Mart Cart woes

[Monterey Jack]

Hi there, newbie here. While most of my sucky customer stories are fairly tame compared to most of the ones I've read here, I'd still like to contribute from time to time.

I work in a well-known supermarket chain. Like most supermarkets, there are a handful of electric carts for the elderly and/or disabled. We only have two working models (and "working" is a kind way to put it...one beeps incessantly no matter if you're going forward or back), and thus we often get a situation where one konks out right in the middle of someone's order because it wasn't plugged in by the last person to use it. And then there are the people who drive them out into the parking lot (which is technically not allowed, but we tend to let it slide most of the time) and just leave them there, without telling any of the front-end employees that they're planning to do this. Annoying enough when the weather's fine, but it's particularly unforgivable when it's raining or threatening to rain.

One time there was this elderly customer coming through my line. As with most Mart Cart customers, I offered to follow him out into the lot so I could assist in putting his groceries into his car and make sure the cart got back into the store and plugged in so it could recharge. This was a day when it was ominously cloudy..one of those days when it's not a question of if it's gonna rain, but when. So, naturally, a few minutes after the guy leaves, one of the managers comes up to me and says that his cart has been left out in the lot, and it's just begun to rain giant, dime-sized droplets. Cursing to myself, I ran out, got into the seat so I could drive it back...and the thing just wouldn't start up. Either a stall or a weak battery or both, and I'm starting to get seriously soggy. So, with no other choice, I was forced to literally drag the thing into the store, and as you might well know, the wheels of those things don't roll an inch when they're not turned on. And, meanwhile, the guy is just SITTING there, in his car, watching the whole thing! For the next WEEK, my lower back was seriously screwed up, all because this asshole wouldn't allow anyone to follow him out and take the cart back in promptly.

And there's also this other disabled dude, who, when he catches me doing carts in the lot, will often drive up right next to me and ask me to drive one of the Mart Carts out to him. Fair enough...but whenever I do, he'll just SIT THERE in his car, with the door open, either chatting on his phone or listening to the radio, for anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half-hour. Hey, other people might want to use that, you know!

[Seshat]

If you can get the user manual for that model of cart:

My cart (and presumably most models) has a wheel release; for just that sort of situation. Stick the key in, use the wheel release, and it's much much easier to move.

There's also a secondary wheel release for if the electronics are completely fubar; this one's a mechanical release and tucked away underneath the chassis where it's almost impossible to find without knowing where it is.

But if you can take the time to get a torch and get on the floor and look for a lever or switch under the chassis, you might make life a LOT easier when the carts are out of power.

[bainsidhe]

I always wished our carts had a cutoff if you tried to leave the store. They are expensive and break easily, and very often an employee had to go outside and drag the carts back (you're right about the wheels locking!). They'd get rained on, snowed on, and sometimes would get plowed into or pushed into a drift by the snow plow. They were nearly always dead by the time an employee found them, not to mention they were out of sight and unavailable to other customers during that time and until the cart had a chance to recharge. I really really wish they had a cutoff.

I once had a customer complain bitterly because our carts didn't have a headlight (it was dark outside). I explained the carts were meant for indoor use only and were not a vehicle and that driving outside is dangerous, especially when other vehicles can't see you. So she complained again there was not headlight. And I explained again that the carts shouldn't go outside, they are for indoor use only and taking them outside can damage the cart, PLUS it's dangerous. Well that's why the carts should have a headlight then, I was told.

[raudf]

Oh, I hated it when they'd ride the carts right out into the parking lot. As a cashier, I as also used as back up buggy fetcher. It's bad enough to get regular buggies, but the carts? On a beautiful day, with a full battery, you want to give 'em a foot assist to get them back into the store.

Battery dead (on said beautiful day) and management wound up calling a stock associate to get it, because there was no f'ing way I was putting my back out of joint for that. Stock associates got paid more than I did.. and I did their job along with my own. Not blaming the stock associates, mind. There were too few of them, after the old dingbats that shouldn't be driving anything other than a nerf car mowed a couple down.

[Teskeria]

<sarcasm on> You mean I have been doing it wrong ALL this time??? I'm not supposed to have my daughter take the cart back inside if I have to take it to the car on a bad day? (on a good day, we switch the groceries into a regular cart, cause I can lean on it to the car and make it.). OH NOES!! <sarcasm off>
I also ask the cashier if it is okay to take it to the car. Because some of the parking lots are so badly paved that it might hurt the cart. Now I understand why they look so surprised when they step outside and see my daughter riding it back and plugging it in. (silly of me to just think, oh good they got a break)

Oh and even if it is dead and wont move on it's own, turn it on. It is easier to push or pull that way. My daughter has pushed it with me in it up to the plug with it on. It doesnt have enough power to move itself, but it has just a smidgen and that helps your back!!

[raudf]

Actually, I should clarify. My store's stance on the carts was, "Not out in that parking lot, oh HELLS NO!" That being the parking lot that should have rightly became the scene for any chase scene involving four or more wrecks/accidents in a day. I swear someone did a cattle call for "Low flying, barely guided missile" and every ijit within the the city would show up.. at a high rate of speed. It was so bad, management (per corps orders) put in speed bumps to at least allow the company to pretend that something was being done about the issue.

Since the carts are barely fast enough to get out of the way of a person walking at a leisurely speed, they were forbidden to be ridden into the parking lot. Didn't actually stop anyone, because they'd just tell the door greeter, "Oh, I'll be stopping right in front of the door, because X is picking me up!" and keep on trucking.

I wasn't joking about our stock associates getting hit... One spent two weeks off job and another quit after his happened.

[yunito]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clip...his-bother-you


have 1 in my job i hate it. i know some ppl need it but the % of them really needed is very low specially on certain store. most the time are just lazy .......

[Grendus]

I remember the motorized carts back when I worked at Mal-Mart. The front wheels were locked, but the back wheels weren't. If the battery died, the only way to get them to move was to physically lift the front end of the cart and shuffle (because there was no room under it to move your feet) backwards to the nearest power outlet. Honestly, given the... girth of some of the customers using them, I'm surprised they didn't get recessed into the floor some times.

[RealUnimportant]

What you need is some kind of sensor ring, so they just die if driven outside a certain range...

[RetailSlave]

Our store attempted to keep the customers from removing the carts from the store for a time by installing spider wraps on them (those being the security devices placed on electronics, video games and some high end appliances and boxed liquor) so that the alarm would go off if they passed the entrance. Customers would either ignore it or cuss out the greeters for not letting them take them out to the car. Our store has a rather large lot and we have found the carts at the far ends of the lot next to the fuel station and the cinemas. We have ample handicapped parking and close spaces, so why they chose to park in the boonies is unknown .
I work 3rd shift and I can't count the number of times that I have had to go out in the rain, snow and cold to retrieve an electric cart from outside.

[Sapphire Silk]

I didn't know you couldn't take the carts out of the store. I see customers do it all the time, so I figured it was OK. I did this a few times over the summer with my bad foot (if I had purchases), though in my defense I will say I did bring the cart back and plug it in for the next customer.

I've never seen a sign saying they shouldn't go outside (yeah, I know, suckstomers never read signs, but still).

One of the things I've noticed at the warehouse store is the motor carts are so popular that when you return one, there is someone else ready to jump into it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It's hard on the motor, and possibly other mechanical parts, if the motorized cart is driven on an uneven surface like a parking lot. They're designed to be used on smooth tile floors.

Our parking lot is a missile test site where Ford Tauruses and Dodge Grand Caravans battle for automotive supremacy. Driving the motorized cart out there is a great way for it to wind up in the shop and thus be unavailable to anybody who may need to use it in the meantime.

[Caractacus_Potts]

OT a bit. There was a court cased I read about in Maine a few years back. An elderly woman driving the cart bumped into a middle aged woman. The middle aged woman sued the store for a ridiculous amount of pain and suffering money claiming that it is the stores responsibility to provide training courses and operator licenses to customers before they allow them to drive the carts. It got thrown out of court by the judge.

[wolfie]

The middle aged woman sued the store for a ridiculous amount of pain and suffering money claiming that it is the stores responsibility to provide training courses and operator licenses to customers before they allow them to drive the carts. It got thrown out of court by the judge.

If she had won the case, there could have been only one possible outcome - the next day, there would have been NO carts at ANY stores. After all, getting rid of the carts would be cheaper than providing training, and the stores would have to avoid the liability issue.