In Europe you put a coin in to take the cart and get ir back when you lock it back in. Annoying, i know, but you can have a special token on your ring or keep a change in your car. But because of that, Carts are never a problem. Either people put it back, or some kids do it to get the coin. Either way, the car park is free of trolleys.
You guys need to start cleaning your forests, they are making a mess in your parking lots. Probably a fire hazard.
I was a cartpusher for my first formalish job.
I probably wouldn’t be too annoyed having to deal with that just because the coral is a fucking hassle that made the job harder in some ways. The metal on the bottom is always all messed up from people hitting the coral and the carts need extra man handling to get through. Also having different kinds of carts makes them not stack and need to be pulled apart or left next to it and taken back by hand. Also one cart facing a different direction than all the others usually happens anyway. The benefit of having them already stacked up or close to it is already defeated by those things and you spend more time screwing around with the coral than if they were just in an open spot that allows for me to just move them.
I’ve seen so many people put in significant effort to shove them into the sidewalk or gravel over a curb and that IS the infuriating part for me. It’s going out of your way to accomplish absolutely nothing helpful. It makes a physical pain having to lift and drag them all back. All it did was make me need to drop everything and clear off the sidewalk so people in the mobility scooters and a few regulars who came in wheelchairs could actually traverse the lot.
I have my own theory as to the logic of where people leave the carts. Basically everyone hiding their cart in the space in front of their car like an Easter egg hunt or shoving them over the curb never appear to believe that they are doing anything other than being helpful or convenient. I think it comes down to carbrain thinking where the path that vehicles use is the big sacred thing to protect and keep clear first and foremost in their minds.
In case you weren’t aware, the cart corral is not there to make it more convenient for the cart wranglers. The reason it’s there is to make it more unlikely that a cart will roll free and slam into a parked car.
The people not returning their carts to the corral are dickheads because the carts they abandon could damage someone else’s car.
The people putting their carts over the curb or in the grass or wherever are lazy, but they are at least considerate enough to make sure the abandoned cart won’t roll into someone.
curb never appear to believe that they are doing anything other than being helpful or convenient.
“i am preventing my shopping cart from rolling away and hitting another car. that is the extent of my social obligation” i think is the thought process. not “i should put the shit i am borrowing away when i am done with it”
I’ve had to do this at Walmart before, but not intentionally. The safety alarm locked the wheels and I couldn’t move it. It wasn’t for a lack of trying though and after a few attempts of lifting it, I gave up. Otherwise there’s no excuse.
I was at a grocery store that had those. I didn’t realize at first. I figured the wheels just got stuck.
I guess I’m more of a gorilla than they expected, because I just kept pushing it to where I was parked. An employee ran out to unlock it before I ground the wheels flat.
It’s fucking Walmart. Why are you there?
Your Walmart only has two carts like that!? The one near me (which I refuse to go into) looks like a shopping cart battlefield.
Walmart is the physical manifestation of not returning a shopping cart.
Cart Narcs dropping the ball.
*while waving light stick
Weeewooo beeebleeeeboooboooo - that’s not where the cart goes, sir.
Does Aldi have a patent on requiring a quarter to use a cart, or something? I know people frequently don’t carry change much anymore, but it seems to work pretty well so I’m sure people encountering this ensure they have a coin or two handy.
What infuriates me more is how so many companies - including Walmart - have eliminated virtually ALL trash receptacles in the parking lots. That’s cheaping out to a ridiculous degree, IMHO.
At least in Germany, where Aldi originates from, that’s how almost all the carts work. Would doubt there’s a (valid) patent, the idea is decades old.
No way.
Cunts just need to invest the bare minimum of effort required in order to be a member of society and return their trolley to the bay.
The coin lock thingy is shit.
My city council does the same. Over the years population and consumerism has built up, naturally, so the common effect is more trash.
- One: Many people aren’t incentivised to recycle and always use general use bags.
- Two: The council enforces a two bag limit on collection, and it can’t be a big bag or the collectors’ll slap a sticker on it saying it’s too dangerous to pick up. This results in more people relying on public bins to be hygienic and dispose of house waste.
- Three: Public bins don’t get emptied so often and therefore overflow. The council’s response? Remove the bin because it’s being ‘abused’. The effect? Trash gets piled up even more at the remaining bins.
- Four: Now there’s like three, maybe two council bins in the entire city, the public have to use private apartment and shop bins, so they overflow. When those are too full to close, the collectors issue a notice that it’s too dangerous to move, and the landlords and store owners are made to pay a large fee to get it removed by the same people out of hours. They foot the cost and are left scrambling to try and penalise the ones responsible for dropping the trash, the council pockets penalty money and does nothing because it’s no longer their problem.
There’s still the issue that the overwhelming majority, by statistics, doesn’t recycle. This can be addressed but isn’t.
So leave your garbage in a cart in a Walmart parking lot. Oh, but we don’t want to hurt the poor Walmart corporation my making them hire more people to deal with it - like with not putting a cart back in the coral.
TIL this exists
But I must say… “can’t leave a child unattended” is such an ass reason. Like, just bring the kids along? It’s good education for the kids too. If they’re a baby, well there are ways to carry a baby without using your hands. If you don’t have one, then fine, but I also tells me that you have no one to rely on to take care of a baby for an hour or even two when you need it, and it makes me wonder what your relationship is with those around you.
Exactly! I used to take one of my kids to Costco regularly. Just me and him. When he was too little to be left in the car while I returned the cart, I’d just take him with me when putting the cart back in the return area. It’s not that hard. People are just lazy. And the Shopping Cart Theory has a lot of merit to it.
It does get a little more complicated when you’re alone with three kids, but it’s not impossible. Put the kids in the car and walk the cart to the corral. If you’re in a parking lot where it isn’t safe to leave the kids alone in the car for 10 seconds, I’d recommend that you avoid shopping there.
This gave me an idea. Is it possible to judge a society by looking at supermarket parking lots?
No. In Germany this is unthinkable behavior, but our society is still shit.
Having spent a decent amount of time in Germany (but not integrating into society): what about it is shit? From an outsider’s perspective, you guys seem to have it mostly together. Sure AfD exists, a percentage of the population will always be trash. But social services are there, mass transit is acceptable, and the economy is probably the strongest in Europe.
Germany still has a good image, that is true. It’s very hard to address all your points without writing a book, so I keep it short. But if there is anything you are interested in more detail, let me know!
“AfD exists” is an understatement, especially when you look at the election results from yesterday
The far right is moving forward and minorities get crushed more and more like everywhere in the west.Social services - many people will be poor when they are old, because Germanys retirement system is broken. You need to make private investments in order to make a living, no matter how long you have worked. Regarding the health service - I made an appointment for a rheuma doctor 2 month ago, it will be in January 2027. I live in a major city with >600k inhabitants.
The mass transit is so shitty, I can’t even begin speaking about Deutsche Bahn without getting so angry it will kill my mood. In big cities, yes, busses and trams are well (as long as it is below 30°), but the rest is really bad.
The economy is in a downwards spiral, the state makes debts as never before, the car market is slowly overtaken by China, job losses are on the rise.
These are all problems that are independent of our government, which is one of the worst we ever had. Defense is the only sector where they have ambitions.
Ah, looks like you’re following ’murica’s lead. Don’t worry, it gets worse!
I am fully aware :( I am lucky to be a white heterosexual academic, but I fear a lot for my friends and all the people who aren’t resilient enough for this.
I don’t mean to be dismissive, but most of what you’ve described is present elsewhere to varying degrees.
Australia seems comparable on all points, although our pension / super system is not great but not terrible.
Our real estate market is shit, with most people priced out of the market over the last decade.
Sure, it’s happening in most countries of the west because of the demographic change and shifts in global power away from the US.
Even in France, the country who’s people literally invented being arrogant, selfish asses, I never see this.
Maybe it’s the fear of the extra physical exercise what prevents US Americans from bringing the cart back
I think looking at this picture explains exactly why Americans voted for and elected trump… Twice
You can certainly judge an individual by what they do with their carts, if not a whole society.
Really depends where you are.
I’ve lived/worked all over the US. Since Walmart is everywhere, you get to see how different regions behave, or even different areas of a city.
I have 2 Walmarts nearby, one is like this, the other isn’t.
And interestingly, the major grocery store next to the police station (so not the best part of town) is usually pretty good about carts. And I suspect the ones we see left out are because the wheel locks there are notorious for locking for no apparent reason.
Don’t ever come to Australia. It’s an entire country full of scumbags too lazy to return their carts. They’ll just chuck it in an empty parking space so you can’t see it until you’ve committed to the space.
I would really love to say that shitty lazy ass parking lot behavior is limited just to Walmarts, unfortunately, it’s not.
Since the pandemic how people behave in Shopping environments is incredible. They park like shit, They leave their carts and trash all over the fucking place, They have no problem, blocking aisles, and being absurd while shopping.
It was happening way before the pandemic. It might have got a little bit worse since then, but not by much.
I distinctly remember back in the late 2000s and early 2010s people frequently leaving carts in the middle parking spaces that were only a few spaces away from a half-filled car return area. That shit really irritates me. Too many people are lazy fucks.
Maybe they received a call their Partner was rushed to the hospital, their child was home alone and hurt, their crazy ex spotted them and was harassing them as they loaded their car, a person whose back went out loading their car and couldn’t walk, a disabled person who doesn’t have a placard for special parking
Relax yourself. Do you realize half of the world lacks sufficient clean drinking water?
Found the lazy bones.
Or the guy with the cart was just lazy.
Both of them were too lazy, there’s two carts there and the second guy couldn’t even bother putting them together.
