What makes shopping carts stop

The Supermarket Institute in Washington estimates that a shopping cart is stolen every 90 seconds in the United States. About 1. Those were staggering, but encouraging statistics to Jeff French, chairman and founder of CartTronics. After a friend told him about the problems his business had with constant cart thefts, French decided to invest in a solution.

He and several others spent the next few years testing and perfecting CAPS. What they came up with was a system controlled by a low-frequency radio signal. The antenna, not affected by climate or temperature, emits a low-frequency radio signal that, when the cart passes over the stripe, triggers a plastic cover to drop over the wheel.

The wheel then becomes useless, but there is no damage to it should a customer try to force movement. Store employees unlock the device with a hand-held remote. Stores where theft is prevalent can recoup that investment within months, he said. The metal tab locks into the receiver on the next cart, which also has a small metal tab, etc. You generally need a coin or some similar object to unlock them. The carts and baskets have GPS satellite tracking devices and batteries hidden under the handle of the basket or near the front of the shopping carts.

Electronic systems are commonly used by large retailers when cart theft is an issue. These systems involve an electronic wheel clamp or boot attached to the wheel of the cart. The parking lot of the retail store is fitted with a thin wire which locks the wheel clamp when a cart passes over this wire. Borrowing a shopping cart, taking it off the premises and returning it would be considered an illegal use. Stealing a shopping cart would also likely be considered theft, and possessing a shopping cart that is known to be stolen could be considered receiving stolen property.

The front wheels are free to move in any direction, but both wheels must be aligned for best results. Steering shopping carts with one front wheel out of alignment creates the frustrating sensation of wrestling for control. This cart is easier to steer when pulling rather than when pushing, because when you pull, the swivel wheels lead.

When you pull, you just move the handle the direction you want to go. When you push, you must move the handle in the opposite direction, swinging wide before the turn. If a person pushes two carts, one empty and one full of groceries, with the same force, the empty cart will travel farther and accelerate more compared to the full cart.

It is easier to push an empty shopping cart than a full one, because the full shopping cart has more mass than the empty one. This means that more force is required to push the full shopping cart. These systems involve an electronic wheel clamp or boot attached to the wheel of the cart.

The parking lot of the retail store is fitted with a thin wire which locks the wheel clamp when a cart passes over this wire.

Painted lines are typically used to indicate to customers when they are nearing the boundary lines. Locked carts are unable to move until an employee unlocks them with a special key.

While not foolproof, this method can be effective at theft prevention; however, it can be expensive to install. There are many physical systems that can be used to prevent shopping cart theft. Most of these involve restricting carts from leaving the inside of the store. However, these methods can impede disabled customers, and in the United States, some of these methods violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The shopping chain Aldi uses an efficient system where customers must unlock carts by spending money in the form of quarters. Once carts are returned to the cart area and locked back in place, the coin used to unlock the cart is returned to the customer. While this is not a foolproof theft prevention method, it does reduce the amount of time store employees must spend retrieving carts. Now that you know three of the major methods used to prevent shopping cart theft, you can chose which one will best benefit you.

Good L Corporation delivers innovative shopping cart and basket solutions for retailers on a global scale.