Ranting #229

Cart abandonment
I have recently moved to Utah. I have lived and visited numerous places inside the United States and Europe and Central America. (In my travels,) I have noticed there is a major epidemic of grocery carts not being returned. Everywhere I go in Utah (Target, Lowes, Home Depot, Smith‘s Albertsons, etc…) there are carts in the parking lot just sitting there alone abandoned by people. Why would cart abandonment be a problem? They take up precious spaces. Situation: You are driving in the parking lot and found a great spot close to the door and BAM, there is a cart in it. Nobody wants to park in a space with a cart. Another danger of carts in the lot are damage to vehicles. Carts hurt cars, it is a given fact. I have seen the wind blow hard enough to move these lost carts into cars. Who pays? You do! Don’t think sticking them in the medians is helpful either. It is an eyesore to drive into a parking lot and see carts scattered about. What is the deal? Walk the cart back to the store or in the outside cart returns. Stop being lazy! It takes a few seconds to quickly return the cart. It is not that difficult to walk the cart back to the store or put in a cart return in the lot. I start wondering why individuals would not return their carts abandoned in the parking lots. Do people think stores pay people to clean up after each other? They don’t. My students used to complain because I made them clean up after themselves and one stated, “Isn’t that why we have a custodian?” Custodians do the deep cleaning and could spend their time more wisely disinfecting things than having to pick up someone else’s trash. I tried to teach my students responsibility and consequences of actions. I would ask people in the world to be the example. Recently, I asked my sister about this new-found epidemic. Other than laziness (which is clearly a problem), she stated that there are many mothers who don't wish to leave their kids in the car while returning their cart. Another reason, but not a good reason to leave the carts alone in the parking lot.
I would like to address this reason. First of all, park next to a cart return. Stores provide cart returns in the parking lot to lessen the amount of cart abandonment. My mother hated to walk far to return the cart; she parked close to a cart return for this reason. There are many stores here in Utah and other places that will offer help or assistance when taking bags to the car. Please use the customer service offered to you. These people get paid to help you take your bags to your car and return the cart. Third, many mothers all over the country are finding ways to return their carts, why is it a problem in Utah? A simple song, “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, Clean Clean up everybody do their share!”