Shopping Carts in the Creek

Back in the Fall (of 2011), we received information that someone had been dumping shopping carts in the creek, on the boulevards, and elsewhere in our neighbourhood. A follow-up discussion with managerial staff at the Metro in Clarkson Crossing provided the following information:

• taking shopping carts off store property is considered theft over $200
• it costs Metro money to retrieve them, and this drives up the price of groceries and other goods at the store 
• if the municipality or region gets to the carts first, the carts are impounded and the grocery (or other) store has a difficult time trying to get them back -- higher prices again!
• Metro and other stores are prepared to press charges against anyone found stealing one of their carts
• Metro does not mind customers "borrowing" shopping carts as long as they return them to the store afterwards

We had thought that this was no longer a problem in the neighbourhood, but apparently is has resurfaced. If you do see a shopping cart in the creek or abandoned elsewhere in the area, let the store it came from know where it is and ask them to come and retrieve it. Not reporting this type of theft makes us all victims of the crime -- and means we pay more for our groceries in the end.