money is shirking their duties to customers because they expect us to do their work for them for free. As for my shopping at Walmart, I shop there for two reasons: they are cheap and they have a good selection, one of the few stores in which we don't have to go online to get a good selection (another means of us being forced to use robots).

Originally Posted by ocnjgirl

You probably also refuse to bag your groceries, causing the people behind you to have to wait longer.

I do. I don't recall being hired to bag groceries at the store. When I get paid for it, I will happily bag my own. I am amazed at how many people believe I am the rude one for refusing to do a job for free that other people get paid to do. It's not rude at all. In fact, I am helping people keep their jobs. If you want to bag your own groceries, go for it. But don't get mad at me because I as a customer, who makes profits for a company, want a sacker to do it.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by SlewsTheGoat

One of my pet peeves is pulling into a parking spot at Costco, Walmart, grocery store, etc. and seeing a shopping cart sitting in part of the space. At Costco, people leave their carts all over the parking lot. They will pop the front wheels over the curb or just leave them in the space next to their car. All the while, the cart return is just yards away from their spot. On more than one occasion I have seen individuals leave their cart in the spot next to them and have approached them. I'll usually say "are you just going to leave the cart there?" One woman told me that a loose cart hit her cart once, so her revenge is to just leave her cart. I'll usually point out where the cart return is and offer to return it for them. "The cart return is right there, I'll return it for you if its too far away."

I consider these people lazy, but is there some other reason why they would just leave a cart in the space next to them when the cart return is just a short distance away? They are above such tasks? It seems inconsiderate to me. I was always raised to have common courtesy, as most people are, but this habit seems to go against that belief.

I remember a time when stores had no cart return areas at all. I don't think I ever saw a cart return area, until some time in the 1980s, and there were no shopping carts left in the parking lots to hit cars either. Customers were expected to leave their carts next to their parking spot. Usually right away an employee would come over and ask to take the cart, as soon as you were done unloading it. Most of the time they would help you unload the cart too.

I suspect that most people who think customers just leaving a shopping cart where it is, is wrong, are younger people who have been brainwashed by these corporations to believe that it is a customer's responsibility to take care of the store's shopping carts. Personally I just file this under, stores that refuse to provide basic customer service or even enough employees to take care of their shopping carts.

[JF2U]

Our individual responses to this thread reflects the characters of people...those who return and those who do not. It seems that those who do return them have morals, values and ethics. The people who refuse to return them have a self-entitlement mentality and feel it is not their "right" to "have" to return them. They were taught or learned growing up that it is best to just look out for yourself and put yourself first. Being considerate of others was not a part of what they were taught. This totally is about how people were brought up through childhood. Unfortunately, the non-returners have no clue because they were never taught. I think life is much more fulfilling being kind, considerate and helpful rather than looking out for only yourself and screw everyone else. JMO

[nobodysbusiness]

1) I have seldom seen carts just randomly left in parking spaces. They are either returned to the cart rack or carefully parked in curbed garden areas so they won't roll.
2) When did it become an expectation that a customer should bag their own groceries and why do so many lemmings go along with this store expectation?
3) Just because you don't return your cart to a cart rack doesn't mean you are a slob in other areas of life.
4) Who are all of you busy-body do-gooders with chips on your shoulders?

[PriscillaVanilla]

Originally Posted by Middletwin

The real problem is customers who say they are in line at the counter but they are really, really far back from the other customer or counter.

That's bizarre. I never understood why they'd want to stand so far away from the counter if they were waiting their turn in line.

[PriscillaVanilla]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

I remember a time when stores had no cart return areas at all. I don't think I ever saw a cart return area, until some time in the 1980s, and there were no shopping carts left in the parking lots to hit cars either. Customers were expected to leave their carts next to their parking spot. Usually right away an employee would come over and ask to take the cart, as soon as you were done unloading it. Most of the time they would help you unload the cart too..

I remember this, too. We also had store employees who would help you out to your car and help you load groceries in your car.

Stores are increasingly passing on the cost of doing business to their customers. Pretty soon, when go grocery shopping, you will be expected to go to the back and restock each item on the shelf yourself. There won't be anyone working in these stores about ten years from now. And they won't lower the prices of food to compensate for the work they've passed on to the customer.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by SlewsTheGoat

Interesting comments. I'm a little surprised a couple of people admitted to leaving their carts in place and not returning them to the cart return area. So, it's not necessarily that they're lazy, they just feel that since the store pays someone to retrieve them, they should just leave the cart where ever their car happens to be parked? Even if there is a corral a short distance away and their cart might be blown by the wind and hit a parked car? Wow. I was not expecting that sort of response. Some people obviously just don't give a s**t about their fellow man. I can't imagine having that sort of attitude about things. How does one develop an attitude like that?

In the words of comedian Rod Man:

I'm a shopper. That's what I came in as, that's what I want to leave as. I'm not trying to be a team member. I don't want to be a team member. I would have filled out an application, if that's what I wanted to do.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks

I already said I don't allow my cart to hit other people's carts. I put them on the grass or otherwise block them from other people's cars. Just because I refuse to do an employee's job for them doesn't make me a rude person. Unless you believe that every business that has turned to automated systems, kiosks, and robots instead of human employees to save money is shirking their duties to customers because they expect us to do their work for them for free. As for my shopping at Walmart, I shop there for two reasons: they are cheap and they have a good selection, one of the few stores in which we don't have to go online to get a good selection (another means of us being forced to use robots).

This would be impossible to do in most of the grocery stores in my area. I can only think of one that has a curbed area within the parking area. As someone else pointed out, the wind can cause a cart to stat to roll. My local Walmart has a sloped parking lot and it is difficult to keep your cart from rolling away whil you unload your groceries.

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

I remember a time when stores had no cart return areas at all. I don't think I ever saw a cart return area, until some time in the 1980s, and there were no shopping carts left in the parking lots to hit cars either. Customers were expected to leave their carts next to their parking spot. Usually right away an employee would come over and ask to take the cart, as soon as you were done unloading it. Most of the time they would help you unload the cart too.

I suspect that most people who think customers just leaving a shopping cart where it is, is wrong, are younger people who have been brainwashed by these corporations to believe that it is a customer's responsibility to take care of the store's shopping carts. Personally I just file this under, stores that refuse to provide basic customer service or even enough employees to take care of their shopping carts.

I remember that "time when stores had no cart return areas at all." It was because you were not permitted to take carts outside. I don't remember taking a cart outside back in the 1960s and 70s.

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

1) I have seldom seen carts just randomly left in parking spaces. They are either returned to the cart rack or carefully parked in curbed garden areas so they won't roll.
2) When did it become an expectation that a customer should bag their own groceries and why do so many lemmings go along with this store expectation?
3) Just because you don't return your cart to a cart rack doesn't mean you are a slob in other areas of life.
4) Who are all of you busy-body do-gooders with chips on your shoulders?

1. As I mentioned earlier, only one grocery store in my area has curbed garden areas.

2. I'm not aware that it is an expectation to bag your own groceries if you are not using self-checkout. I don't use self-checkout if I can avoid it.
3. Because you don't return your cart to a cart rack doesn't necessarily mean you are a slob in other areas of life but it sure makes you out to be lazy and inconsiderate.
4. I'm one of those people and I know I will let loose one of these days when one of these lazy bum's cart rolls into my vehicle.

[silibran]

In life, you pay for things with money or time or both. The most expensive things are paid for with both money and time. When you shop at a low price store, your price includes your time. When you shop at a full service store you pay with money alone.

I return my carts because it is courteous. I simply do not vest this action with any deeper meaning. It takes perhaps 30 seconds extra. I do this, and I move on. If you are not returning your carts, you are costing others time and convenience. You are not affecting store management, but you are affecting the people out in the elements who are wrangling carts, and other customers.