Do we ever think about what happens to the shopping carts that we misplace in the parking lot? How do they get back to their original locations where they are supposed to be?
Either someone returns it, or maybe the shopping cart actually ended up hitting someone else's car.
We use the shopping cart, but then, after we are done using it, we do not even put it back where it belongs. As my friend and I wrote this article, we too realised how wrong we had been as well. We had been leaving shopping carts in the parking lots.
But after seeing carts roll by themselves and hitting cars in the parking lots, we decided, it is time for a change. We decided it was time for us to start returning the carts back to their appropriate locations. And perhaps by writing this article we believe others will do the same.
When we go shopping, stores show us courtesy by letting us use their shopping carts for free. Like cars, which have their specific parking spot, shopping carts have their own places as well for the stores that provide them. As customers, it becomes our duty to return the carts to their correct locations.
When was the last time you went to a grocery store and actually returned the cart to its proper location?
If you ask us, we realised that it was not at all hard to be able to return a cart to its proper place. If someone else were to abandon a shopping cart and it hit your car, I can guarantee you would not like it.
Ever get disappointed that there is a cart sitting in the parking spot you are about to park in to?
We might all have had one of those moments at some point or another. Either the cart is right in the middle of the parking spot or in the corner, in either case, we cannot park into the spot and nor can anyone else until someone removes the cart.
Why do we need that unnecessary frustration just because someone could not take a couple seconds to return a cart to the appropriate place?
Now, what would we get out of doing this two-second job? For one, we would be able to get satisfaction out of doing this good for ourselves and for society.
Secondly, stores will not have to invest workers into pushing carts out of parking lots to avoid angry customers complaining about damage done by carts. Those workers, instead of pushing carts, can help make the store more organised and cleaner, making it a better environment for everyone.
In addition, it also helps you, as customers, to avoid any damage to your car or any other person's car just because of a shopping cart, which was left abandoned. The next time you go shopping, you should return the shopping cart to its appropriate location with knowing the fact that you did something positive for the store and the community.
Suman Gedala, 20, is a student at the University of Rochester, New York. Hiral Gandhi, 21, is a student of Rutgers University, New Jersey
