Shopping Carts

March 16, 2004 - The Return of the Carts

In the middle 1800’s Baron Thom Babington Macauley, an English historian and statesman said, “the measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.” Irrespective of the fact that the Baron apparently felt that a woman’s character was measured differently than a man’s, the sentiment of the quote still holds true today. Character is defined by the things people do when no one is watching, like being kind to others who have nothing to give, or leaving nature undisturbed for others to enjoy.

If there were no risk to being caught, would you lie, cheat, or steal? What if it got you lots of money, sex, fortune, or fame? What if it got you reelected?

Or, on a smaller but equal scale, do you push your shopping cart across the parking lot back to the rack, or do you leave it there for the store to collect later in the day? However you decide, no one will know but you. No one is watching … well not usually.

Yesterday, the dedicated staff of edhat.com was watching. We parked our car in grocery store parking lots and waited for cart-pushing shoppers to exit the store. And, after they loaded the last bundle into their trunk, we watched to see what they would do next. Were they willing to sacrifice a minute of their day to return their shopping cart from where it came, or would they push it off to the side only making sure the wheels were locked so it would not roll away?

Character, it seems, is ruled by the same set of laws that dictate real estate prices: location, location, location.

At Ralph’s, where the lot is quite close to the store, shoppers had were quite comfortable pushing their cart back to the front of the store, but they seemed incapable of going the extra foot and pushing the cart into the cart barn.

At Gelsons where remodeling has relocated the carts into the parking lot, 100% of the people we tracked walked their cart back, no matter how far away they parked.

The Albertsons/Longs parking lot at Five Points looked like a war zone with abandoned carts pushed into bushes, sidewalks, and medians. People, confused in the land of cart-runeth-over, left their cart anywhere it would stay put. Those who came after were equally confused, so they just put their carts next to ones that came before them. Soon, groups of carts would form like flash mobs, all smashed together in some random place for no particular reason.

Vons, by far, had the most and clearest cart return directions. Yellow signs, which dotted the parking lot and the front of the store, provided shoppers with many options. All but one shopper was compelled enough to choose one.

In Ed’s book, generalizations are generally true. And, after a day in the lot, one generalization must be stated. The dedicated staff, by observing body language and action, concluded that older people felt much more responsible about returning their cart than young people. Even if their legs did not move as fast, older people would not shy away from pushing their cart across a car filled lot. Even if no one was looking.

Overall, 73% of carts were walked back the store or placed into the rack. And Gelsons was the store with the highest compliance. The edhat.com subscriber who came closest to this was CourtneySt who guessed Gelsons and 75%. And while no one else is watching, we will send Court 2 movie ticket coupons.

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