Stop Whining About Grocery Carts In New York

We've all seen the open letters about how people who don't return their carts are the laziest people in the world.  But can we stop pretending we're really furious?

Can we honestly stop the rage about people who don't return carts to the store?

I'm not even going to use the elderly people who struggle to walk around and then have to bring the carts back to the store.  I'll refrain from using the example of the single mom who doesn't want to leave their children in the car after she just strapped them in to return the cart.  We all know those aren't the people that other customers get so mad about.

It's the people who walk the cart out to their cars, unload their groceries, and then leave the cart in the lot that make other shoppers so angry.  But when did they become employees of the store?

If you're going to get angry about self-checkout because you're "not an employee of that store, you're a customer!" then what are we even talking about here?  I understand hating self-checkout.  I do too. But I've never understood why people get so angry about self-checkout but then get on their high horse about people who don't return their cart.  So you get mad when you have to check yourself out, but you're not mad that you also have to return your cart to the store?  How is one the responsibility of the store, and the other is the responsibility of the customer?

Is it a nice gesture to help the store keep their lot cleared of carts?  Yes.

Should you be called a monster and lazy if you don't? Not at all!

I know I have a different opinion about this because I used to be a cart attendant at a grocery store when I was in high school.  I loved when people would leave their carts because that meant I got to be outside gathering carts instead of in the store doing another job that stunk worse than getting carts.

One of the smartest things that Aldi did was to install the coin operated locks on their carts so that they don't have to pay someone to keep their lot clear but people get "paid" to make sure they don't leave them in the lot either.  In my opinion, the responsibility is on the store to keep those lots clear.  Either pay someone to do it, or figure out a system so that you don't have to but people need to stop blaming customers and making them out to be villains.

If whether or not someone returns a cart to a store or a corral is the biggest issue you have in your day, then congratulations.  You have a very blessed life.