One of the major complaints I hear all the time in Santa Ana is that we need to do something about the shopping carts that folks often leave in our neighborhoods and on our streets. They are unsightly and offensive and I agree that this is a problem in search of a solution. And I have one.
What we need to do is start a bounty program for stray shopping carts. I wrote about this before, but have now refined the proposal to include:
- Stores that have theft protection devices on their carts need not participate in the bounty program.
- The rest of the stores will have to offer their clients the use of their shopping carts to take their groceries home – with a BIG catch. The clients must pay ten dollars for a cart voucher. They will be given a voucher that they can return, with the cart, to get back their ten dollar deposit. NO ONE is going to walk away from ten dollars – not in Santa Ana.
- But let’s say someone DOES leave their cart on a street or in someone’s front yard – now what? Well, under the bounty program ANYONE could return the cart, sans the voucher, and get $5 back. The store would profit $5 because someone did not bother to get their full deposit back.
- Under this scenario, might someone attack a person with a cart – to try to collect the bounty? Well, the voucher could include the name of the client and his phone number. The stores could then call the number on the voucher, if the person returning the cart has a different name than that name which appears on the assigned voucher. If the client was robbed of his cart and voucher the police would then be summoned.
- This program will work because if folks don’t return their carts, neighborhood teens and others who could use $5 will return the carts in order to get their hands on $5.
If stores allow folks to take their carts without getting a voucher, guess what? Those stores will be stuck paying $5 bounties to those who return the shopping carts. How quickly do you think those stores will improve their parking lot and store security systems? Or they will install anti-theft devices in the carts, which is a better option.
So mission accomplished. No more shopping cart problems in Santa Ana. In the past 20 years no one on the Santa Ana City Council has come close to solving the shopping cart problem. As I have stated before, our City Council Members are not the most creative bunch…this is one of the reasons I am running for Ward 3 on our City Council.
We CAN solve the problems in our city, but not by doing the same things we have been doing for over 20 years, with no results…
How would you deter people from stealing the carts in order to rake in the bounty?
Erick,
Great question. It would be up to the stores to police their parking lots, as it should be. I am hopeful that this program would lead more stores to install anti-theft devices in their carts.
Some of the local mercados already offer vans that can take their clients home with their groceries. That is an elegant solution too. Let’s face it – carrying home groceries without a cart is no easy feat.
With gas prices up in the $4 a gallon range, and with immigrants unable to get drivers licenses, this cart problem will continue to fester.
There is also a move to get away from plastic shopping bags. It would be easier to carry canvas bags as the handles won’t hurt your fingers. Carrying plastic bags loaded with groceries is a recipe for finger and wrist injuries.
The shopping carts are used for more than groceries. They are a impromptu stroller, the means of getting the laundry to the laundromat, the transport for the big gallo jugs to purchase water, etc.
Your comment “no one is going to walk away from ten dollars in Santa Ana” assumes that the individual HAS the $10 in the first place to leave as a down payment.
And a store has to make the choice – drive away customers by requiring a bail for its carts or try to gain a competitive advantage over other stores by letting its customers know, “We trust you!” I see the “cart retrieval” guys in their flatbed trucks rounding up them stray dogies, so it seems to me that the stores have already addressed your problem, on their own dime. I’d prefer to keep it that way rather than involce government.
In the meantime, given the practice of most shoppers of leaving their carts by their cars – rather than place them in the “loading zone” specified for such, because we are too lazy to walk that extra 25 feet – maybe it’s time now for the cart scofflaws to go and claim one from the parking lot right now. I see a third-party business developing – “Pimp My Cart” to personalize an individual’s shopping cart (unless you happen to have the luck already of being named Ralph).
I am glad you have this blog as a forum, Art – I live in the 3rd Ward and decided to follow this race closely, so this provides a handy check of at least one candidate’s position.
Stephanie,
I think you nailed the issue rather well – the carts ARE needed. But when they end up on lawns and in our streets they make our city look worse than it already is.
Perhaps the stores need to sell cheap fold-up carts? I know they sell small carts now, but they are NOT cheap.
Ignoring the problem won’t fix it. My plan provides a real incentive for folks to return their carts.
Now do they have $10 to set aside in this manner? Well, when I go to the local mercados I see folks with groceries piled high in their carts.
Also, the Wal Mart over on McFadden is THE busiest Wal Mart in the nation.
Working poor do have money to spend. What differentiates them from others is they don’t save any money. They spend it all. So yes, I think they can set aside $10 and then get it back that same day when they return their carts.
How are you proposing to make this law? Questions regarding the ability of government to enforce such a thing come to mind. I definitely like the way you are thinking though: identify a problem, find a solution, no one on the current council does that. I’ve been thinking about this problem for years actually. I really think that someone is missing out on a great money making opportunity by not coming up with an inexpensive product that serves both purposes: carry groceries and children. The problem with the carts sold for groceries is that they do not carry children and it’s impossible to push a stroller and one of these grocery carts at the same time. I also thought that there might be a way to provide incentives to the larger apartment complexes to provide purchase and provide a location for shopping carts in their garages. These carts could be paid for through deposits and maintained by property management. That way, people could take them to the store and have a place to put them when not in use (somewhere out of sight). I’m sure there’s all sorts of problems with that too but again, I like the way you are thinking.
Anon Teacher,
Thank you! I think the problem with storing carts is that they are not collapsable. They take up a lot of space. A collapsable design would be optimal. But I have not seen ANY advances in shopping cart design in my lifetime, except for the device that locks their wheels when you try to take carts off of the parking lots.
The problem can be solved – but it begs a creative solution. My idea is not perfect but I have not seen ANY good ideas on this subject coming out of City Hall. It is so deflating to come across these carts in our streets and on our lawns. I don’t think harm is meant but the net effect is a lousy one.
Even though they are not collapsable, they do push INTO each other, so they could be stored in the garage of an apartment complex without taking up too much space. If the complex owned them, they could be labeled with the address as a part of a citywide program. Just another possibility.
Art – The main problem with regulating abandoned shopping carts is that CA state law strictly limits how cities may regulate what is really a local issue.
Junior,
Makes sense. There IS a grocery store lobby. Our legislators always vote as they are bribed too by special interests…so the ball is in Jose Solorio’s and Lou Correa’s hands…
What would prevent the urban terrorists from stealing the carts from those who stole the carts from the store to capture the reward?
hahaha
Seems to me that the cart problem has shrunk since the new rules on carts took affect.
And for the few carts that are still left sitting on street corners, there is a telephone number to call for pick up, no 5 or 10 dollar cost.
I’ve seem a few apt complexes that have storage areas for carts that the retrievers pick them up at and return to the stores.
What about the people who own their own carts?
The 4 out of 12 posts are by bloger Pedroza
You are talking to yourself chap so do not complain about ratings.
That means 8 out of 12 aren’t his. I think he’s responding to people’s ideas which is something we would like to see from our City Council.
Hey Art –
Shouldn’t grocers be responsible for their own carts? I mean, don’t these things cost money? Why do they let them go so easily? Wouldn’t it be cheaper for everyone if the city just mandated that every store with carts have those magnetic locks? They could then take the money they save and spend it on local customer transportation, creating a more competitive atmosphere in the process.
SMS
Sarah,
As Junior indicated there are some state regs that would likely prevent such an action, even though it makes sense.
I do like the shuttle idea. Anything our city does must take into account the fact that a lot of our residents have trouble getting their groceries home. The key is to figure out a way to resolve that issue while at the same time making sure we don’t end up with unsightly carts all over town.
And yes the stores should be part of the solution. My plan puts the onus on them but it also provides residents with a monetary incentive to return the carts.
I am not sure if my plan is possible given the state regs Junior mentioned. We need some answers here from Solorio and Correa…
Can we mandate that stores tag their carts so the city can charge them fines for their return by the Public Works Dept? If the carts aren’t claimed, they could be put up for sale. It’s always good policy for the community to profit from others’ irresponsibility.
I can’t wait to see the state code.
SMS
Or repurpose the found shopping carts:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/12/20/reestore-bathtub-couch-by-max-mcmurdo/
Art’s approach seems overcomplicated. Why don’t they just do what they do in England and the airports? You put 25 cents into the machine, get your cart, do your shopping, AND THEN return it to get your 25 cents back. Abandoned carts would still be brought in to get money back, but you don’t have people stealing free carts for a ridiculous $5.
I think we should go back to the days when someone helped take your bags to the car.
..I don’t own a car you say? Carts should be available for purchase. Everyone’s Happy
Julie –
Abandoned carts would still be brought in to get money back, but you don’t have people stealing free carts for a ridiculous $5.‘
No, instead of having people try to steal a $5 bounty from each other, they’ll just steal the cart from the store for the low, low price of $.25. At that price, there’s no incentive to return it.
SMS
It’s my understanding the city has been leaning on supermarket chain stores to install the magnetic locking carts. The store I frequent just complied and they are concerned they will lose customers. The store manager has prominently displayed portable carts for a reasonable price. Stay tuned.
Art,
On average, I see anywhere from 8-20 shopping carts pass by my front door (Santa Ana Blvd) on a daily basis. Rarely do I ever see groceries in the carts, but there are always kids in the carts– those not being pushed by the homeless that is.
It seems to me that the carts are being used by people who have limited access to transportation to help their families get around. Sure, there’s the bus, but that can be intimidating.
I still feel that the streetcar plan is a solution that could help alleviate many of the problems plaguing the city, including abandoned shopping carts. What are your thoughts on this?
Oh, and happy birthday.
Stephanie, I’m not in complete agreement with one of your points: “And a store has to make the choice – drive away customers by requiring a bail for its carts or try to gain a competitive advantage over other stores by letting its customers know, “We trust you!” Since we are talking about people who are walking to the store, I’m guessing that they don’t have a lot of choice as to where they shop.
As to the current pressure being put on the stores to install wheel locks … I think that is a perfect example of the ‘haves vs the have nots.’
The ‘haves’ want an end to urban blight in the form of shopping carts because it decreases property values. The ‘have nots’ need a way to move children around and carry purchases while they are shopping.
I know, lets take a page from Disney in the 50’s and install “people movers,” moving sidewalks all over Santa Ana. Did you just get the shivers too?
about “How would you deter people from stealing the carts in order to rake in the bounty?” maybe the carts can have numbers and if the person doesnt have ten dollars then i guess the cart is staing there. or all the carts could stay in the store and have those big poles so they cant be taken out at all so the people have no choice but to just take their bags.
OK. Let me provide the answer to this issue. Our new Mission Viejo Target store has addressed this issue by locking the wheels of their shopping carts the minute you try to leave the parking lot. The supplier is a local OC firm named gatekeeper.com
They utilize an electonic fence to trigger the locking device and do post warning signs.
Stupid Mexicans who steal shopping carts should be treated like taggers and be arrested for stealing the carts…then deported.
Illegal Mexicans have all but RUINED Santa Ana.
Why did we allow this horrible third world problem come here??
Oh, and I mow my own lawn and clean my own house for those that wonder.
Santa Ana,
Our company is focused on the problem of locating lost and abandoned shopping carts using innovative technology. We are working with communities in California, Washington, Oregon and Idaho to address this issue and have partnered with California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation to cooperatively apply our technology, a free iPhone app, to the problem. In fact, CartSnap has been highlighted in a news report featuring the community of Mira Mesa near San Diego, CA. The story and video can be found at http://www.10news.com/news/27221839/detail.html. We understand the story was also carried on CNN.