Joe Gokaho 2009.09.09 d3
I was at the local Costco store over the weekend. I had my vehicle parked close to a near by “raised curb island”. There were couple shopping carts parked on the “curb island” – that was nice, at least, I, as the next shopper won’t run into the run-away shopping carts.
I though it would be nice to bring one of the cart back to the store, may be I will help out the Costco associates collecting the carts back to the store front. I drag the cart off the island, somehow the carts lost footing, one of wheel stuck on the grassy island, the other wheels ran off the curb. The cart was in a awkward position – lost its balance and tumbled down and landed on the side. I didn’t realize how much “force” was needed to just bring the cart off the curb, despite I wasn’t successful at it. I can only wonder how much force is needed to lift the oversized shopping cart on the curb, and park it on a narrow strip of “Curb Island”.
There was a “return cart” slot – 5 parking spaces over from the “curb island”. I would think it is a lot easier to push the cart over 5 parking spaces than lifting the shopping cart on the island. Why would people do that? Not only has it taken more effort to lift the cart onto the “curb island”, it also blocking someone entering from the passenger side of the vehicle.
I though Costco stores have pretty good parking lot layout, “shopping carts return slots” are will strategically positioned – there is no reason not to return the carts to designated area, that makes everyone “safe” and their cars “safe’ from shopping carts.
