The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct.
A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
Personally I think shopping carts are the penultimate litmus test. Returning a shopping cart requires effort, albeit a miniscule amount of effort. The ultimate litmus test is litering. It requires exactly zero effort to not throw your trash on the ground or out your car window. To me, littering practically screams, “I don’t give a shit about anyone but myself. I have the self control of a toddler at bed time and I want everyone to know it which is why I throw my shit on the ground like a total fucktard.”
I’m not really a confrontational person but I have rolled down my window and yelled at people for throwing their cigarette butts on the ground. You would think some people were raised in a goddamn barn.
I may feel a little strongly about this issue.
If you’re offended by a cigarette butt on the ground, holy fuck, you should have been around in the 70s. We have come so far and so fast.
When I was a kid, chunking your fast-food trash, any trash, out the window was perfectly normal. The sides of highways were covered in trash.
Further to go, of course, but I’ve seen solid progress.
I live in Sweden; rarely do I ever see a shopping cart just sitting in the parking lot. Can’t remember a time in the last decade.
You think so? Are Americans really more lazy/inconsiderate people? Some other reason why this might be more common there?
Is there a version of this that includes something about Aldi and other pay to return shops?
The existence of Aldi carts is proof that there are a lot of people out there with no ability to self govern
Also plays into the rules only apply if you’re rich, just pay for the convenience.
Aldi’s deal is more about getting people to return carts all the way to the front entrance so that they don’t have to pay employees to retrieve them from the corrals.
Of course, with their parking lots being small to begin with, I’m not so sure it’d make much of a difference (see also: Lidl, with the same size parking lot but no 25¢ locking carts).
There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart.
wrong
To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do.
wrong
You’re missing the crucial part where the store is for profit. There’s no reason to provide free labor to corporations.
Ladies and gentlemen, exhibit A
Your misguided attempt at rebellion against capitalism in reality only hurts the grunt that has to pick up after your inconsiderate ass. You think your behavior actually costs the company anything? You think they hire an extra person because of people like you? No. You just make some poor sap at the bottom of the pecking order that much more miserable
Congratulations on making yourself feel righteous at the expense of your fellow plebs
No, it’s a job and you’re an entitled prick who thinks it magically happens. Supermarkets where I live make billions. They can definitely afford to pay low skilled workers, of which there are plenty, to do this work.
Sounds like they need to unionize and get paid enough to make it worth it then. There’s no moral obligation to do labor for corporations for free or under paid.
If your cart catches a breeze and dents my car then you’re now providing profit to a body shop. Putting your cart away is about not costing random people hundreds of dollars. And it saves the teen making minimum wage from chasing it down in the snow.
Fuck the grocery store, of course. But if you want to screw them over then there are better ways to do it, and with less collateral damage.
I never said I don’t return carts. I just don’t believe there’s a moral imperative to provide free labor for corporations
Where I am, to unlock a cart, you have to insert a coin, and afterwards, to get the coin back, you have to lock the cart to another cart (that’s hopefully part of the pile). It mostly works.
They do this at one particular store here. They also pay really well, have incredible prices, and let their cashiers sit in chairs while they check groceries. I like that store.
I’ve seen a lot of places here drop this system. I have no idea why. Then again, you could also just go to the info and get a plastic thing to unlock them.
They stop doing it often because it gets homeless people coming to the store specifically to return carts that people didn’t return so they can collect the refund.
“Oh no, we accidentally provided an opportunity for homeless people to make some money! This must be stopped IMMEDIATELY.”
I really don’t think it’s the reason where I live. People just return the carts in general and we don’t really have homeless people as a visible issue
Leave it in the “Reserved for Law Enforcement” spot
Instructions unclear, nailed shopping cart to the wall
There is a bit of German internet lore here. Shopping carts are called Gittertiere (grille animals). And there’s also a community Gittertiere on feddit.de where we post grille animals in the wild, living their natural lives (abandoned shopping carts).
This grille animal was “stuffed”, more accurately translated to taxidermied, which I expressed my sadness about.
This is a benefit of having kids. You can tell them to go put the cart away for you.
Depends on their age. They were the reason I didn’t take the cart back when they were very little. I didn’t want to leave them in the car and go to the other side of the parking lot.
I choose my parking spot knowing I’ll have a cart to return. Though around here, places with cart corals have a bunch throughout the parking lot.
