I am not trying to be a pain, but I thought I would offer this to you for your general information.
I was once told that those chrome plated shopping carts cost the markets above $200 each. In most states you will see a tag on the cart that says it is illegal to remove them from the store property. In southern cal there is a cottage industry, where people go around neighborhoods, apartment buildings and vacant lots and collect them. They are paid something like $5 or $10 for every cart they return. A second cottage industry, is the repair of these carts. These guys go to the stores and steam clean, repair weld and replace wheels on the carts.
I read an article in the LA Times about ten years ago about plastic milk crates. The grocery industry in southern Cal alone, spent $1.5 million each year to replace the stolen crates. and that was ten years ago. Those crates also have a notice about ownership.
I'm sure these grocery companies are big hearted and pass the savings along to their customers in the form of lower prices.
I'm not crying for the markets, but theft of that magnitude affects the price of milk and groceries that some mother has to pay to feed her children.
End of sermon.
