I basically never see abandoned carts, but I have returned to where I parked my cart to find it gone. I’m sure no one is taking it maliciously, but I am always just an aisle over and I parked it there because the aisle I need is jam packed with shoppers already.
I believe, that would only really be a thing in the US? In most other countries, we have coin locks on the shopping carts, so you can only get them from the corral by inserting a coin into the shopping cart, and you only get your coin back when you return the shopping cart to the corral…
Yeah, I might specifically remember the US not usually having them, because they invented/popularized shopping carts, which always feels kind of backwards that they’re using a simpler version.
To increase your sample size, these seem to be rare where I am in western Canada. The only store I can think of that used to have them removed them at least a decade ago.
I’ve never seen this happen, I live in the US. I see abandoned carts in the parking lot not far from the return area all the time, but not just randomly in the store.
Where I live, I’d say there’s on average one cart with a broken lock per corral. But they’re also usually at the front of the corral, so you still end up with them relatively often…
They do – – they are the carts abandoned by those people who have the “oh, I guess I didn’t need a whole cart for this one thing“ moments
I basically never see abandoned carts, but I have returned to where I parked my cart to find it gone. I’m sure no one is taking it maliciously, but I am always just an aisle over and I parked it there because the aisle I need is jam packed with shoppers already.
The unwritten rules of the cart
Get a cart and a hand basket. Or, put an item in your empty cart and remove it when you return.
I believe, that would only really be a thing in the US? In most other countries, we have coin locks on the shopping carts, so you can only get them from the corral by inserting a coin into the shopping cart, and you only get your coin back when you return the shopping cart to the corral…
Never seen a coin lock in NZ.
We’re not “most other countries”, though. Sample size one.
Yeah, I might specifically remember the US not usually having them, because they invented/popularized shopping carts, which always feels kind of backwards that they’re using a simpler version.
Wikipedia has at least some info on the distribution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart#Deposits
(And I can confirm that here in Germany, you practically cannot find shopping carts without coin locks. I’m not sure, if I’ve ever seen one TBH.)
I’ve never seen it except for in Lidl here in Estonia. Most people return their carts anyway.
To increase your sample size, these seem to be rare where I am in western Canada. The only store I can think of that used to have them removed them at least a decade ago.
I’ve never seen this happen, I live in the US. I see abandoned carts in the parking lot not far from the return area all the time, but not just randomly in the store.
Do they have most robust locks? We have those at Aldi, they’re also all broken.
Where I live, I’d say there’s on average one cart with a broken lock per corral. But they’re also usually at the front of the corral, so you still end up with them relatively often…