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Why are shopping carts always broken?

cnn.com

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Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#221

Post by catchnear4321 »

dwighttk wrote: post #173

This kinda sounds like out of touch big city reporting or something… I’ve experienced broken carts, but not often enough to say “man, those things are always broken”

this is an ad. of sorts. you are to be upset at grocers, for not paying for high quality wheels. (go on now, get upset at the right people. this was expensive, relatively.)

cnn is news entertainment.

> While the rubber wheels cost twice the price of the standard polyurethane ones, Diaz said P&H Casters’ natural rubber wheels can last for about a decade, barring mistreatment from customers. In a busier store environment, they can hold out between four and five years.

> However, many retailers choose cheaper parts because the upfront price is typically higher for more durable material, Poulos added.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#222

Post by pixl97 »

dTal wrote: post #151
pixl97 wrote: post #22

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…

> 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. This may be an American problem. In the UK and many European countries, shopping carts ("trolleys") have castors on all four wheels; they will quite happily glide sideways. This makes them more maneuverable in the smaller stores, at the cost of being more difficult to control - more…

Ya a few places have these in the states, but as you say the control issues are problematic. The whole, an object in motion stays in motion tends to mean if you're pushing one of these heavy carts and try to turn it will rotate about its own axis rather than make a corner.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#223

Post by aqfamnzc »

milliams wrote: post #112
theginger wrote: post #102

This article misses a very big reason. It's a scheduling type problem. They rarely have good systems in place to deal with taking bad trollies out of service, so they stay in service and sit at the front of the stack, because some people notice and reject the trolley but they generally find their way back onto the stack. If you always take the first trolley of the stack and regularly find it is busted it is probably…

At my local there's often a few columns of trolleys next to each other. I always go for the column with the fewest trolleys as I assume that the trolley sitting at the head of the longest column is likely to have an issue.

I'm enjoying learning about shopping cart / trolley-based game theory. Haha

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#224

Post by Detrytus »

m-p-3 wrote: post #211
philshem wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Points 1 and 2: you can get a plastic or metal store-branded token for free from a cashier. Or many of us carry our own token attached to your keychain. No coins needed. Point 3: doesn’t make sense. The carts don’t have coins stored when they aren’t in use by a customer.

Re: Point 3 that would be cart left with a coin by a careless customer who didn't bother bringing back the cart to have their coin back.

Even better, sometimes homeless people will simply approach a person who just finished packing their groceries to their car trunk and ask "do you want me to put your cart away?" Of course they will do that only if they can keep the coin :)

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#225

Post by rarenovareed »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #218
trymas wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You use it next time you come to store.

I understood the point of the carts like this to be to encourage people to return them to the proper place in order to get their coins back. Does it still serve this purpose when they give you a token like this, or, just have they like ended up with carts with this mechanism they don't really want and would be happy enough with carts without it too? I'm not following the point of it.

You take it back to cart storage if you need the money back to switch for money. If you don't take it out, the store worker will do it when closing the store.

I just hold on to one in case I need it in my wallet.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#227

Post by rascul »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #216
Cheer2171 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any major metropolitan area. Walgreens has dozens of 24 hour pharmacies in the Chicago metro area: https://www.walgreens.com/storelocator/find.jsp?24-hour-phar...

Today I learned another reason that despite appearances Baltimore is not a "major metropolitan area". I'm not being sarcastic, it really doesn't have the economy of one. But I also wonder if it's just the very largest cities that have easy 24 hour pharmacy access.

> But I also wonder if it's just the very largest cities that have easy 24 hour pharmacy access.

I live near a city with population of about 50k. It has a 24 hour Walgreens.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#228

Post by 1letterunixname »

Tragedy of the Commons and cost.

Shopping carts are significantly durable for their acquisition cost and must be a design buyers are satisficed by.

Target larger store shopping carts seem more rugged and smoother rolling than conventional all metal ones.

Boundary antitheft systems generally address the theft problem. Perhaps these can be extended with app to leave a deposit for disabled, elderly people, and others to temporarily borrow carts for community neighbors without transportation.

PS: In the 80's, it always annoyed me when my aunt would "borrow" a shopping cart and then keep it until going to the store next like it was her personal property.

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#229

Post by quitit »

catchnear4321 wrote: post #221
dwighttk wrote: post #173

This kinda sounds like out of touch big city reporting or something… I’ve experienced broken carts, but not often enough to say “man, those things are always broken”

this is an ad. of sorts. you are to be upset at grocers, for not paying for high quality wheels. (go on now, get upset at the right people. this was expensive, relatively.) cnn is news entertainment. > While the rubber wheels cost twice the price of the standard polyurethane ones, Diaz said P&H Casters’ natural rubber wheels can last for about a decade, barring mistreatment from customers. In a busier store environme…

It's not entirely fair for the author to draw conclusion on this particular topic, especially ones as provoking as "cost cutting".

Shopping trolleys are one of those topics where the more you look, the more you find: especially when it comes to the wheels.

For example despite the article mentioning rubber as being superior to PU - it's not always suitable, or even safe. Such as for malls which use ramp-style escalators which allow a shopping trolley to be moved between floors. These must employ PU wheels which have grooves that match the escalator. This lowers the shopping trolley sufficiently for a rubber-brake to press against the ramp, preventing the trolley from moving.

An example of the grooved PU wheel and rubber-brake can be seen here: https://www.industrial-casterwheels.com/china-escalator_trol...

Re: Why are shopping carts always broken?

#230

Post by dustincoates »

lloeki wrote: post #190
tecleandor wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seem like that's common in continental Europe. In Spain in a "droguería" you would find something quite similar to a DM: cleaning supplies, some chemicals, personal hygiene and cosmetic products and the like. A "drogaria" in Portugal probably would a bit more similar like a hardware store, but also in the theme...

> Seem like that's common in continental Europe. Yeah, it's a very historical thing dating back from times of Marco Polo, the Silk Road, and the likes. In France we have "pharmacie", "droguerie", "épicerie", and "quincaillerie". - "pharmacie" is the regulated medical thing, historically it was "apothicaire" (apothecary) - "quincaillerie" is where you get hardware ("quincaille") like screws, tubes, metal parts, and wh…

There's also "parapharmacie" which sell things like lotions, shampoo, and other hygiene and beauty supplies. (Though not necessarily medicines, although some (most?) will also have that capacity.)
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