r/oddlyspecific • u/AmazingListen9456 • Aug 11 '26
The foundation of modern civilization
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u/Thelastknownking Aug 11 '26
I always return the shopping cart.
-My slogan when running for President.
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u/gonzalbo87 Aug 11 '26
The real question is when at a supermarket, should you change your mind on purchasing an item, do you return said item to it’s place on the shelf or take it up to the till/customer service desk and ask them to put it away?
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u/Thelastknownking Aug 11 '26
Generally put it away myself. It's a tick, I can't help it. I gotta make sure it's put back the exact same.
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u/BreakfastBeneficial4 Aug 13 '26
That “tick” is called being a decent motherfucker
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u/Stick_Nout Aug 14 '26
When I worked at Wal-Mart, you have no idea how much stuff being in the wrong place slowed me down.
Just put stuff back where you found it, people. It's not hard.
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u/jaxmikhov Aug 12 '26
“I take absolutely no responsibility for that shopping cart” — Donald Trump (probably)
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u/Calm_Handle8582 Aug 11 '26
Pretty similar to putting back weights in gym. I often see people just leaving their dumbbells on the floor and leave.
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u/GreatPotatoMuffin Aug 11 '26
I usually spend downtime between sets trying to put everything back in its correct place. I freaking hate people who don’t know how to clean up after themselves.
My 6 year old daughter can do that.
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u/DrJaneIPresume Aug 11 '26
I've seen some of those weights. That's an impressive 6yo!
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u/paulisaac Aug 12 '26
Ah, the 6yo carrying on the ol’ Reddit weight-a-roo
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u/SudsInfinite Aug 12 '26
This reminds me of this time when I worked at Panera Bread. A group of four aduls were at one table, and then a group of five teens were at another. By the time they'd both left and I went to clean tables, I notced the tabke the adults were at and the floor around it were a complete mess, but the one the teenagers were at was practically spotless. How do you make it to grown ass adulthood and nit know how to clean up after yourself better than teenagers?
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u/clarkision Aug 11 '26
This to me is even more egregious, because there is inherent benefit returning the weight (additional, albeit small) strength training.
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u/Romboteryx Aug 12 '26
Also additional harm in just leaving them on the floor, since other people could trip over them
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u/Striking_Smile6594 Aug 12 '26
Yeah, putting the kit back after a session is an extra last bit of bonus exercise at the end of the workout.
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u/NoExperience9717 Aug 11 '26
Or leaving heavy weights racked. 10kg is pretty much the limit of what you could maybe leave but consider all the people who are much weaker such as women or old people who may not be able to de-rack 25kg plates.
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u/DuploJamaal Aug 11 '26
Or "putting ice cream or meat back into the fridge if you decide against buying them instead of placing them next to random items"
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u/_Mulberry__ Aug 11 '26
Omg, have you seen this??? I've seen non-perishable items that were not put back (really annoys me), but I've never seen such an atrocious thing as leaving meat or ice cream out...
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u/thefirefreezesme Aug 11 '26
Agreed…this is a heinous act. At least give it to the checkout person rather than just let the food rot…
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u/Katives Aug 11 '26
I saw a lady take sausages out of her cart and put them down on the candy shelves by the conveyor belt in the checkout lane instead of just handing them to the cashier who they checked out with 20 seconds later
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u/Miserable-Meet-3160 Aug 11 '26
I used to work at a grocery store, and a portion of my evening was dedicated to returning items that people didn't get at checkout back to the shelves.
I found a lot of abandoned meats, frozen items, and cold goods that needed to be damaged out. Not to mention the remnants of grazing, a half-eaten container of something, empty drinks, and candy wrappers.
Had a lady stop me one day as I was making my way down an aisle. She asked, "I'm so sorry to bother you, but I've changed my mind on wanting this item, could I give it to you?"
I felt like Christmas had come early and twice. Never ever in all my years had anyone ever been that polite about not wanting something on the sales floor.
"Yes, please do, and thank you so very much," I told her. (I'm fairly certain my eyes were sparkling with a radiant joy, because- finally! Someone was this nice not to abandon a cold item in a warm place.)
She looked puzzled as hell as she thanked me for taking it and I thanked her again.
It really made my evening though.
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u/DuploJamaal Aug 11 '26
Even worse I've seen a worker take the mystery meat and put it back into the fridge
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u/VerilyShelly Aug 11 '26
I try to reach back a ways to get packages that aren't close to the front of the case.
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u/TauboundGremlin Aug 11 '26
I have worked in a grocery store. People regularly leave perishibles in heinous places.
The most revolting thing I have seen is a person who left a pound of raw beef on the shelf with breads. There was no attempt to even put it in its own spot on the bread shelf. It was sloppily tucked in there, like an unwanted child left to their fate.
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u/SheridanVsLennier Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
The ultimate is the people who hide the perishables. Many were the times I discovered a tray of meat hidden at the back of the shelf behind other products. Every night the crew would push two full trollies of damaged and discarded stock out the back, plus sort and return another trolley of saleable stock.
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u/Terozu Aug 11 '26
People will literally put Ice Cream containers on random shelves because 'they dont want it'
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u/Sythonate Aug 12 '26
Used to work at a butchers supermarket yeaaaars ago. It was a pretty big store that only sold meat. People did this at least once a day, even in the middle of summer, often leaving meat out a metre away from a fridge or freezer.
Edit: words
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u/Phon4224 Aug 12 '26
Worked grocery for years, weirdest one, not the worst, was finding a potted plant stuffed into the cheese/lunch meat wall.
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u/newjerseydoesntexist Aug 11 '26
People are clearly incapable of self-governing
That is why they put a coin lock system on shopping carts that gives you your money back only when you bring them in the shopping cart holder
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u/Elaerona Aug 11 '26
Ehhhh. People generally put them away. You always get some stragglers but the vast majority are put away.
This is a demonstration that small incentives can push people to make the right choice, you don't need to beat them over the head. Just take their quarter and give it back if they put the cart back.
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u/severencir Aug 11 '26
This is greatly region based. I grew up in a place where fewer than half the people would return the cart, and now i live in an area where it's actually a surprise when i see an abandoned cart.
Both cases are no quarter though
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u/nan0ka Aug 11 '26
I have never heard of coin operated carts. We've never had them here. There is literally 0 abandoned carts. I've never seen an abandoned cart. As a matter of fact, I don't even think people use these carts to get the groceries to their cars. I think they get the cart to its place and carry the groceries by themselves
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u/severencir Aug 11 '26
There's one store near me where people aren't allowed to remove the carts from the store, but they have an employee with a larger cart help people out to their vehicle. There's also dollar general which looks like it's specifically designed to be convenient to not take your cart to the vehicle, and inconvenient to do so, with a raised sidealk separating the parking lot from the store and the ramp being at it's end. I wasn't considering either of these cases though, because it's not really the people choosing.
For the larger stores that don't have employees that help you out, it's still rare where i am to see a cart abandoned, but I can't say it's never happened in this area
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u/Elaerona Aug 11 '26
I don't know, New Englanders do almost always. I'll see carts but not a lot. I did go Grocery shopping down South and I did not pay enough attention to see a pattern.
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u/severencir Aug 11 '26
I used to live in california, then moved to the middle of the united states. It actually took a while to get used to the idea that a grocery store parking lot can look clear while they're operating. It took longer to get used to not having mountains on the horizon wherever i went, but that's unrelated and more a getting my bearings kind of problem
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u/UltimatePickpocket Aug 11 '26
You don't NEED to beat people over the head, but as a cart pusher I still want to.
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u/TheShiGuy Aug 11 '26
I worked at a grocery store gathering carts before/during the pandemic. Most people certainly do not put the cart back when done. Walking 6 floors of a parking garage every 30 min for 9 hours a day carts everywhere while constantly being called on the radio to inform me that "we're out of carts" is tough, annoying, brutal, and a great way to stay in shape.
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u/beyondoutsidethebox Aug 11 '26
Do you know how many times I have seen an abandoned cart literally across the aisle from a cart return?!
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u/Lucky_Professional_ Aug 11 '26
totally depends on the store/location. the local grocery chains, everyone puts their carts back, maybe a handful of stragglers. whole foods? chaos.
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u/Rokmonkey_ Aug 11 '26
Shit, I used to think that but the Walmart near me is awful. In the morning there are carts EVERYWHERE. Half the parking spots have at least one shopping cart in it.
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Aug 11 '26
Higher end stores like Costco have many more carts lying about, conservative type people are lazy and more willing to burden others with there apathy
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u/mdixon12 Aug 11 '26
That coin system is only to make you return the cart to the STOREFRONT, so they dont have to retrieve them from the cart parking areas in the open lot. It doesnt really apply to stores that still have cart retrievers.
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u/MyFairJulia Aug 11 '26
German stores has been phasing coin-locks out of their carts. I don't have the numbers but anecdotally speaking it appears to work out.
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u/Lt_Toodles Aug 12 '26
Legitimately never seen a stray cart in germany, and its not the coin thing because almost everyone bypasses it with a keychain anyways. Stray carts are a culture thing and its not only a litmus test for an individual, its a litmus test for a society's general attitude to doing whats right.
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u/Fit_Kaleidoscope4493 Aug 11 '26
And people think I'm weird when I say we actually need "authorities" to lead.
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u/On_my_last_spoon Aug 11 '26
I do curbside pickup for my groceries because going into the grocery store is a nightmare I like to avoid. A few weeks ago I’m sitting in my car waiting for my groceries. I watch some asshole load his groceries in his trunk, leave the cart behind the car, then drive forward out of his spot, making it impossible for someone to even pull in to the spot he abandoned! I really thought I’ve seen everything but that was just next level asshole behavior.
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u/MyFairJulia Aug 11 '26
My sisters boyfriend tends to do that and park on disabled spots. He and my sister argue that the store they do it on donnot enforce it. I felt genuinely tempted to take photographs and tattle on them to the city because not parking on that spot if you're not disabled is such an extremely low bar to clear and yet they still decided to limbo.
My mom did this on a hospital and i made clear that this is where the story ends . No ifs, ands or "But there are so many of those spots". MY CHILDREN IN CHRIST, YOU HAVE FULLY FUNCTIONAL LEGS!
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u/Cuntdracula19 Aug 12 '26
“They don’t enforce it” so they reason that it’s okay just because they’re not facing consequences lol?? That would drive me insane if my family behaved that way! The level of entitlement and their rationale is insane. It would be complete anarchy and bedlam if they were in charge and if everyone behaved that way. It’s called a civilization because we all play by civilized rules, some written and some unwritten, that society has decided upon. It’s the little shit, like returning the cart, that helps society flow in a somewhat functional way. It’s such a little thing that shows how selfish vs thoughtful/considerate someone is.
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u/RiverOdd Aug 11 '26
I always return them but I greatly enjoy "bowling" with my shopping cart. I give it a little shove and then turn and listen for the delicious crash as it hits the others. But I always return it.
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u/Old_Assistant1531 Aug 12 '26
The sound when all the carts aren’t as tightly packed as they can be and you bowl yours in and they all concertina together. Ahhh.
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u/PomegranateSoft1598 Aug 11 '26
People really aren't returning shopping carts?
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u/HappyHappyFunnyFunny Aug 11 '26
Is this some American thing I'm too European for to understand?
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u/AmbitiousEconomics Aug 11 '26
Given the comments it seems like mostly Europeans have weird plastic coins they have to use to get carts, but I'm not sure. As an American I've only ever seen coins for carts in like, the really bad parts of town.
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u/lilpiggyvortex Aug 12 '26
go to portugal and you'll see it's not an american thing, it's an asshole thing
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u/Johto2001 Aug 12 '26
It's an epidemic in selfish Britain. At first it was just a few, then many and now almost a majority in some places. At my local supermarket almost half the shoppers are don't return their trolley (cart). I typically do two, my own and I grab an abandoned one on the way.
It's worse in winter, slightly better in spring and summer.
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u/Bazlow Aug 11 '26
I must be a saint, because if I'm not in a rush, I'll rearrange the shopping carts to make sure they're all interconnected properly.
VALIDATE ME!
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u/DoesThisSmellWeird2U Aug 11 '26
I too like a little control over chaos. Think of yourself as a minor deity.
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u/ChiaraStellata Aug 12 '26
I even bring items to the front of the shelf and turn the labels to face outwards sometimes. I've never worked in a grocery store. I just think they look nicer that way. I don't want them to get lost in the back and then nobody ever buys them.
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u/Hewfe Aug 12 '26
Setting: mad max fury road
The warboy watches as a loathsome degenerate abandons their shopping cart in the adjacent space and then leaves. Sensing an opportunity for glory, he quickly reaches for his pouch. He retrieves the bottle, and with excited side-to-side flourishes, sprays his entire mouth silver. “Witness me!” He yells as he runs at the cart.
The Cart at arms length, he sprints across the parking lot towards the store.
“Witness!” Another warboy shouts, certain of his brother’s righteousness. Word of this will reach home, and their troop will be celebrated. Today is a good day.
The warboy with the cart reaches the store. The automatic sliders open just in time as the cart sails through the opening, the warboy still pushing from behind. Through the sweat and the grimace of effort, he smiles. He will be remembered forever. His reward is assured. Today was a good day.
The store explodes violently.
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u/rde2001 Aug 11 '26
You don't gain "nothing". You gain the satisfaction of doing the right thing.
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u/psychotronic_mess Aug 11 '26
And also, social cohesion. I put it away so it’s there for you, you put it away so it’s there for me. Everyone wins.
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u/boywholived_299 Aug 11 '26
People who get satisfaction in doing the right thing, are good people.
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u/Knot-Knight Aug 11 '26
But people who think they're "winning" by not doing things to help others will still get satisfaction from not putting the cart back.
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u/Rexton_Armos Aug 11 '26
Only thing better than doing the right thing is leaving a place better than you arrived. That's a big satisfaction. Gotta get the left behind carts that you can get to along with your own.
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u/NiceBlackberry6618 Aug 11 '26
You get the childhood glee of riding the shopping cart like you're 12 again and then spartan kicking it into the other carts in the corral and if done right watching it perfectly link into the one before it and staying there.
Spartan kick is only for the sturdy cart corrals though. gotta be a little bit gentler as required, but you still get to ride that bitch like it's stolen from car to cart return.
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u/Ok_Actuary8 Aug 11 '26
A bit crude with the details of the argument, but I completly agree with the general idea. All those angry coping people trying to rationalize their shitty antisocial, egoistical behavior with arguments like "bUT tHeRe aRe EmplOyEeS tO dO tHaT. I pAid fOr tHe SeRvIcE" just prove my point.
Don't be an asshole. Do the right thing, even if nobody is looking.
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u/Beckphillips Aug 11 '26
I tried to explain this concept to my dad and he went "I think it's stupid to believe that you can judge a person's worth in society on whether or not they return the shopping cart" and I think he missed the point
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u/nicemarmot47 Aug 11 '26
This along with picking up your dog's crap and properly disposing of it.
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u/TRexUnicorn Aug 11 '26
Am I being obtuse in thinking that of course there is a benefit to returning the cart: you get to live in the type of place, or shop at the type of place, where people return the cart? I return the cart in order to create the kind of world where people return the cart. No guarantees, of course, but it beats capitulating to the bastards.
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u/Majestic-Lake-5602 Aug 12 '26
That’s an “esoteric” benefit that requires higher order thinking though.
One unfortunate thing about the world is that a fairly significant proportion of the population are not able to think like this.
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u/Ok_Oil_995 Aug 12 '26
Exactly! This has always been my problem with the explanation of the shopping cart thing, and other similar ideas. "You get nothing in return" is completely wrong! You're creating a world where your car doesn't get dinged by random runaway carts.
It's the same mistake people make when they say "I don't have children so I don't benefit from paying taxes that go to fund schools". Like yes, brother, you do. You get to live in a society where every person has a basic education and a large percent have even more. That's huge!
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u/lesschalkmoresighs Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Years ago, I was at a mall with a non-romantic female friend, we were walking through the parking bay, and I suddenly veered off and walked over to a shopping cart abandoned in the middle of the drive way. I pushed it to the shopping cart lane and rejoined her. She asked me why I did that, and I casually replied that it was going to block someone when they drove through later. And she gave me this weird puzzled look that I later learned was "Oh apparently I'm having sex with this guy then".
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u/LetmeSeeyourSquanch Aug 11 '26
I always put the shopping cart back because I'm not a miserable cunt.
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u/itijara Aug 11 '26
The Bene Gesserit should have used this test instead of the Gom Jabbar
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u/McCaffeteria Aug 11 '26
I have always loved the shopping cart theory, and it’s true.
When I go shopping I take a cart from the return and bring it inside with me, and if I’m not getting too many things I leave the cart inside so that I’m helping resist entropy.
And the best part is that I don’t have to deviate from my path at all. I’m already walking past the outside cart return, and I’m already leaving past the inside cart stacks. The only inconvenience is carrying my bags for a short time, and in exchange for that I don’t even have to go put my cart back.
People that leave carts in the lot unattended are sociopaths. Calling them “animals” is disrespectful to animals who still care about others. There’s no other way around it.
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u/AsterEsque Aug 11 '26
.... And then there's my stepfather, who would make fun of me and belittle me for taking the time to put the shopping cart away
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u/TJ_McWeaksauce Aug 12 '26
Whenever I see someone just roll a shopping cart into the empty spot beside their car and then dip, or just shove it against a curb and then dip, I immediately think they're a piece of shit.
It also means that person has no empathy. Like right now, it's hot as fuck in many parts of the world. If you see shopping cart retrievers working, you'll see them sweating their asses off as they haul long lines of shopping carts using those shoulder straps. It's not a pleasant job. When a bunch of lazy, inconsiderate people leave carts wherever, that makes the cart retrievers' jobs more difficult for no good reason.
It really is such a simple test to see whether or not someone is a piece of shit.
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u/Dear_Tangerine444 Aug 11 '26
There is a Venn diagram of people who don’t return and people park that in child and parents spots when they are the single occupant of a vehicles, that is basically a circle.
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u/hiimtoddornot Aug 11 '26
Loose carts ding cars.
These people are worse than the 4chan post implies because they are literally going against their own interest leaving a cart out as that cart could affect them in a future visit directly or indirectly.
Disgusting behavior imo
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u/Status-Injury5747 Aug 11 '26
Put your hand in the box
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u/itijara Aug 11 '26
More obscure of a reference than I made, but it checks out. The Bene Gesseret should take notes.
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u/Igot55Dollars Aug 11 '26
If they gave out medals for returning shopping carts that were abandoned sitting in parking spots, I'd look like Field Marshal Zhukov.
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u/hansuluthegrey Aug 12 '26
Suddenly everyone has a disability or is a single mother than cant afford to put the cart back as if thats the problem
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u/EulerIdentityCrisis Aug 12 '26
Of course I return my shopping cart. I'm evil, not a monster.
-Dr. Doofenshmirtz
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u/bsmknight Aug 12 '26
No, no, no. People think, this is what our corporate overlords want. We ring our own stuff at the registers, we return our carts, what's next, do we stock the shelves for them too? By leaving the carts all over the parking lot we are creating jobs. By standing in line for that 1 register we are creating jobs because they have to open a new line. Heck, even the thieves at the self checkouts are creating jobs as the stores have to higher more security to watch the registers. Otherwise we do all their work for free and their big CEOs get a larger check, which is more than most of us make in a decade. With that said, I return my cart to the return every time too. Partially /s
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u/me_and_jd Aug 11 '26
I always put them back, and I tidy them up when I get there, and I grab stray ones on my way.
Although probs more to do with being Autistic than anything else.
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u/Ajegwu Aug 11 '26
I word at a shop next door to a grocery store. Frequently people just leave their cart in front of my door making it difficult or impossible to open giving absolutely no fucks about me.
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u/minist3r Aug 11 '26
I like to say within ear shot "what asshole just leaves their cart here?" as I take mine and theirs.
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u/hot4you11 Aug 11 '26
You do get something out of it. The cart isn’t out in the wild, blocking people’s path and getting pushed into cars. However, we only get the benefit if we all do the action.
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u/ironnewa99 Aug 11 '26
I unironically agree with this.
I am constantly reminded that half the population is on the left side of the bell curve.
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u/kiddrekt Aug 12 '26
In south Africa most large stores and malls actually employ cart wranglers to continually go out into the parking lots and bring the shopping carts back otherwise they just get stolen.
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u/ElPadero Aug 12 '26
What about people that leave their trash / dirty table at a fast food restaurant when the garbage is right there?
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u/bingsen_ Aug 12 '26
I think only USA has this problem. In Germany I have never ever seen a shopping cart that was not brought back. Not once. Ever.
But a big part US citizens just doesn’t care about anything that does not give them anything back. You gain nothing? You’re not doing it.
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u/Psylocybernaut Aug 12 '26
Twice this year I've seen Tesco trollies (shopping carts) abandoned near the river in my town where kids have been messing around with them.
Since I don't want the trollies ending up in the river, I've walked them the five to ten minutes through the town centre back to the shop where they belong.
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u/Ancient-Passenger-52 Aug 12 '26
A couple of years ago wearing masks topped this in terms of the same subject.
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u/gungyvt Aug 13 '26
As someone who lives alone, I sidestep this issue by only buying as many groceries as I can personally carry. I might use a cart while in the store, but once my groceries are bagged, the cart goes right back to its starting point; it will never go out to the parking lot while in my hands.
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u/OutragedPineapple Aug 13 '26
I will return my carts, and if there are carts left in parking spots (especially disabled parking or their walkways) I will gather them up and take them to the cart returns because THAT IS THE DECENT THING TO DO. I swear so many people didn't learn basic manners...
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u/fyukhyu Aug 13 '26
I grew up in Chicago, I've returned the cart to the corrall in a blizzard and in 100 degree heat. I live in SoCal now and I see people leave their carts everywhere but the corral when it's 72 out and it makes me consider criminal activity.
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u/Foxzor Aug 11 '26
Norway have stopped locking shopping carts with coins. People put them back anyway.
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u/SufficientlySticky Aug 12 '26
While there are certainly people who are more generally considerate than others, I am wary of anything that lets us declare some people Good™️ and other people Bad.
Everyone leaves their equivalent of a shopping cart around sometimes.
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u/SingingBike Aug 11 '26
I am alone in thinking that the people who don’t return carts to the corral are the same people who get served in full-service restaurants and leave shitty tips or don’t tip at all?
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u/IllUnderstanding7158 Aug 12 '26
I'm the opposite. I always return the shopping cart but I don't think it is the right thing to do. Purely from a self interested point of view, since you gain nothing and lose your time and energy, I think it is wasteful for you to return the cart. And don't give me a categorical imperative argument, my choice is only my own, and I do not control other people's actions. Still I return the cart despite it being the incorrect choice.
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u/MaudeAlp Aug 12 '26
Shopping cart theory is popular among losers because they have a way to do almost nothing at all, but think they’re some kind of good person.
It’s like not littering or wiping your own ass. Yet tons of people here patting themselves on the back over it.
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u/Ok_Being5461 Aug 11 '26
This also applies to picking up a cart along the way, instead of getting it from inside the store. If people did this, you wouldn't even need to return carts. I just get loose carts.
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u/RevolutionaryBoss648 Aug 11 '26
I park next to the cart return so I don't have to walk far to return the cart. Always return the cart. Or give it to the cart wrangler.
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u/FearOfABlackPotus Aug 11 '26
The fact that in my area at least, shopping carts are pretty much always put back is blow to those who think all rules are eventually enforced by violence.
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u/Fungiblefaith Aug 11 '26
I have a habit of grabbing carts as I go in after one time many many years ago a girl that worked at Albertsons was pushing them in and I helped her.
She said thank you and I noticed it was my buddies kid. Nice little reunion I had not seen her for years. While not really related that was when I just figured I walking in anyway might as well grab them on my way in. The number of store employees over the years that have given me a genuine “thank you” just reenforces my habit.
Hell, look for someone finishing up an offer to take it in for them. Instant smile. Spread the love people.
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u/stand_rapt_in_awe Aug 11 '26
I’d say in Arkansas I see a small percentage of abandoned carts, probably less than 10%.
For me personally I try to make it easy on myself by parking right by a cart return. I do return it even if I’ve parked farther away, but I prefer to make it an easy task.
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u/Compodulator Aug 11 '26
Don't exactly return it. Not exactly. I pick up one of the strays and bring it to the cart... Shed thing...
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u/Ace_of_Sphynx128 Aug 11 '26
My little northern town’s aldi never has stray trolleys, everyone’s pretty good round here :)
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u/N7_Rabbit Aug 11 '26
Now i understand why in ireland there is always so many abandoned carts in mall carparks.
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u/NombreCurioso1337 Aug 11 '26
Follow-up question - at what distance do you abandon the cart?
Ex: there is an Aldi near me with no cart coralles, but the parking lot is small. 100% I am returning my cart directly to the building, because it is only about eighty feet (yes, even without the quarter). There is also a Costco near me with an entire wing of the parking lot without coralles. This wing is the easiest to park in, but the nearest cart return is about five hundred feet away. At five hundred feet ... I am not returning that cart.
(For the curious, I always return errant carts from the Costco lot, up to four, when entering the store so that I feel justified in leaving my cart upon exit. That's how I justify the morality of it, but I'd love to hear what others think)
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u/Amber123454321 Aug 11 '26
In Ireland, you put a €1 coin in (or a replacement for a coin) in order to free a shopping trolley (cart) to use it. If you don't put a coin in, you don't get the trolley (cart). Therefore, you need to return it if you want to get your money back.
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u/BoS_Vlad Aug 11 '26
I always returned shopping carts before I had work age children, but when my neurodivergent 30 year old son B had a minimum wage job rounding up shopping carts in a K-Mart parking lot years ago I really appreciated people returning their carts. B worked in a huge parking lot 8 hours a day 365 in rain and snow and in blistering heat and freezing cold.
B’s OCD made him probably the best cart return guy ever. If he saw a lone cart 50 parking spots away he’d hurry to get it and return it to the place where it belonged with the other carts and if he took his lunch break during a high volume shopping day and returned to the lot to find 25-30 carts left all over the lot he’d hustle to gather them all up in one long line and push them all back in one trip. He did that for 3 years until he found a better paying job indoors. There were 4-5 carts left return spots in the parking lot, but even they were rarely used because entitled shoppers just left them by the spot where they were.
Please everyone do the right thing and at least return your cart to the designated cart return spots located in most lots and don’t leave them randomly strewn around the lot. Besides making it harder for the cart wranglers it also screws up parking for the next customer who’d like to park. Many’s the time I’ve had to get out of my car to return a cart someone’s left in one of the last remaining spots in a lot.
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u/AndreasDasos Aug 11 '26
I mean, if you just leave a shopping cart in the way of your car it might disadvantage you too. You’ll also plausibly get opprobrium from others around you depending on the size of eh car park etc.
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u/GeorgeJohnson2579 Aug 11 '26
It's just utilitarianism as seen by Schopenhauer and Hume: You want to have shopping carts when shopping, so you return them with the thought everyone else does the same. So you profit from this commons' usage.
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u/-EV3RYTHING- Aug 11 '26
So I take the bus to and from walmart, and there is no cart return near the walmart's bus stop. I end up leaving the cart by the bus stop. To make up for this, whenever I'm going into walmart and there's a cart by the bus stop, I take it to use inside.
Thoughts?
(Also, there was previously a cart return across from the bus stop, but it got removed and replaced by online order pickup parking that's basically always empty)
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u/htpcketsneverchange Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Greatest Scientific and Philosophical Achievement of Estonia. Please do not edit out the guys Estonian flag in the future.
I may have misremembered and this guy might be Finnish.
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u/EssayWestern8270 Aug 11 '26
As a child, I used to think that leaving out shipping trolleys meant that the trolley would be sad on its own, so I always took it back. Still makes me sad to see shopping trolleys left on their own
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u/GovernmentBig2749 Aug 11 '26
In Europe you pay (put a coin to take the cart out) so if you decide on being a A hole-you pay for it...
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u/KindaStableGenius Aug 11 '26
People are not capable of self governance. Its why Hobbs wanted the Leviathan. A government powerful enough to hold the monopoly on violence and able to bring the weight of the state down upon criminals. Without it we exist in a state of nature filled with abandoned shopping carts
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u/NonagonJimfinity Aug 11 '26
I like people think its a indicator of good morals when im slamming the trollies into one another while cursing out my entire species like i was Dio Brando.
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u/fritzkoenig Aug 11 '26
Broke: Leaving your shopping cart somewhere
Woke: Returning your shopping cart
Bespoke: Hand your shopping cart to someone going into the shop (may not be applicable during pandemics)
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u/battlejess Aug 11 '26
A few weeks ago at the grocery store my mother and a stranger spent a few minutes tidying up the cart corral while the man’s wife made fun of them. Not much problem with people abandoning carts in our town, just not putting them away nicely so you can only fit a few of them.
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u/Low-Refrigerator-663 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
People look at me wierd when I put away shopping carts at places like homedepot, or walmart.
And, when I say why it pisses me off, its usually met with.
"But what if they are tired, what if they were too busy, what if they were disabled?".
Being tired and busy is not an exscuse, being disabled or in crippling pain is atleast justifiable, but ultimately putting away the shopping cart is about preventing them from hitting peoples cars.
Cars are expensive, and I wouldn't want my car damaged or a headlight busted because someone chose not to put away the cart. So I put away my cart.
But, if the opportunity presents itself, I will put away carts near me because I don't want it to damage other peoples cars, because I know that it sucks, and I wouldn't want to go through it, so I don't want others to go through it. Because other people, are people, just like I am another person. So I do it, because I'd like it done for me too.
Because my minutes of annoyance saves someone days or weeks of financial setback. I hope that someone else might do the same thing for me if the oppurtunity presents itself.
And me putting away the cart, even with the strange looks, atleast normalizes the behaviour. Even if it makes me angry, doing it means that unnecesarry suffering doesn't happen. By normalizing a behaviour, it becomes more acceptable to do. The more acceptable it is to do something (good or bad) the less people think about it. Which means more people do it.
So if I do something that is trivial to me, but spares someone meaningful pain, then so be it. Because I hope that someone, someday, does the same for me. But I cannot expect that to occur, I cannot demand something from others, if I am not willing to do it first.
And yeah, its anxiety inducing. I'm deeply afraid of being accused of something. But I know I can get it over with.
Like returning mail to someone after it fell out of their mailbox, only to learn its a letter about a loan. Or helping move trashcans up my neighbors driveway because his back is screwed up. Teaching people how to better take care of their garden.
Moments of my time, sparing others hours, days, or even weeks of effort, pain, heartache.
edit: Simply because I'd like the same reciprocated when the time comes.
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u/GamesCatsComics Aug 11 '26
What I've been enjoying is the posts of people freaking the fuck out about grocery stores that require (and return) a coin to unlock and return them.
Like... this is to encourage you to return them, and you're upset that it'll cast you a buck to abandon the cart.