Anti-theft devices on shopping carts

[Stevicus]

I came across this story while browsing the news: Target Added Anti-Theft Sensors to Carts and People Are Struggling (msn.com)

The massively popular retail chain, however, is apparently implementing anti-theft technology in shopping carts designed to keep them operating within the perimeter of the store. And while it appears that this technology has been around for quite some time, there are some locations just getting carts equipped with this security feature now.

Something that TikToker Taylor Ann (@taylormadesince1993) gleefully shared evidence of as she sat outside a Target location and recorded people's reactions to seeing their carts stop midway through using them. Her clip quickly went viral, garnering over 450,000 likes and nearly 15,000 shares on the popular social media platform.

In the video, Taylor says, "You probably don't know this because it's clearly a brand new thing, but Target has installed sensors on the carts which make it so the carts cannot go outside a certain parameter of Target."

This isn't exactly new technology, as I've encountered this at numerous stores I've been to. Not all stores use them. They're supposed to work within the store and within the perimeter of the parking lot, so customers can still wheel their cart to their car and unload without difficulty. You probably wouldn't even know it's there if it's working properly and as expected.

Sometimes they malfunction. In this case, they may have been mistakenly programmed to activate the locking mechanism at the entrance of the store, rather than at the perimeter of the parking lot, leading to a situation of customers struggling to wheel out their purchases to their car with great difficulty.

I remember it used to be an occasional sight to see trucks going around neighborhoods to retrieve shopping carts that were left around. Sometimes I'd see 10-15 of them stacked up off the side of the road or in the corner of an alley. There was once a time when they'd let people wheel their carts home with permission of the management, provided that they promise to return the cart once they were done with it. Not anymore. Too many shopping carts scattered all over the place, creating a loss for the stores and a nuisance in the surrounding area.

Still, I hope they can come up with a better solution than having honest, responsible customers struggle with these infernal contraptions.

Has anyone else encountered problems with these devices?

 

[sun rise]

As I remember, I did drag carts around when the wheels malfunctioned. Unthinking enraged brute force wins over malfunctioning shopping carts.

 

[We Never Know]

I came across this story while browsing the news: Target Added Anti-Theft Sensors to Carts and People Are Struggling (msn.com)



This isn't exactly new technology, as I've encountered this at numerous stores I've been to. Not all stores use them. They're supposed to work within the store and within the perimeter of the parking lot, so customers can still wheel their cart to their car and unload without difficulty. You probably wouldn't even know it's there if it's working properly and as expected.

Sometimes they malfunction. In this case, they may have been mistakenly programmed to activate the locking mechanism at the entrance of the store, rather than at the perimeter of the parking lot, leading to a situation of customers struggling to wheel out their purchases to their car with great difficulty.

I remember it used to be an occasional sight to see trucks going around neighborhoods to retrieve shopping carts that were left around. Sometimes I'd see 10-15 of them stacked up off the side of the road or in the corner of an alley. There was once a time when they'd let people wheel their carts home with permission of the management, provided that they promise to return the cart once they were done with it. Not anymore. Too many shopping carts scattered all over the place, creating a loss for the stores and a nuisance in the surrounding area.

Still, I hope they can come up with a better solution than having honest, responsible customers struggle with these infernal contraptions.

Has anyone else encountered problems with these devices?

Here is the tiktok video..

#target #nostealing #targetcarts #FYP #pureentertainment #cartnarcs | TikTok

 

[Quintessence]

I haven't used a shopping cart in.... at least ten years? I bring my own bags. Anything that doesn't fit in the bag - or over my arms or easily carried - doesn't get bought. It's a good way of really, really forcing yourself to knock it off with the bad habit of single use plastic waste bags. So I'd be the last to notice any changes with carts, basically, and advocate getting rid of carts to force people to bring their own bags more. For larger items, that's what loading carts and salesfloor helpers are for. Those people could also help out with the physically less abled.

 

[Revoltingest]

It might help with a problem I face, ie,
returning abandoned shopping carts
to the stores who own them.

 

[Stevicus]

Here is the tiktok video..

#target #nostealing #targetcarts #FYP #pureentertainment #cartnarcs | TikTok

It appears that the carts are locking at a point which is a short distance from the store entrance, but somewhat off to the side where there's some other stores in the complex. It could be that Target doesn't consider that part of their parking lot and set the limit based on that.

 

[We Never Know]

I haven't used a shopping cart in.... at least ten years? I bring my own bags. Anything that doesn't fit in the bag - or over my arms or easily carried - doesn't get bought. It's a good way of really, really forcing yourself to knock it off with the bad habit of single use plastic waste bags. So I'd be the last to notice any changes with carts, basically, and advocate getting rid of carts to force people to bring their own bags more. For larger items, that's what loading carts and salesfloor helpers are for. Those people could also help out with the physically less abled.

How many people to you shop for?
If there were five in your family you shopped for, could you still do it that way?

 

[SomeRandom]

I haven't used a shopping cart in.... at least ten years? I bring my own bags. Anything that doesn't fit in the bag - or over my arms or easily carried - doesn't get bought. It's a good way of really, really forcing yourself to knock it off with the bad habit of single use plastic waste bags. So I'd be the last to notice any changes with carts, basically, and advocate getting rid of carts to force people to bring their own bags more. For larger items, that's what loading carts and salesfloor helpers are for. Those people could also help out with the physically less abled.

Does the US still have single use plastic bags?
I haven’t seen one of those in like 10 years!

 

[Stevicus]

Does the US still have single use plastic bags?
I haven’t seen one of those in like 10 years!

Plastic bag bans in the United States - Wikipedia

Green states = total ban; purple states = partial ban (in some counties but not statewide)

Some states have passed laws forbidding local jurisdictions from passing plastic bag bans.

 

[Shaul]

I don't understand. Why not just have your people do your shopping for you?

 

[Quintessence]

How many people to you shop for?
If there were five in your family you shopped for, could you still do it that way?

I remember my folks talking about the days of cornerside grocers everywhere. People did not shop for tons and tons of things at once, household size regardless. You would go often and regularly, getting fresh things to make for that day or perhaps for a couple of days. Easily carried with you, because you did not drive. You walked to store and back. That is how it was, not even that long ago. Go back further and supermarkets simply don't exist and certainly no grocery carts.

 

[Revoltingest]

I remember my folks talking about the days of cornerside grocers everywhere. People did not shop for tons and tons of things at once, household size regardless. You would go often and regularly, getting fresh things to make for that day or perhaps for a couple of days. Easily carried with you, because you did not drive. You walked to store and back. That is how it was, not even that long ago. Go back further and supermarkets simply don't exist and certainly no grocery carts.

Don't forget the daily arrival of the milkman.
I remember Sealtest potato chips. They came
in a can (a "tin"). Later, I saw one of those
tins for sale in an antique shop...minus the
potato chips!

 

[exchemist]

I came across this story while browsing the news: Target Added Anti-Theft Sensors to Carts and People Are Struggling (msn.com)



This isn't exactly new technology, as I've encountered this at numerous stores I've been to. Not all stores use them. They're supposed to work within the store and within the perimeter of the parking lot, so customers can still wheel their cart to their car and unload without difficulty. You probably wouldn't even know it's there if it's working properly and as expected.

Sometimes they malfunction. In this case, they may have been mistakenly programmed to activate the locking mechanism at the entrance of the store, rather than at the perimeter of the parking lot, leading to a situation of customers struggling to wheel out their purchases to their car with great difficulty.

I remember it used to be an occasional sight to see trucks going around neighborhoods to retrieve shopping carts that were left around. Sometimes I'd see 10-15 of them stacked up off the side of the road or in the corner of an alley. There was once a time when they'd let people wheel their carts home with permission of the management, provided that they promise to return the cart once they were done with it. Not anymore. Too many shopping carts scattered all over the place, creating a loss for the stores and a nuisance in the surrounding area.

Still, I hope they can come up with a better solution than having honest, responsible customers struggle with these infernal contraptions.

Has anyone else encountered problems with these devices?

Often. They can lock up if you get close to the entrance and then they don't unlock. Or they can intermittently half-lock up when you are wheeling them around inside the shop. Very annoying.

Mind you, as someone who rowed on the Thames in London for many decades, I can testify that rowing into an upturned trolley on the river bed at low tide is a very unpleasant (and often expensive) experience. It used to happen quite a lot until these devices appeared.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Has anyone else encountered problems with these devices?

Back a couple years ago when stores were limiting people and we waiting in lines outside, at a Smart n Final I wheeled the cart too far from the store getting in line and it triggered the security thing.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Green states = total ban; purple states = partial ban (in some counties but not statewide)

They aren't banned. We still have them. Why the hell is it called a ban?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I remember my folks talking about the days of cornerside grocers everywhere. People did not shop for tons and tons of things at once, household size regardless. You would go often and regularly, getting fresh things to make for that day or perhaps for a couple of days. Easily carried with you, because you did not drive. You walked to store and back. That is how it was, not even that long ago. Go back further and supermarkets simply don't exist and certainly no grocery carts.

It's that way around here still. There's even an IGA maybe a half mile from here. People still buy more at once and there's carts, but we have grocery stores here and there.

 

[Revoltingest]

Menards gives away free bags.
But I bring me own.
This helps them keep prices down.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Plastic bag bans in the United States - Wikipedia

Green states = total ban; purple states = partial ban (in some counties but not statewide)

Some states have passed laws forbidding local jurisdictions from passing plastic bag bans.

In Washington we still have plastic bags. They are heavy duty, multiple use bags and cost a dime each. I have my own grocery tote. It was about twenty bucks, within a year it will have paid for itself.

 

[Subduction Zone]

They aren't banned. We still have them. Why the hell is it called a ban?

Maybe it is a ban on free ones. We still have them too, but they are not free.

 

[Stevicus]

Maybe it is a ban on free ones. We still have them too, but they are not free.

The Wiki article indicates that it's a ban on disposable plastic bags.