A lot of the things we talk about as “little things that can change the world” is head stuff: “Be Willing to Be Wrong;” “Don’t Take Things Personally.” But remember, when we began looking at these Spirit Moxie Conversations about “little things,” we emphasized physical action. Our first “little thing” post was “Use Revolving Doors”! Really. It is what we do, as well as who and how we are, that makes a huge difference.

I’m suspicious that maybe returning shopping carts at the grocery store and, now, at many big chain stores is a particularly United States problem. People rushing out of a store with a week or month’s worth of stuff, packing it into their SUV, and driving off after just pushing their shopping carts toward the end of their parking spaces is a scene from US suburbia. 

OK, so you don’t do that. But why is “return shopping carts” such an important little thing to do? 

Loose shopping carts cause accidents. Some literally run away and crash into cars. They have hit people. Loose shopping carts create more work for store associates, but note they do not create more jobs. There are still people who come outside and bring these carts into the store when they are safely in their corrals. 

Just because you are using a shopping cart is not an excuse to take it home. Over a million shopping carts are stolen every year. You see them on the street, in apartment complexes, and in yards. It costs a store between $100 to $400 to replace one. This averages out to an extra $10,000 a  year or so reducing your favorite store’s bottom line. Those costs are passed along to you and everyone else that shops there. (Stats compliments of Google.)

As an example consider Aldi a Germany-based grocery store chain popular as a no-frills alternative in the United States. At these stores, customers pay a quarter (US$.25) to use a cart and then get the quarter back when the cart is returned. This helps the returning part but doesn’t decrease theft. Some people think that the quarter gives them the right to keep a couple hundred dollars’ worth of equipment. 

So, part of this post considers how our actions affect the economy vs our convenience. An earlier post asking for examples of such actions was  famously sparse. We simply don’t think that way. Writing this Conversation suggests other ideas of positive ways to support the economy and environment to me, but I don’t want to have it all be about my ideas. I want your thoughts. Add a comment to this post. Or post in the Moxie Movers Facebook group. Or write your own post. Send it to me at info@spiritmoxie.com. 

There’s a “shopping cart theory” that went viral. That theory says you can determine someone’s moral character by whether they return shopping carts. Yes, there are arguments about whether this is true.  But I think it is true that returning shopping carts is “a little thing that can change the world.” Thoughts? What would you add?

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All photos are by Spirit Moxie

From the top:
Shopping carts at a corral at a Fred Meyer grocery store
Target carts left by a bus stop
A quarter or twenty-five cents