Shopping cart

A shopping cart (also called a trolley in British and Australian English; sometimes referred to as a carriage or shopping carriage in the U.S. region of New England; also known as a bascart in some regions of the U.S., basket in others, and buggy in Parts of B.C, and the American South.) is a cart supplied by a shop, especially a supermarket, for use by customers inside the shop for transport of merchandise to the check-out counter during shopping, and often to the customer's car after paying as well. Often, customers are allowed to leave the carts in the parking lot, and store personnel return the carts to the shop.

Design

Almost all shopping carts are made of metal or plastic and designed to nest within each other in a line to facilitate moving many at one time, and to save on storage space. The carts can come in many sizes, with larger ones able to carry a child. There are also specialized carts designed for two children, and electric mobility scooters with baskets designed for disabled customers. 24,000 children are injured each year in shopping carts according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Some stores have child carts that look like a car or van where a child can sit in the seat while shopping. Such "Car-Carts" or "Beans", as some people call them in the cart business, may offer added protection for children by keeping the child restrained, lower to the ground as well as protected from falling items while they are kept amused.

Shopping carts are almost always fitted with four caster wheels and legs which can point in any direction to allow "easy" maneuvering. However, when any one of the wheels jams, the cart can become extremely difficult to handle. Some carts only have swivel caster wheels on the front, while the rear ones are locked. This presumably improves the steering life of the cart, at the expense of maneuverability.

An alternative to the shopping cart is a small handheld shopping basket. A customer can often choose between a cart and a basket, and may prefer a basket if the amount of merchandise is small. Small shops, where carts would be impractical, often supply only baskets. A third options is a collapsible utility cart. The basket of the collapsible utility cart is pivotally mounted to a forward facing, C-shaped cart frame. As the lower portion of the C-shaped cart frame is moved under a truck bed, the upper part containing the basket slides onto the truck bed. The frame is then pivoted upward around the truck bumper and about the basket and conveniently stored around the basket. U.S. patent 5,503,424 details this invention.

Often there is the problem of theft of shopping carts by pedestrian customers who use them to carry items home. See "Theft Prevention" below.

History

The first shopping cart was introduced on June 4, 1937, the invention of Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Piggly-Wiggly supermarket chain in Oklahoma City. With the assistance of Fred Young, a mechanic, Goldman constructed the first shopping cart, basing his design on that of a wooden folding chair. They built it with a metal frame and added wheels and wire baskets. Another mechanic, Arthur Kosted, developed a method to mass produce the carts by inventing an assembly line capable of forming and welding the wire. The cart was awarded patent number 2,196,914 on April 9, 1940 (Filing date: March 14, 1938), titled, "Folding Basket Carriage for Self-Service Stores". They advertised the invention as part of a new “No Basket Carrying Plan.”

The invention did not catch on immediately. Men found them effeminate; women found them suggestive of a baby carriage. "I've pushed my last baby buggy," an offended women informed him. After hiring several male and female models to push his new invention around his store and demonstrate their utility, as well as greeters to explain their use, shopping carts became extremely popular and Goldman became a multimillionaire. Goldman continued to make modifications to his original design, and the basket size of the shopping cart increased as stores realized that their customers purchased more as its size increased. Today, most big-box stores and supermarkets have shopping carts for the convenience of the shoppers.

Rental

In many countries, the customer has to pay a small deposit by inserting a coin, which is returned if and when the customer returns the cart to a designated cart parking point. The deposit varies, but usually coins of higher value, such as € 1 or £ 1 are used. While the deposit systems usually are designed to accommodate a certain size of domestic coin, foreign coins, former currencies (like DM coins) or even appropriately folded pieces of cardboard can be used to unlock the trolleys as well. Some retailers sell "trolley tokens" as an alternative to coins, often for charity. The motivation behind the deposit systems is not theft deterrent since the trolley is worth significantly more than the deposit, however through this fee the retailer seeks to reduce the expense of their employees having to gather the carts that were not returned, and to avoid damages by runaway trolleys. The deposit system has never really set foot on a widespread basis in the United States, with some foreign chains like Aldi – who require a $0.25 deposit – as an exception to the general rule.

A system similar to the shopping trolley deposit is also used for profit with luggage carts at many airports, where companies like Smarte Carte charge two or more dollars (U.S.) (or equivalent) for rental, and return a small token reward of a quarter (25 ¢) for returning carts to the other end of any dispenser machine.

Health concerns

According to a study conducted by the University of Arizona's Environmental Research lab^{[citation needed]}, grocery carts are havens for urine, mucus, and human saliva. Shopping carts have been ranked third on the list for worst public items to touch. This is probably due to the fact that most shopping carts are used by many different people and that the seat where babies sit on with one customer may be used for fruit and raw meat by another. Steps to promote less germ-filled shopping carts are being acted on in New Jersey and Arkansas, where recent bills have been passed requiring sanitary napkins to be given to customers. ^{[citation needed]}

Theft prevention

Electronic

Theft deterrent systems are becoming popular in many shopping centers.^{[citation needed]} An electronic system works by locking one of the wheels, usually one on the front, when the cart is rolled out of a designated area. Each shopping cart is fitted with an electronic locking wheel, or 'boot'. A transmitter with a thin wire is placed around the perimeter of the parking lot. The boot locks when the cart leaves the designated area. Often a line is painted in front of the broadcast range to warn customers that their cart will stop when rolled past the line. The locked wheel is usually unlocked with a portable electronic device carried by store staff called a "CartKey" that sends a signal to the boot, unlocking the wheel.^{[citation needed]}

Physical

Another less high-tech form of theft prevention is with the use of a physical impediment. One method popular in smaller stores is to use a vertical pole attached to the cart which is of a height greater than the store's doors will allow past.^{[citation needed]}

References

Ted Morgan, On Becoming American (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978), pp. 245-6.

External links