"Golden One" > wrote:
>
There is a reason that spaces near the trolley return are free. No-one
wants a cart running into their car!

JB

That's one of the reasons many of the carts in the down state NY area
require putting a quarter into a slot on the cart to unlock the chain and to
return the cart and rechain it to get the quarter returned... it works, most
everyone returns the carts to the racks in front of the store, no loose
carts in the lot or scattered about the neighborhood. Even if a few don't
bother bringing the cart back to get their quarter there are always people
who will take those carts to use so they don't need to place a quarter in
the slot and when they return the cart after shopping they get the free
quarter. All stores with carts should be required to supply this type of
cart by law... loose carts in parking lots cause tremendously expensive
damage, damage we all pay for in increased insurance rates. Plus carts
ain't cheap, many folks in urban areas don't have automobiles so they take
the carts to bring their groceries home (some urban folks shop every day,
the number of abandoned carts add up quickly), then just leave the carts in
the streets, where they get taken by homeless or simply become canobalized
by kids just for fun... the price of lost carts gets passed on to the
consumer, at like $300 a pop that's a lotta lettuce. There are actually
companies that are contracted to drive about the neighborhood with a truck
to pick up the abandoned carts and return them to the stores, of course for
a fee like $25 per cart, again the cost is passed on to the consumer. All
losses are passed on to the consumer, if people didn't steal and/or destroy
groceries would easily cost half as much.