As a former retail worker, I always slightly disagreed with the shopping cart test.

Going outside to get the carts meant going out of range of the radio system that they had all us techs and sales people hooked up to. So in my mind I was like: " fuck up them carts all you want, I’ll go outside, get some exercise, and some fucking peace of mind."

No excuse to leave the carts in everyone’s way and make parking difficult.

I hear this. I worked retail when I was a youngster, so I do my best to make retail workers’ jobs easier. That includes deliberately leaving my shopping carts in the parking lot cart stall outside after I use them. A few businesses have removed those now here so you “have to” return them to the building – so I instead leave my carts in the landscaping on the property (where they aren’t in the way of other cars but still have to be fetched). I figure:

  • It does give someone a nice mental break to be able to go outside and get some fresh air once in awhile while still on the clock.

  • It keeps someone employed. Stores here are replacing more and more checkout clerks with self-check machines, so a place that used to employ 20 people now needs maybe 4 or 5. So far they haven’t come up with that machine that will go fetch carts scattered over the parking lot.