No..not dirty words...anything but that.

[Degrading]

We use quarters for our carts in Canada too. It's a useful practice, and amusing when Americans occasionally stumble in going "Why y'all got your carts chained up out there? How're we s'posed to get at 'em?" X)

Also, why did she think that parking the cart in some random area in the store was an acceptable way to deal with the cart not working, as opposed to just mentioning it to an employee? Did she think that stowing it away next to the barbecues would cause it to magically disappear off the face of the earth forever? Or maybe if it was left there long enough it would somehow heal itself over time?

I want to know what goes on in some people's heads...

[EricKei]

I mean, seriously, would you complain to a store that the wheels locked up when you tried to take the cart OUT of the parking lot?

I don't think any of us would, but SC's? Sure After all, THEY pay our salary and all ~_~

One single-location grocery around here took a novel approach: They have a series of 4-foot high cement "rods" (like those used to keep cars from approaching a building or overhead light too closely) about 15 feet from the exits from the store -- you can't get out with a cart through them due to the spacing, but there is plenty of room to WALK through, and you can't get out without either going through the rods (sans cart) or slipping over/under the horizontal bars that keep you from falling off of the ledge.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

One single-location grocery around here took a novel approach: They have a series of 4-foot high cement "rods" (like those used to keep cars from approaching a building or overhead light too closely) about 15 feet from the exits from the store -- you can't get out with a cart through them due to the spacing, but there is plenty of room to WALK through, and you can't get out without either going through the rods (sans cart) or slipping over/under the horizontal bars that keep you from falling off of the ledge.

Seen those at the Litter Box closest to my house years ago.

Too bad Corporate decided to remove those some years back. It'd save a bunch of money on having to purchase new shopping carts every so often.

[TheScaryOne]

A certain science teacher I know discovered that if you lift and carry the cart over the boundary, the wheels don't lock up.

I live across the street from Super Target.

They have magnetic wheel locks.

There are a lot of Target carts in my apartment complex.

Some are missing one wheel, it looks like someone figured out the lift trick for others, though.

[Andara Bledin]

Seen those at the Litter Box closest to my house years ago.

Too bad Corporate decided to remove those some years back. It'd save a bunch of money on having to purchase new shopping carts every so often.

I would imagine that if they restrict the passage of shopping carts, that they also restrict the passage of wheelchairs, which would be a whole worse kettle of fish than just having to get new carts periodically.

^-.-^

[Moosenogger]

The only time I get irritated with those locking shopping carts is when my car is parked in front of a separate store (same strip mall, though) and the wheels lock right when I'm about to enter the other parking lot. I understand why the stores have these carts, but the wheels don't automatically unlock when they pass back into the "store zone." So then I'm stuck with bags of groceries and a cart that is stuck in the middle of the street.

[TruthHurts]

I wish we would get some of those carts that lock up. We are constantly having to go after tourists who try to take the carts to their rental houses. Because having to carry your own beer is such a hardship.

[cinema guy]

Nowadays, in the UK, it tends to be smaller chains that use the £1 locks on trolleys. Bigger stores often have magnetic lines that the trolleys cannot cross instead.

I have to admit I've never seen that. All of the supermarkets near me use the £1 lock - except for one that has poles on their trolleys so they won't fit through the door.

Does the magnetic thingy stop you getting the trolley to your car?

[Dreamstalker]

I mean, seriously, would you complain to a store that the wheels locked up when you tried to take the cart OUT of the parking lot?

We get customers complaining when the wheels lock up when inside the store Apparently, some of the scuffs on the floor are just right to trigger the sensors (I don't know exactly how the wheel locks sense what they're supposed to; texture? light and dark?). We do have an unlocking gizmo up at the desk, but I've never seen it used.

[Gizmo]

I have to admit I've never seen that. All of the supermarkets near me use the £1 lock - except for one that has poles on their trolleys so they won't fit through the door.

Does the magnetic thingy stop you getting the trolley to your car?

We used to have those around here (Hampshire) but since all you have to do is lift it high enough away to trigger the magnetic lock they've upgraded to the £1 lock.

The magnetic ones are really difficult to notice if you aren't looking for them- they put a 'line' around the outside edges of the car park and it only triggers then so if you are in their carpark you should be fine. Next time you walk near one of the pedestrian exits look and there will probably be a sign like this similar sign to this(and they do put them in the end of the trolleys too occasionally): http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/4520672082/

[dalesys]

Now i'm getting a hallucination of a shopper taking a header into his trolley when the wheels lock up. Legs waving in the air, hair full of eggs...


I'll bet some of our "luckier" members have already done it!

[XCashier]

Also, why did she think that parking the cart in some random area in the store was an acceptable way to deal with the cart not working, as opposed to just mentioning it to an employee?...I want to know what goes on in some people's heads...

Not much...a draft of air now and then, the occasional spider scuttling across...

Due to the very nature of the fabric store, the shopping carts are in varying degrees of mobility (wheels tangled up with lint and loose threads--yes, we do sweep frequently, but it still happens). The red ones are generally good, the light green ones are mostly good, the dark green ones tend to have horrible wheels. I try to arrange the carts so the dark green aren't likely to be used, and even tell customers "the red ones roll better than the greeen ones" but they still get used, and we still get yelled at for having bad carts.

We'll be getting all new carts at the new store, but it probably won't be long before they're all gunked up, too!

[wolfie]

While a quarter might not be worth it to most people, it would be worth it to kids with nothing better to do than round up carts and rather than dumping them in ditches, they can return them to their corrals for cash.

^-.-^

Or do what some jerks around here have discovered - put 2 carts back-to-back, and you can chain them to each other and release both coins. Saves the trouble of taking the carts ALL THE WAY back to the corral.

We get customers complaining when the wheels lock up when inside the store Apparently, some of the scuffs on the floor are just right to trigger the sensors (I don't know exactly how the wheel locks sense what they're supposed to; texture? light and dark?). We do have an unlocking gizmo up at the desk, but I've never seen it used.

My understanding of the "locking wheel" carts is that there's a buried cable being fed with a frequency the locking unit looks for. Are the carts that lock up in the store always locking at the same place? If so, there's probably a "stray" signal of the right frequency at that place.

[KatherineB]

Not much...a draft of air now and then, the occasional spider scuttling across...

Frankly I think that's insulting.

To the spider.

[Andara Bledin]

My understanding of the "locking wheel" carts is that there's a buried cable being fed with a frequency the locking unit looks for. Are the carts that lock up in the store always locking at the same place? If so, there's probably a "stray" signal of the right frequency at that place.

And the "scuffs" on the floor are actually due to the wheels locking at that point, not the other way around.

^-.-^