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Why are shopping carts always broken?

cnn.com

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Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#21

Post by MBCook »

puzzledobserver wrote: post #10

I don't use shopping carts because my groceries typically fit in a shopping basket. What I find frustrating about my local grocery store is when they inexplicably rearrange items. One week, bread is stocked in one aisle. Suddenly, on my next trip to the store, the same brand of bread has moved two aisles over. Part of the reason why I switched to having groceries delivered.

A year or two ago my grocery store got rid of hand baskets. Now you can only choose between a short cart, a full cart, or holding everything in your arms.

I hate it. They’re not bringing them back, I’ve asked.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#22

Post by pixl97 »

This article doesn't seem to actually answer the question well...

If you want to see the problem, watch carts being put in the cart storage pens and watch carts being returned from those pens to the store.

A very small percentage of the carts will end up in pens off kilter, then pushed in by the entire line of carts behind them. This bit of pressure can bend the wheel attachment. Now you say "this is only one or two carts", but in a busy store that cart can be cycles 5-10 times a day so this abuse adds up.

Then, watch the carts get returned to the front of the store. The handler pulls out a 40' long 'cart snake' that is unwieldly and heavy. You'll watch them drag the entire line sideways at points to get it in line with traveling the right direction and to line up with the return lines. Getting dragged sideways both wears flat spots in the wheels and it can bend the castors or pop the soft part of the wheel of its rim.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#23

Post by maxglute »

Stores cheap out on more expensive and durable wheels. News at 11. I remember going to a boughie grocery store and being impressed by their Rolls Royce shopping carts. Or maybe formula1, hard to describe, great grip and mobility. Probably very expensive / extra. I do wish those wheeled basket carts with wagon handle were built better.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#25

Post by freddie_mercury »

justsomehnguy wrote: post #12
justinclift wrote: post #4

> Grocery store carts are more likely to have carts with wonky wheels than ... drugstores Do countries other than the US have shopping carts in their "drug stores"?

Do people in other countries buy paracetamol and aspirin in 10L bottles so they wouldn't need to run their F4999 trucks to a drugstore every week?

Most countries have laws limiting the size of paracetamol & aspirin bottles to reduce overdoses & suicides.

The UK passed a law in 1998 about it and saw suicides from overdoses drop 21% and liver transplants from paracetamol poisoning drop 66%.

"Numbers of tablets per pack of paracetamol and salicylates decreased markedly in the year after the change in legislation on 16 September 1998. The annual number of deaths from paracetamol poisoning decreased by 21% (95% confidence interval 5% to 34%) and the number from salicylates decreased by 48% (11% to 70%). Liver transplant rates after paracetamol poisoning decreased by 66% (55% to 74%). The rate of non-fatal self poisoning with paracetamol in any form decreased by 11% (5% to 16%), mainly because of a 15% (8% to 21%) reduction in overdoses of paracetamol in non-compound form."

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#26

Post by o11c »

RecycledEle wrote: post #2

The percentage of shopping carts that are broken tells you about the character of the local population. The article's byline credits Eva Rothenberg, whose LinkedIn lists her as living in New York City. There must be horrible people there. Here in Waxahachie, TX, there are almost no broken shopping carts, and people help when there is a broken cart.

True, but it also tells you about the budget of the stores in the area.

A significant factor is also whether the local areas uses salt on the roads or not.

There are at least N failure modes for shopping carts:

* shopping cart wheels not coplanar

* shopping cart wheel does not turn

* shopping cart left in parking lot during weather

* shopping cart removed from parking lot entirely

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#28

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

RecycledEle wrote: post #2

The percentage of shopping carts that are broken tells you about the character of the local population. The article's byline credits Eva Rothenberg, whose LinkedIn lists her as living in New York City. There must be horrible people there. Here in Waxahachie, TX, there are almost no broken shopping carts, and people help when there is a broken cart.

There's a lot going on here.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#29

Post by bluedino »

The simple answer is the store managers don't care that much and it costs money to have the carts fixed.

Stores like Target buy nice carts and they last longer, stores like Menard's buy even cheaper carts (they might even make their own, they build their own electric scooters for in-store use).

I worked at a company in an adjacent business, most store chains either have their own service techs, or outsource it to a service company. These guys repair anything with wheels, from shopping carts to bakery carts to those hand carts and jack lifts. But there's only so much budget to go around and the carts get replaced every couple years anyway, it's easier to just recycle them.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#30

Post by dtgriscom »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #25
justsomehnguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people in other countries buy paracetamol and aspirin in 10L bottles so they wouldn't need to run their F4999 trucks to a drugstore every week?

Most countries have laws limiting the size of paracetamol & aspirin bottles to reduce overdoses & suicides. The UK passed a law in 1998 about it and saw suicides from overdoses drop 21% and liver transplants from paracetamol poisoning drop 66%. "Numbers of tablets per pack of paracetamol and salicylates decreased markedly in the year after the change in legislation on 16 September 1998. The annual number of deaths fr…

What are the limits? (Asked as a US guy who buys the 500 x 500mg bottles at BJ's.)
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