I have a theory that you can tell a lot about America by observing what people do with a shopping cart when they’re done borrowing it. There is a direct correlation between how people deal with shopping carts and the health of the American society.
I was at Lowe’s this week and I watched a guy load his truck from one of those big carts they have in the lumber area. He spent about 5 minutes tying down his purchase, gave the cart a push away from his vehicle, and left (see image). He was parked adjacent to a cart corral, but he couldn’t be bothered to take the 7 seconds is would have taken to put the cart where it belonged. Not only that, he pushed the cart into a handicapped parking spot so he actually directly caused a problem for someone else.
But, sadly, this has become the norm. Whenever I visit a grocery store, Walmart or any other place that provides shopping carts, I see the same thing. A lot of people don’t return the carts to where they belong. It’s true, some people do (I’m one of them), but many more people don’t.
How many times have you tried to pull into an empty parking spot only to find that someone has left a cart in the space? Now, how many of those times has this happened within 10 feet of a cart corral? It probably happens so much that you don’t even notice it anymore.
Like many places, here in California we have this phenomenon known as “wind”. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. One of the things about wind is that it has the remarkable ability to move otherwise-inanimate objects. Especially those on wheels. If the cart isn’t properly secured, the wind can blow it. And, more often than not, what eventually stops the cart is someone else’s car. The result is a nice-sized ding or scratch.
I thought for a while that perhaps cart abandonment was a socio-economic issue. Perhaps poor neighborhoods have more abandoned carts than wealthy neighborhoods. But, that’s not what I observed. What I saw was that cart abandonment occurs equally across all demographics.
It is true that some people may have a legitimate reason. One example that comes to mind is an elderly person who was using the cart as a walker. They can’t return the cart because they can’t easily walk without it. I’m OK with that. But that only explains a tiny percentage of the carts left adrift in parking lots.
We don’t have to look far or very hard to see what’s wrong with this country. All we have to do is keep an eye on the shopping carts. It is a true representation of where are as a society. I’ve been observing people and their carts for years and here are the conclusions I’ve drawn:
- People are selfish and only care about themselves.
- People are stupid and lack the ability to predict the potential effect of their actions.
- People are lazy and can’t be bothered to do something simple for someone else.
- People are sociopathic and have no empathy for others.
Seems harsh? I don’t think so. Putting a shopping cart away when you’re done with it probably takes the smallest amount of effort of anything you could do for someone else. It only takes a few steps and a few seconds to do something nice for whoever comes along after you. Yet most people don’t care enough about others to do the right thing. And that, sadly, is what’s wrong with America.
