patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| reply to Heshup
Re: [Rant] store shopping carts
said by Heshup  :Carts are about as nasty as they come. Think of the all people that had there hands on that bar. When is the last time any one has seen them clean the carts? It would scare the hell out of people if they seen what grew in a petri dish and we put our hands right on that bar. LOL Yes the wheels piss me off in a bad way. It all comes down to one thing SAVE A BUCK! Its called rain! |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| reply to fishacura
said by fishacura :I think it's some sort of incentive to bring your cart back to the appropriate place. Theoretically, it should reduce costs because the market should then not need a person to do this work. Or if people don't bring them back, the store generates revenue...those quarters add up. However, I don't remember seeing my grocery prices go down and to be honest, sometimes it's just easier to leave the cart wherever. You wind up with homeless bums fighting over getting carts back to the station. |
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carpetshark3
Premium
join:2004-02-12
Colorado Springs, CO | reply to grobinette
Somebody finally mentioned those awful carts! The damn kids get hold of them and race each other up and down the aisles. Parents don't seem to care. Plus you can't get more than 2 of the suckers into the cart corral.
Carpetshark |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ
| reply to rspsas
as someone who has done their time as a supermarket worker, i can say cart return is the worst. and lots of it is caused by customers and the crap they leave behind in carts like the cart is their personal garbage can.
even worse is the self important luxury car owners who park in the fire lanes preventing speedy return because they block the ramp to the sidewalk meaning carts cant be brought in. though the store i worked at we never cared and just rammed past and nicked a few Escalade bumpers. the owners got told tough luck due to being in the fire lane rofl.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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scoopy03
join:2003-05-06
00000
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Combat Chuck
said by Combat Chuck :said by lew_b :A local law forces stores to put a device on the cart that chains the cart to the one in front of it. You have to put a quarter in it before the cart can be unlatched from the cart in front of it. This is to get you to return the cart to the corral and not litter the parking lot with carts. Woe to anyone who dare go shopping without a quarter !  Interestingly there have been studies done about the similar practice in airports. You know where you pay $2 for a cart and get a $0.50 reward when you return it. More carts were returned than when they just charged a flat $2 than if they charged you $1.50 with a $0.50 deposit. The theory is that charging $2 to rent the cart and giving nothing in return makes people feel guilty for not returning the cart; but when you give them money back for returning it they see that as a "return charge" and just leave the cart if they don't feel like returning it. Similar things happened when they looked at charging parents a penalty for being late picking their kids up. When they instituted the charge more people started showing up late. if you haven't already and have spare time care to watch The Terminal  |
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Mr Neutron
Hopped up on what you mopped up
Premium
join:2005-05-30
Gorham, ME
| reply to patcat88
said by patcat88 :said by fishacura :I think it's some sort of incentive to bring your cart back to the appropriate place. Theoretically, it should reduce costs because the market should then not need a person to do this work. Or if people don't bring them back, the store generates revenue...those quarters add up. However, I don't remember seeing my grocery prices go down and to be honest, sometimes it's just easier to leave the cart wherever. You wind up with homeless bums fighting over getting carts back to the station. I have to wonder if stores have actually lost business as a result of forcing the "coin carts" onto their customers.
As you point out, coin-filled carts are one hell of an attractant for the local homeless population. Who then have a strong incentive to start hanging around the parking lot and make a nuisance of themselves.
This can't be an endearing thing for a store to have happen and I'm guessing that if additional measures aren't taken to keep away the local homeless population, (i.e. measures that will cost money, you know, like the money the special carts were supposed to save) their presence in the store parking lot is going to cause at least some customers to start shopping elsewhere.
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Damascus, Aurens.
Aurens, not this. Go round.
Damascus, Aurens - Damascus!
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by Mr Neutron :said by patcat88 :said by fishacura :I think it's some sort of incentive to bring your cart back to the appropriate place. Theoretically, it should reduce costs because the market should then not need a person to do this work. Or if people don't bring them back, the store generates revenue...those quarters add up. However, I don't remember seeing my grocery prices go down and to be honest, sometimes it's just easier to leave the cart wherever. You wind up with homeless bums fighting over getting carts back to the station. I have to wonder if stores have actually lost business as a result of forcing the "coin carts" onto their customers. As you point out, coin-filled carts are one hell of an attractant for the local homeless population. Who then have a strong incentive to start hanging around the parking lot and make a nuisance of themselves. This can't be an endearing thing for a store to have happen and I'm guessing that if additional measures aren't taken to keep away the local homeless population, (i.e. measures that will cost money, you know, like the money the special carts were supposed to save) their presence in the store parking lot is going to cause at least some customers to start shopping elsewhere. The smart retailer would convert them to token based coins for the carts that have no cash value. putting the homeless at bay.
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee |
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Mr Neutron
Hopped up on what you mopped up
Premium
join:2005-05-30
Gorham, ME
| said by dvd536 :The smart retailer would convert them to token based coins for the carts that have no cash value. putting the homeless at bay. Except there's additional expense involved in buying the tokens and coming up with some way of getting them to shoppers. 
I have a feeling that if the coin carts become widespread, shoppers are going to come up with their own, uh, "tokens" and ways to get the use of a cart without having to shell out money for them. After all, the coin acceptance mechanism can't be all that complex (i.e. hard to fool) for such a simple application.
From what little I can gather, though, that type of cart is still relatively rare. I understand why a business would consider their purchase and use, but I'm just not sure if, at the end of the day, they come out ahead on the deal. [shrugs]
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Damascus, Aurens.
Aurens, not this. Go round.
Damascus, Aurens - Damascus!
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
1 edit | reply to dvd536
said by dvd536 :said by 81399672 :said by sivran :Think invisible fence, only instead of dogs, it's for carts, and instead of electric shocks, it's a wheel lock. I have on purpose take them out by lifting the front wheels up and rolling on two back wheels. Doesn't work on the ones here. they have things welded to the back that won't allow them to roll while tilted back like this one. Well, well, well....I just went to Safeway. I had one of those little shopping baskets over my arm. I ended up buying a huge thing of Charmin Ultra and more other stuff than I expected. So, the cashier asked me if I needed a wagon. The store was very busy so I said, "I'll go grab a wagon" (they are kept outside the store). So, I got the wagon, and the cashier put my stuff in it. I stopped at the courtsey desk on the way out to get a raincheck. Then I proceeded the few feet to the door. The wagon went halfway through and it seemed a wheel was stuck on something. (I had completely forgotten the information in this thread so I thought something actually was stuck on the wheel causing the problem). So I backed it up and tried again and it was still sticking on something and it was just the left front wheel. I tried again and as I was wrestling with it a lady coming in the store stopped and tried to help me....she pulled vigorously on the front of the wagon and declared it stuck on "something" after several hard pulls with me pushing on the other end. 
A second customer coming in the store stopped and also tried to wrestle with it. LOL Finally, out ran a Safeway employee who had an odd looking big clicker in his hand and and another employee behind him who argued with him as the first employee reached down with this huge clicker thingy to this red plastic(?) object attached to the outside of the front left wheel and the right front wheel. I was saying "ooooh ...when did Safeway get locking wheels"? Finally recalling this thread, I was asking both of them why it was locked to keep folks from leaving the store with their paid merchandise!!! The two employees were arguing about how to unlock it and ignoring my questions.
They got it unlocked finally and the commotion had created a small crowd watching. They continued to ignore my questions. I told them I was going to post in this thread and I just wanted to know why it was locked like that when leaving the store. I wondered if they are all locked when in their resting places outside the store. In fact, I asked if that was the intention and was just answered with "people were stealing them". So, I think they are locked, maybe against any movement except into the store, and then the cashier unlocks them for going out of the store. I'm speculating that because I didn't take a wagon inside to shop and I didn't go through the checkout lane with the wagon. I went and got the wagon after I had paid for the groceries and the cashier was new to Safeway. I know her and she worked for years at another grocery so maybe she didn't think to "release" the lock when I brought the wagon in the store to put the sacks in.
The whole thing was actually hilarious what with me, and the other customers, pushing and pulling on that wagon that would only go half way over the threshold at the door and then the employees having trouble unlocking it. 
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to wilbilt
said by wilbilt :A visit to the supermarket is a lesson on how disgusting people really are. Not without a side trip to the "rest" room...
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to quatrix
said by quatrix :said by lefty1 :... lazy slob? If I leave the cart out, at least I put it BETWEEN two parking spots instead of right in the middle of one. I don't know why that's so hard for people to figure out. When I'm done with a cart, I take it to a cart collection corral or back to the front of the store...
(ALL TOGETHER NOW...)
"I don't know why that's so hard for people to figure out."
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to sivran
said by sivran :Think invisible fence, only instead of dogs, it's for carts, and instead of electric shocks, it's a wheel lock. And, actually, I think I'd like to see the high-voltage, low-amperage current fed thru the cart at the same time the wheel locks. That'll teach 'em!
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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sivran
Long Live The Suite
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Arlington, TX
clubs: | reply to Mele20
And yet you apparently never considered that it might have just malfunctioned. 
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In dadkins' memory, Think outside the Fox... |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to Mele20
said by Mele20 :Well, well, well....I just went to Safeway. I had one of those little shopping baskets over my arm. I ended up buying a huge thing of Charmin Ultra and more other stuff than I expected. So, the cashier asked me if I needed a wagon. The store was very busy so I said, "I'll go grab a wagon" (they are kept outside the store). So, I got the wagon, and the cashier put my stuff in it. I stopped at the courtsey desk on the way out to get a raincheck. Then I proceeded the few feet to the door. The wagon went halfway through and it seemed a wheel was stuck on something. (I had completely forgotten the information in this thread so I thought something actually was stuck on the wheel causing the problem). So I backed it up and tried again and it was still sticking on something and it was just the left front wheel. I tried again and as I was wrestling with it a lady coming in the store stopped and tried to help me....she pulled vigorously on the front of the wagon and declared it stuck on "something" after several hard pulls with me pushing on the other end. A second customer coming in the store stopped and also tried to wrestle with it. LOL Finally, out ran a Safeway employee who had an odd looking big clicker in his hand and and another employee behind him who argued with him as the first employee reached down with this huge clicker thingy to this red plastic(?) object attached to the outside of the front left wheel and the right front wheel. I was saying "ooooh ...when did Safeway get locking wheels"? Finally recalling this thread, I was asking both of them why it was locked to keep folks from leaving the store with their paid merchandise!!! The two employees were arguing about how to unlock it and ignoring my questions. They got it unlocked finally and the commotion had created a small crowd watching. They continued to ignore my questions. I told them I was going to post in this thread and I just wanted to know why it was locked like that when leaving the store. I wondered if they are all locked when in their resting places outside the store. In fact, I asked if that was the intention and was just answered with "people were stealing them". So, I think they are locked, maybe against any movement except into the store, and then the cashier unlocks them for going out of the store. I'm speculating that because I didn't take a wagon inside to shop and I didn't go through the checkout lane with the wagon. I went and got the wagon after I had paid for the groceries and the cashier was new to Safeway. I know her and she worked for years at another grocery so maybe she didn't think to "release" the lock when I brought the wagon in the store to put the sacks in. The whole thing was actually hilarious what with me, and the other customers, pushing and pulling on that wagon that would only go half way over the threshold at the door and then the employees having trouble unlocking it. Sounds like they're using the 'gatekeeper systems' protection wheel that is designed to prevent "push outs" and because it didn't go through the register lane, it didn't get sent the "ok signal" so the cart thought you were shoplifting the items and locked up at the door to prevent the "push out".
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When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee |
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Mele20
Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
| said by dvd536 :Sounds like they're using the 'gatekeeper systems' protection wheel that is designed to prevent "push outs" and because it didn't go through the register lane, it didn't get sent the "ok signal" so the cart thought you were shoplifting the items and locked up at the door to prevent the "push out". Yeah, that sounds about right the more I thought about it. So the cashier should have cleared it after I brought it in and she put the groceries in it, but she was new to Safeway, and this protection wheel thing is new also, hence my little drama getting out the door.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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pnjunction
Teksavvy Premium
Premium
join:2008-01-24
Toronto, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to shaner
said by shaner :Every single grocery store here in Canada uses the "quarter lock" system Maybe out there, but it's pretty uncommon out this way. |
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pnjunction
Teksavvy Premium
Premium
join:2008-01-24
Toronto, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to Combat Chuck
said by Combat Chuck :Interestingly there have been studies done about the similar practice in airports. You know where you pay $2 for a cart and get a $0.50 reward when you return it. More carts were returned than when they just charged a flat $2 than if they charged you $1.50 with a $0.50 deposit. The theory is that charging $2 to rent the cart and giving nothing in return makes people feel guilty for not returning the cart; but when you give them money back for returning it they see that as a "return charge" and just leave the cart if they don't feel like returning it. That's weird...I'll return a cart for the $0.50 but if I've paid the $2 and won't get any back I figure they can use the money to hire somebody to bring it back themselves.
I don't see how people would feel guilty for not returning something they paid for and have no incentive to return. |
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Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT
clubs: 
 ·Packet8
| reply to sivran
said by sivran :Think invisible fence, only instead of dogs, it's for carts, and instead of electric shocks, it's a wheel lock. How do those work? Do they lock all 4 wheels or just one? I never tried to bring one out. |
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sivran
Long Live The Suite
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Arlington, TX
clubs: | The Kroger nearest me only uses one wheel lock. I'm thinking the only thing stopping the wheel locks from being installed on all four wheels would be cost.
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In dadkins' memory, Think outside the Fox... |
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DC DSL
Stays crunchy even in milk
Premium
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
·Covad Communications
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to rspsas
said by rspsas :anyone hate shopping cart designs I love my shopping cart.
There's also this model for the younger crowd:
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There is no giant fur-bearing trout. |
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