On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:41:19 +0200, ChattyCathy
> wrote:

>The Ranger wrote:
>
>>
>> I leave my carts "somewhere in the parking lot," too. The two TJ's
>> I current patronize have cart corrals throughout their respective
>> lots so I don't ever walk mine back to the front of the store...
>
>Heh. Around here (RSA) there is a "Clever Plan". Lots of would-be
>homeless people and/or so-called "under qualified" people work as "car
>guards" in the various shopping mall parking lots... They are either
>"self employed" or work for a "car guard" company. These people wear a
>sort of "apron/uniform" that identifies them and they keep an eye on
>your car while you are shopping (car theft is rife here). They survive
>on "donations" doled out by grateful people like me - and it seems to
>earn them a living, because they are all over the place. I know some of
>them "personally" - as they have been working at the same shopping malls
>for years!
>
>However, the big bonus is this: they always rush over to help shoppers
>who are pushing their carts back to their cars to off-load them and then
>they return the carts to the respective stores...
>
>It works well. Gives some people a (sort of) job - who would otherwise
>be jobless - cuts down on the car theft AND the shopping carts get
>returned to their rightful place back at the store (without one having
>to return the cart oneself). Think they might also earn a "finders fee"
>for returning the carts to the stores too. Those carts are expensive, so
>if they "go missing"... - probably saves the stores a fortune.


Sounds like "old" New York City when a window washer pounced on your
car at every stop light.
--

History is a vast early warning system
Norman Cousins