Shopping Cart Woes

When I turn to park in a grocery store lot, I am sometimes annoyed when there is a shopping cart blocking the space. Why don’t shoppers park them in the areas designated for them after unloading?

I guess I can think of a few pretty good reasons for that. The baby is crying or it is pouring down rain.

Most stores have regular routines for bringing the carts back in so the next round of customers will have one to hold their goods. One store in the area where I live has carts equipped with a device that requires inserting a quarter to release the cart. The quarter is retrieved when the cart is returned. I have noticed that carts aren’t scattered around the parking lot there. But, I guess most stores don’t want to inconvenience their customers by adding this extra step to their shopping list.

However, another big drawback in today’s shopping carts, aside from their littering store parking lots, is that children may suffer lacerations, contusions, fractures, concussions and internal injuries if they jump or fall from a shopping cart. Children can get pinched in the folding mechanism of the seat or fall against the cart. Children are also at risk of injury from running into, or being hit by, shopping carts. They can get hurt from tipping carts over while climbing onto the outside of the basket, and from getting fingers or toes caught in the wheels.

Falls from shopping cart seats and baskets are the most common shopping-cart-related injury. Shopping carts have a high center of gravity and a narrow wheelbase, making them top heavy when loaded and therefore easy to tip over, especially when a child is placed in the seat. When children stand up, their chances of falling or tipping the cart over increase. Adult supervision is definitely a requirement.

Carts are improving, however. They are now often made of lighter materials such as plastic. They have seat belts to buckle children in. Some are made in the shape of cars with special seating for the youngsters with a toy steering wheel and dials and buttons on a dashboard. There is even some space left for Mom to put the items that she is going to purchase.

When visiting the grocery or department store with children, whatever cart is chosen, please remember little finger, toes and all the vulnerable parts. Limit the time required for children to stay in the cart. Make the trip to the store a pleasure, not a pain.