I have been thinking about this thread for years now because this topic seems to be so POLARIZING, and I haven't started a thread in ages so why not.

I've noticed over the years that whenever the topic comes up, people will legit RAGE over the fact that some people, dare I say most people, do not return their carts to the 'Cart Return Thing' that is sometimes available in lots and sometimes available in some rows of parking, but not others.


Exhibit A:



Sounds pretty simple. It puts the cart in the Cart Return Thing.

If only it were this simple. What if there isn't a CRT in the row you park in? For example, a store I frequent has a CRT in every other row. Should I be expected to walk my empty cart to a completely different row than the one my car is parked in? Inquiring minds want to know.



Exhibit B:



These guys. It is literally their job to get the carts from the lot back into the store. It can be argued that it is not their job to gather up stray carts left by people who do not return the carts to the CRT's and that is what they do all day, every day. This job is usually done by the low man on the totem pole and/or mentally challenged employees, which I see a lot of.

The question remains why should people be expected to return their empty cart to some far off land that isn't even in your row where you parked. Or even return it to the front of the store, where they will often queue up a row of carts along the wall waiting to bring them in. Why is this my responsibility 100% of the time?


Exhibit C:



Every hour or so Cart Boy goes out to the lot and gathers up all the stray carts. How bad is that? I'm going to go with not very.


Caveat 1:



As you can see in this image, people are leaving their carts in spots within 15 feet of the freaking Cart Return Thing. The gall! But therein lies the problem: where do you draw the line on cart-returning? That is a very subjective answer and each person seems to have their own VERY STRONG FEELINGS on the subject.


Caveat 2:



Here is a CRT that some very helpful and not lazy at all people returned their carts to. If I get to the CRT with my empty cart and walk up on this, should I now be expected to straighten out all these helpful, not lazy dumasses big ****ing mess that they made so I can return my cart properly? While I may if I feel in the mood that day, the answer is **** no.


So where do you lie on this subject? Are you a lazy ass Murrica-Blob or are you an empty cart Nazi? Or are you somewhere in between?

I fall into the somewhere in between category.
-If a CRT is in my row I will return my cart most of the time.
-If a CRT is in the next row and not in mine, I will not return my cart most of the time.
-If I am expected to walk cart back to store entrance, I will very, very rarely return the cart.

In the end, I personally feel it is neither my job nor responsibility to return carts to anywhere not in my own aisle. If the circumstances are right and/or I feel like it that day, I will do it. If not, I won't. Why don't you just give me a neon vest and I will clear the lot for free you four-self-checkouts-with-two-actual-human-cashiers-in-a-row-of-20-empty-checkouts scumbags. Find some other sap, because I ain't him.

Because of fat people being too lazy to return their carts, smart stores like Aldi force people to deposit a quarter to get a cart and return it.

So you're saying they can leave their empty cart in the lot for 25 cent and you will be good with that?



I also don't think this is a fat problem either, so much as an apathetic Murrica problem.

Another question to ask yourself is, does the store employ extra people or give a part time employee, a full time job because not all return the carts to the corral?
25 years ago, my sister worked in hotel housekeeping. She hated the people that requested no service because she said that was less work to be done so everyone finished earlier thus sent home earlier, less hours worked, smaller paycheck

Always return the cart because it is good for society. I don't want carts clogging up spots where I want to park, nor do I want some stray cart to bang into my car. Of course this implies that the store provide adequate CRTs. The grocery store I shop at has four in every row.

obv answer is leave your cart as far as humanly possible from CRT or whatever the **** that thing is called, if all were your goody two shoes return the cart heroes a lot of poor people would've been downsized from quite possible the only job they could hold

If I'm going to a big box store, I park as far away from the store entrance as possible, just so I don't have to worry about a lazy pos, that doesn't corral their cart, leaving one loose to ding my car.

Here is a lot I frequent where I often park in the far right row, or the row to the right of that out of the picture. Very often don't return cart, sorry not sorry.



If it is a beautiful day and I am feeling it, I will walk that ish ALL the way back to the front of the building, but often feel like a sucker doing it.


Here's a question for all you cart heroes too: What if it is pouring out?

Why are you out shopping?

Because life?

I usually use carts at Lowes or Home Depot, 2-3 times a month at the grocery story.

Grocery store - I park within probably 5 spots from the CRT so I put it back in there.

Lowes/HD - I usually put it back in the CRT unless I am like 50'(maybe it's 100') away, or if I am in the first spot in the row and put the carts front wheels in the grass/curb area. The other day I walked "far", I thought the CRT was in one spot but it wasn't. It took me 60 seconds because I counted, I was thinking of a topic like this.

The caveat 1 pic is just POS type people, you can probably walk there and back in 10 seconds.

This is another one people RAGE at and also something I do...to be helpful in a roundabout way.

I return 100%. I also will take a stray cart from the lot in with me if one is around. Or, if the timing is right, I will take a cart from another patron as they finished emptying it.

All part of my master plan over the last couple of years to be as nice a person as possible.

A well-organized and peaceful society is stupid and boring as hell. Never return a shopping cart, and you should randomly steal some just for practice. Most carts are well made of durable stainless steel and can be used about the home for many functions. For example, overturned they make good cages for small toddlers or pets. Great as storage containers in the shop or garage. If you have trouble with the girlfriend roaming about too much you can imprison the sassy ***** under a mountain of shopping carts. And I'm just scratching the surface on the uses. Even plastic ones are good for soaking in gasoline and lighting on fire for a Friday night beer party.

Why, the list is almost endless...………….

Returning a cart is part of the implied contract of borrowing a cart. A person without a disability failing to return a cart to the proper return area is a poor member of society. Those that leave them in parking spaces in busy lots are scum.

Don't be lazy in ways that inconvenience others.

It works. That is what matters. And smart-ish people don't return their carts at Aldi.

This, I think, is correct. Well, except that it isn't a problem. Problems have solutions.

The real problem is carts that don't have a slot for a quarter.

McLovin that wasn't nice.

Always return.

If feasible (~5 or fewer, typically) I will "restack" and straighten the carts in the CRT because people suck and throwing them in haphazardly creates a situation where rogue carts end up sticking out and messing up the orderly flow of the parking lot.

If you are one of those people that put the front wheels of the cart over a curb and either decrease the width of a driveway or even worse take up a parking space, I really, really hope something bad happens to you.

real talk i don think ive ever not returned a cart. its never even crossed my mind to not return it and just leave it

edit* NO MATTER THE ELEMENTS

100% with the only exception being the cart jail is full. In that case I find a safe spot where the cart can’t run free.

I'm in the camp of this pissing me off if they don't return the trolleys to the designated trolley bay or if there is no bay at the front of the store or at least not in a parking bay.

Having moved a lot of trolleys in my life as part of working in a supermarket first when we had to do it when the trolley boys skipped work and later for a big liquor barn where it formed part of everyone's job there, this issue pisses me off more than it would for others.

So if a trolley is in a spot that I'm about to park in and can still safely park there, I will still take the time to then take that trolley back to a trolley bay. I will also where I can on the way back to a trolley bay with a trolley take other trolleys back that are reasonably in the vicinity of the trolley I'm taking back (like within 10 metres).

I just don't get the laziness out there and it is simply a matter of courtesy to return the trolley to a place where it has been designated by the shopping centre to go (and it is no excuse if you think the trolley bays are too far as if they are (which I really doubt - as these are all approved in the shopping centre's parking area from my experience) then return it to the front of the shop).

Yeah I had this system at the bottle shop that I worked at but we ended up ditching it because:

- all the customers complaining they didn't have a $1 or $2 coin and we would have to go out there with a special tool to release them a trolley
- the coins getting stuck in the lock mechanism (I ended up getting them out and just putting them in the poor box - believe it or not)
- the lock mechanism not being able to take coins to unlock trolleys as they got too damaged from wear and tear.

Additional information to consider:

If I am driving into a free spot and I then see a cart blocking the end, I just put the car in park and move the cart and pull in. I'm not even 1% mad.

I think this speaks to the general subjectivity of right & wrong and whether someone considers it lazy/rude/etc or not. A big murder of orphaned carts in the lot does not rustle me one iota, which doesn't really agree with my usual rustledness.

At least in my experience here in Australia for grocery stores, it is done in house and the grocery store just hires one worker or two (depending on day and how busy it is) to do it rather than outsource it to as I said those "trolley boys". But it depends on the shopping complex as for the bigger ones they may still do it but for the smaller ones that maybe have 1 or 2 department sized stores they might just hire a worker to do it and get them to do other things for the store as well as retrieve trolleys.

If my car is closer to the place inside the store where carts are stored than the nearest cart return in the parking lot I will walk it back there. If a cart return is closer I will put it there. I believe this extra effort gives me more leeway in other parts of the social contract that may not be illegal but frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane.