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National Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month

 

 

 "NATIONAL RETURN SHOPPING CARTS TO THE SUPERMARKET MONTH"

By Mr. Limus Woods

 

    To a child, a shopping cart is nothing more than a ride through the grocery store that they get a kick out of (straight into the midsection of whoever's pushing it). To the adult, it's a four wheeled shopping necessity that they don't usually feel like putting back, but the store owner would love it if they'd return it to its original space.

    February is recognized by Chases Calendar of Events 2011 as National Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month. This is the time of the year where citizens should bring back to the grocery store any carts or milk crates that they may see around their neighborhoods or have in their possession. These items have to be replaced by the store.

    The Census Bureau's radio station, Profile America, has documented the observance:

    Profile America - Wednesday, February 21, 2007- "We've all seen them and wondered how they got there - a supermarket cart, sitting forlornly along a residential street, far from the nearest grocery store.  Was it a prank, or someone who walked to the store and bought more than they could carry?  Either way, this is Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month - including milk crates and bread trays.  The idea is for consumers to avoid the increased food prices that result when store owners have to replace stolen equipment.  And supermarkets play a big role in everyday life.  There are more than 66,000 supermarkets across the nation, selling $395 billion of groceries each year."

    The man who started this observance was named Anthony A. Dinolfo. The grocery store owner's shopping carts got stolen constantly (carts were priced between $75.00-$100.00 then).

During an interview once, he said that when he watched Neil Armstrong walk the moon in 1969, he thought to himself, "I wouldn't be surprised if he found a shopping cart in one of the craters."

     Brian Jordan, president of the Illinois Food Retailers Association speaks very highly of Mr. Dinolfo and his passion for the grocery business. "Tony had a tremendous sense of humor," he says, "and leveraged that humor to forge relationships with others to help bring awareness of and financial support for many projects that he truly believed in. Tony was owner operator of Sparkle Food Center on Chicago's South Side and served on the association's executive committee for many years. He was true believer in the independent retailer and was a champion for many worthwhile causes. The return of the shopping cart was one of his many passions that he carried on for many years beyond his retirement from the industry in the early 1990's. We think the average cost for a typical shopping cart is closer to $150.00 to $200.00 today."

    Mr. Dinolfo passed away in 2009.

    Nearly 2 million shopping carts are taken each year, with grocery store managers losing $8,000-$10,000 annually because of missing or stolen ones. The carts are usually found in places like apartment complexes, low-income housing, or places where the person shopping probably doesn't have a car, like a bus stop for example.

    In February of 1993, the California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation (CSCRC) was formed to offer a cost saving solution to cart retrieval, service, and maintenance problems. "We have contractors that do the actual cart retrieval," says Rufino Pineda, an office manager who's been with CSCRC for nine years. "Our mission is to help our member stores cut costs by limiting the number of carts stolen and likewise help communities by preventing blight caused by abandoned shopping carts."

    CSCRC has grown from finding shopping carts for 200 stores in 1993 to doing it for over 2,500 of them today, as they've now expanded into the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area. They also have a hotline to call if citizens see an abandoned cart.

    The Food Marketing Institute in Washington D.C. estimates total losses at $800 million globally due to cart theft with $15 million of that in California.

    There have been other ways to stop carts from slipping away, though. The Cart Anti-Theft Protection System (CAPS) developed by Cattronics in San Diego has electronic shopping cart wheels, a digital receiver, and a braking system. CAPS also features a buried antenna line around the grocery store premises, and when a cart gets too close it stops automatically.

    National Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket month participants should also think about bringing back their storage containers, bookcases, or dorm room furniture. Yes, having those milk crates is illegal. 

    Laws against crate theft are strict, just rarely enforced. For example, in NJ, possession of 1-9 crates is punishable by a $100.00 fine, and having any more than that can get you a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.

Police in LA haven't actually arrested anyone for having milk crates, but if when making an arrest they see some of them they'll confiscate and hold the items until the company they belong to picks them up.

    Lost or stolen milk crates cost dairies thousands per week nationwide. The entire dairy industry loses about $1.2 million every year from missing crates. In what is referred to as the "milk crate black market", crates are chopped up and sent to China to make products. The California dairy industry lobbied the state legislature to pass a law that would allow dairies to sue any recycler accused of taking stolen crates.

    Dairies use the crates for carrying milk, yogurt, and juice for the customers.

    Shopping cart and milk crate theft can end up causing increased food prices for us all. So in honor of National Return Your Shopping Cart to the Supermarket Month, even if it is a lengthy walk back to the carts, return yours, in February or any other month for that matter. And when you get home empty your crates and find somewhere else to keep your music records.

 

Sources:

-Interview, Brian Jordan, president of the Illinois Food Retailers Assn.

-Interview, Rufino Pineda, manager at the California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corporation.

-Interview, Tom Rogers, Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store Owner, Myrtle Beach, SC.

-Under NEWSROOM CONTACTS on Census.gov.

-Article, "Clean Up During Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month" at TreeHugger.com

-Article, "February is National Return Shopping Carts Month" by Lori Piper on AssociatedContent.com

- Article "How to Observe National Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month" on WikiHow.com.

-Article, " Wheels of Fortune" by Kelly Wilkinson at Metroactive.com.

-Article, "Retailers using RFID and CAPS Technology to prevent Shopping Cart Theft" by Stephanie Overby on CIO.com

-Article, "Police Tactic Strips Homeless of Comfort" by Evan George at LAAlternative.com

-Article, "Milk Crate Bandits" by Don Leopp at PlasticsNews.com.

-Article "Milk Crate Thefts Equal Big Losses For Dairies" by James Mayse on AllBusiness.com

-Article, "Mystery Surrounds Stolen Milk Crates" by Beth Hillyer on HawaiiNewsNow.com

-Article, "Stolen Milk Crates Feed Black Market" by Raquel Maria Dillion at RaquelMariaDillion.com

-Article, "Return Milk Crates, Industry Says" by Jay Romano at NYTimes.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Limus Woods is a graduate of Kingstree Senior High School, LongRidge Writers Group, and the Institute of Childrens Literature. Contact (843) 360-0539.

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