Archived Cart Wheels Lock Up?

[Kartman]

Can anyone explain to me that sticker on the front inside of some carts that state "These carts have wheels that will lock up when removed from the property." ?

I think it's a complete ruse... the wheels look just like any other wheel, no locking mechanism visible at all. And above that, the price of something like that would be insanely prohibitive - right?

I know most of you won't have any idea what I'm taking about, but I'm hoping perhaps someone will know more about this.

Check a cart on your next shift - see if it has that "warning" sticker.

 

[ExhaustedCashier]

They don't have them at my store, but at an old store I used to frequent it did work. You would see a ton of abandoned carts at the edge of the property because they do lock up. It's one wheel and it just spins and spins in circles, other styles it locks up all four wheels.

 

[thatcashierdude]

Ours are plastic so we don't have any kind of locking mechanism, but I have seen that on carts at other stores. It's not that expensive if you consider the cost of a single shopping cart to be over $100 (depends on whether you buy in bulk or not though).

An addition during manufacturing that could keep the carts in the store by just running a wire around the premises would definitely be cheaper than replacing a bunch of carts that get stolen by homeless people. If you want to just test it out, you can probably get pretty far out when getting carts, so take a 1 minute detour to the edge of the parking lot.

 

[Kartman]

I'm not buying it. It's just like the handicapped parking spaces - impotent threats... a last ditch effort to keep honest people honest.

But I'd love to know more about your post, EC.

 

[StaticSun]

In the fully plastic carts that were introduced a few years ago, there is a magnetic locking mechanism that lives in the rear axle. It can be unlocked using the big unlocking remote thingamajig.

 

[Lazy]

ours lock as soon as u pass the alarm things by the door.

 

[Kartman]

No shite? Interesting...

 

[The Dude Abides]

ours lock as soon as u pass the alarm things by the door.

So guests can't take carts outside?

 

[Lazy]

So guests can't take carts outside?

Forgot to say that we have an underground garage. so they cant go out the front door to street with carts.

 

[Bosch]

I say do like the stores in Canada, put in a quarter get a cart. Return it get your quarter back.

 

[Reshop Ninja]

I say do like the stores in Canada, put in a quarter get a cart. Return it get your quarter back.

Don't they do this at Aldi's? What I mean is I can see this being fine and dandy at a really low volume store, like Aldi's, where you might not have much need for a cart attendant to get carts but not Target. I don't think it helped the Targets in Canada when they made you have to go through the extra trouble of making sure you have change before you go shopping.

 

[SFSFun]

Don't they do this at Aldi's? What I mean is I can see this being fine and dandy at a really low volume store, like Aldi's, where you might not have much need for a cart attendant to get carts but not Target. I don't think it helped the Targets in Canada when they made you have to go through the extra trouble of making sure you have change before you go shopping.

Many stores in Canada do this, not just Target.

But part of the reason this method works is because Canadians are so darn polite that of course they'll put that cart back when they're done with it!

 

[commiecorvus]

The .25 to get a cart is standard all over Europe.
I think it makes sense and wouldn't have any problem with it being initiated here.
You wouldn't have to chase carts nearly as much and people would get used to it pretty quick.

 

[Guest]

Lol. That's what Tom Hanks did in The Terminal. 😛

 

[qmosqueen]

Ours locks so you cannot take them into the MALL. You still can go into the parking lot but if you go beyond our parking lot they lock. To unlock them just pull the cart in reverse for about 30 seconds then you should be able to push them again as long as you are I n the boundaries and not near the mall entrance

 

[Bosch]

Don't they do this at Aldi's? What I mean is I can see this being fine and dandy at a really low volume store, like Aldi's, where you might not have much need for a cart attendant to get carts but not Target. I don't think it helped the Targets in Canada when they made you have to go through the extra trouble of making sure you have change before you go shopping.

I am west coast so I have no idea what some of the eastern US chains do. But grocery stores in BC do the quarter thing and I have NO sympathy for people who don't have change. The number of times I have pulled runaway carts that hit my car and truck in the parking lot -yeah no. To bad spend the quarter you lazy fucks.

 

[Kartman]

I say do like the stores in Canada, put in a quarter get a cart. Return it get your quarter back.

Whoever thunk that up needs a raise!

 

[redeye58]

Wish ours locked.
I saw a couple of our carts down at the corner waiting for the bus.

 

[K AA]

our store is in the west coast and yes the carts lock if you try to take them of the store . i was just like you i didn't believe it until i saw a woman trying to take a cart past the entrance and into the mall when the cart stopped moving and she left it there and kept walking

 

[AmICrazy]

Ours locks so you cannot take them into the MALL. You still can go into the parking lot but if you go beyond our parking lot they lock. To unlock them just pull the cart in reverse for about 30 seconds then you should be able to push them again as long as you are I n the boundaries and not near the mall entrance

I wished that ours did that, despite the fact that there will be more than few guests who will complain.

 

[NeoDarikona]

The city Target in Portland is multi-storeid with the actual store being on the second and third. There are multiple points past the RF scanners that will lock up the carts so that even if someone decided to be ambitious and get past the first round of locks the second would usually stop them. And yes, they have the small metal ones and the large ones and both do lock up.

Makes collecting carts a snap and reduces shortage from transients trying to steal them.

 

[see spot save]

Ours have the metal bracket that locks the wheel if you pass the yellow line.

It's great seeing the mob of abandoned carts just past the line in the parking lot 😀

 

[Bored Food Aver]

Wish ours locked.
I saw a couple of our carts down at the corner waiting for the bus.

Were you waiting for the bus or were the carts waiting for the bus? Or were both of you waiting on the bus? 🙂

 

[awbuckit]

My store doesn't have the locking wheels. Never heard of them before this thread.
I've told my LOD that I saw our carts WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY out in the far edges of our huge parking lot that we share with many other stores. The reply I got was a nonchalant "ok". Yeah, last time I ever brought that up.... Whatever.

 

[mrknownothing]

The main grocery chain around here has locking wheels on their carts, but people would still flip shit if our carts locked. It's not unusual to see Target carts several plazas (not stores, but plazas) down the road.

Don't they do this at Aldi's? What I mean is I can see this being fine and dandy at a really low volume store, like Aldi's, where you might not have much need for a cart attendant to get carts but not Target. I don't think it helped the Targets in Canada when they made you have to go through the extra trouble of making sure you have change before you go shopping.

Yes, Aldi is the only store I've been to that does this.