Curbing cart theft
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From: Ablang on 6 Aug 2007 22:20 Curbing cart theft Laws, vigilance, high-tech devices all help By Jon Ortiz - Bee Staff Writer Last Updated 6:39 am PDT Monday, August 6, 2007 Story appeared in BUSINESS section, Page D1 http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/310397.html Shopping carts aren't the pushovers that they used to be. For decades, shopping basket theft has bedeviled stores, cities and citizens. But now merchants are marshaling high tech systems and old- fashioned vigilance to keep carts corralled. Six years ago in Sacramento about 2,000 shopping carts littered the streets and alleys on any given day. The problem was so pervasive that city staff took about 45 calls each week from angry residents reporting the blight. "It seemed like there were carts on every corner," said Bob Rose, Sacramento's chief code enforcer. "We couldn't keep up." Today, Sacramento officials get between six and seven cart complaint calls each week, Rose said. Although state law already made shopping cart theft a misdemeanor, a 2002 ordinance requires merchants with 50 or more carts to submit an "abandoned cart prevention plan" for approval. And stores that don't pick up their abandoned carts get dinged with a $50 fine for repeat offenses. "Sure, you can find a cart in the city on any given day if you look hard enough," Rose said, "but based on volume of complaints, we're in pretty good shape." While get-tough ordinances in Sacramento and elsewhere have helped merchants focus on shopping cart theft, that's only part of the story. Grocery stores in particular have been sensitive to the problem for many years. "Although a lot of retailers use shopping carts, people tend to talk about them in the context of the grocery industry," said Tim James of the Sacramento-based California Grocers Association. "That's because it's pretty easy to walk into Best Buy, spend $100 and not need a shopping cart. It's pretty hard to spend a $100 at a grocery store without one." A grocer loses more than its reputation when its carts litter a neighborhood. The basic shopping basket costs up to $150, roughly equal to the after- tax profit margin of about $10,000 in grocery sales, according to NDP figures. Grocery stores invest thousands of dollars to purchase their carts and maintain them. West Sacramento-based Raley's, the Sacramento region's biggest grocery seller, and its Bel Air and Food Source units keep up to 250 carts at each of its 139 stores in Northern California and Nevada. So do the area's other top grocers, Safeway Inc. and Save Mart Supermarkets. None would talk specifically about how many carts they lose to theft, but all have several strategies to combat it. Nearly every supermarket hires a service that hauls in carts from surrounding neighborhoods. They also employ parking lot security staff to keep an eye out for wayward carts. And store employees routinely lug large orders to their customers' cars as a courtesy -- and as a way to make sure that the cart comes back. Many stores have gone high-tech to keep a grip on their property with anti-theft protection systems analogous to the wireless fences that some dog owners use to keep their pets from wandering away. One system produced by Carlsbad-based Carttronics LLC outfits a shopping cart's front caster with a radio wave receiver and a retractable boot. A transmitter in the store sends a low-frequency signal through an antenna wire buried around the edge of the store property. When a cart crosses the boundary, the wire signals the receiver to release the boot, making it difficult to roll the cart farther. The system costs about $20,000 to install, said Carttronics marketing director Rick Sylvester. The firm earns about $20 million annually and counts about 2,000 stores worldwide as clientele, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Safeway and Longs Drug Stores Inc. Raley's uses the Carttronics system at 20 of its 139 stores, Johnston said, including markets in West Sacramento and on Freeport Boulevard in Sacramento. "We used it at stores where we had more incidents (of cart theft)," Johnston said. "It really works." Sacramento code enforcer Rose said that he wishes more stores used the Carttronics system. "We're all for that system," he said. "Safeway on Alhambra had a really bad problem. Then they got that system, and the problem has basically gone away."
From: Usenet2007 on 7 Aug 2007 00:00 In article <1186453224.169115.309800(a)i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, ron916(a)gmail.com says... > Curbing cart theft > Laws, vigilance, high-tech devices all help > By Jon Ortiz - Bee Staff Writer > Many stores have gone high-tech to keep a grip on their property with > anti-theft protection systems analogous to the wireless fences that > some dog owners use to keep their pets from wandering away. > > One system produced by Carlsbad-based Carttronics LLC outfits a > shopping cart's front caster with a radio wave receiver and a > retractable boot. A transmitter in the store sends a low-frequency > signal through an antenna wire buried around the edge of the store > property. > > When a cart crosses the boundary, the wire signals the receiver to > release the boot, making it difficult to roll the cart farther. > > The system costs about $20,000 to install, said Carttronics marketing > director Rick Sylvester. The firm earns about $20 million annually and > counts about 2,000 stores worldwide as clientele, including Wal-Mart > Stores Inc., Safeway and Longs Drug Stores Inc. > > Raley's uses the Carttronics system at 20 of its 139 stores, Johnston > said, including markets in West Sacramento and on Freeport Boulevard > in Sacramento. "We used it at stores where we had more incidents (of > cart theft)," Johnston said. "It really works." > > Sacramento code enforcer Rose said that he wishes more stores used the > Carttronics system. > > "We're all for that system," he said. "Safeway on Alhambra had a > really bad problem. Then they got that system, and the problem has > basically gone away." There is a supermarket in my city that got written up the newspaper for having that system. It is an inner-city location, without a carpark, so the radio-brake thingy is in the doorway, before you get out on the sidewalk. They had an incident in which it was really a full trolly load of groceries that was being stolen. So the thieves were jolted to a stop as they were running through the door with the trolly. They left the scene, but also left the goods behind. -- Get Credit Where Credit Is Due http://www.cardreport.com/ Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum
From: SMS on 9 Aug 2007 11:48 Ablang wrote: > Raley's uses the Carttronics system at 20 of its 139 stores, Johnston > said, including markets in West Sacramento and on Freeport Boulevard > in Sacramento. "We used it at stores where we had more incidents (of > cart theft)," Johnston said. "It really works." The Wal-Mart in Mountain View uses the Cartronics system. The problem is that the store is part of a larger shopping center, but the perimeter line for the carts is very narrow. If I park near Trader Joe's, which is right by Wal-Mart's garden center entrance (which usually has the short checkout lines), the cart locks up about 100' from the car.
From: zeez on 13 Aug 2007 03:18 On Aug 11, 6:17 pm, Scott en Aztlán <scottenazt...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Usenet2...(a)THE-DOMAIN-IN.SIG <Usenet2...(a)THE-DOMAIN-IN.SIG> said in > misc.consumers: > > >> The abandoned cart problem is easily solved by the merchant at a > >> relatively low cost. I don't think anyone wants the police spending time > >> arresting people that remove carts from the store's parking lot. > > >No, of course not. However, a shopping cart theft law can be > >used as an excuse to hassle random homeless people. > > Or at least give them the bum's rush to the nearest municipal border This is the typical moronic 'let's fix the symptom' without fixing the root causes of homelessness that so many of our esteemed politicians have gone by for far too long. BTW: Don't fool yourself into thinking that every officer on the force is there because they want to better their community. Many are, but there are some who are psychos or closet fascists who use the job to get their rocks off. Sad but true. -- "To those that regurgitate "I have nothing to hide..", I ask them: "So when can I come by and install a web cam in your bedroom?" That usually shuts them up pretty quick." -Slashdot poster
From: Rod Speed on 13 Aug 2007 03:42 zeez <UltimaUW(a)excite.com> wrote > Scott en Aztl�n <scottenazt...(a)yahoo.com> wrote >> Usenet2...(a)THE-DOMAIN-IN.SIG <Usenet2...(a)THE-DOMAIN-IN.SIG> wrote >>>> The abandoned cart problem is easily solved by the merchant at a >>>> relatively low cost. I don't think anyone wants the police spending >>>> time arresting people that remove carts from the store's parking lot. >>> No, of course not. However, a shopping cart theft law can >>> be used as an excuse to hassle random homeless people. >> Or at least give them the bum's rush to the nearest municipal border > This is the typical moronic 'let's fix the symptom' > without fixing the root causes of homelessness Not even possible to do that. > that so many of our esteemed politicians have gone by for far too long. Pity fools like you havent been able to fix those the root causes either. > BTW: Don't fool yourself into thinking that every officer on > the force is there because they want to better their community. > Many are, but there are some who are psychos or closet > fascists who use the job to get their rocks off. Sad but true. Just as true of all jobs, comrade.
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