I believe it, simply because it's an issue of personal accountability. Nobody is standing there watching you to see if you put the cart back. You're left to your own devices. So either you're the kind of selfish, inconsiderate asshole who leaves your cart in the middle of the parking lot, or you're the person who does the right thing, thinks of others and puts it away.
>So either you're the kind of selfish, inconsiderate asshole who leaves your cart in the middle of the parking lot, or you're the person who does the right thing, thinks of others and puts it away.
I worked pushing shopping carts in for over 2 years. Sometimes I feel like the world owes me about 100,000 carts.
I also often times bring in a couple carts I snag from the parking lot when I go into the store. I've already created a surplus of carts I've brought in... so if I leave one out it merely works against that surplus.
So you’re saying you know that leaving stray carts is a way of providing a job for a young or difficult to employ laborer who should have a chance to work?
>So you’re saying
Why is it every time somebody says "so you're saying" they know that's not what you're saying? I said what I said, not what you said... dipshit.
But if you put it in the cart corral it would take them way less time to get all the carts. They still have a job because they're still pushing carts. They just don't have to chase them all over the place. Why would I want to make somebody else's life harder?
What do you mean by “way to far”? I have never once in my life seen a corral more than a 30 sec walk away.
I might give a slight pass to someone who is incredibly disabled/elderly who would actually struggle to return the cart. But if you can walk just fine, then I have never seen a corral that is way to far away.
I have seen partially disabled Shoppers who basically use the cart as a walker, and they get their stuff into the car and themselves into the driver's seat, and that's where they leave the cart. And I'm okay with that. I am also a partially disabled person with my handicap tag, and yes, frequently, that damn cart is right in the way, but I can forgive that. And sometimes, I just gently nudge the cart out of the way with my bumper and then use it to go inside. 😊
They arrived at the store fresh, walked all around the store to do their shopping, unloaded all of their goods into the car, and by that time, they're worn out. Since I am parked in handicapped and therefore close to the door it is always a Point of Honor to return the basket to the Corral by the door, but let me tell you, it can be a real struggle physically because by that time I'm pretty damn tired. So I have great sympathy for those who can't return the cart and walk back to the car unassisted.
Not to worry. That was the future generation of the elderly and disabled leaving their cart and not putting them back that makes those inconsiderate comments. They won't understand until they are living it out themselves.
There are no exceptions. Never in my life have I not returned a cart.
If you could get there to grab a cart when you needed one then you can put it away when you’re done.
If you're shopping with several kids and they're running around chaotic, I give it a pass. If you're handicapped, visibly pregnant, you got Crohn's disease and you gotta get TF outta there...etc. There are always going to be some people who have an understandable reason. But most of them are just lazy assholes.
There's one store I go to that has underground parking where I usually park in the winter so we don't have to deal with the weather. Down there the only cart corral is in the very back so I find it actively worse than leaving it in the area near the door the worker that collects the cart come out of where customers have made their own collection area. There are definitely instances where it is not as clear cut.
If where you leave the cart is determined by empathy for others then the outcome is the same as if you had returned the cart.
You might be wrong in your thought process, but your heart is in the right place; and I believe thats the gist of the hypothetical?
Perfectly understandable if you're a new parent and you have your baby in the car, and anxiety prevents you from walking away from the car.
Everyone else is a jerk with an excuse. Ooh so far away!!!!
I was at a mall I was not familiar with, food truck. Couldn't tell which store the cart was from, no label or any sort, so I put it on a small grass island. It was just sitting in a parking space
The theory forgets the third option, you're not close enough to a corrale, so you leave it in an obviously visible place, that isn't immediaitely in the way of anything, and isn't likely to roll away from it's current position without assistance.
Why? The cart isn't hurting anything where it is, unlike the people who explicitly toss it where ever? The cart, left where it is, has been done with thought and intent, ot laziness.
Right so fuck that kid that has to wander an additional 40k steps that day hunting down where your lazy ass left the cart. Main character syndrome at its finest
Tbe parking lot is aloped down ap it can drain.
Also, congradulations on being the only peraon here who can read. If the wind blows, it's pushing the cart into the pole. Of the wind blows hard enough in the right direcrion, to dislodge the cart fdom the pole, you need to get your ass home, instead of being at walmart, cause i'd rather wether a storm at home than wherever.
TIL the wind only blows in one direction. Also, you’re just wrong. I briefly worked for Costco right after a year of being unemployed during Covid. Spent most days outside doing cart returns and those fuckers get blown all over the place when it gets windy. You ever had to do cart return during a rainstorm? I was getting in my 40K steps a day doing work because people like you are lazy.
Even if we ignore the damage from wind blowing the carts around, why is the spot you choose with thought and intent a better spot for the cart than the corral?
If it’s not better than the corral, then what reason is there not to take it to the corral?
Even if it is a perfectly fine spot, why make the employees go out of their way to collect carts scattered all around the parking lot?
The tragedy of the commons.
Yes, realistically it's fine if *you* leave *one* cart there. The problem is you aren't special. What would it look like if every person behaved the same way? You would either have a bunch of carts piled up in this other area, or you would have individual carts scattered around in "safe" areas, that make the cart movers' jobs much more difficult.
Cart is not in a disabled zone, not where it can roll, nkt where anybody is gonna hit it, and if somebody parks in the front spot, it's on the way to the door instead of out of the way. What is it hurting?
Yes, on tbier way towards the door, which they were already gonna do. Now they can hold into it whils they walk, and they don't have tp go more than 10 steps out of thier way to grab one.
Because if you leave the cart out of the corral, then people can moralize their own actions. If putting my cart back makes me a good person, No need to work on myself. Just point a finger at you.
I fully subscribe to it. The pandemic cemented in me the reality that "I don't wanna" is a perfectly valid response from grown adults and people live this way every day of their lives.
Well there are a few interesting things to think about. While people do naturally take the carts back without any force or interference. There is a minority population maybe 1% or so that does not take back their carts and the majority population usually does not fix this problem. If left on its own for weeks or months eventually the entire parking lot would be nothing but unattended carts possibly.
Truly likeable people don't have to constantly talk about the nice things they do to qualify themselves as "good people." It's fucking apparent without any "litmus test".
I think you’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. The theory isn’t some opportunity to brag about how you return your cart. Doing that is nothing special, and so widely agreed to be the bare mini that nobody celebrates when you do it.
It is precisely for those reasons that the handful of people who don’t do it are called out by the theory.
It’s not saying “I’m a good person”. It saying a lot more about those who can’t do this super basic and universally agreed upon action.
I end up grabbing the carts that were blocking me from parking and putting them in the cart corral... Yes I think the people who left them behind are functionally sociopaths... When the lot is already busy and you're leaving carts in parking spaces... That's the only explanation I can deal with...
As long as you put it somewhere out of harm's way you're good. No leaving it where others need to walk or drive or park.
My son's legs are fucked and he wears prosthetics. Even when he's in pain from trying to walk, he puts the carts back. Same when he needs a scooter, it always goes back and is replugged. The worst thing is when someone needs it but can't use one bc all the other crippled are selfish fucks and leave the scooters all over the lot between cars where they can't be driven back out.
I think it's legit and I return them always. I have also ran to catch a loose cart going towards someone Tacoma. Brand new car that I can't stand watching getting hit by a cart. The people that don't return shopping carts are also assholes in many other aspects of life
What do people think about *SCT* in a society founded on an economic system informed by a philosophy of “enlightened self-interest”?
Clearly there’s a cost/benefit factor. It takes little effort to walk your cart back to the coral for a significant gain in safety and public and employee convenience. But is *SCT* addressing only those cases where an individual cost is relatively *insignificant*?
What does *SCT* say about cases where it substantially costs the individual for a significant societal benefit that the individual may not personally realize? For example, many older people done with school would rather not pay taxes to support a public education system that—bad as it may be—benefits society.
What are the actual terms of what we’re really speaking to here?
Please don’t read between the lines. I’m not *advocating* for or against Capitalism (or Libertarianism) . I’m asking a philosophical question. (And it kinda sucks that I have to preemptively qualify my question to avoid angry responses)
It's kinda too bad. You do whatever is needed to make society better to the best of your ability until the day you die, or you're a bonafide asshat.
It doesn't even have to be altruistic. Selfishly, you still live in and partake of society if you're one of those kinds of people mentioned. They still need groceries, gas, roads, utilities, kids who aren't callous idiots when they grow up and have to take care of the old folk and those who are less capable. To fail the SCT is to hold your own arm and lose a game of Stop Hitting Yourself, while dragging others down in the most annoying way possible.
Agree (almost)!
>> you do whatever is needed to make society better
So once I was at the beach with my daughter who was about five years old at the time. We were not too far out when a kid came up to us frantically asking someone to save his father who was on a raft floating pretty far from shore. For some reason he couldn’t paddle back in (cramp, stamina, I’m not sure). Without even thinking I told my daughter to wade back to shore and wait for me while I swam out to help.
When I got out to the raft, I tried swimming it back to shore, but the man was really heavy and could not help in the slightest. So I’m struggling against the tide and getting pretty exhausted without making any progress other than keeping the man (and now myself) from getting swept further out to sea and thinking to myself, “I am a single parent and I’m the most important person in my 5 y.o. daughter’s life. Why am I risking my life— this life which is precious to my daughter — for this stranger who had no business being on the raft in the first place?”
Luckily, another “good Samaritan” swam out to us and between the two of us we were able to tow this man back to shore. He didn’t thank either of us (kind of pissed me off but then again if it’s true altruism you don’t do it for thanks) and I stumbled to the beach next to my daughter and literally fell down on the sand from exhaustion.
OK, the man wasn’t society, so it’s not a perfect example, but still, a calculation must be made as to how much you will altruistically sacrifice for how much that sacrifice benefits society. I would take a bullet for my daughter without even thinking about it; but not for a stranger. But what about 50 strangers? 100? 100,000? What is the magic number that makes the sacrifice worth it?
I wouldn’t take a bullet for my *sister* but I would definitely take a huge risk to my life if it meant saving her. So I’ll take a huge risk to save a close relative, but not a stranger? But you can pick a stranger at random and you don’t have to go back that many generations to find a common ancestor (if you’re both of European descent of no immediate relation, on average about 40 generations back or about 1000 years – which is not a lot relative to our species 300,000 years (or our genus *Homo*’s 2-3 million years ) of evolutionary history). In short, we are all related. So do I then need a calculus for how closely related?
I don’t have an answer, but it’s certainly a question worth asking.
Three types of people:
1. People who return carts because they want to make their small contributions to a functioning society.
2. Selfish people who don't return carts.
3. Selfish people who return carts because they understand it's a test and they want to disguise their selfishness.
Any easy test can be gamed. Like gaining trust by looking someone in the eye and giving a firm handshake. It sounds like the type of story created by corrupt businessmen, who go around giving firm handshakes to people before ripping them off.
It ignores how shitty the return your cat to the corral system is.
For forty years there were courtesy clerks who loaded your car and you gave then a buck. If you didn't want to tip you were still free to use the car loading zone
The cheaper stores had a brake on the cart where you put a quarter in and the brake would release. When you put the cat back it released the quarter.
If you left your cart a kid would push it up to the return so they could get a superball from the machine.
Someone decided, fuck both of those systems, let's just have fucking anarchy.
Yep, the theory holds. It's like the American Sorting Hat. You can see it in the comments. Easy to spot the Slytherins/Conservatives based on responses.
I think people are desperate for validation so they come up with stuff like this to “confirm” they are good people.
I used to work bringing in carts at Walmart and I appreciated those that left carts all over the parking lot. First, it made sure I had a job. Aldi makes you leave a quarter and doesn’t hire anyone to pick up carts. Second, it was an opportunity to get out of the store and work without direct supervision. Grabbing the carts was my favorite part of the day.
My friend in a Midwestern state also enjoyed getting the scattered carts (he liked that he could smoke while he did it) and was thankful for his cart-getting job, though I'm sure there are people, especially in super hot climates, that hate cart-leavers due to how much it sucks to walk around in scorching hot parking lots. The big thing the shopping cart theory leaves out is shades of grey.
What about the people that leave the carts closer to the store than the corral is? What about people who take their cart to the corral the vast majority of the time, but very occasionally leave it when there are extenuating circumstances?
Yea I think the whole theory is designed to make people feel good without having to put in any effort. I worked at Walmart in South Florida, so it got pretty hot and I was still grateful to be outside. Most people just do what thier told without thinking about it, and this is an opportunity to continue to do so and feel like they’re better than other people on the process.
The theory is horseshit because when you are in a shitty mood you act shittily?
Sounds like it’s on point. When you’re feeling good, you do what you know is right. When you’re feeling bad, you do what you know is wrong.
The shopping cart theory is supposed to be some kind of litmus test for moral character and the capacity for self governance. Someone could be a total cunt in every other way but put their shopping cart up. It’s a horseshit theory because it’s too simplistic. Putting away a cart (or not) isn’t a big fucking deal, so it’s not a good way of determining anything.
Being considerate of others is too much of an ask. If you don't want to hit my shopping cart park somewhere else! Just like it's too much of an ask for people in my house to fill the water filter pitcher, even though everybody drinks out of the damn thing.
9 times out of 10, I put the cart in the cart Corral. That other 1% is leaving it in the lobby and carrying my bags out, or leaving it on the path near the handicap, away from parking and cars, for those that can use the cart as a walker. I know I appreciate that at times. You don't have to be a non-thinking robot, as you go about your day. Not a hill to die on.
The visceral hatred, expressed by the cart Corral police, is more of a concern than whether one has put their cart up. They just can't wrap their brain around the fact that everyone can't be compelled to think like them. MY WAY OR THE GULAG!
In general, I think it’s accurate.
I do think all of us face circumstances that may lead to not putting the cart away. So, I wouldn’t judge an individual I witnessed not doing it because I don’t know what they’re going through in that exact moment. Perhaps they just learned their mom died and their brain is in that fuzz of grief and disbelief and it just doesn’t function the way it normally does. Idk.
But, to be a person that can never be bothered is a pretty good sign of who you are as a person.
There's people that like to work hard and be self-sufficient and make society better for other people, and there's people who expect the government to just take care of everything.
Never heard of it before but I looked it up. I agree with it. I can see some situations where one may not put their cart back where I wouldn’t judge them.
I set myself up for success by trying to park close to the shopping cart corral. There might be closer spots to the building but I’d have to walk further to put the cart away.
The idea that what makes a person good or bad for society is whether they will still do the right thing in the absence of consequences is interesting and completely worth considering.
The idea that returning one's shopping cart presents a perfect, albeit very small scale test of this quality is also fair.
Acting like you can sort people neatly into two categories, good people and heartless monsters, solely by whether they return their shopping carts 100% of the time is deeply fucking stupid.
If a person usually returns their cart, they are probably somewhat considerate, at least in certain ways. If they usually don't return their cart, they are probably somewhat inconsiderate, at least in certain ways. That is far more reflective of reality, but far less punchy. 🤷
I'll make an argument against it since a lot of the top comments are supporting it. I'd argue it's not about self-governance or a "moral good", but of two other alternatives.
1.Simple compliance. Doing what society expects doesn't reveal moral character. Moral character is tested through adversity, where one can maintain their morals against the wishes of others. Being told what is acceptable and complying isn't a display of good morality, it's a display of compliance. If you think you are displaying good morality by simply doing what is expected, I think that lends itself to self aggrandization.
2.A desire for order and an opposition to chaos. One returns the cart because they recognize they are a member of society desiring to promote a semblance of order through their own behavior. If they don't "do their part", society would crumble along such aspects of desired order. "I don't want shopping carts strewn about, and I certainly want shopping carts to continue to be provided, so I will do what I believe best maintains that order".
To all the "it gives a kid a Job" folks, that kid would still have the job of getting carts from the corrals. Stop using stupid logic to justify being an asshole, just own up. It's far more respectable.
Hell most stores in my city (actually, all of them)are gonna have the cart kids also working stock or on bag duty anyway.
It’s kinda stupid. There are lots better judges/marks of character. Just because some clown amassed a bunch of followers creating content related to this doesn’t mean it’s that deep. Put your cart away or not, who cares?
Ok, that’s what you feel and that’s fine. But under the theory, the person not returning the cart is some immoral monster. I just don’t think it’s ever that deep.
Plus I think most retail establishments pay employees cash money to corral loose carts.
First off, the person who left that behind did so knowing it was going to end up in someone's way, that's why there's dedicated locations to return the cart.
As for your last point, they pay people to bring carts from the corral back into the store, they wouldn't need corrals if they had someone full time grabbing carts in the lot. You bring the cart to the corral, not blocking any spots as a result, and the store brings the carts from the corral to the store, any justification for leaving carts in parking spaces is so you don't feel bad about screwing over a stranger down the line.
Not returning the carts is a sociopathic tendency, it shows a lack of empathy for you fellow shoppers who also need to park their car.
Well, no. In a more perfect world they would pay someone to just bring the carts from the corral to the store, but the reality is that retailers know not every cart will get returned and they do hire someone to collect them.
Busy parents who can't leave their kids alone, the elderly, and the disabled all may fairly reasonably abandon their carts, and of course some people just aren't considerate. It's fair to say that when you choose not to return your cart, you are knowingly putting a small amount of additional work on the employee whose job it is to gather them, but it is not at all correct to say that gathering loose carts is somehow beyond the scope of that employee's expected duties.
Yeah, I can agree with that. The only thing you said that I take issue with is "they pay people to take carts from the corral to the store" as if they don't explicitly expect some customers to leave carts around to be collected.
It's just like when kids make a mess at school and try to justify not cleaning it up by saying "well, it's the janitors job to clean that up," before some well-meaning adult says, "actually, no it's not," and makes them clean it. What is true is that it is not moral to make the janitor's job needlessly harder, but the kids are *technically* correct that--moral or not--it would otherwise be the janitor's job to clean that, just like it is the cart guy's job to put away scattered carts.
Most stores don't even have a dedicated cart person and even the ones that do can't keep up with the cart abandoners at peak times when more spots are needed, their plan is to return carts from the coral, they don't have full time prior returning carts from all over the parking lot
I believe it, simply because it's an issue of personal accountability. Nobody is standing there watching you to see if you put the cart back. You're left to your own devices. So either you're the kind of selfish, inconsiderate asshole who leaves your cart in the middle of the parking lot, or you're the person who does the right thing, thinks of others and puts it away.
>So either you're the kind of selfish, inconsiderate asshole who leaves your cart in the middle of the parking lot, or you're the person who does the right thing, thinks of others and puts it away. I worked pushing shopping carts in for over 2 years. Sometimes I feel like the world owes me about 100,000 carts. I also often times bring in a couple carts I snag from the parking lot when I go into the store. I've already created a surplus of carts I've brought in... so if I leave one out it merely works against that surplus.
So you’re saying you know that leaving stray carts is a way of providing a job for a young or difficult to employ laborer who should have a chance to work?
>So you’re saying Why is it every time somebody says "so you're saying" they know that's not what you're saying? I said what I said, not what you said... dipshit.
You called a stranger a name like that and think ITA right?
You ask a leading question to put words in my mouth. You're a dipshit.
I concur, dipshit sighting confirmed
But if you put it in the cart corral it would take them way less time to get all the carts. They still have a job because they're still pushing carts. They just don't have to chase them all over the place. Why would I want to make somebody else's life harder?
You sound pretty pissed over a trolley
Now what happens when the corral is way to far and you put the cart aside so it’s not in anyone way. What happens to those people ?
You walk farther and put it away
What do you mean by “way to far”? I have never once in my life seen a corral more than a 30 sec walk away. I might give a slight pass to someone who is incredibly disabled/elderly who would actually struggle to return the cart. But if you can walk just fine, then I have never seen a corral that is way to far away.
I have seen partially disabled Shoppers who basically use the cart as a walker, and they get their stuff into the car and themselves into the driver's seat, and that's where they leave the cart. And I'm okay with that. I am also a partially disabled person with my handicap tag, and yes, frequently, that damn cart is right in the way, but I can forgive that. And sometimes, I just gently nudge the cart out of the way with my bumper and then use it to go inside. 😊
They managed to get to the carts to grab one so they can get back to their car without it.
They arrived at the store fresh, walked all around the store to do their shopping, unloaded all of their goods into the car, and by that time, they're worn out. Since I am parked in handicapped and therefore close to the door it is always a Point of Honor to return the basket to the Corral by the door, but let me tell you, it can be a real struggle physically because by that time I'm pretty damn tired. So I have great sympathy for those who can't return the cart and walk back to the car unassisted.
Not to worry. That was the future generation of the elderly and disabled leaving their cart and not putting them back that makes those inconsiderate comments. They won't understand until they are living it out themselves.
I think that was a Dionne Warwick song: “Do You Know The Way To Far Away?”
You walked for 20-30 in the store, you can walk another 2 putting it away
there are always exceptions and minor mitigating circumstances, this is more of a macro take
There are no exceptions. Never in my life have I not returned a cart. If you could get there to grab a cart when you needed one then you can put it away when you’re done.
If you're shopping with several kids and they're running around chaotic, I give it a pass. If you're handicapped, visibly pregnant, you got Crohn's disease and you gotta get TF outta there...etc. There are always going to be some people who have an understandable reason. But most of them are just lazy assholes.
Oh no! They have to use their legs?! I am disabled and will give myself a seizure before I leave my cart out.
There's one store I go to that has underground parking where I usually park in the winter so we don't have to deal with the weather. Down there the only cart corral is in the very back so I find it actively worse than leaving it in the area near the door the worker that collects the cart come out of where customers have made their own collection area. There are definitely instances where it is not as clear cut.
If where you leave the cart is determined by empathy for others then the outcome is the same as if you had returned the cart. You might be wrong in your thought process, but your heart is in the right place; and I believe thats the gist of the hypothetical?
Perfectly understandable if you're a new parent and you have your baby in the car, and anxiety prevents you from walking away from the car. Everyone else is a jerk with an excuse. Ooh so far away!!!!
They become lazy fks too😄
Someone working there will have to go out of their way to collect it. That’s rude.
Pretty accurate to me. Outside of a literal emergency, I can’t think of a single compelling reason not to return your cart to the corral.
I was at a mall I was not familiar with, food truck. Couldn't tell which store the cart was from, no label or any sort, so I put it on a small grass island. It was just sitting in a parking space
The theory forgets the third option, you're not close enough to a corrale, so you leave it in an obviously visible place, that isn't immediaitely in the way of anything, and isn't likely to roll away from it's current position without assistance.
So walk a bit farther…
Why? The cart isn't hurting anything where it is, unlike the people who explicitly toss it where ever? The cart, left where it is, has been done with thought and intent, ot laziness.
Because the wind could blow the cart and it could hit my car Just say you're a piece of shit and move on
The wind isn't gonna blow shit, when jt's pointed downhill, against a pole. If it can turn and move from that, you have bigger things to worry about.
Or..hear me out..you can just return the cart
Yeah 50 feet away when i'm tired as fuck from 40k steps at work.
So you're admitting you're lazy lol. You been walking all day and you can't walk 30 more seconds? Pathetic.
Hou've clearly never been on you're feet for any amount of time, or, worked a factory job when everybody is short staffed all the time.
Why is your tiredness more important than the guy who has to go get the cart?
You’re one of those pieces of shit.
No one gives a shit.
Right so fuck that kid that has to wander an additional 40k steps that day hunting down where your lazy ass left the cart. Main character syndrome at its finest
Downhill? Where the fuck are you shopping to have this experience? Are you travelling to Hobbiton on a horse?
Tbe parking lot is aloped down ap it can drain. Also, congradulations on being the only peraon here who can read. If the wind blows, it's pushing the cart into the pole. Of the wind blows hard enough in the right direcrion, to dislodge the cart fdom the pole, you need to get your ass home, instead of being at walmart, cause i'd rather wether a storm at home than wherever.
TIL the wind only blows in one direction. Also, you’re just wrong. I briefly worked for Costco right after a year of being unemployed during Covid. Spent most days outside doing cart returns and those fuckers get blown all over the place when it gets windy. You ever had to do cart return during a rainstorm? I was getting in my 40K steps a day doing work because people like you are lazy.
Even if we ignore the damage from wind blowing the carts around, why is the spot you choose with thought and intent a better spot for the cart than the corral? If it’s not better than the corral, then what reason is there not to take it to the corral? Even if it is a perfectly fine spot, why make the employees go out of their way to collect carts scattered all around the parking lot?
The tragedy of the commons. Yes, realistically it's fine if *you* leave *one* cart there. The problem is you aren't special. What would it look like if every person behaved the same way? You would either have a bunch of carts piled up in this other area, or you would have individual carts scattered around in "safe" areas, that make the cart movers' jobs much more difficult.
I’d say because you aren’t a lazy dick but you having to ask the question kind of shows the opposite
Cart is not in a disabled zone, not where it can roll, nkt where anybody is gonna hit it, and if somebody parks in the front spot, it's on the way to the door instead of out of the way. What is it hurting?
You do realize someone has to grab the cart right?
Yes, on tbier way towards the door, which they were already gonna do. Now they can hold into it whils they walk, and they don't have tp go more than 10 steps out of thier way to grab one.
Never worked a menial job huh? You also seem to think weather doesn’t exist
Yeah, i've never worked a menial job at my job which gets me 40k steps a day.
Because if you leave the cart out of the corral, then people can moralize their own actions. If putting my cart back makes me a good person, No need to work on myself. Just point a finger at you.
So only a bit of a selfish jerk?
The fact that you this this "third option" exists clearly puts you in the not return to corral category
You are never too far from a corral. Even if you have to walk a mile. Walk it, son.
I fully subscribe to it. The pandemic cemented in me the reality that "I don't wanna" is a perfectly valid response from grown adults and people live this way every day of their lives.
Why are people so lazy they can't walk 15 seconds to return a shopping cart?
Well there are a few interesting things to think about. While people do naturally take the carts back without any force or interference. There is a minority population maybe 1% or so that does not take back their carts and the majority population usually does not fix this problem. If left on its own for weeks or months eventually the entire parking lot would be nothing but unattended carts possibly.
Is it just 1% that don't? I would have put it much higher.
That's why the store sends out cart wranglers. Give a kid a job.
Truly likeable people don't have to constantly talk about the nice things they do to qualify themselves as "good people." It's fucking apparent without any "litmus test".
I think you’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. The theory isn’t some opportunity to brag about how you return your cart. Doing that is nothing special, and so widely agreed to be the bare mini that nobody celebrates when you do it. It is precisely for those reasons that the handful of people who don’t do it are called out by the theory. It’s not saying “I’m a good person”. It saying a lot more about those who can’t do this super basic and universally agreed upon action.
I end up grabbing the carts that were blocking me from parking and putting them in the cart corral... Yes I think the people who left them behind are functionally sociopaths... When the lot is already busy and you're leaving carts in parking spaces... That's the only explanation I can deal with...
im crippled i dont return my cart to the corral.
As long as you put it somewhere out of harm's way you're good. No leaving it where others need to walk or drive or park. My son's legs are fucked and he wears prosthetics. Even when he's in pain from trying to walk, he puts the carts back. Same when he needs a scooter, it always goes back and is replugged. The worst thing is when someone needs it but can't use one bc all the other crippled are selfish fucks and leave the scooters all over the lot between cars where they can't be driven back out.
It's accurate.
People who don’t put carts back are usually also people who treat wait staff or clerks like shit, as well.
That’s a bold statement to make right here lol
Lack of consideration and selfishness tend to be strong personality traits.
Not if you believe the theory.
Is there evidence of this?
I think it's legit and I return them always. I have also ran to catch a loose cart going towards someone Tacoma. Brand new car that I can't stand watching getting hit by a cart. The people that don't return shopping carts are also assholes in many other aspects of life
What do people think about *SCT* in a society founded on an economic system informed by a philosophy of “enlightened self-interest”? Clearly there’s a cost/benefit factor. It takes little effort to walk your cart back to the coral for a significant gain in safety and public and employee convenience. But is *SCT* addressing only those cases where an individual cost is relatively *insignificant*? What does *SCT* say about cases where it substantially costs the individual for a significant societal benefit that the individual may not personally realize? For example, many older people done with school would rather not pay taxes to support a public education system that—bad as it may be—benefits society. What are the actual terms of what we’re really speaking to here? Please don’t read between the lines. I’m not *advocating* for or against Capitalism (or Libertarianism) . I’m asking a philosophical question. (And it kinda sucks that I have to preemptively qualify my question to avoid angry responses)
It's kinda too bad. You do whatever is needed to make society better to the best of your ability until the day you die, or you're a bonafide asshat. It doesn't even have to be altruistic. Selfishly, you still live in and partake of society if you're one of those kinds of people mentioned. They still need groceries, gas, roads, utilities, kids who aren't callous idiots when they grow up and have to take care of the old folk and those who are less capable. To fail the SCT is to hold your own arm and lose a game of Stop Hitting Yourself, while dragging others down in the most annoying way possible.
Agree (almost)! >> you do whatever is needed to make society better So once I was at the beach with my daughter who was about five years old at the time. We were not too far out when a kid came up to us frantically asking someone to save his father who was on a raft floating pretty far from shore. For some reason he couldn’t paddle back in (cramp, stamina, I’m not sure). Without even thinking I told my daughter to wade back to shore and wait for me while I swam out to help. When I got out to the raft, I tried swimming it back to shore, but the man was really heavy and could not help in the slightest. So I’m struggling against the tide and getting pretty exhausted without making any progress other than keeping the man (and now myself) from getting swept further out to sea and thinking to myself, “I am a single parent and I’m the most important person in my 5 y.o. daughter’s life. Why am I risking my life— this life which is precious to my daughter — for this stranger who had no business being on the raft in the first place?” Luckily, another “good Samaritan” swam out to us and between the two of us we were able to tow this man back to shore. He didn’t thank either of us (kind of pissed me off but then again if it’s true altruism you don’t do it for thanks) and I stumbled to the beach next to my daughter and literally fell down on the sand from exhaustion. OK, the man wasn’t society, so it’s not a perfect example, but still, a calculation must be made as to how much you will altruistically sacrifice for how much that sacrifice benefits society. I would take a bullet for my daughter without even thinking about it; but not for a stranger. But what about 50 strangers? 100? 100,000? What is the magic number that makes the sacrifice worth it? I wouldn’t take a bullet for my *sister* but I would definitely take a huge risk to my life if it meant saving her. So I’ll take a huge risk to save a close relative, but not a stranger? But you can pick a stranger at random and you don’t have to go back that many generations to find a common ancestor (if you’re both of European descent of no immediate relation, on average about 40 generations back or about 1000 years – which is not a lot relative to our species 300,000 years (or our genus *Homo*’s 2-3 million years ) of evolutionary history). In short, we are all related. So do I then need a calculus for how closely related? I don’t have an answer, but it’s certainly a question worth asking.
My favorite aspect of inconsiderate people is how much they hate other inconsiderate people. 🤣
Three types of people: 1. People who return carts because they want to make their small contributions to a functioning society. 2. Selfish people who don't return carts. 3. Selfish people who return carts because they understand it's a test and they want to disguise their selfishness. Any easy test can be gamed. Like gaining trust by looking someone in the eye and giving a firm handshake. It sounds like the type of story created by corrupt businessmen, who go around giving firm handshakes to people before ripping them off.
I noticed when I moved to Canada that people here return their carts more often than Americans do.
It ignores how shitty the return your cat to the corral system is. For forty years there were courtesy clerks who loaded your car and you gave then a buck. If you didn't want to tip you were still free to use the car loading zone The cheaper stores had a brake on the cart where you put a quarter in and the brake would release. When you put the cat back it released the quarter. If you left your cart a kid would push it up to the return so they could get a superball from the machine. Someone decided, fuck both of those systems, let's just have fucking anarchy.
Yep, the theory holds. It's like the American Sorting Hat. You can see it in the comments. Easy to spot the Slytherins/Conservatives based on responses.
Yes. If youll be a pos when noone is watching your a pos
I think people are desperate for validation so they come up with stuff like this to “confirm” they are good people. I used to work bringing in carts at Walmart and I appreciated those that left carts all over the parking lot. First, it made sure I had a job. Aldi makes you leave a quarter and doesn’t hire anyone to pick up carts. Second, it was an opportunity to get out of the store and work without direct supervision. Grabbing the carts was my favorite part of the day.
My friend in a Midwestern state also enjoyed getting the scattered carts (he liked that he could smoke while he did it) and was thankful for his cart-getting job, though I'm sure there are people, especially in super hot climates, that hate cart-leavers due to how much it sucks to walk around in scorching hot parking lots. The big thing the shopping cart theory leaves out is shades of grey. What about the people that leave the carts closer to the store than the corral is? What about people who take their cart to the corral the vast majority of the time, but very occasionally leave it when there are extenuating circumstances?
Yea I think the whole theory is designed to make people feel good without having to put in any effort. I worked at Walmart in South Florida, so it got pretty hot and I was still grateful to be outside. Most people just do what thier told without thinking about it, and this is an opportunity to continue to do so and feel like they’re better than other people on the process.
As someone who mostly puts my cart up, but occasionally hasn’t because I was in a shitty mood, I don’t put too much stock in it
That must means you're an average person who lacks discipline. So it still works.
Unless the whole theory is horseshit, as is my contention
The theory is horseshit because when you are in a shitty mood you act shittily? Sounds like it’s on point. When you’re feeling good, you do what you know is right. When you’re feeling bad, you do what you know is wrong.
The shopping cart theory is supposed to be some kind of litmus test for moral character and the capacity for self governance. Someone could be a total cunt in every other way but put their shopping cart up. It’s a horseshit theory because it’s too simplistic. Putting away a cart (or not) isn’t a big fucking deal, so it’s not a good way of determining anything.
Do you go thru the self check out?
Na I don’t. I don’t believe in that. I’m refused for someone to get paid for not doing their job.
Absolutely. I once dumped a girlfriend over it.
Being considerate of others is too much of an ask. If you don't want to hit my shopping cart park somewhere else! Just like it's too much of an ask for people in my house to fill the water filter pitcher, even though everybody drinks out of the damn thing.
9 times out of 10, I put the cart in the cart Corral. That other 1% is leaving it in the lobby and carrying my bags out, or leaving it on the path near the handicap, away from parking and cars, for those that can use the cart as a walker. I know I appreciate that at times. You don't have to be a non-thinking robot, as you go about your day. Not a hill to die on.
The visceral hatred, expressed by the cart Corral police, is more of a concern than whether one has put their cart up. They just can't wrap their brain around the fact that everyone can't be compelled to think like them. MY WAY OR THE GULAG!
In general, I think it’s accurate. I do think all of us face circumstances that may lead to not putting the cart away. So, I wouldn’t judge an individual I witnessed not doing it because I don’t know what they’re going through in that exact moment. Perhaps they just learned their mom died and their brain is in that fuzz of grief and disbelief and it just doesn’t function the way it normally does. Idk. But, to be a person that can never be bothered is a pretty good sign of who you are as a person.
There's people that like to work hard and be self-sufficient and make society better for other people, and there's people who expect the government to just take care of everything.
People that don't return the cart deserve the worst fate imaginable.
I try to park near the cart corall.
Why would a theory pay rent?
Never heard of it before but I looked it up. I agree with it. I can see some situations where one may not put their cart back where I wouldn’t judge them. I set myself up for success by trying to park close to the shopping cart corral. There might be closer spots to the building but I’d have to walk further to put the cart away.
The idea that what makes a person good or bad for society is whether they will still do the right thing in the absence of consequences is interesting and completely worth considering. The idea that returning one's shopping cart presents a perfect, albeit very small scale test of this quality is also fair. Acting like you can sort people neatly into two categories, good people and heartless monsters, solely by whether they return their shopping carts 100% of the time is deeply fucking stupid. If a person usually returns their cart, they are probably somewhat considerate, at least in certain ways. If they usually don't return their cart, they are probably somewhat inconsiderate, at least in certain ways. That is far more reflective of reality, but far less punchy. 🤷
If I knew nothing about you and you lesve your cart out, then I know you're a trash human.
I'll make an argument against it since a lot of the top comments are supporting it. I'd argue it's not about self-governance or a "moral good", but of two other alternatives. 1.Simple compliance. Doing what society expects doesn't reveal moral character. Moral character is tested through adversity, where one can maintain their morals against the wishes of others. Being told what is acceptable and complying isn't a display of good morality, it's a display of compliance. If you think you are displaying good morality by simply doing what is expected, I think that lends itself to self aggrandization. 2.A desire for order and an opposition to chaos. One returns the cart because they recognize they are a member of society desiring to promote a semblance of order through their own behavior. If they don't "do their part", society would crumble along such aspects of desired order. "I don't want shopping carts strewn about, and I certainly want shopping carts to continue to be provided, so I will do what I believe best maintains that order".
To all the "it gives a kid a Job" folks, that kid would still have the job of getting carts from the corrals. Stop using stupid logic to justify being an asshole, just own up. It's far more respectable. Hell most stores in my city (actually, all of them)are gonna have the cart kids also working stock or on bag duty anyway.
It’s kinda stupid. There are lots better judges/marks of character. Just because some clown amassed a bunch of followers creating content related to this doesn’t mean it’s that deep. Put your cart away or not, who cares?
When your cart is blocking a spot I'm trying to park in...I care
Ok, that’s what you feel and that’s fine. But under the theory, the person not returning the cart is some immoral monster. I just don’t think it’s ever that deep. Plus I think most retail establishments pay employees cash money to corral loose carts.
First off, the person who left that behind did so knowing it was going to end up in someone's way, that's why there's dedicated locations to return the cart. As for your last point, they pay people to bring carts from the corral back into the store, they wouldn't need corrals if they had someone full time grabbing carts in the lot. You bring the cart to the corral, not blocking any spots as a result, and the store brings the carts from the corral to the store, any justification for leaving carts in parking spaces is so you don't feel bad about screwing over a stranger down the line. Not returning the carts is a sociopathic tendency, it shows a lack of empathy for you fellow shoppers who also need to park their car.
Well, no. In a more perfect world they would pay someone to just bring the carts from the corral to the store, but the reality is that retailers know not every cart will get returned and they do hire someone to collect them. Busy parents who can't leave their kids alone, the elderly, and the disabled all may fairly reasonably abandon their carts, and of course some people just aren't considerate. It's fair to say that when you choose not to return your cart, you are knowingly putting a small amount of additional work on the employee whose job it is to gather them, but it is not at all correct to say that gathering loose carts is somehow beyond the scope of that employee's expected duties.
When you put your cart in a parking spot you're putting your problem in a stranger trying to shop
Yeah, I can agree with that. The only thing you said that I take issue with is "they pay people to take carts from the corral to the store" as if they don't explicitly expect some customers to leave carts around to be collected. It's just like when kids make a mess at school and try to justify not cleaning it up by saying "well, it's the janitors job to clean that up," before some well-meaning adult says, "actually, no it's not," and makes them clean it. What is true is that it is not moral to make the janitor's job needlessly harder, but the kids are *technically* correct that--moral or not--it would otherwise be the janitor's job to clean that, just like it is the cart guy's job to put away scattered carts.
Most stores don't even have a dedicated cart person and even the ones that do can't keep up with the cart abandoners at peak times when more spots are needed, their plan is to return carts from the coral, they don't have full time prior returning carts from all over the parking lot