He knows the cashier's job better than the cashier.. and it's now my personal cart.

[bean]

Tonight I walked into a local grocery store that we'll call WaySafe. I happened to notice a... person.. stumbling along the aisles while yelling into his cellphone about how he's almost done "wit da shoppn".

I managed to get stuck behind him. He started barking orders at the cashier, while also barking into his cellphone. My jaw dropped when he demanded the cashier triple bag his 12 pack of beer. Even with 3 plastic bags, those sharp corners WILL rip the bags, believe me. And if you're buying a 12 pack of beer, why are you so embarrassed to carry it?

If you can figure out a weird bagging request, creepy guy on phone had it. While also barking into the phone with the same tone of voice, so nobody could tell who he was barking at. He had about a $30 order that should have taken, oh, 4 or 5 minutes to ring, bag, and pay for, assuming the cashier was brand new, but it took over 10 minutes because he kept having the cashier re-bag everything. This is a seasoned cashier, he's been there quite awhile. Creepy guy was also arguing with the cashier about the price of EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ITEM, even after the cashier sent people on price checks twice. Cashier stopped bothering sending people on price checks after the 2nd time and stood his ground though, kudos for him.

Once barking angry cellphone guy left, when the cashier greeted me, I said "Damn that guy was a fucking asshole". Cashier just laughed and started to apologize about the wait.. "no way, you don't need to apologize, that guy was a total asshole to you and everyone in line behind him, I would have told him to get lost if he pulled that shit in my line".

Once I got checked out, I wound up BSing with someone I knew before walking out to my car, which took a bit. Loaded my groceries up, drove off, and... a block away, guess what I see at a bus stop?

If you guessed Barking Cellphone Guy complete with (now stolen property) Shopping Cart, you would be 100% correct. And yes, he was still yelling into his cellphone. And it's also the very last bus stop at the northern end of the city.

I did call the store manager and let him know, but I'm pretty sure they'll be lucky to even find the cart at that point. This store is actually in a very affluent part of town too.

[Kogarashi]

One more reason our local Walmart put the locks on the cart wheels. If they leave the area of the store and parking lot, the wheels lock up and won't go anymore.

[bainsidhe]

One more reason our local Walmart put the locks on the cart wheels. If they leave the area of the store and parking lot, the wheels lock up and won't go anymore.

Ooooh, I wish our store had those!

[Exaspera]

One more reason our local Walmart put the locks on the cart wheels. If they leave the area of the store and parking lot, the wheels lock up and won't go anymore.

How do the carts know when they are out of the parking lot? This is very interesting.

[Polenicus]

How do the carts know when they are out of the parking lot? This is very interesting.

It's the same as those electronic fences they use for dogs. The carts have a little solenoid and receiver in one or two wheels. Either the store has a transmitter, and once a certain distance from the signal the wheels lock up, or surrounding the property there is an electronic 'frontier', that once passed trips the solenoid. Wheels no turny, cart no go-y, but as soon as you bring it back, it works again.

[protege]

I did call the store manager and let him know, but I'm pretty sure they'll be lucky to even find the cart at that point. This store is actually in a very affluent part of town too.

People do that where I live too. They'll take the bus from the inner city, and take carts from one store...all over the shopping plazas. When it's time to head home, they'll haul their crap to the nearest bus stop, and dump the cart. Because of that, it's no wonder why the shopping area actually has someone drive around in a pickup truck to remove stray carts.

Don't even get me started on the idiots who take carts to their home (usually the nearby Section 8 housing project) , and then bitch and moan when the store prices of things go up to cover the cost of replacing the carts

[Magpie]

The carts with wheel locks have been known to just start locking up randomly. The local superstore switched to the standard coin deposit a few months after opening, because they wouldn't unlock when needed. (I believe this was because there were ramps in the store where the wheels locked, not just outside the parking lot).

I've seen places where people took two carts to the taxi stand. These two carts where then chained together, so that the thieves didn't lose their deposit. Because, you know, that 50 cents is a real problem. (I know that sometimes it is, but the extra costs of retrieving those carts, especially since the cart worker had better have change to unlock them. Also these people were taking a taxi, so money couldn't have been that tight.)

[Red_Dazes]

One more reason our local Walmart put the locks on the cart wheels. If they leave the area of the store and parking lot, the wheels lock up and won't go anymore.

Sadly those do not work on everyone.... Two weeks ago i saw a homeless man dragging a Walgreen's cart along behind him ((they have the locking wheels when you leave the parking lot too)) wheels not moving, but damned if he was going to give up on taking that thing where he wanted it.

[Aut]

When we lived in Vegas, we were in a pretty slummy part of town. We didn't have an operating legal vehicle for much of the 3 years we lived there but luckily a grocery store was about a 10 minute walk away. I think maybe only 2 times I ever brought a cart home, usually I used the stroller (imagine the very last time I had to do that with a sleeping almost 2 year old and carrying a 2 week old while pushing an overloaded stroller...good times). Many many people that lived around this store didn't have a vehicle either. There would be people waiting in a line at the store for an available cart, it was that bad. Daily, I saw the cart wranglers driving around the neighborhoood. I will never forget the time I saw 6 adults walking together with a cart and only a carton of a dozen eggs in it. They needed a cart for that?

They tried the wheel lock devices, but some people will not be stopped. I would see them drag carts down the street, and I even saw a couple whacking away at the lock with a rock.

[Chromatix]

The cart locks I know about are the ones with a coin deposit (which often seem to have been unlocked without a coin, somehow, but I put them back and lock them up anyway), and the ones which have a trigger induction loop fitted at every exit of the property.

The trigger types don't unlock automatically - the staff have to use a key on them after dragging them past the loop again. Mind you, I have been known to bodily lift a locked-up trolley over to the correct side of the loop... a smart chav would do that in the opposite direction.

Wait... did I use "smart" and "chav" in the same sentence without a negative modifier? Never mind then.

[Dasota]

They tried the wheel lock devices, but some people will not be stopped. I would see them drag carts down the street, and I even saw a couple whacking away at the lock with a rock.

*Peers out from the bushes and looks at the camera*

And here we see early humans making use of basic materials for basic tools

[bainsidhe]

A local supermarket has a gate at the entrance that's too small to let carts through. That means you can't even take carts into the parking lot, unless you lift them over the gate. Which people do and then proceed to walk them all the way home. *sigh*

[Magpie]

Ok, I know that bundle buggies are crap unless you're really short. (I'm too tall, at 167, to use them easily). But it's honestly easier to lift a full shopping cart over the barriers? I don't get it!

[AriGriffin]

A couple of days ago, I went into the kitchen for a drink. I looked out the back window and see a bunch of teenagers pushing an empty-of-bought-goods grocery cart from Piggly Wiggly around the funeral home parking lot. The kids were taking turns pushing each other around in the cart. One of the kids was on a bike and would race the people in the carts.
I called the cops when they started heading farther away from the grocery store with the cart.

[PepperElf]

the wegmans closest to me has that problem partially solved without modifying the carts.

there's a bus stop right at the store entrance.


not sure if people walk carts home or not, but at least they don't have to walk further than a foot or two to catch a bus.