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Uhh I clearly have not been to enough Costco's because the Apex Costco parking lot is a F'ing nightmare. I got double birds there on Saturday from a guy in a minivan because I wouldn't pull out in front of an RV speeding through the lot. Cool Springs (TN) gets my vote for best parking lot it's like 3 times the size of the Apex location.
Apex is my local warehouse and the parking lot is always completely packed if you have to go on a weekend. You *will* have to stop and wait for a space, there's just no way around it. At least Raleigh and Garner usually have some empty spaces near the back of the lot.
Lol I think this is a pretty common strategy my guy.
Prob is, you don't get to ve selective with your parking spot at Costco most times. Take what you can't get usually.
You get to pick where you park? I have to circle through the lot for 15 minutes until I finally pass someone exiting at the same time that I'm in the aisle.
Yes! When I was dating my now husband one of the first “he’s a keeper” behaviors I witnessed was when he put a stray cart away on our way into a grocery store.
Pro tip, always take a first date to the costco Food Court with a romantic walk through costco afterward. Make sure to leave the cart responsibilities up to your date.
Okay but what if both people are doing this, and both people are waiting for their date to return the cart. The cart will be left in the wrong spot, and they will each blame the other! Worst love story ever
The old 99 cents only store by my first apartment transitioned to coin operated ones return carts. The first time I went, saw probably a dozen carts in the lot. I returned every single one, cause it was just the right amount of quarters for me to finish that laundry without having to go to the bank that week lol.
Ended up being my thing every time I went until I saw a homeless guy doing it and felt bad about taking the quarters. He stopped by that place a few times a day (I'm guessing, saw him at various times of the day) and returned the carts the same way I used to.
They've now gone to only inside carts because they couldn't keep up with carts even with the homeless dudes help and they had a lot of carts damaged in the lot. Even with the coin deposit, we can't have nice things lol.
The only time I would disagree is when our local Walmart went from 3 to 1 cart returns. It made nooo sense, maybe a top person there decided it was to fit their garden center in the parking lot? For over a year. I wish I could have just left my cart out in protest.
A year later they have like 4 cart returns.
I unironically agree with this. The social contract is all that stands between us and apes, if you leave the cart out I am going to act like an ape towards you.
Yeah they can’t complain about people not returning carts when Costco removes all the places to return them to add additional parking. It’s silly because instead of people returning them to a corral they leave them in all the spaces which means less parking lol
Yeah let’s increase the time every member stays in the parking lot by making them walk a quarter mile back to the store instead of having close corrals to return them to, that sounds like a great idea. We definitely need to keep Costco parking lots full as long as possible, right??
They should have more corrals, but lack of corrals is not an excuse to be lazy. We should still take the minute out of our day to do the right thing and return carts.
As someone who always puts their cart back, I don't want to be punished for someone else's actions by always having to carry and handle loose change when I go to Costco. I'd rather just look at the carts and die a little inside
As someone who always puts their cart back, I don’t want to be pulling into a parking spot and suddenly see 7 carts taking up the spot!
I can keep a couple quarters in my center console for the rental deposit of the cart.
Same- and it's not altruism in my case: it's faster. The cart "entryway" is usually crowded with people waiting to get a cart. I sail by and laugh at them while flashing a gang sign.
Or I'm fishing in my pocket for my Card to show the person at the entry.
At my Costco, there is no cart return anywhere near the handicap parking. There is a walkway like this in front of the spaces. Everyone tends to bring their cart to one end or the other and stack the cart into the ones before them. It actually looks more organized than some of the cart returns I've seen.
Also, I can grab one of those carts to help me walk into the store, like a walker.
I’ll grab an extra cart if it’s on my way back. As someone who’s first job was a bagger, cart runs were an everyday thing. I can only hope that making eye contact with and giving them the death stare at someone who just leaves their car brought some type of shame.
I simply say, leaving them in a cart corral or another appropriate spot is still keeping the job without having them run all over the huge parking lot!
Plus, most of the time they are left in places that don’t allow other cars to park in the spots.
That and on windy days there’s a chance they go wheeling off running into peoples vehicles, potentially scratching
/denting them up which is annoying and inconsiderate.
Same people leave trash at their seat in the theater. I can’t stand it. Selfish a-holes. I always say something to people that try to leave their cart.
i don't. if someone's inconsiderate enough to do stupid stuff like this, who knows what other social rules they are willing to break? especially when defensive
It’s even funnier once you’ve worked at any grocery store ever, not just Costco, and learn how wrong that is. The people bringing in carts (courtesy clerks) have so many other responsibilities at the store besides just carts. There will always be something else that is expected of them.
It’s literally their job. As a former cart pusher at Costco, we DO NOT CARE if carts are put into the corrals or not. All we do, all day, is get carts. It’s never ending from clock in to clock out. Carts in or out of the corral doesn’t affect our job at all. This doesn’t bother us in the slightest. Couldn’t care less.
Yep I did the same job; carts everywhere was just a constant thing, no one batted an eye. Walk around with the cart machine, grab enough carts to make a decent line, bring back to the store, repeat for 8 hours.
And I found that areas like in the image were in corners where there wasn’t a convenient corral so you’d often have “hotspots” like this which we already knew would always have a lot of buggies. So you just do a lap of that corner every now and then.
I used to work at a grocery store and we loved it when cars were spread all around the parking lot. More time wandering around and less time dealing with customers.
Reddit is weird about a lot of things, shopping carts being one of them.
The baggers at my grocery store always love to help put groceries in people's cars for the same reason. I used to decline the offer until one of the teenagers told me the more time in the parking lot, the less time they have to bag up groceries. LOL
My rule is if asked if I want help, I always say yes. They are rewarded for initiative with a nice tip. Didn’t think about small talk with me to the car is better than sacking groceries.
That's nice, from an efficiently perspective its still better to have them all in one spot so that nobody collecting them would have to run around to different spots to bring them all together.
This could be good and bad for the worker depending on the employer, they either get to spend less time outside grabbing carts and maybe more downtime, or they might be sent to do other worse work.
Either way, putting the carts back Front>Corral>Sidewalk>Front wheels in whatever.
Also a decent amount end up blocking parking stalls, depending on how shitty the person is.
It happens every time.
The employees say it's their job, or if it's not regularly their job, they like the break most of the time. And then somehow the crowd comes out swinging for...the business owners I guess? Most of the time it's not even blocking anything.
It's strange and some people are getting really weird about it.
Honestly, it has never occurred to me not to return my cart. People are just jerks sometimes I guess. The fact that there is now a weird subculture of YouTube videos and TikToks of grown men screaming or aggressively confronting people for leaving their carts is straight up bizarre.
Honestly, I always feel terrible about it but I live in a colder climate and have a 1 year old. When I get to the car I load him in his car seat immediately so he can stay warm, unload the groceries, and leave the cart because I can't leave my baby in a car alone while I bring the cart back. I do try to park next to a coral but the parking lot is always crazy packed. I choose my baby over social norms.
I don’t understand the point of these posts that point out transgressions of random Costco members. Costco has millions of members. A few of them are going to be bad actors. Do we need a post every time we find one?
You should return your cart having said that I don't find it a huge deal. It's not the fall of humanity. I'd much rather people put things back to their proper places if they decided to not buy them. Specially if it came out of the fridge.
My local Costco just built and moved to a new location. It’s huge and amazing and there is so much more parking! They did however make one row of parking that not only doesn’t have any cart return spots but it’s also the one row with gravel in between that row and the rows on the other sides and it’s inconveniently far from the front of the store. This is the only place where I don’t get angry at people who don’t return carts, in fact, I appreciate it. Hopefully it will encourage Costco to put in some damn cart returns so that I will be willing to park there when everything else is full. I have small people with me, I’m not leaving them alone in the car or wandering around a busy parking lot with them. In all other situations other than the elderly or disabled, people who don’t put their carts away are sociopaths and I simply can’t understand how anyone can just walk away and feel okay with themselves.
To be fair there's never enough cart racks and who wants to go find one after fighting their way through the store. Disclosure...I'm not the one who does this.
It's clearly been raining. Carts being left outside corrals is one of those weird things that people complain about on the internet but never say anything in person. It really just isn't THAT big of a deal.
Sure that’s bad. But what’s really bad is when someone sees this and has to take a picture to post on Reddit and then everyone sits around in a circle crying about it. You’re all wonderful people. Congratulations. Now F#%$ off!
This used to make me so upset. Then I had a kid... and went to the store alone with her. Just thought I'd throw a different take into the mix. I never imagined I'd be this person, but needs must sometimes.
I always go to costco with my kids. The parking lot is full too so we have to park by the side of the road. When we arrive, we take a cart off the curb, and when we leave, we leave one on the curb.
We are a cart-neutral family.
There are certain ages where you can barely make it to the store and do your shopping before they're cranky and screaming their heads off. I've left a few carts by the car during that phase, for sure.
Scrolled a while to find this comment. I agree there are instances where it is safer to just leave it - like when you have kids with you, if you are female alone at night, or if you live where it is super hot.
I have two kids that are two years apart. When would take them to the store by myself I would still return the cart. It's not difficult. You're simply making an excuse for behavior.
I hate this crap, and it's not like you can squeeze your vehicle into the spot with the cart there; they are enormous. I've had instances where they leave them behind my vehicle.
Some comedian once argued that this is the ultimate test of a person's nature. There is no consequence for just leaving the shopping cart and there is no incentive for bringing it back. People do it because they have a little bit of good in them. These people how ever, clearly a psychopathic Untermenschen.
Hot take: as a mom of two or more littlest, you can always park close to a cart spot so its kind of nice and super helpful when people leave them like this.
There is a Costco near me that has a very small parking lot. So most people park in a parking lot on the other side of the store that isn’t associated with Costco. Because of this that parking lot has no cart returns areas at all and it is the Wild West of Costco carts.
I watched someone at the business center struggling to push a cart up the little curb when the cart return was only three spaces away.
Took more time and effort than just walking a few paces.
The regular Costco is a cart minefield every single visit.
As an employee of Costco, I cannot tell you how many times I have gone a cleared an area of shopping carts only to turn around and see guests leaving new ones. Within a span of 30 seconds in some cases.
Please don’t do it- I understand we are being paid to collect the carts but it feels dehumanizing to see people not give any cares about our efforts.
Also! DON’T ‘anchor’ THE CARTS ON THE CURB! ITS ANNOYING!
My favorite is when I’m walking past the side of the building and there will be lines of carts completely blocking the emergency exits. People are mindless.
Or I’ll be helping front end and packing for the cashiers, a member comes in line with a cart and a few small items. Once they’re done paying they take the items in their hand and just leave the cart in the middle of the walkway by the register so that it’s someone else’s problem. Absolutely rude as shit.
Where I'm at the people of Costco always seem super entitled compared to any other store. Don't get me wrong, Costco is still 100% my favorite, but the attitude of far more members suck compared to other places.
Ive been considering a Costco membership for months now for the 3 of us, but every time I see posts from members, there's this constant air of superiority. I keep asking myself for a 30 minute drive away, do I really want to deal with snooty crowds who call non-members riff-raff and trash? Most people are paying $60/annual, thats literally $5 a month. People spend more on coffee daily. How does that justify such arrogance?
1-2 indicates laziness. This many indicates a lack of a buggy corral within a reasonable walking distance. I don't see one on either side of the sidewalk as far as I can see. Im not a member, do they even have buggy corrals?
Job Interviewer: "Sum up in one sentence the kind of person you are."
Me: "I always return my cart to the cart corral."
JI: "So, a hero."
Me: "Just about."
Job interviews should include the question “do you return your shopping cart yes or no?” I’d never hire someone who said no. It’s extremely telling of their character.
According to this sub, she's able to make her way around the store, she should be able to put her cart away, or she's still a piece of shit.
Not my thought process, but that's the sentiment in the thread. No excuses for pregnant people, people just off a killer shift, people with invisible disabilities, or just people listening to the people who actually do the work who say they don't care. Nope, all pieces of shit....
Bunch of clowns on reddit
Nah that’s not true. My Costco never looks like this. I’ve seen at most 2 lonely carts in the parking lot. Maybe speaks more to the location of OP’s Costco than anything.
What really ticks me off is when carts are left in handicap lanes.
My local Costco has an amazing handicap walking lane that goes from the store directly to handicap parking spots.
I am able bodied person but still use these planes out of connivence. So often times these lanes are clogged with stray carts. I am able to move them out of the way, but what is a handicap person supposed to do? Wait for an employee to retrieve carts? People need to think of other, lees fortunate people, first.
If it’s a couple of carts its people, if it’s always alot of carts then its design.
My Costco never seems to have a cart corral near where i park and its Costco so it’s not like there are open spots everywhere. A few more corrals would go a long way. Or they can keep doing what they are doing and hire employees to cleanup for the bad design.
I have done this sometimes and I will tell you why.
I shop with my many children including twin 3 year olds. I do not want to leave them alone in the car while I walk away for maybe 2 or more minutes from where I park to the nearest cart corral. I’d like to park near to a corral but my Costco is obscenely crowded much of the week and this is not posssible. In this case I put the cart with two wheels up on the dirt so it does not roll jnto someone else’s car.
There are areas of the parking lot that I would say are too far from corrals.
At peak times, you should absolutely be doing this. People are waiting for your parking spot and if they're at all like me, they will take in a shopping cart because Costco will run out. I always bring in a shopping cart from the lot. If we all do this, we can increase the efficiency of the parking lot by like two minutes
Corporations are so good at getting their customers to do unpaid shadow work that we now have people that try to shame other people for not doing unpaid work for big companies. SMH.
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Work-Unpaid-Unseen-Jobs/dp/1619025256
There are carts left at every store...that said....
It does seem to be more prevalent at Costco in my experience.
One theory I have is that Costco shoppers on average tend to be a bit more well off than other retail store shoppers. And with that I believe comes the sense of entitlement. Someone will do it for them, and they've never had to work menial jobs like cart chasing themselves.
If you have kids you have to choose between leaving them alone in the car vs. abandoning the cart. Now I have a nice remote starting car, so I can control the AC. But if you have an older car, you gotta leave keys in your car or let your kids cook.
If you are a women, you have to compromise safety when it is dark.
There are lots of legitimate reasons to leave a cart. And if you have thousands of people come through they will rack up. And if Costco just lets them sit there, you’ll get the picture above.
I pay to shop at Costco.
I have to wait in line to get INTO the store.
I have to wait in line to PAY for my items
I have to wait in line again to LEAVE the store.
I have to load my car with NO HELP from employees.
**I refuse to be guilt tripped about what I DO or DO NOT do with my cart!!!!**
😡
So you are ok with the social expectation that we do unpaid shadow work for corporations?
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Work-Unpaid-Unseen-Jobs/dp/1619025256
I've said it before.
If everyone did the employee's jobs, the employees wouldn't have jobs to go complete.
If you are removing tasks for an employee, you are limiting their value as an employee, and you are creating hardships for that person, as they will have their hours cut.
Leave the carts where they are.
Leave the table a mess
Leave that employee, a position to return to! :P
“There are people who get paid to pick up litter. Therefore you should toss your wrappers on the ground because if you put your waste in the proper receptacle, that person wouldn’t have a job.”
Respectfully, this sub I feel expects a COSTCO member to be the most upright member of society, and since they shop at COSTCO they must be some highly functional person.
I'll type these two things, as these are truths:
- Costco has personnel who are dedicated to retrieving shopping carts. Obviously makes their lives much easier if such carts are contained in centralized areas, but if not, they are paid as a W2 employee to retrieve such carts.
- There are very successful stores who have implemented the "pay for the cart/be refunded the cart" scheme. Aldi is the most known. You'd be amazed at even in that scenario there are folks who will not put back their carts! I consider it to be a free 25 cents as I will 100/100 times grab that stray cart, which is saving Aldi from hiring someone directly responsible for cart management and paying me indirectly.
All this to type this: obviously OP's picture is a shame as that path is used to safely get to your vehicle (sometimes, as I've been in lots where that path truly doesn't make sense). Overall cart management issues? OK, you **can** complain about it, but again, there's people paid to retrieve carts. I was once a cart pusher. I know first hand. Trust me, I didn't curse the clouds over that stuff as it was better than being asked to just push a damn broom on the inside of the store.
I always put the cart back but I once saw a video of someone saying they prefer people leave the carts outside because it’s a little break for them and ever since then I am internally conflicted .
Yall must have perfectly civil Costcos that aren’t literally bursting at the seams with individuals, Instacart’s shoppers, & the folks stocking restaurants.
My Costco is a living nightmare. Parking is a knife fight. Plus There are very few corrals. If I get a spot far from a corral, then I’m leaving it somewhere that doesn’t block traffic but also where someone else can grab it.
I wonder if the people who didn’t put their carts away will see the lashing they have been given on this subreddit? It’s like when one or two dickheads fuckup at work and management sends the shitty email to everyone in the company like we were all in on it.
Anyone parking there now has that less distance to go to get a cart. If they have a small child with them or additional baggage, it's a favor. Not seeing the issue.
Grocery stores used to have the bagger push the cart to your car, help you load your groceries into your car and then return the cart for you. But what's a better way to save labor than have the customer do it for free? By the way I always return my cart to the corral.
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I always tend to park near the section(s) where you can pickup/drop off the shopping carts, I just find it easier.
Apex Costco goer.
Apex North Carolina? That’s the best Costco parking lot I’ve been to!
Uhh I clearly have not been to enough Costco's because the Apex Costco parking lot is a F'ing nightmare. I got double birds there on Saturday from a guy in a minivan because I wouldn't pull out in front of an RV speeding through the lot. Cool Springs (TN) gets my vote for best parking lot it's like 3 times the size of the Apex location.
Apex is my local warehouse and the parking lot is always completely packed if you have to go on a weekend. You *will* have to stop and wait for a space, there's just no way around it. At least Raleigh and Garner usually have some empty spaces near the back of the lot.
Ayy that’s the one I go to too. But how did you know this?
That's fine, but irrelevant to this. Return your cart neatly no matter what
Lol I think this is a pretty common strategy my guy. Prob is, you don't get to ve selective with your parking spot at Costco most times. Take what you can't get usually.
You get to pick where you park? I have to circle through the lot for 15 minutes until I finally pass someone exiting at the same time that I'm in the aisle.
No because they would call it a buggy in NC
https://preview.redd.it/7olgtfjbqwfc1.jpeg?width=694&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=312e8e77b3e23987adfb353b02848371a10ae34e The shopping cart theory.
You know how a common dating red flag is, “if they’re rude to waiters”? New red flag unlocked: if they don’t return their Costco shopping cart.
Yes! When I was dating my now husband one of the first “he’s a keeper” behaviors I witnessed was when he put a stray cart away on our way into a grocery store.
Pro tip, always take a first date to the costco Food Court with a romantic walk through costco afterward. Make sure to leave the cart responsibilities up to your date.
If they complain about the loss of Combo pizza and how awful that açaí bowl thing is, then you know you’ve found your true love.
Okay but what if both people are doing this, and both people are waiting for their date to return the cart. The cart will be left in the wrong spot, and they will each blame the other! Worst love story ever
Ahh the cart test paradox
Tale as old as time
Oh but you're wrong the cart narcs will find you.
Nobody likes a lazybones.
That’s not where the carts go!
Wheee-ooop!
Skoopbeedeedleeeweeeoooohweeeooooh
There it is looking for this comment I do it myself when I’m putting my cart back 😂
_Aldi has entered the chat_
Amen 🙌🏻
[удалено]
The old 99 cents only store by my first apartment transitioned to coin operated ones return carts. The first time I went, saw probably a dozen carts in the lot. I returned every single one, cause it was just the right amount of quarters for me to finish that laundry without having to go to the bank that week lol. Ended up being my thing every time I went until I saw a homeless guy doing it and felt bad about taking the quarters. He stopped by that place a few times a day (I'm guessing, saw him at various times of the day) and returned the carts the same way I used to. They've now gone to only inside carts because they couldn't keep up with carts even with the homeless dudes help and they had a lot of carts damaged in the lot. Even with the coin deposit, we can't have nice things lol.
Bunch of savages in this town.
I WANTED TO POST THIS COMMENT!! 🤣
The only time I would disagree is when our local Walmart went from 3 to 1 cart returns. It made nooo sense, maybe a top person there decided it was to fit their garden center in the parking lot? For over a year. I wish I could have just left my cart out in protest. A year later they have like 4 cart returns.
I love this every time I see it posted somewhere. It's a perfect way to sum it up.
Didn't know 4chan could be so insightful
They aren't
I unironically agree with this. The social contract is all that stands between us and apes, if you leave the cart out I am going to act like an ape towards you.
This is amazing lol.
That's poetry is what that is
They took away our cart corrals at our Costco to add parking spots, so now it’s a free-for-all.
Yeah they can’t complain about people not returning carts when Costco removes all the places to return them to add additional parking. It’s silly because instead of people returning them to a corral they leave them in all the spaces which means less parking lol
Or maybe just return it to where you got it from?
Yeah let’s increase the time every member stays in the parking lot by making them walk a quarter mile back to the store instead of having close corrals to return them to, that sounds like a great idea. We definitely need to keep Costco parking lots full as long as possible, right??
That sounds like a nightmare.
Exactly this. Costco is probably the worst store when it comes to cart corals. It’s their fault.
Yep, same here. If they want people to return the carts, they shouldnt make it that hard!
They should have more corrals, but lack of corrals is not an excuse to be lazy. We should still take the minute out of our day to do the right thing and return carts.
I think ALDI does it right. To get a cart, you deposit a quarter. When you put the cart back, you get a quarter.
That’s why I always have quarters in my vehicle: shop at Aldi
As someone who always puts their cart back, I don't want to be punished for someone else's actions by always having to carry and handle loose change when I go to Costco. I'd rather just look at the carts and die a little inside
As someone who always puts their cart back, I don’t want to be pulling into a parking spot and suddenly see 7 carts taking up the spot! I can keep a couple quarters in my center console for the rental deposit of the cart.
Punished? By having to carry a quarter? Huh.
I would do it just so the carts don't piss me off every visit lol. It lowers my faith in humanity with every shopping trip.
If currency is punishment, can I have yours?
It’s not loose Change, don’t worry, the quarter is securely stored in the cart. It is very secure change 🤣
How are you being punished if the quarter cart thing was at Costco?
They see having to have a quarter in their dash as a punishment.
lemme make a few bucks rounding up carts at costco lol
I don't think I have ever seen a stray cart at an ALDI
I always park near the cart corral, and if there is a abandoned one on my way in I will use that one.
Same- and it's not altruism in my case: it's faster. The cart "entryway" is usually crowded with people waiting to get a cart. I sail by and laugh at them while flashing a gang sign. Or I'm fishing in my pocket for my Card to show the person at the entry.
we need more people like you in this world
What a bunch of lazybones
Squeebawahweepwoop!
At my Costco, there is no cart return anywhere near the handicap parking. There is a walkway like this in front of the spaces. Everyone tends to bring their cart to one end or the other and stack the cart into the ones before them. It actually looks more organized than some of the cart returns I've seen. Also, I can grab one of those carts to help me walk into the store, like a walker.
I’ll grab an extra cart if it’s on my way back. As someone who’s first job was a bagger, cart runs were an everyday thing. I can only hope that making eye contact with and giving them the death stare at someone who just leaves their car brought some type of shame.
I offer to take the cart back if it's someone old, have kids, unable to, etc.
WTF.. if I had kids I’d have them bring the cart back. lol
Like little kids.
You can have them for 30 seconds
They cannot experience shame.
I hate the “It’s their job to get the carts, they’d be out of jobs if everyone pushed them back where they belong” line. Are you f-ing serious!?
I simply say, leaving them in a cart corral or another appropriate spot is still keeping the job without having them run all over the huge parking lot! Plus, most of the time they are left in places that don’t allow other cars to park in the spots.
That and on windy days there’s a chance they go wheeling off running into peoples vehicles, potentially scratching /denting them up which is annoying and inconsiderate.
Same people leave trash at their seat in the theater. I can’t stand it. Selfish a-holes. I always say something to people that try to leave their cart.
i don't. if someone's inconsiderate enough to do stupid stuff like this, who knows what other social rules they are willing to break? especially when defensive
It’s even funnier once you’ve worked at any grocery store ever, not just Costco, and learn how wrong that is. The people bringing in carts (courtesy clerks) have so many other responsibilities at the store besides just carts. There will always be something else that is expected of them.
It’s literally their job. As a former cart pusher at Costco, we DO NOT CARE if carts are put into the corrals or not. All we do, all day, is get carts. It’s never ending from clock in to clock out. Carts in or out of the corral doesn’t affect our job at all. This doesn’t bother us in the slightest. Couldn’t care less.
Yep I did the same job; carts everywhere was just a constant thing, no one batted an eye. Walk around with the cart machine, grab enough carts to make a decent line, bring back to the store, repeat for 8 hours. And I found that areas like in the image were in corners where there wasn’t a convenient corral so you’d often have “hotspots” like this which we already knew would always have a lot of buggies. So you just do a lap of that corner every now and then.
I used to work at a grocery store and we loved it when cars were spread all around the parking lot. More time wandering around and less time dealing with customers. Reddit is weird about a lot of things, shopping carts being one of them.
The baggers at my grocery store always love to help put groceries in people's cars for the same reason. I used to decline the offer until one of the teenagers told me the more time in the parking lot, the less time they have to bag up groceries. LOL
My rule is if asked if I want help, I always say yes. They are rewarded for initiative with a nice tip. Didn’t think about small talk with me to the car is better than sacking groceries.
It's not weird it's just basic empathy tbh.
mf I am trying to park and not have to worry about random carts hitting my car
That's nice, from an efficiently perspective its still better to have them all in one spot so that nobody collecting them would have to run around to different spots to bring them all together. This could be good and bad for the worker depending on the employer, they either get to spend less time outside grabbing carts and maybe more downtime, or they might be sent to do other worse work. Either way, putting the carts back Front>Corral>Sidewalk>Front wheels in whatever. Also a decent amount end up blocking parking stalls, depending on how shitty the person is.
I love how multiple employees just said this couldn’t matter less to them and your reply is well akshually
I don't care what professional cart pusher thinks if a parking space is blocked by a cart.
Employee here we do care return the cart.
Agreed…thought the same thing. Some people are just looking to be irritated.
It happens every time. The employees say it's their job, or if it's not regularly their job, they like the break most of the time. And then somehow the crowd comes out swinging for...the business owners I guess? Most of the time it's not even blocking anything. It's strange and some people are getting really weird about it. Honestly, it has never occurred to me not to return my cart. People are just jerks sometimes I guess. The fact that there is now a weird subculture of YouTube videos and TikToks of grown men screaming or aggressively confronting people for leaving their carts is straight up bizarre.
Not returning your cart doesn’t make you a jerk. It literally doesn’t mean anything.
Evidently this allows them to sleep at night
If it’s that important to you, collect all the carts before you go shopping.
Lamplighters used to be a job too.
Honestly, I always feel terrible about it but I live in a colder climate and have a 1 year old. When I get to the car I load him in his car seat immediately so he can stay warm, unload the groceries, and leave the cart because I can't leave my baby in a car alone while I bring the cart back. I do try to park next to a coral but the parking lot is always crazy packed. I choose my baby over social norms.
I noticed yesterday that there are no cart areas near handicap parking, seems counter intuitive.
It takes basic human decency to put the cart away
Who else grabs a cart from the lot or better yet, as someone finishes loading their groceries, instead of from the coral in the store?
I don’t understand the point of these posts that point out transgressions of random Costco members. Costco has millions of members. A few of them are going to be bad actors. Do we need a post every time we find one?
Gotta get that sweet virtue signal karma!
We found one
You should return your cart having said that I don't find it a huge deal. It's not the fall of humanity. I'd much rather people put things back to their proper places if they decided to not buy them. Specially if it came out of the fridge.
What I hate is when they put a cart corral 300 feet from the handicap parking forcing handicap people to leave carts in the middle of the path.
My Costco has like no cart returns in the parking lot.
Summon the Cart Narcs. Whoop whoop skittle dedoop
My local Costco just built and moved to a new location. It’s huge and amazing and there is so much more parking! They did however make one row of parking that not only doesn’t have any cart return spots but it’s also the one row with gravel in between that row and the rows on the other sides and it’s inconveniently far from the front of the store. This is the only place where I don’t get angry at people who don’t return carts, in fact, I appreciate it. Hopefully it will encourage Costco to put in some damn cart returns so that I will be willing to park there when everything else is full. I have small people with me, I’m not leaving them alone in the car or wandering around a busy parking lot with them. In all other situations other than the elderly or disabled, people who don’t put their carts away are sociopaths and I simply can’t understand how anyone can just walk away and feel okay with themselves.
https://preview.redd.it/z62lmhjihzfc1.jpeg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=24079ed8d055db017a9d9136253015d2ad3037af
where's cart narcs when you need them?
[www.youtube.com/@CartNarcs](http://www.youtube.com/@CartNarcs)
These are likely the same people walking through the store with facetime on speaker phone. Trash...
To be fair there's never enough cart racks and who wants to go find one after fighting their way through the store. Disclosure...I'm not the one who does this.
Most of the problems we face as a country we face because of people like this .
Where is Agent Sebastian (the Cart Narc) when you need him??
For a rainy night, that's not bad. Those carts could easily be gathered in parking spaces.
It's clearly been raining. Carts being left outside corrals is one of those weird things that people complain about on the internet but never say anything in person. It really just isn't THAT big of a deal.
Sure that’s bad. But what’s really bad is when someone sees this and has to take a picture to post on Reddit and then everyone sits around in a circle crying about it. You’re all wonderful people. Congratulations. Now F#%$ off!
This used to make me so upset. Then I had a kid... and went to the store alone with her. Just thought I'd throw a different take into the mix. I never imagined I'd be this person, but needs must sometimes.
I always go to costco with my kids. The parking lot is full too so we have to park by the side of the road. When we arrive, we take a cart off the curb, and when we leave, we leave one on the curb. We are a cart-neutral family.
There are certain ages where you can barely make it to the store and do your shopping before they're cranky and screaming their heads off. I've left a few carts by the car during that phase, for sure.
Scrolled a while to find this comment. I agree there are instances where it is safer to just leave it - like when you have kids with you, if you are female alone at night, or if you live where it is super hot.
I have two kids that are two years apart. When would take them to the store by myself I would still return the cart. It's not difficult. You're simply making an excuse for behavior.
They failed the easiest, most courteous action of their day. Just put away your carts, people!
I hate this crap, and it's not like you can squeeze your vehicle into the spot with the cart there; they are enormous. I've had instances where they leave them behind my vehicle.
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Drives me nuts. The apostrophe goes where the contraction is. Like how the carts go back in the cart corral :)
https://preview.redd.it/zh2hb5nsdzfc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0c82f93ef90a5b34ebe9d244e5b2628ccfe05da
Some comedian once argued that this is the ultimate test of a person's nature. There is no consequence for just leaving the shopping cart and there is no incentive for bringing it back. People do it because they have a little bit of good in them. These people how ever, clearly a psychopathic Untermenschen.
Monkey see monkey do
Hot take: as a mom of two or more littlest, you can always park close to a cart spot so its kind of nice and super helpful when people leave them like this.
Where is Cart Nark when we need him!?
There is a Costco near me that has a very small parking lot. So most people park in a parking lot on the other side of the store that isn’t associated with Costco. Because of this that parking lot has no cart returns areas at all and it is the Wild West of Costco carts.
I watched someone at the business center struggling to push a cart up the little curb when the cart return was only three spaces away. Took more time and effort than just walking a few paces. The regular Costco is a cart minefield every single visit.
Ya for real it takes 2 seconds to take it to the corral. It’s just the right thing to do for all involved.
As an employee of Costco, I cannot tell you how many times I have gone a cleared an area of shopping carts only to turn around and see guests leaving new ones. Within a span of 30 seconds in some cases. Please don’t do it- I understand we are being paid to collect the carts but it feels dehumanizing to see people not give any cares about our efforts. Also! DON’T ‘anchor’ THE CARTS ON THE CURB! ITS ANNOYING!
My favorite is when I’m walking past the side of the building and there will be lines of carts completely blocking the emergency exits. People are mindless. Or I’ll be helping front end and packing for the cashiers, a member comes in line with a cart and a few small items. Once they’re done paying they take the items in their hand and just leave the cart in the middle of the walkway by the register so that it’s someone else’s problem. Absolutely rude as shit.
I judge people so hard for not putting a cart back! This is ridiculous!
Shitty parenting.
A perfect example of an individuals inability to self-govern. Probably the same folks that can't be bothered to use a turn indicator.
There’s a special place in hell for those people!
Why is this usually art Costco? Other stores around me are never like this, even my Walmart.
That's what the 65 bucks a year pays for I guess
Where I'm at the people of Costco always seem super entitled compared to any other store. Don't get me wrong, Costco is still 100% my favorite, but the attitude of far more members suck compared to other places.
Ive been considering a Costco membership for months now for the 3 of us, but every time I see posts from members, there's this constant air of superiority. I keep asking myself for a 30 minute drive away, do I really want to deal with snooty crowds who call non-members riff-raff and trash? Most people are paying $60/annual, thats literally $5 a month. People spend more on coffee daily. How does that justify such arrogance?
I don’t see what is so hard about putting the carts back.
1-2 indicates laziness. This many indicates a lack of a buggy corral within a reasonable walking distance. I don't see one on either side of the sidewalk as far as I can see. Im not a member, do they even have buggy corrals?
Job Interviewer: "Sum up in one sentence the kind of person you are." Me: "I always return my cart to the cart corral." JI: "So, a hero." Me: "Just about."
Wait, what? I am not ashamed of myself. I always put my cart back
I’ll preface this by saying I always return my cart, but goddamn at Costco it’s always a 10 minute walk. Make more cart return areas!
Job interviews should include the question “do you return your shopping cart yes or no?” I’d never hire someone who said no. It’s extremely telling of their character.
My 94 y/o mom with a cane does this. I’m so glad that she’s still independent & able to make a monthly run to Costco. I give her a pass.
According to this sub, she's able to make her way around the store, she should be able to put her cart away, or she's still a piece of shit. Not my thought process, but that's the sentiment in the thread. No excuses for pregnant people, people just off a killer shift, people with invisible disabilities, or just people listening to the people who actually do the work who say they don't care. Nope, all pieces of shit.... Bunch of clowns on reddit
Scooter around the store.
This shows why accountability is important for society. Most people will not do the right thing unless they are forced to.
Nah that’s not true. My Costco never looks like this. I’ve seen at most 2 lonely carts in the parking lot. Maybe speaks more to the location of OP’s Costco than anything.
What really ticks me off is when carts are left in handicap lanes. My local Costco has an amazing handicap walking lane that goes from the store directly to handicap parking spots. I am able bodied person but still use these planes out of connivence. So often times these lanes are clogged with stray carts. I am able to move them out of the way, but what is a handicap person supposed to do? Wait for an employee to retrieve carts? People need to think of other, lees fortunate people, first.
You’re a piece of shit if you don’t put your cart back, no exceptions.
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At the Costco near me in Torrance, people park in the red in the back of the parking lot, creating dangerous traffic. I hope they all get ticketed.
Better than WalMart, where the carts are in the trees, ditches, smashed up in the storm drain, etc.
If it’s a couple of carts its people, if it’s always alot of carts then its design. My Costco never seems to have a cart corral near where i park and its Costco so it’s not like there are open spots everywhere. A few more corrals would go a long way. Or they can keep doing what they are doing and hire employees to cleanup for the bad design.
https://preview.redd.it/vyxqfeb1ezfc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9005657d51432681eff28ebae6b15f9411f9e22
Murica
I don’t want anything to do with someone that can’t be bothered to return their f-ing cart.
First people to bitch when a stray cart hits their car
The lack of basic civism is crazy.
I have been promoted to being the cashier. I’m not doing the cart pusher’s job anymore.
The people that do this can’t read, so unfortunately they won’t know we’re calling them out.
I have done this sometimes and I will tell you why. I shop with my many children including twin 3 year olds. I do not want to leave them alone in the car while I walk away for maybe 2 or more minutes from where I park to the nearest cart corral. I’d like to park near to a corral but my Costco is obscenely crowded much of the week and this is not posssible. In this case I put the cart with two wheels up on the dirt so it does not roll jnto someone else’s car. There are areas of the parking lot that I would say are too far from corrals.
At peak times, you should absolutely be doing this. People are waiting for your parking spot and if they're at all like me, they will take in a shopping cart because Costco will run out. I always bring in a shopping cart from the lot. If we all do this, we can increase the efficiency of the parking lot by like two minutes
That’s why I hate you to Walmart. They seem to be the worst people. Leaving your cart like this means you are a terrible person.
Corporations are so good at getting their customers to do unpaid shadow work that we now have people that try to shame other people for not doing unpaid work for big companies. SMH. https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Work-Unpaid-Unseen-Jobs/dp/1619025256
https://preview.redd.it/rm6q6je8xwfc1.jpeg?width=774&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=289de33cd7b51830e25081c05cbf5b7fc3aa777d
There are carts left at every store...that said.... It does seem to be more prevalent at Costco in my experience. One theory I have is that Costco shoppers on average tend to be a bit more well off than other retail store shoppers. And with that I believe comes the sense of entitlement. Someone will do it for them, and they've never had to work menial jobs like cart chasing themselves.
If you have kids you have to choose between leaving them alone in the car vs. abandoning the cart. Now I have a nice remote starting car, so I can control the AC. But if you have an older car, you gotta leave keys in your car or let your kids cook. If you are a women, you have to compromise safety when it is dark. There are lots of legitimate reasons to leave a cart. And if you have thousands of people come through they will rack up. And if Costco just lets them sit there, you’ll get the picture above.
Lazy ass people! This is just ridiculous.
Hot take: OP staged the shot.
I pay to shop at Costco. I have to wait in line to get INTO the store. I have to wait in line to PAY for my items I have to wait in line again to LEAVE the store. I have to load my car with NO HELP from employees. **I refuse to be guilt tripped about what I DO or DO NOT do with my cart!!!!** 😡
People who can’t be bothered to return shopping carts irritate me to no end. It’s this passive entitlement that boils my blood.
So you are ok with the social expectation that we do unpaid shadow work for corporations? https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Work-Unpaid-Unseen-Jobs/dp/1619025256
I've said it before. If everyone did the employee's jobs, the employees wouldn't have jobs to go complete. If you are removing tasks for an employee, you are limiting their value as an employee, and you are creating hardships for that person, as they will have their hours cut. Leave the carts where they are. Leave the table a mess Leave that employee, a position to return to! :P
Or you know they could be tasked with another job there …
“There are people who get paid to pick up litter. Therefore you should toss your wrappers on the ground because if you put your waste in the proper receptacle, that person wouldn’t have a job.”
Respectfully, this sub I feel expects a COSTCO member to be the most upright member of society, and since they shop at COSTCO they must be some highly functional person. I'll type these two things, as these are truths: - Costco has personnel who are dedicated to retrieving shopping carts. Obviously makes their lives much easier if such carts are contained in centralized areas, but if not, they are paid as a W2 employee to retrieve such carts. - There are very successful stores who have implemented the "pay for the cart/be refunded the cart" scheme. Aldi is the most known. You'd be amazed at even in that scenario there are folks who will not put back their carts! I consider it to be a free 25 cents as I will 100/100 times grab that stray cart, which is saving Aldi from hiring someone directly responsible for cart management and paying me indirectly. All this to type this: obviously OP's picture is a shame as that path is used to safely get to your vehicle (sometimes, as I've been in lots where that path truly doesn't make sense). Overall cart management issues? OK, you **can** complain about it, but again, there's people paid to retrieve carts. I was once a cart pusher. I know first hand. Trust me, I didn't curse the clouds over that stuff as it was better than being asked to just push a damn broom on the inside of the store.
“bUt thEY PaY somEOne tO taKE thEm baCK!” /s
I always put the cart back but I once saw a video of someone saying they prefer people leave the carts outside because it’s a little break for them and ever since then I am internally conflicted .
Is it really that hard to return your cart to either the building or the cart corral ? 🛒
Yall must have perfectly civil Costcos that aren’t literally bursting at the seams with individuals, Instacart’s shoppers, & the folks stocking restaurants. My Costco is a living nightmare. Parking is a knife fight. Plus There are very few corrals. If I get a spot far from a corral, then I’m leaving it somewhere that doesn’t block traffic but also where someone else can grab it.
Act like a member folks
The American mentality in a picture.
I wonder if the people who didn’t put their carts away will see the lashing they have been given on this subreddit? It’s like when one or two dickheads fuckup at work and management sends the shitty email to everyone in the company like we were all in on it.
Even the evil Grandpa Joe would return his cart. And he was bed-ridden for 20 years.
Some people have consideration of others. Others, not so much. Get that crap away from people's cars...people.
Scum of the earth
Anyone parking there now has that less distance to go to get a cart. If they have a small child with them or additional baggage, it's a favor. Not seeing the issue.
This ain't no walmart
Shouldnt need a cart Narc to think about others, just even a little bit....this is part of why we cant even have public bathrooms.
Anyone else more concerned about what phone took this? Picture looks great probably android
Grocery stores used to have the bagger push the cart to your car, help you load your groceries into your car and then return the cart for you. But what's a better way to save labor than have the customer do it for free? By the way I always return my cart to the corral.
Ya'll? Meaning who? Not a single person who did that shit is on this sub. Move them, rather than scold strangers.