Should Shoppers Be Allowed to Ditch Their Carts in the Parking Lot?

(Inside Edition)

Runaway shopping carts can be a hazard in many parking lots across the country. YouTube is filled with videos showing them crashing into cars.

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The problem often stems from people abandoning their carts in the lot instead of returning them to designated shopping cart corrals.

Simply by roaming around parking lots, Inside Edition’s Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero saw dozens of shoppers taking the lazy way out by ditching their carts.

In a Los Angeles Costco parking lot, one woman was spotted leaving her cart between two cars when Guerrero approached her.

“We’re doing a story about shopping carts,” she told the woman.

“So I’m totally busted,” the woman said with a laugh.

Another man in the same parking lot said it was more convenient to leave the cart out for other shoppers.

“So you think you’re doing people a favor by leaving it out?” Guerrero asked. He replied, “Of course.”

Many other shoppers Guerrero spoke to said that they didn't feel responsible for returning their carts because most stores have employees hired to collect them.

But one grandmother wasn't taking any chances her cart would blow away. In a video that went viral, the grandmother was filmed returning her cart back to the corral during a raging hurricane in 2018. 

Now that's some shopping cart etiquette we can all respect. 

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