Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs

By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page B01

The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
is now safe to lick the shopping carts.

Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
toilet seats in terms of germs.

And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
next customer.

"It kills all the nasty stuff, salmonella, staph, E. coli," said Bob
Schwei, a technician with PureCart Systems, the Wisconsin-based
manufacturer of the glossy white machine, which looks like an airport
X-ray machine. "They're very popular in Korea -- bird flu."
ad_icon

As Schwei finished installing the unit next to the row of checkout
aisles, customers stopped to see the first sanitized carts roll
through. Suzi Walsh, a self-described germ-phobe and a regular shopper
from Kensington, said she had been waiting for the new system since
the store announced it was coming several weeks ago.

"I'm the kind of person who uses a bit of paper towel to open the
bathroom door," said Walsh, who said she prefers shopping in the
winter when she can leave her gloves on. "This is great. I see the
kids scratch their diapers, then grab the cart. No, no, no. I'm way
beyond that."

[..]

Like all grocers, the Kirsches have seen concerns over cart
cleanliness grow over the years. They used to pressure wash the carts
on a monthly basis and more recently added sanitary wipe dispensers
near them so customers could scrub their own handles, and more.

"We'd see people out in the parking lot trying to wipe down the whole
cart," said Walter Kirsch, who has worked at the store since 1963 and
owned it, with his sons, since 1985. "We're a small family business.
This is just another way that we're taking care of the neighborhood."


more at:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072201787.html?sub=AR>

your filth-encrusted pal,
blake

On 2008-07-31, blake murphy > wrote:

> is now safe to lick the shopping carts.

If only they could see where all those foods have been before putting them
in the cart.

I used to handle the Beam gun at one cannery. That's a super high pressure
washer. So, strong in fact, I was chosen cuz of my experience as a
fireman and my hefty size. Beam guns run at a pressure jes below
airborne operator. Anyway, we'd do this about once a month. Do what, you
ask? Knock the hanging slime off the food conveyors. Not too big a problem,
seeing as the canning process is designed to kill anything short of mad cow
disease, but it did look kinda gross when it got to Spanish moss length.

nb

blake murphy > wrote in message
...
> Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
[snip]

Two grocery stores (independents) power wash their carts every
week. In talking to two guys I saw doing it one weekend, it's
one of those jobs that is assigned but highly sought after;
apparently it's considered more play than work.

I'm more worried about getting hit by a car in the lot or
having a plane drop from the sky on my house than contracting
any germs from a shopping cart or hand basket.

The Ranger

The Ranger wrote:

> blake murphy > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
>
> [snip]
>
> Two grocery stores (independents) power wash their carts every
> week. In talking to two guys I saw doing it one weekend, it's
> one of those jobs that is assigned but highly sought after;
> apparently it's considered more play than work.
>
> I'm more worried about getting hit by a car in the lot or
> having a plane drop from the sky on my house than contracting
> any germs from a shopping cart or hand basket.

Did you ever hear Bobcat Goldwaith's riff on being a stoner cart boy as
a teenager? He referred to them as his "shining silver buffaloes".

On 2008-07-31, The Ranger > wrote:

> I'm more worried about getting hit by a car in the lot or
> having a plane drop from the sky on my house than contracting
> any germs from a shopping cart or hand basket.

Only in a culture of gross abundance and obscene plenty would someone obsess
over a transport vehicle contaminating food that has been packaged to the
point we often need tools to open/unseal them.

nb

The Ranger wrote:
>
> Two grocery stores (independents) power wash their carts every
> week. In talking to two guys I saw doing it one weekend, it's
> one of those jobs that is assigned but highly sought after;
> apparently it's considered more play than work.
>
> I'm more worried about getting hit by a car in the lot or
> having a plane drop from the sky on my house than contracting
> any germs from a shopping cart or hand basket.


I agree that germs from shopping buggies isn't high on my list of things
to worry about, but then, I don't belong to a high-risk group. I'm not
elderly or HIV-positive or getting chemotherapy.


Now I'm wondering about the effectiveness of the power washes and
disinfectants. If the point is to give the appearance of cleanliness
and thereby increase business, that is easily measurable by asking
people where they shop, and why, and then looking at cash register receipts.


If the point is actually to cut down on the number of communicable
diseases that people catch, that's harder to measure. It means figuring
out what they would have caught if the buggies weren't disinfected or
power washed. Since that varies from season to season and person to
person, it's harder to figure.


I was reading about preventing communicable diseases in hospitals. Here
we're talking about a high-risk population, a place where attention to
handwashing and sanitation does make a measurable difference. If I
remember the book correctly, if you get 70% compliance on the part of
doctors washing their hands between patients, you don't cut down the
incidences of communicable diseases any better than if you had 30%
compliance. Only when you get to compliance in the high 90% do you see
the number of hospital borne illnesses start to go down.


With that in mind, I can understand wanting to disinfect after each use
of the buggie. That's got to work better than just power washing once a
week. Even so, using that much disinfectant doesn't sit well with me.
I wonder if it really helps or if it just helps create new superbugs
that are resistent to the disinfectents.


It seems to me that most things that go into a shopping buggie are cans
or bottles or wrapped in plastic anyway. I'd guess that a better way to
cut down on illness is what the supermarkets are doing anyway:
encourage handwashing with available wipes for anyone who feels like
they need them.


I'd like to see a study on the subject.


--Lia

On 2008-07-31, Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> I'd like to see a study on the subject.

In group A we have patrons that simply put their food in the cart, go through
checkout, and go home and put the groceries away.

In group B we have patrons who immediately lick the infant carrier
seat, gnaw continuously on the cart handle, and then wipe the cart with a
filthy wet sponge, squeeze the drippings into a hypodermic needle and shoot up
they're 6 mos old baby.

Since it's a double blind study, group C, all blind, will be relieved of
their seeing-eye dogs and asked to step off the curb into the path of an
oncoming bus.

Which do you think will have the higher incidence of ill health?

nb (eye roll)

In article >,
blake murphy > wrote:

> Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
>
> By Steve Hendrix
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page B01

> As Schwei finished installing the unit next to the row of checkout
> aisles, customers stopped to see the first sanitized carts roll
> through. Suzi Walsh, a self-described germ-phobe and a regular shopper
> from Kensington, said she had been waiting for the new system since
> the store announced it was coming several weeks ago.
>
> "I'm the kind of person who uses a bit of paper towel to open the
> bathroom door," said Walsh,

This just cracks me up. Does she think the germs magically disappear
once the person who wiped their butt with their bare hands and didn't
wash their hands afterward, leaves the bathroom?

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

Dan Abel wrote:

> In article >,
> blake murphy > wrote:
>
>
>>Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
>>
>>By Steve Hendrix
>>Washington Post Staff Writer
>>Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page B01
>
>
>>As Schwei finished installing the unit next to the row of checkout
>>aisles, customers stopped to see the first sanitized carts roll
>>through. Suzi Walsh, a self-described germ-phobe and a regular shopper
>>from Kensington, said she had been waiting for the new system since
>>the store announced it was coming several weeks ago.
>>
>>"I'm the kind of person who uses a bit of paper towel to open the
>>bathroom door," said Walsh,
>
>
> This just cracks me up. Does she think the germs magically disappear
> once the person who wiped their butt with their bare hands and didn't
> wash their hands afterward, leaves the bathroom?
>

My brother-in-law worked with a guy who was like this. His various
hygienic phobias were the least of his issues. The guy was a walking
bundle of neuroses, tics and annoying habits.

One day they removed the TP and paper towels from the restroom. The
door swung inwards so once inside, he had no way to open it without risk
of contaminating his fingers. So he waited for someone else to come in
so he could exit without touching the door handle. Everybody else was
in on the joke and had agreed to use the facilities on the opposite side
of the shop. It took him a good hour to work up the nerve to put his
hand inside his shirt to open the door, and then he went home sick.

Sucks to be crazy.

Dan Abel wrote:
>
> This just cracks me up. Does she think the germs magically disappear
> once the person who wiped their butt with their bare hands and didn't
> wash their hands afterward, leaves the bathroom?


No, but you will find the highest concentration of nasties on the handle
to the bathroom door. For that reason, it makes sense to wash your own
hands, dry them with a paper towel, use the paper to open the door,
throw it in the basket behind you, then, in general, make it a habit not
to touch your face often. This is a habit that actually will cut down
on the number of communicable diseases you contract.


--Lia

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
>
> By Steve Hendrix
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Page B01
>
> The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
> is now safe to lick the shopping carts.
>
> Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
> their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
> Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
> youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
> know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
> reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
> toilet seats in terms of germs.
>
> And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
> Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
> device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
> every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
> beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
> next customer.
>
> "It kills all the nasty stuff, salmonella, staph, E. coli," said Bob
> Schwei, a technician with PureCart Systems, the Wisconsin-based
> manufacturer of the glossy white machine, which looks like an airport
> X-ray machine. "They're very popular in Korea -- bird flu."
> ad_icon
>
> As Schwei finished installing the unit next to the row of checkout
> aisles, customers stopped to see the first sanitized carts roll
> through. Suzi Walsh, a self-described germ-phobe and a regular shopper
> from Kensington, said she had been waiting for the new system since
> the store announced it was coming several weeks ago.
>
> "I'm the kind of person who uses a bit of paper towel to open the
> bathroom door," said Walsh, who said she prefers shopping in the
> winter when she can leave her gloves on. "This is great. I see the
> kids scratch their diapers, then grab the cart. No, no, no. I'm way
> beyond that."
>
> [..]
>
> Like all grocers, the Kirsches have seen concerns over cart
> cleanliness grow over the years. They used to pressure wash the carts
> on a monthly basis and more recently added sanitary wipe dispensers
> near them so customers could scrub their own handles, and more.
>
> "We'd see people out in the parking lot trying to wipe down the whole
> cart," said Walter Kirsch, who has worked at the store since 1963 and
> owned it, with his sons, since 1985. "We're a small family business.
> This is just another way that we're taking care of the neighborhood."
>
>
> more at:
>
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072201787.html?sub=AR>
>
> your filth-encrusted pal,
> blake

I used to drive through a local Costco very early when the gas station
opened up - around 6:00 AM. Every morning all the carts and food area
tables were out in front of the store and they looked as if they had been
pressure washed. Never saw them doing it but that's what it looked like.


--
Old Scoundrel

(AKA Dimitri)

blake murphy > wrote:

> "It kills all the nasty stuff, salmonella, staph, E. coli," said Bob
> Schwei, a technician with PureCart Systems, the Wisconsin-based
> manufacturer of the glossy white machine, which looks like an airport
> X-ray machine. "They're very popular in Korea -- bird flu."
> ad_icon

Yeah, but does it remove all that greasy, nasty hand lotion that the
old ladies use and get all over the handles of the carts?

-sw

On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:03:31 GMT, blake murphy
> wrote:

>your filth-encrusted pal,

LOL! Just saw WALL-E today with GS. Your sig reminds me of the
little robot who cleaned "foreign contaminate"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYiYf2XVOC4


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

Kathleen wrote:

> The Ranger wrote:
>
>> blake murphy > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>>Shopping Cart Wash Lets Customers Get Groceries, Not Germs
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> Two grocery stores (independents) power wash their carts every week. In
>> talking to two guys I saw doing it one weekend, it's one of those jobs
>> that is assigned but highly sought after; apparently it's considered
>> more play than work.
>>
>> I'm more worried about getting hit by a car in the lot or having a plane
>> drop from the sky on my house than contracting any germs from a shopping
>> cart or hand basket.
>
> Did you ever hear Bobcat Goldwaith's riff on being a stoner cart boy as a
> teenager? He referred to them as his "shining silver buffaloes".

I'll bet he knows Bobcat Goldthwait.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

blake murphy > wrote:

>The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
>is now safe to lick the shopping carts.

>Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
>their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
>Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
>youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
>know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
>reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
>toilet seats in terms of germs.

>And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
>Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
>device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
>every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
>beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
>next customer.

A local grocery store has a dispenser of santitizing disposable
wipes next to where the carts set, with a sign that says
something like "please use a santiziging wipe on the handle
and back shelf of the shopping cart, as previous customers
may have placed their baby there".

(I'm paraphrasing, but it's something pretty much like that.)

This, to me, is literally ass-backwards -- instead of
requiring customers not to infect a shopping cart, they
require subsequent customers to disinfect them.

Steve

On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:12:28 -0500, Kathleen wrote:
>
> My brother-in-law worked with a guy who was like this. His various
> hygienic phobias were the least of his issues. The guy was a walking
> bundle of neuroses, tics and annoying habits.
>
> One day they removed the TP and paper towels from the restroom. The
> door swung inwards so once inside, he had no way to open it without risk
> of contaminating his fingers. So he waited for someone else to come in
> so he could exit without touching the door handle. Everybody else was
> in on the joke and had agreed to use the facilities on the opposite side
> of the shop. It took him a good hour to work up the nerve to put his
> hand inside his shirt to open the door, and then he went home sick.
>
<snort>

your pal,
blake

On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:57:09 +0000 (UTC), Steve Pope wrote:

> blake murphy > wrote:
>
>>The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
>>is now safe to lick the shopping carts.
>
>>Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
>>their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
>>Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
>>youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
>>know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
>>reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
>>toilet seats in terms of germs.
>
>>And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
>>Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
>>device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
>>every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
>>beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
>>next customer.
>
> A local grocery store has a dispenser of santitizing disposable
> wipes next to where the carts set, with a sign that says
> something like "please use a santiziging wipe on the handle
> and back shelf of the shopping cart, as previous customers
> may have placed their baby there".
>
> (I'm paraphrasing, but it's something pretty much like that.)
>

my store has no sign next to the dispenser. i thought the wipes were for
blowing your nose in.

your pal,
blake

blake murphy > wrote:

> "It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
> beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
> next customer. "

What does "99.9? Germ-Free" mean - that .1% of the surface of the
cart is covered with germs?

That's a not a very good advertisement. Heck, the cart was probably
99.8% free of germs before the it went through the wash.

-sw

blake murphy wrote:

> On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:57:09 +0000 (UTC), Steve Pope wrote:
>
>> blake murphy > wrote:
>>
>>>The Kirsch brothers want you to know: At Chevy Chase Supermarket, it
>>>is now safe to lick the shopping carts.
>>
>>>Not that they recommend it, mind you, but as co-owners, along with
>>>their dad, of the venerable independent grocery store on Connecticut
>>>Avenue, Jason and Kevin Kirsch know how common it is for their
>>>youngest customers to treat cart handles like lollipops. Worse, they
>>>know how unnerved folks have become in recent years over alarmist
>>>reports that rank shopping carts right up there with public restroom
>>>toilet seats in terms of germs.
>>
>>>And so the brothers yesterday installed what they say is the
>>>Washington area's first full-scale shopping cart wash, a push-through
>>>device that sprays a misty peroxide solution over each cart between
>>>every use. It dries in a few seconds, leaving behind a faint whiff of
>>>beauty parlor and a cart promised to be 99.9 percent germ free for the
>>>next customer.
>>
>> A local grocery store has a dispenser of santitizing disposable
>> wipes next to where the carts set, with a sign that says
>> something like "please use a santiziging wipe on the handle
>> and back shelf of the shopping cart, as previous customers
>> may have placed their baby there".
>>
>> (I'm paraphrasing, but it's something pretty much like that.)
>>
>
> my store has no sign next to the dispenser. i thought the wipes were for
> blowing your nose in.

Nah...just give it good ol' "farmer's blow" into the cart like everybody
else does.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:08:22 -0700, Blinky the Shark wrote:

> blake murphy wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:57:09 +0000 (UTC), Steve Pope wrote:
>>
>
>>>
>>> A local grocery store has a dispenser of santitizing disposable
>>> wipes next to where the carts set, with a sign that says
>>> something like "please use a santiziging wipe on the handle
>>> and back shelf of the shopping cart, as previous customers
>>> may have placed their baby there".
>>>
>>> (I'm paraphrasing, but it's something pretty much like that.)
>>>
>>
>> my store has no sign next to the dispenser. i thought the wipes were for
>> blowing your nose in.
>
> Nah...just give it good ol' "farmer's blow" into the cart like everybody
> else does.

i once had a girlfriend who blew her nose in the shower. i guess it's
practical, but i was still kinda grossed out. (i know some men **** in
there, something it would never have occurred to me to do.)

your pal,
blake

blake murphy > wrote:

> i once had a girlfriend who blew her nose in the shower. i guess it's
> practical, but i was still kinda grossed out. (i know some men **** in
> there, something it would never have occurred to me to do.)

Beats ****ing in the bath tub.

-sw

"Sqwertz" > wrote in message
...
> blake murphy > wrote:
>
>> i once had a girlfriend who blew her nose in the shower. i guess it's
>> practical, but i was still kinda grossed out. (i know some men **** in
>> there, something it would never have occurred to me to do.)
>
> Beats ****ing in the bath tub.
>
You're hungover, aren't you?

cybercat > wrote:

> "Sqwertz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> blake murphy > wrote:
>>
>>> i once had a girlfriend who blew her nose in the shower. i guess it's
>>> practical, but i was still kinda grossed out. (i know some men **** in
>>> there, something it would never have occurred to me to do.)
>>
>> Beats ****ing in the bath tub.
>>
> You're hungover, aren't you?

Not since Thursday morning.

Wait - This is Usenet. Aren't you supposed to call me drunk or off
my medication?

ObFood: Two ducks and 2 racks of ribs on the smoker. And I totally
forgot about the whole chicken in the back of the fridge.

-sw
-sw

"Sqwertz" > wrote in message
...
> cybercat > wrote:
>
>> "Sqwertz" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> blake murphy > wrote:
>>>
>>>> i once had a girlfriend who blew her nose in the shower. i guess it's
>>>> practical, but i was still kinda grossed out. (i know some men **** in
>>>> there, something it would never have occurred to me to do.)
>>>
>>> Beats ****ing in the bath tub.
>>>
>> You're hungover, aren't you?
>
> Not since Thursday morning.
>
> Wait - This is Usenet. Aren't you supposed to call me drunk or off
> my medication?
>

Well, you're even grumpier than usual. Go get laid.

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:57:15 -0500, Sqwertz >
wrote:

>And I totally
>forgot about the whole chicken in the back of the fridge.

It's never too late for chicken.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West

sf wrote:

> On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:57:15 -0500, Sqwertz >
> wrote:
>
>>And I totally
>>forgot about the whole chicken in the back of the fridge.
>
> It's never too late for chicken.

Chicken. It's not just for breakfast any more.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html