Escondido proposes shopping cart ordinance

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 12:29 AM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- With abandoned shopping carts visible along the city's main corridors most days, Escondido is now asking grocers and other vendors to keep the metal and plastic baskets to themselves.

A proposed city ordinance would require all grocery stores and other retailers with shopping carts to come up with ways to keep the carts from being taken out of their parking lot areas, or face fines of up to $1,000.

"It's a long-standing issue we have in this city," said Assistant City Attorney Jennifer McCain, who heads Escondido's appearance and compliance team. "We're at the point where we think we need to mandate some retrieval and containment policies."

In addition to contracting with companies that retrieve abandoned carts, something many grocers already do voluntarily, stores would have to enact policies to contain carts within the store's parking lot and submit the plans to the city for approval.

Those policies could range from having employees accompany shoppers to their vehicles, to installing physical or electric barriers that prevent the carts from leaving the premises.

"What we did is left the actual plan to the store," McCain said. "Some (stores) are large, and some are small, and there are financial matters associated with how they approach this."

Violators who don't submit plans or make necessary revisions to their proposals, or who allow their carts to be taken off the premises would face fines.

The City Council will consider the ordinance ----- which is modeled after similar efforts in Buena Park and Long Beach ---- when it meets at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. If approved, stores would have 90 days to submit their plans to the city for approval.

McCain said the ordinance is designed to get retailers to take a more active role in trying to prevent abandoned carts, not penalize them.

"The reality is some of these carts are going to get off the property," McCain said. "Just one cart found is not going to create a misdemeanor violation."

Many grocers already pay companies that retrieve their carts, which can cost upward of $130 each new. And they said the city shouldn't force them to spend more to prevent stray carts, or levy fines on them.

Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association, said his members haven't had a chance to review the proposed ordinance and compare it with state law, which gives retailers a three-day window to claim carts impounded by the city free of charge.

But Larkin said he worries that the fine included in the ordinance unduly burdens grocers.

"We need to be responsible when it comes to our carts and the impacts (stray ones) have on the community," Larkin said. "But we want to make sure any local ordinances are in compliance with state law and allow responsible retailers the opportunities to get their carts off the street and back on their lots."

And many local markets said they already take additional measures they believe sufficiently reduce stray carts from littering Escondido's streets and sidewalks.

El Tigre Foods, for example, offers free van service that provides customers a ride home, said Tony Choi, assistant general manager.

But some customers prefer to walk, and any ordinance that would limit their ability to get their groceries homes would be bad for business, he said.

"It would hurt, because there are a lot of people who don't have cars that rely on taking groceries home with the carts, as they've always done," Choi said.

Not all stores have a problem with stray carts and shouldn't be forced to spend money fighting the problem, said Dick London, co-owner of Major Market, which has operated at its Centre City Parkway location for 16 years.

Major Market already contracts with a retrieval company. And London said that, because his store is located farther away from most homes and inside a dense shopping center, he loses few, if any shopping carts, each month.

"Stores that have a problem should have (to take) the responsibility to prevent carts from leaving," London said. "Some (stores) don't care, because those carts leave with $200 worth of groceries."

McCain said that if they can show that their programs sufficiently prevent carts from being taken off their premises, they would not be required to make any changes.

Two Escondido outlets ---- Food 4 Less and the 99 Cent store on Valley Parkway ---- already have electronic systems that lock the wheels of carts when they reach the perimeter of the parking lot.

The ordinance is part of a recent push by Escondido officials to clean up the city by tackling graffiti and other visual scourges. Earlier this year, the council set aside $1 million from last year's budget surplus to address the issues.

And while perhaps not as prevalent as graffiti, abandoned carts equally blight the landscape, city officials said.

"They're litter, basically, on the street," Councilwoman Marie Waldron said. "They decrease property values. And we all pay for it in the end, because the cost (to replace and retrieve the stolen carts) is added to our bill."

-- Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.

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Pre-Registration Comments[-]Go to Top

Paul wrote on Jul 11, 2006 6:08 AM:Would not it be more equitable for the police to fine those people using the carts on the street? Placing the responsibility on the market to contain the carts within the parking lot will increase thier costs, which will be passed on to the shoppers.

I see Hispanic people wrote on Jul 11, 2006 6:25 AM:in our neighborhood taking carts all the time. Another blight on our neighborhoods due to illegal immigration and their total lack of respect for our ways and our laws. When was the last time you saw any one but a Hispanic person walking down the street pushing a grocery cart they STOLE.

Neighborhood Plague wrote on Jul 11, 2006 6:49 AM:This ordinance is needed. Like Mr. Choi, I used to feel that persons without a car should be able to use a cart to take their groceries home. However, they do not return the carts! They are constantly abandoning them in front of homes in my neighborhood and it often takes several days for the carts to be collected.

Own Carts wrote on Jul 11, 2006 8:45 AM:In other countries, people without carts bring their own cart to the market in order to carry the groceries home. These are cheap two wheeled baskets that work great. Grocery carts are for shopping, not transportation. Also, in other countries, it a person without a car has a lot of groceries, they take a cab home. The cabs actually wait in front of the store because the business is so brisk.

janet wrote on Jul 11, 2006 8:46 AM:I agree that litter and graffiti are a big problem in Escondido, but as for the shopping carts????? I am one of those people that use a shopping cart to bring home the things I purchase. I think that you should fine the person for not returning the cart, not the stores. I return my cart as soon as I empty it, but my neighbors don't. There will be up to 5 or 6 carts left next to the dumpster, and they stay for over a week at a time. I really like the ideal of the van for a ride home, sure would make shopping alot easier, and put an end to the problem.

Pete Nice wrote on Jul 11, 2006 10:01 AM:People will always take the carts home, fine the people who are using them away from the stores & not the stores themselves. It's going to cost more money to hire extra people to follow shoppers to their cars to make sure the carts come back. Here we go again blaming illegal immigrants, what about all of the homeless people in Grape Day park with shopping carts? They are all war veterans & "victims of society", so let's quit blaming illegals for everything.

Tax Payer wrote on Jul 11, 2006 10:54 AM:Pete Nice is right - don't forget, Escondido is also home to the homeless! Just take a ride around Rock Springs Road and Mission Ave. That area is the official unofficial home for the homeless - after all, we can't have them hanging around Grand Ave. of near the precious Arts Center! Maybe we could bus the homeless out of the county at the same time we evict some illegals - saves on gas?

Shopping Cart Nightmare wrote on Jul 11, 2006 11:06 AM:In my neighborhood by Wahington Park on Rose, the illegals take these carts home daily, after they are done, they dump them on someones property. Then you have the gang bangers that think its cute to put them in the middle of the alley or street for cars to hit. What we are starting to do and if I was the stores I would be listening, abadoned shopping carts are going into the dumpsters, you want them, go dive for them. Tell your illegal shoppers to take a cab home!!!!

A Resident wrote on Jul 11, 2006 12:01 PM:Shopping carts are a big problem in Esc. We have the corner house bring them home and push them around their corner to the neighbors house which is across from mine. It's unfortunate that there are several hispanic family's living in that house. Why can't the male occupents that have cars. 7 by the way, take the women to the store? It should be the people taking them that get the fine. Prices wouldn't have to be raised to cover the cost of collecting the catrs. Besides, if you failed to pay the fine, you should get comunity service. Your ID cards should be checked to make sure your not using someone elses ID. Very easy way of killing two birds with one shopping cart. As far as the grafitti goes. Just start arresting known gang members. If they can't control their little worthless followers. Send them home to their country of origion. Doesn't matter if they did the tagging or not. Put the warning out. Get some balls and take care of the problem. There is enough land to build a cage to house them until the bus takes them home. Stop worrying about human rights. No one is worring about property owner rights. BAD BAD Elected Escondido Officials. No more re-elect until these issues are taken care of.

Christian wrote on Jul 11, 2006 1:44 PM:In Europe, you have to deposit 1 Euro into a machine in order to get a cart, when you return the cart you get your Euro back, just like the airport. This is the best system I have ever seen, you don’t need all those extra people collecting carts because the shoppers return the carts themselves and you never see carts being taken home, this is the system Escondido should require.

Jon wrote on Jul 11, 2006 4:23 PM:Are the illegals the root of all evil?

Harry wrote on Jul 11, 2006 4:55 PM:I am all for a cash deposit for the use of a cart--but all the markets would have to do it at the same time. Would a $10.00 deposit seem about right and be enough to motivate people not to steal? We might even have some of the stolen carts being brought in from peoples driveways and aptmt parking lots. At the price of new carts this could become a significant saving. Just walk down Morning View Drive in Escondido and there are always carts at the apartments.

Tired of Illegals wrote on Jul 11, 2006 5:11 PM:Good idea, Christian! But the machines will have to be programmed to accept pesos!

Escondido Cheap-O wrote on Jul 11, 2006 6:03 PM:I like Christian's idea, it works at the airport, why not at a grocery store? Heck, I've been known to find a cart in the airport parking lot and push it inside so I could get the $1. :-)

james wrote on Jul 11, 2006 7:00 PM:do what I have done in the past several times...take off the front wheels with a 3/4" open end wrench..throw away wheels and dump cart back in the store parking lot..its not gonna be back without wheels i figure

A law is on the books wrote on Jul 11, 2006 8:32 PM:A California law is already on the books for shopping carts...They should enforce the laws that are already on the books. Business & Professions Code 22435.2. It is unlawful to do any of the following acts, if a shopping cart or laundry cart has a permanently affixed sign as provided in Section 22435.1: (a) To remove a shopping cart or laundry cart from the premises or parking area of a retail establishment with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart. (b) To be in possession of any shopping cart or laundry cart that has been removed from the premises or the parking area of a retail establishment, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart. (c) To be in possession of any shopping cart or laundry cart with serial numbers removed, obliterated, or altered, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart. (d) To leave or abandon a shopping cart or laundry cart at a location other than the premises or parking area of the retail establishment with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart. (e) To alter, convert, or tamper with a shopping cart or laundry cart, or to remove any part or portion thereof or to remove, obliterate or alter serial numbers on a cart, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart. (f) To be in possession of any shopping cart or laundry cart while that cart is not located on the premises or parking lot of a retail establishment, with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive the owner or retailer of possession of the cart.

Christine wrote on Jul 11, 2006 8:42 PM:Food 4 Less has a good system. If you push the cart past the edge of the parking lot the wheels lock up. Couldn't all stores do this? Maybe they could get an exemption if their carts are found on the street less than 1 per month or something. Also, the carts say right on them that it is illegal to steal them, why isn't this being enforced?

Common Sense wrote on Jul 11, 2006 9:54 PM:Honest shoppers should not have to pay the cost of people who steal shopping carts. The police should be arresting shoppers who take the carts. We don't need more laws or city regulations to solve this problem. Perhaps the city should look to arresting the theives as a fund raising source instead of the fining the stores.

Enforce the Laws! wrote on Jul 11, 2006 10:04 PM:Good Job! to on the books. Removing a grocery cart from the grocery store's parking lot is a misdemeanor in California! Business & Professions Code 22435.2 . This is not a Federal law so ... the Escondido police is not doing its job. An offense declared to be a misdemeanor is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both.

james wrote on Jul 14, 2006 8:48 AM: call the police Every time you see an abandoned cart..tell them that you have found stolen property and it is their job to recover it

John wrote on Aug 7, 2006 2:29 PM:The grocery stores should now require a deposit on a shopping cart, sort of like what you see in the airports for the baggage carts. Or another possibility is to swipe their vons or albertsons card in order to pull a cart out of the cart rack and require that they be returned or be fined. Also put chips in the carts that act sort of the same as the zapping dog collars do that send a bolt of electricity if you try and leave the lot with the cart. What else can the stores do. They can't create a police department to watch for their carts.

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