Shopping cart footprint: New Year's resolution

[+ purplekow]

Keeping your carbon footprint low is certainly a noble resolution for 2016. Even if you do not believe in global warming, conserving resources is a reasonable goal. However, I like to have a few small resolutions that I can reasonably keep. This will be my fourth year of keeping my Shopping Cart footprint negative.

When I go to supermarket or other location with shopping carts, I take at least one and sometimes two or more carts back from the parking lot to the store. Then, after I have unloaded my loot into my car, I walk my cart back to the store. It seems like a ridiculous little thing, but it does indeed give me a sense of doing just a little thing to make the lives of others better. Fewer carts to roll around and scratch cars. Fewer carts to block parking spots. A bit of fresh air and few extra steps to help with my own fitness. A few calories burned. Several fewer carts for the cart collector to collect. So do any of you have suggestions of minor New Years Resolutions which I can consider adding to my regimen. Feel free to return some carts to the store, you might actually start to appreciate it.

[+ azdr0710]

:)I return several abandoned plates, dumbbells, and barbells to their respective racks at the gym each time I'm there.....

[rvwnsd]

Purplekow, I typically return my carts to the store, too.

 

Another tiny resolution that is easy to keep and can have an impact is to bring reusable bags to the supermarket, drug store, discount store, and so forth. I keep mine in the trunk of my car. A friend gave me a woven nylon bag that crumples up into its own pouch, which is handy to take when I go for a walk. If a stop at the supermarket occurs I am ready.

[+ quoththeraven]

:)I return several abandoned plates and barbells to their respective racks at the gym each time I'm there.....

 

Thank you! As someone who often wound up returning weights I didn't need others before me left on the leg press, I appreciate the thoughtfulness. I wound up resenting that people much better able to heft the plates that were left behind forced me to do it. I hate having to grab other people to do it for me, as it interrupts their routine and mine and if they're not the culprit, it's an inconvenience to them, too. But lugging heavy plates us neither easy or good for me.

 

The same goes for the men who switched out the bars on the lat pulldowns but didn't bother to put them back when they were finished. I'm not tall enough to do it myself.

[+ WilliamM]

Keeping your carbon footprint low is certainly a noble resolution for 2016. Even if you do not believe in global warming, conserving resources is a reasonable goal. However, I like to have a few small resolutions that I can reasonably keep. This will be my fourth year of keeping my Shopping Cart footprint negative.

When I go to supermarket or other location with shopping carts, I take at least one and sometimes two or more carts back from the parking lot to the store. Then, after I have unloaded my loot into my car, I walk my cart back to the store. It seems like a ridiculous little thing, but it does indeed give me a sense of doing just a little thing to make the lives of others better. Fewer carts to roll around and scratch cars. Fewer carts to block parking spots. A bit of fresh air and few extra steps to help with my own fitness. A few calories burned. Several fewer carts for the cart collector to collect. So do any of you have suggestions of minor New Years Resolutions which I can consider adding to my regimen. Feel free to return some carts to the store, you might actually start to appreciate it.

 

I worked in a super market in high school and college. Rounding up the shopping carts from the parking lot was usually part of the newest emplee's job. Not sure now. You might want to to ask at the market. By accident, you may be doing part of someone's job.

 

Ten minutes to midnight. Enjoy 2016!

[+ purplekow]

I worked in a super market in high school and college. Rounding up the shopping carts from the parking lot was usually part of the newest emplee's job. Not sure now. You might want to to ask at the market. By accident, you may be doing part of someone's job.

 

Ten minutes to midnight. Enjoy 2016!

I am sure it is part of someone's job, in fact, I mentioned that the cart collect would have a few less to collect. I suppose if you collect 500 carts a day, the three I bring in does not do much.

[+ WilliamM]

I am sure it is part of someone's job, in fact, I mentioned that the cart collect would have a few less to collect. I suppose if you collect 500 carts a day, the three I bring in does not do much.

 

Thanks for a bit more information. It's a small thing, but very much worth mentioning. But, a part of me thinks it may be April 1st, not January 1st, or I am part of a Woody Allen film.

[+ purplekow]

Thanks for a bit more information. It's a small thing, but very much worth mentioning. But, a part of me thinks it may be April 1st, not January 1st, or I am part of a Woody Allen film.

Not a joke. All I said that this was a little thing that I do that possibly helps a tiny bit and that other people do not do, even though it requires little effort. Next time you are in a position to do so, take the extra cart up and return your cart to the store. It may make you feel a just a bit better, as it does for me.

Now William, you must do some little thing just to help out. So share what it is. I am not talking about the big effort like the multi-million dollar contribution or plastic surgery on needy children in Guatamala. Most of us are not reared to lead a selfless life of contribution to the greater good of humanity. We cannot all be Mother Teresa, but we can do a little something. I have decided that from now on, I will think of myself as the Mother Teresa of the shopping carts in parking lots. Pope Francis get my beatification papers ready.

[AdamSmith]

I worked in a super market in high school and college. Rounding up the shopping carts from the parking lot was usually part of the newest emplee's job. Not sure now. You might want to to ask at the market. By accident, you may be doing part of someone's job.

Quite possibly. When the cart collector guy at my local Target sees me or anyone start to bring a stray cart from the lot back to the store, he comes tearing over to take it.

 

[Nvr2Thick]

I usually take one from the lot on the way in as well. If the cart return would take me deeper into the lot I'll take it back to the store. Sometimes I feel that I was put on this earth to organize carts in the return.

[+ WilliamM]

Not a joke. All I said that this was a little thing that I do that possibly helps a tiny bit and that other people do not do, even though it requires little effort. Next time you are in a position to do so, take the extra cart up and return your cart to the store. It may make you feel a just a bit better, as it does for me.

Now William, you must do some little thing just to help out. So share what it is. I am not talking about the big effort like the multi-million dollar contribution or plastic surgery on needy children in Guatamala. Most of us are not reared to lead a selfless life of contribution to the greater good of humanity. We cannot all be Mother Teresa, but we can do a little something. I have decided that from now on, I will think of myself as the Mother Teresa of the shopping carts in parking lots. Pope Francis get my beatification papers ready.

 

Mother Teresa was a wonderful person, a saint even. But, she was awful at remembering names. For years I have tried to remember the names of everyone I meet, including the people who work at several nearby Starbucks.

 

My method: I connect the first name with someone famous with the same first name --- most recently with Harrison Ford and Eddie Fisher. People like to be remembered. And it's much more personal (and potentially useful) than the mindless collecting of shopping carts. Carrie Fisher is a help; I usually think of her first. Thus Harrison and Eddie.

[bigvalboy]

Everyone has a story. Most people we see everyday, and don't give a second thought to, some times have complicated and difficult lives or situations they are trying to work through. I am often amazed at some of those difficulties....

 

I'm going to try and remember that in '16.

[mattr]

I am a bit conflicted by this one. I usually grab a cart from the parking lot and take it into the store with me. Sometimes I bring it back up to the store, sometimes I don't. My local stores usually hire mentally challenged people to collect the carts and they do the work with such pride and smiles on their faces that I would hate to take their jobs away.

[+ Truereview]

Ive been doing this for a while and, although I get some glares, I pick up trash on the street and take it to the nearest trash can. In NYC, it's easier bc of the pedestrian style and how much stuff people just drop on the street . I have pulled over a few times in LA. I don't pick up anything that looks gross, suspicious or could harm me.

 

I think PK has inspired me to continue this practice with more gusto! And the side benefits? Of course...you knew this was coming....

 

 

thanks for the reminder of one of the funniest scenes ever, @nycman !

[foxy]

I always return my shopping carts. Mostly I figure the little extra exercise can't hurt. One day I was in a hurry and in a bad mood. In the center of the supermarket parking lot was a cluster of about 20 carts. The hell with it I thought and gave my cart a push in the direction of the cart cluster. As I turned to get in my car I looked back in time to see my cart hit one, than another. It was like balls on a billiard table. All the carts started rolling in every direction. Like a madman I started running around grabbing carts just in time before they started crashing into parked cars. Almost gave me a heart attack. That was the last time I didn't return my cart.

[+ azdr0710]

just a thought here and I sometimes sorta notice it: does anybody here observe that people in wealthier areas are more likely to return carts to a corral or the store than in less-wealthy areas??

[bigvalboy]

just a thought here and I sometimes sorta notice it: does anybody here observe that people in wealthier areas are more likely to return carts to a corral or the store than in less-wealthy areas??

 

Yes..Could it be pride and appreciation for living in an area that they love? That seems to be something that is mentioned in conversation, more often than not.

[+ deej]

just a thought here and I sometimes sorta notice it: does anybody here observe that people in wealthier areas are more likely to return carts to a corral or the store than in less-wealthy areas??

 

Not really. The better off are more likely to feel a sense of entitlement.

 

Parking lots littered with carts are a pet peeve of mine. Particularly when people block perfectly good parking spots DIRECTLY across the lane from a clearly marked cart return area. It's lazy and inconsiderate. The cart situation is ironically at its worst at Costco. People pay membership fees to access Costco's low prices and then force Costco to keep extra employees to wrangle the carts from all over the parking lot even though there are cart return areas all over the place.

 

I always pick up at least one cart on the way in and return it to the store when I'm done. At our local Petco they only have a dozen or so carts to begin with so I'll always take a couple of them inside with me even if I'm not going to use one.

[+ purplekow]

 

My method: I connect the first name with someone famous with the same first name --- most recently with Harrison Ford and Eddie Fisher. People like to be remembered. And it's much more personal (and potentially useful) than the mindless collecting of shopping carts. Carrie Fisher is a help; I usually think of her first. Thus Harrison and Eddie.

 

Well I think you are right, people do like to have their name recalled. I believe I will add you resolution to mine. Yours, after all, does not require you do to anything physical and can be done while someone is serving you coffee, kind of like 6 Degrees of Separation with coffee.

[amigomonty]

I work at a grocery store and appreciate our customers who thoughtfully return their card or at least make its retrieval easier. Many customers insist on mooring theirs into the planted medians or tightly between cars.

 

I, too, enjoy the ability to recall and greet folks by name. Satisfying for all as our world expands and interaction is challenged by the ubiquitous cell phone.

 

Happy 2016

[+ WilliamM]

Well I think you are right, people do like to have their name recalled. I believe I will add you resolution to mine. Yours, after all, does not require you do to anything physical and can be done while someone is serving you coffee, kind of like 6 Degrees of Separation with coffee.

 

Thanks, PK. Once I started the names stuck with me for a long time. For me, it is still difficult if meeting four five people at once. That's a skill I have not mastered and perhaps never will.

[mike carey]

Not really. The better off are more likely to feel a sense of entitlement.

+ 1, Deej. Although there is at times an element of nobless oblige by which some of the rich feel an obligation to do the right thing byb society. I wasn't thinking of Mr Trump in this context.

 

The grocery store on the USAF Base where I worked in the States didn't have trolleys for customers to take to the car park. Insteaf, they had kids working for tips bagging the groceries and taking them to your car for you. One supermarket in country Victoria has its trolleys in a corral, linked together by short chains. You need a $1 coin to release one, and you have to return it and chain it up to get your $1 back. Either you take it back or some kid will tale it back to get the $1.

[seaboy4hire]

+ 1, Deej. Although there is at times an element of nobless oblige by which some of the rich feel an obligation to do the right thing byb society. I wasn't thinking of Mr Trump in this context.

 

The grocery store on the USAF Base where I worked in the States didn't have trolleys for customers to take to the car park. Insteaf, they had kids working for tips bagging the groceries and taking them to your car for you. One supermarket in country Victoria has its trolleys in a corral, linked together by short chains. You need a $1 coin to release one, and you have to return it and chain it up to get your $1 back. Either you take it back or some kid will tale it back to get the $1.

 

Aldi here in the states does this but its a quarter to use a cart.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[mike carey]

Aldi here in the states does this but its a quarter to use a cart.

Oh, I forgot about them, I think Aldi use a $2 coin here.

[+ purplekow]

Ive been doing this for a while and, although I get some glares, I pick up trash on the street and take it to the nearest trash can. In NYC, it's easier bc of the pedestrian style and how much stuff people just drop on the street . I have pulled over a few times in LA. I don't pick up anything that looks gross, suspicious or could harm me.

 

I think PK has inspired me to continue this practice with more gusto! And the side benefits? Of course...you knew this was coming....

 

 

thanks for the reminder of one of the funniest scenes ever, @nycman !

Allow enjoy the Bend and Snap but the Scene in which Ms. Coolidge does the bend and snap and breaks the package deliverers nose is just about as much fun. I will now keep a pair of rubber gloves in my pocket