To return the shopping cart, or not return the shopping cart?  That is the question.  But in reality, it shouldn't be a question at all.

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Returning a shopping cart to the corral when you are done with it is a pet peeve of mine.  Personally, I am the guy that not only returns my cart, but when I get to the coral, I will organize the carts, and even separate them into the correct sizes (This is really only a Wegmans thing...You're welcome Helping Hands team).

A while back, someone posted the "Shopping Cart Theory" to the interwebs, check it out here.

It goes as far as saying that those who do not return their carts are savages, and I kind of agree.

The full theory reads:

The shopping cart is ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.

To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right.

There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their care. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it.

No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will find you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct.

It doesn't take all that much effort to return the cart to its rightful home, and it can save headaches for lots of other people.  Wind can blow the cart across the parking lot, making for an obstacle course you have to weave in and out of when you get to the store.  It can also cause damage to your car.  I've been the victim of a renegade cart that has gouged up the side of my car, and I was none too pleased.

People are on both sides of the fence for sure.

When I go to a store where I know I am going to use a shopping cart, I go as far as to look for a parking spot close to the cart corral, so when I'm done it's only a few steps from my car and easy peasy.

So, the question is Western New York, do return your shopping cart when you are done with it or do you just leave it loose in the parking lot like a savage?

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