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PETALUMA A LA CARTE (The Shopping Cart Depository Blues)
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READER NOTE: This article was suggested & inspired by Mike Madrid at CaliforniaCityNews. www.californiacitynews.org

Consider it my year-end review. In fact, it may turn out to be my Omega Magnum Opus on the subject.

________

The Shopping Cart Depository Blues

2007

...Shopping carts parked on our streets, sidewalks and 101 overpasses...Shopping carts sequestered in our parks, creeks, yards and driveways...

INTRODUCTION

Abandoned shopping carts, for better or worse, are a central component of many parts of Petaluma's urban landscape...

While shopping carts are a major blight problem, it is a subject that lends itself to humorous treatment, mostly as a coping or self-defense mechanism...

  • Mayor Green of Union City, California described shopping carts as "three-dimensional graffiti" during discussions that lead to passage of a control ordinance.
  • I once suggested in a Letter to the Editor that the City melt them down to fill potholes. Of course, it went nowhere.

One day, several cart groupings around Petaluma prompted me to muse about these scenes in a blog...

Someone suggested that we call them 'cart gaggles.' But that applies to geese...

  • Wolves gather in "packs'
  • Lions travel in "prides"
  • Sheep "flock"
  • Cows "herd"
  • Geese "gaggle"

So, do Carts "cluster?"

And what is the purpose of a "cart cluster?"

Is it a discarded refrain from Cole Porter's Let's Do It? Perhaps at one time the lyric was "And that's why birds do it, bees do it, even educated carts do it."

Moving on, there are the inevitable websites such as "Center for Prevention of Shopping Cart Abuse at www.shoppingcartabuse.com

Finally, for the academically inclined, there is a handy reference guide: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Field Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague. According to the Amazon Description: "A must-have for anyone with a passion for shopping carts and a love of the great outdoors."

Clearly, reality and satire have merged.

PETALUMA'S SHOPPING CART ENVIRONMENT

Petaluma's wandering cart situation was documented as far back as 1986 in an Argus Courier photo of 11 carts in Washington Creek. The headline above the photo--"End of the check-out line." The cart deposits in that creek have continued unabated over the years. We have also documented similar chronic situations in other creeks, our parks, the Petaluma River and many of our neighborhoods.

Prior to 2004, the wandering cart population was due mostly to the homeless and the usual assortment of mischief-makers. Based on my records and observations, the problem really began to take off in 2004. The change was due, in my opinion, to the dramatic increase in the number of people who started using shopping carts as car substitutes...

Who Takes 'Em?

My estimate is that 90% are removed by people without vehicles. Drilling down a bit into the demographics, I have identified five kinds of "Cartnappers" in Petaluma-- those who take carts or who perform additional mischief with carts once they are out in the city environs.

They are the...

  • Homeless (For use as portable closets)
  • Carless (Those who use carts as car substitutes)
  • Vandals/Kids (Let's throw the cart off a bridge)
  • Cart Kleptos (Those who regularly take carts for no obvious purpose)
  • Recycle Raiders (Those who use shopping carts to raid the residential recycle cans)

Initially many carts make it to bus stops, nearby apartments, or nearby homes. Then the carts "sit" unless and until they are retrieved--days... weeks...or never.

While in the pubic domain, they are frequently moved again...

  • Some are pushed further into the streets, neighborhoods, nearby parks, or onto City property.
  • Some are moved around for fun ("Let's push the cart into the water!")
  • Some may be employed as temporary trash containers.
  • Some are simply "vandalized."
  • Some eventually make it to ditches, creeks, and the river.
  • Some end up the creeks and the Petaluma River.
  • Others just disappear...

Cart Chronology

In researching the subject over the years, I quickly noticed that the history is always the same, with only slight variations in detail from city to city...

  1. At some point, wandering shopping carts generate stories of a local resident or residents attempting to cope with the problem.
  2. At the next stage, articles are written featuring elected officials assisting in clean-up campaigns. In the alternative, there are stories about volunteer clean-up campaigns.
  3. For the most part, however, a certain level of cart clutter is tolerated as not enough people are affected by it. This, I submit, is the current state of affairs in Petaluma. At times, we move to the next stage but quickly revert to this level.
  4. Finally, the abandoned cart population reaches a certain "critical mass" and becomes the hot topic of the day. It is at this stage when you may have a chance to secure passage of a cart control ordinance.

In my opinion, maintenance of the status quo at the third level is facilitated by the fact that we have a high and longstanding threshold of tolerance for the situation in Petaluma. In retrospect, it probably has not helped that our neighborhood group (Petaluma Involved Neighbors or PINS) has been "nudging" the stores to get control of their carts. We probably should have stayed out of the way and let the problem advance.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST A CART ORDINANCE

I have been asked why stores don't act on their own to impose tighter controls on their carts without being "told" to do so by the City. A variation of this question is to ask why we should blame the stores for the theft of their property. Another common objection is that a cart control ordinance will cause an increase in food prices.

There are many other questions, concerns and "objections" but I will only address these three.

I. It's All a Matter of Perceived Economics

Based on my experiences in the corporate world, it comes down to money.

Each store has a certain number of carts assigned to it and it is the responsibility of the store manager to control the inventory. They do their best and I am sure that they get their bell rung if they lose too many carts. On the other hand at the corporate level, a certain amount of "cart attrition" is built into the equation. In short, they expect to lose a certain number. It is just a cost of doing business. Granted, they may allocate some funds for cart retrieval services but as often as not they just tell the manager to go get 'em.

Will it be recovered?

Store managers are terribly busy people. They don't have a lot of time or staff for this particular endeavor. It has been our experience that cart retrieval in Petaluma can be same day, two days, a week, or never. It all depends on the local store or retrieval service. The problem with this (aside from the fact that you may have to look at the errant cart for longer than you like) is that the longer they are on the street, the more likely it is that they will make it into our creeks, waterways, and river.

Moreover, even if a store is diligent in its retrieval program, the fact is they fail to keep up with the flow of carts entering the community.

Or will it join this cart in the creek?

Some companies have realized that it is cheaper to install control systems without prodding from local authorities. Quite simply they have learned that it is more cost effective than trying to retrieve them after they have left the premises. I will not go into the details, but there are control systems that are close to being 100% effective in keeping the carts on their property. In many instances, they are money savers for the stores, as they are not chasing or replacing stolen carts.

To put it bluntly, an ordinance coupled with enforcement forces the stores to take permanent corrective action. However, if an ordinance is properly implemented, the enforcement need will diminish as stores get control of their cart inventories.

With effective cart management, stores can maintain a lower cart inventory. In addition, the service life of each cart is longer because they are not being pushed down our streets and sidewalks--a bone-jarring experience for man and cart.

II. Stop, Thief!

I agree that removal of a shopping cart from store property is theft and I appreciate the sentiment of many that the solution is to arrest the cart "thieves." I am also fully aware of the glaring irony that you can have someone arrested for stealing food or clothing, but no one is going to be arrested for taking a shopping cart.

Put another way, it's OK to "steal" a shopping cart worth $150 as long as you have paid for the merchandise in the cart.

Irony notwithstanding, we have to recognize today's social reality. Arresting people for taking shopping carts is not a realistic solution.

III. Food Prices

For those concerned about the potential of increased food prices due to a cart control ordinance, I must point out that you are already paying for the cost of abandoned carts...

  • Don't think for a moment that stores don't factor cart shrinkage in their budgeting and pricing. It's a cost of doing business.
  • Each time a cart disappears, another has to be purchased to take its place.
  • Assuming, for the purposes of this discussion, that each cart costs $150, you can get into some serious money very quickly.
  • Even if a cart is recovered, it frequently is not in a condition to be returned to service.

CITIZEN ADVOCACY FOR CART CONTROL

Initially we tried a non-governmental approach by writing to all the major stores encouraging them to be good neighbors and get control of their carts. This did have a salutary effect and for a time the cart populations in our neighborhoods diminished.

When the carts started to reappear, we formed small teams to locate the carts and report them to the stores for recovery. At one point, I developed a store directory and published it so anyone could quickly call and report an errant cart. From time to time, we would return the carts on our own mostly to get them out of our neighborhoods and parks. This quickly fell off because of the time demands and also because we lost access to trucks or vans large enough to haul them back.

As an aside, many a time I personally pushed carts back to the store. Returning carts on foot can be a teeth-rattling experience given the "uneven" surfaces of many of Petaluma's streets and sidewalks. If you are more than half a mile from the store, you may become totally homicidal by the time you make it to the store with the cart. Certainly you will be in a very foul mood.

The fact is that many cities in California (not to mention the rest of the United States) have had to deal with abandoned shopping carts as a public nuisance and have passed ordinances to deal with the problem.

In Petaluma I would argue that abandoned carts are also a potential public safety issue given the fact that so many end up in our waterways creating potential flooding problems...

In conjunction with the efforts in the field, I also researched and submitted suggested ordinance drafts to our City Council and City Staff for review and consideration. However, council agendas being what they are, the issue has gained no traction.

Perhaps some day...

POST MORTEM

As a group, PINS no longer actively chases down and/or reports abandoned shopping carts. It just consumed too much time and energy. Of course, we encourage people to call them in if they see them but the reality is that most people just accept the situation.

From time to time, I see Citizen Samaritans pushing carts back to the stores. I applaud their effort even though it is analogous to sweeping sand at the beach.

Unless and until Petaluma's enacts--and enforces--a shopping cart control ordinance, there are only two options:

I. PUT A SIGN IN YOUR FRONT YARD...

II. ENCOURAGE RESEARCH ON A...

A pdf version of this article is available for download. See Attachments Section Below.

Tag Petaluma Outside.In [where: 94954]

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Posted November 27, 2007 7:45:31 AM
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Petaluma A La Carte Article
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Comments | Add Comment

Posted By: shopping cart (01/05/2008 6:22:11 AM)
Comment: Hi It is a very nice and great post and I like it.

Posted By: Asil Raye (22/12/2007 12:41:14 PM)
Comment: Hi, I just posted the last comment and for some reason the weblinks didn't show up correctly. You will have to copy and paste only half of the link- sorry! In any case, I forgot to add that there is one cool feature on the CSCRC.net website- they have a "report a cart" link where you can tell them where a cart is. Good luck!

Response: Curious as to whether your city has a shopping cart ordinance? If properly drafted AND enforced, it goes a long way to solving the problem. Of touse, that hasn't happened in Petaluma :-). For more on shopping carts simply go to my blog page http://frank-simpson.petaluma360.com/ and click on "Shopping Carts" under "Categories." I've done a fair amount of research on ordinances. If you want to discuss further, feel free to contact my at the e-mail address at the end of my "Bio" at the top of the blog page.

Posted By: http:// (22/12/2007 12:35:02 PM)
Comment: I live in southern CA and was crawling the web trying to find any info on how to get rid of shopping carts in my neighborhood. I had tried walking one of them to a major street - in the hopes that it would be more visible there and hence be picked up. But I gave up after about ten feet because of said teeth- and bone-jarring. I was both relieved to find your site and saddened by the photos of the carts tossed in the river. But there is hope! I was able to find information on cart retrieval services online. We have one major company here that goes all the way up to Fresno. I have seen their trucks driving around to "herd" the cart "clusters". Maybe they could come up there? Their website is <a href="http://www.cscrc.net/">http://cscrc.net</a>. Also, for example, the city of Alhambra runs a cart retrieval program: <a href="http://www.cityofalhambra.org/government/cart.html">http://www.cityofalhambra.org/government/cart.html</a>. Finally, here is an article on shopping cart retrieval companies: <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_19_27/ai_n13782130">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_19_27/ai_n13782130</a>

Posted By: The Big Dog (29/11/2007 1:36:32 PM)
Comment: I'd like to see something happen with the shopping carts that keep showing up on corners in my neighborhood. It's already against state law for shopping carts to be removed from store property without the store's permission. While our PD likely has better things to do, simply making a casual contact with some toad pushing a shopping cart through a residential area, if they happen to see them, would be a start. The stores, and I live near Safeway and see their carts sitting on corners near my house often, need to be made to pick their property up off the street. If they can't/won't control them leaving the property then they should at least "man up" and bring them home when reported or seen elsewhere. Perhaps the Code Enforcement officers can pay a visit to Safeway and make them see the "error of their ways"? Might be a better use of that resource since they can't seem to get their building code enforcement off the ground without setting off a firestorm.

Posted By: CPMJohn (28/11/2007 12:21:55 PM)
Comment: Sorry, Frank, but your point "Arresting people for taking shopping carts is not a realistic solution" is pure feelsgood Liberalism. Arrest these thieves and "advertise" their identities, and fines, via local media (no matter whether they be senior citizens or non-WASPs). Fred almost had it right until he suggested punishing the stores who are merely trying to assist their customers. As a "Conservative's Compromise," if you advocate cart-thief arrests I'll push for fining stores that do not retrieve reported wayward carts within 24 hours. (And you can still call me a Cart Scrooge.)

Posted By: Cheryl Aronson (28/11/2007 12:52:12 AM)
Comment: I detest this idea, it's very "bigbrother" like, but anywhoo, what about having people register to use a cart while grocery shopping. This ensures that you are responsible for your cart from the time you pick it out for grocery shopping to when you unload it at the car and and ensure it goes back to it's proper spot safe and sound in or near the store where a store employee or some other system in place checks it back in? If you don't return it, you get penalized and charged a fee. Naww. I can see potential issues with this too. Potentially innocent people could be blamed for the mishandling by other less than ethical folks. You're right Frank, ultimately this is a problem that affects everyone, and it's called apathy. Sad photos.

Response: "Apathy" is the correct word on so many levels. There are others that come to mind, but this word is sufficient unto the cause. As to your Big Brother comment--a typical ordinance does not mandate the form of control that stores must employ. It does require that they do something and measures the effectiveness of their efforts. There are several known options. The system you were describing is similar to a token or coin deposit system. Unfortunately, we don't have a single coin large enough (in value) to be effective. If the "deposit" was $2, that is 8 quarters you have to put in...and retrieve. Also issues with managing and maintaining the machines. On the other hand, if there was a control ordinance, I suppose a store could try it out.

Posted By: Leigh (27/11/2007 6:51:56 PM)
Comment: If money talks, as Frank suggests, can't we make cart retrieval more appealing? What about a free coupon or gift card for every errant cart returned to its rightful location? What about a fundraising campaign for the local middle and high schools that would encourage kids to collect the carts instead of making mischief with them? What about a competition? Prizes could be given every month for the highest score, with a grand prize for the most carts collected during the school year. (Obviously, we'd have to come up with something else to get us through the summer.) There have to be ways to turn this around, and what we've done in the past is clearly not working. Where do we turn to get something like this started? Who might be willing to organize it and negotiate the terms between the schools and the stores? Anybody out there have a better idea??? -- Leigh

Response: I appreciate the creative thinking here. However, a bit of caution is in order. Locations that have tried the "reward" approach usually find that a certain group of people will take the carts only to later claim the rewards or coupons.

Posted By: Fred (27/11/2007 6:34:16 PM)
Comment: Frank - When I read your excellent article and viewed the awful [but telling] pics, it made my blood boil. How can we tolerate this visual pollution? And how can we tolerate the pollution of our waterways? I blame the city for lack of an effective ordinance, the people who steal the carts who brazenly ignore the laws against stealing property, and we citizens who tolerate this whole mess! I don't buy the perceived economics argument. What about the store's civic duty to the town and citizens? Let them invest in a control system that will prevent carts from leaving their parking lots. When will the city do something about this mess? Finally, those pictures of the carts fouling our waterways just breaks my heart. I just don't understand people who act like this.

Posted By: Richard (27/11/2007 6:15:50 PM)
Comment: Someone from out of town saw the cart cluster at the corner of Sonoma Mt. Parkway and Ely and asked if they were there to be used as needed, free of charge by anyone. She said that was very thoughtful.She was of course trying to be funny. Passing a cart ordinance in Petaluma would require the council to make a decision and heaven forbide it upset someone.This may be called, as you say," a long standing threshold for tolerance", or some of us might say, a long standing reputation of procrastination.

Response: The cart cluster you mentioned is usually composed of G & G Carts. By the bye, there is a G&G cart in the creek by Doggy Poo Mountain. Perhaps we could put a team together to pull it out and set it up as a Doggy Poo receptacle? Just a thought...

Posted By: Frank Simpson (27/11/2007 5:08:49 PM)
Comment: SHOPPING CART YARD SIGN--Not that it should matter nor should it be necessary to point this out--but the sign was put up by a "Latino" homeowner who was the beneficiary of more than her fair share of abandoned carts in her neighborhood. Five out of fourteen to be precise.

Posted By: Norton II (27/11/2007 3:49:34 PM)
Comment: Frank, so after reading the entire article and pondering it carefully, what His Majesty needs to know first is: is "coche" really the word for grocery cart in Spanish? We can't have inaccurate bilingual signs in town. We can have plenty of the carts, but not inaccurate signs.

Posted By: Candy Kane (27/11/2007 12:10:38 PM)
Comment: Great blog Frank! I walk a lot and occasionally see a lost cart and return it to the proper store. But I've given up on reporting the stray carts along Maria Drive to the Safeway management. They just don't seem to care, so it's a waste of my time to call them. You're doing a good job of reporting this on your blog.

Response: Thanks for making the effort regarding Safeway. Your experience is quite common and in total accord with that of others who reported back to me. At one point, I organized a phone tree with several people to keep the pressure on all the stores and frankly the results were poor. It also ate up a lot of time. It was also frustrating to note that when they did pick up the carts, new ones appeared to take there place--sometimes the same day.

Posted By: Jay (27/11/2007 11:22:09 AM)
Comment: I like your house sign, definitely points to a large segment of the problem. Unfortunately , it truly is a sign of the times here in Sonoma County.