Shopping Carts

[LTAWACS]

Anyone who honestly thinks that businesses really don't care that their shopping carts migrate, I would love some of what you're drinking. It's a money drain, plain and simple. Why do they have cart locks? I don't know, but it is not to encourage people to take them home.

Anyone who thinks there is implied consent due to a store failing to put C-4 in the carts, I'd also like some of what you're drinking.

IMHO (for those being serious) this thread has gotten silly. No one benefits from stolen carts. And if someone 'needs' to cart their groceries home, they certainly should then take the cart back on their next trip. As is evidenced by the scores of abandoned carts, that is not the case.

Do I think HPD should set up a cart task force? No. Do I think there is anything right, morally or legally about carting your groceries home and dumping the cart on the side of the road? Absolutely not.

My $.02

Well said.

[kylejack]

Anyone who honestly thinks that businesses really don't care that their shopping carts migrate, I would love some of what you're drinking. It's a money drain, plain and simple. Why do they have cart locks? I don't know, but it is not to encourage people to take them home.

Anyone who thinks there is implied consent due to a store failing to put C-4 in the carts, I'd also like some of what you're drinking.

IMHO (for those being serious) this thread has gotten silly. No one benefits from stolen carts. And if someone 'needs' to cart their groceries home, they certainly should then take the cart back on their next trip. As is evidenced by the scores of abandoned carts, that is not the case.

Do I think HPD should set up a cart task force? No. Do I think there is anything right, morally or legally about carting your groceries home and dumping the cart on the side of the road? Absolutely not.

My $.02

In areas with a lot of pedestrians, stray carts is apparently an inevitability. Fiesta has accepted this, and as a responsible corporate citizen who realizes this, goes around with a truck to collect the carts. Other fly-by-night operations like Kroger place no countermeasures on their carts and make no attempt to retrieve their stray carts. Now, since, as you state, the police are not going to make this a priority and since the people doing this are not likely to change their behavior, it is contingent on the irresponsible stores to do something about it.

Yes, I am trolling a little bit by calling Kroger a fly-by-night operation.

[Zippy]

He was referring to a cart return system. Put the cart back, get your quarter deposit back.

Could the machine accept the food stamp "Texas Card"?

[RedScare]

Actually, the reason that these teens are charged with UUMV rather than theft is because most of the cars "stolen" are valued between $1,500 and $20,000, which makes theft of that vehicle a state jail felony. Since UUMV is also a state jail felony, it is much easier to simply prove that the defendant used the vehicle without the owner's effective consent than it is to prove that he actually stole it and then used it. It really has much less to do with the joyrider's intent. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that even if there was video of the defendant actually stealing the vehicle and he made a written confession to intending to deprive the owner permanently of his property, he'd probably still be charged with UUMV if the vehicle fell in that rung of the value ladder.

As I posted earlier, the offense under the Commerce Code does not require anything about proving intent to deprive the store of the cart. All we must prove is that the person possesses the cart off the premises and does not have written consent from the owner to do so. And a police officer most certainly can arrest such a person and it happens all the time.

And there is no requirement that there be any kind of sign prohibiting removal of the carts -- the only requirement is that the carts be marked with the owner's name.

True on both counts, though if there is decent evidence of intent to deprive (such as a confession), the effective and forward thinking prosecutor will charge Theft, since a theft conviction can be used in future theft prosecutions to enhance small thefts to a felony.

[AtticaFlinch]

Shopping about shopping carts, that must be what you call it when you gank one!

I don't gank it. I intend to return it... eventually... or when they pick it up.

Don't worry... one day if they're either (1) on fire, or (2) strewn about the neighborhood, they'll get a thread on HAIF of their own!

My mother would be so proud.

Anyone who honestly thinks that businesses really don't care that their shopping carts migrate, I would love some of what you're drinking.

It's Thunderbird, and it ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Could the machine accept the food stamp "Texas Card"?

It's not Thunderbird, so I don't see why not.

[names]

I smell a juicy lawsuit if one of the cart collectors was "accidentally" hurt while collecting carts off store property.