Shopping trolley theory - be honest!

[texasholden]

The theory is that if you return it you’re a good person and if you don’t then you’re a shit person.

Shopping Cart Theory suggests the ultimate way to test moral goodness is to see whether or not someone will do the “right” thing in the absence of accountability, consequence, or reward.

Have you ever not bothered?

I do in the UK.

However, I mostly live in Forn Parts, & all the supermarkets here employ several young lads who will swoop down as you pay, wheel your shopping to your car, pack it neatly in the boot & take the trolley back to hand to the next person as they go in.

They are paid a pittance, & rely on tiny (20-50p ish) tips from entering/leaving customers.

So if you get/return your own trolley, you are a miserable selfish git who is too tight to tip the poor trolley boy! You will get glared & tutted at by the whole car park...

I will say I do take my trolley back! But just because it’s part of the process and I want my £1 back, not because I think it makes me a good person.

You’re one of those who don’t put it back, aren’t you?

No, only Aldi does where I live. Sainsbury’s,booths and Tesco don’t.

I only take mine back when I don't have a blister on my stump, or my hip has stayed in place, or if the slow wander around the store hasn't completely knackered me out.
I guess I'm a part-time twat 😁

Havent RTFT so excuse me if already mentioned, but isn’t that a chapter in the book by the guy who wrote The Good Place? It used everyday scenarios as an intro to moral philosophy.

So where do you leave it? In an empty space?

Imagine if someone dumped their trolley and the wind caused it to smash into your car and they said to you “sorry not sorry” ☺️

Exactly this op. Selfish as hell.

@texasholden Nope, I leave it against a bollard on the path beside the parent parking space. Not likely to roll away.

I refuse to cross the parking lot to the trolley bay while leaving a small baby in the car and out of my eyeline in a busy carpark

Well as long as you’re not inconvenienced that’s all that matters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/06/magazine/what-the-bagel-man-saw.html

I always return it but I really have done much worse things than not return it.

It's selfish, prickish behaviour not to return a shopping trolley. When it's windy they can cause havoc, bashing into cars and people.
I got a lovely dent in the back of my first car due to a shopping trolley gone rogue. Couldn't afford to repair it. It takes 30 seconds!

I always return them, and if there’s disarray in the trolley park I sort it out. Deep trolleys one one side, shallow on the other, all pushed to the back and nested properly.

I believe the world can be significantly better if everyone implements a few small optimisations geared towards efficiency in all areas of life. Like taking your empties back to the bar, aligning your shopping items with the barcodes pointing towards the laser lens.

Mum of 2 - you either unpack all the shopping, wheel baby and trolley to the return bay thing, take baby out and walk back to your car. Or, if it’s chucking it down, unload shopping, pop baby in the car, lock the door, walk the 10 seconds to the trolley bay.

It’s so entitled to think you can leave something that can easily damage a car or obstruct others.

I think it's more that the people who return them are conformist. There's no benefit to returning them but everyone does it so you follow the status quo. If everyone just left them then everyone else would leave them too but there's no change in 'goodness'. Hence why when there is a war - good people do bad things and when the building is on fire, people do what everyone else is doing or what they are told even if they would do a different action by their own volition.

I always return as I don't like seeing them randomly around in the way of the cars
If it's a pound for a trolley set up then i definitely return it!

There's no benefit to returning them
Apart from them not being left free to crash into cars or people or block empty spaces in the car park.

How big is the supermarket car park if you literally lose sight of your car when returning your trolley?

Big and busy! It's a tesco extra car park that's always full. I'd only be losing sight for 20 or 30 seconds but it makes me too anxious.
They've got trolley collectors there all the time.

As I say, pre kids I was a "return every time " person and I soon will be again, just not right now with a baby and a toddler.

@texasholden It is nothing to do with convenience, laziness or me being a "bad person".

I don't feel comfortable leaving a baby and toddler in a car when I can't see them. I make no apologies for this and I know the trolley is somewhere it will not roll and will soon be collected by the staff (they have a dedicated person for the job).

I could carry the 9kg baby while wrangling the toddler, dodging traffic, or I could let the trolley collectors do their job.

I appreciate it would be mayhem if everyone took my attitude, but it is only a small proportion of shoppers who have young kids or mobility issues and might do the same.

I always do, and I tidy up the little space in the carpark if they aren't put together

Agreed.

What do you do with your DC when you first arrive at Tesco if the space you pull into doesn't have a discarded trolly right next to it, you'll still have the same 9kg baby and a toddler, dodging traffic, on the way to find one.

Our markses has stopped locking them but not removed the locks and some bugger gets a kick out of linking them all together again.

I wish they would just repair or replace the now knackered coin slots so I don't lose money if I can't find an unlocked one (as they often don't let me get my coin back out) and I'm not the person muttering to myself as I tidy up the trolley bay so they're not spilling out into the path of oncoming cars and I can fit my own trolley in there.