The other day I went shopping and overheard an announcement reminding shoppers to bring carts back to the corral. For me, the act of bringing the cart back is engrained in my very soul. since I was a kid my parents always taught me to bring it back rain or shine.
Why is this important? Well it’s a great way to judge someone’s character and moral compass. “The shopping cart theory” started being viral online after a few users on various platforms admitted they do not take the time to bring it back. Excuses included things like “Someone else will just grab it and shop later” or “they pay people do retrieve them, so why should I?”
Naturally the comments section was filled with people calling them out on their behavior, and thus the shopping cart theory was born. You can tell a lot about someone early on based off their actions, if they boast a lot, interrupt others during conversations to get their ten cents in etc. In the same way whether they return a shopping cart or not reveals a lot about them.
The act of returning a shopping cart is thankless, you don’t get a reward or a pat on the back for it and at most you might get the loonie or quarter returned that you used to grab the cart initially depending where you are. But it is the right thing to do. On a windy day it might go rogue and damage another shoppers car, it also makes an employees day easier retrieving the carts to be returned to the store. The idea is if you return the carts every time, you don’t require a reward or any form of recognition for doing the right thing, despite it taking a few seconds or minutes out of your day.
On the opposite end of the coin there is nothing stopping someone from just leaving it in the middle of the parking lot. There’s no law saying it must be done, and unless it has a coin lock it wont cost you anything if you just leave it there either. But society says returning it is the right thing to do, and I agree.
The shopping cart theory, one of the great litmus tests of every day life.
