I don't always put the cart back... But the times I don't are the times I am finished with said cart right as someone going into the store comes along and offers to take it to use themselves.
There's a Twitter or 4chan post floating around about how putting the cart back is the apex test of your humanity because there's no reward for doing it and no consequences for not. It's just "are you a good enough dude to put the cart back?"
(Unless you live near one of those places where you "rent" the cart for a coin, in which case there is a slim monetary value in cart management.)
A lot of places in the UK don't have the coins deposit thing either. I pretty much avoid our local Aldi because they have this, and I never have any cash on me.
"Weee-wooo weee-wooo weee-wooo... Sir, I've noticed that you've missed the cart return. That's okay, it's kinda hard to find. See, the cart goes over there."
cue incoming verbal violence.
For anyone missing the reference: CartNarcs
Absolute treasure trove of comedy gold featuring entitled shitty people.
In 45 years living in Germany I haven't seen once a free roaming cart in a car park, the only ones I've seen are abducted ones, from homeless people etc standing somewhere under a tree or shit where they can't cause problems. Just saying.
When the air is too intense, it can move carts around and break them into a parked or even a moving car. I didn't believe it before I saw it myself. One another reason to fix them in a corral. Redoing a paint job after such random shit's what I wish not to myself, nor to anyone.
Last time this shit came up, some dude chimed in that walking around the parking lot collecting lose carts was the best part of his day, since he could be outside away from managers slowly collecting them relaxing.
It was hit or miss at previous jobs. I worked at Kmart for a few years and would often help the stock guys round up carts in the evening. During summer evenings it was kind of fun wandering way out into that concrete sea with the boys, rounding up impossibly far carts and running the wrong carts (or electric scooters) back to the grocery store next door. But during the winter it was hell on fucking earth, and I'd help them round them up just to spare them the agony of a slipped disk.
I live in Canada now and couldn't imagine rounding up carts during these cold snaps. You'd probably stick to them, imprisoning you in parking lot until you succumb to frostbite.
Ugh. One of the things that I hate about the state of AZ. Seems like the entire state are full of these kinds of assholes that leave carts in the parking lot. Whole fucking herds of carts all over the parking lot with the cart return less than 40 yards away from them.
I just loudly bitch to my wife when I see someone leave a cart in the parking lot now and make sure they can hear how much I think they're lazy, assholes.
Used to wrangle carts and I didn't mind the carts that weren't returned to the corral that much, but I did greatly prefer it when they were at least hiked up onto a planter curb so they don't roll away.
Yes! If I feel I'm too far from the cart return, I will at least put it somewhere safe. The whole point of cart return is to keep the lot clear for cars, assuming there are enough carts to go around
Returning the cart means a lot of people unnecessarily walking though the parking lot, which could increase the chance of an accident happening. It is better and safer, at least here where I live, to let the staff do the job one time, from time to time.
Edit: downvote all you want, but my safety has higher priority than the convenience of the store.
That's a clever way to rationalize being lazy. A grocery store operating that way near me would quickly have zero customers. Perhaps your typical layout is different from ours.
Cart returns in the US are typically positioned throughout the parking lot. It is quite straightforward to just return the cart to the proper spot, usually right near where I parked.
If I left my cart just next to my car or something, the next person to arrive would not have a safe place to park, due to the hazard posed by carts flailing around the parking lot. People do so occasionally, of course. If it happens a lot, though, I would turn around and leave. I'm not returning every cart for them and I don't want my car destroyed.
I don't live in the US. Here are spots next to the car spots to let the cart for the staff to pick later, but go ahead, judge everybody else by your metrics and costumes.