State Unfairly Punishes Retailers Over Shopping Cart Issue
The Serenity Prayer is a well-known, short prayer attributed to American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), although he often used different versions. The most popular rendition, which is widely shared and even used by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
This prayer promotes inner peace by finding a balance between acceptance and action. It assures the individual that they are not responsible for everything and to focus only on the things they can change, and not to torture themselves over the things out of their control.
The prayer also applies to businesses. A business can and should do as much as possible to serve the public, but not everything is within its control. The concept of the prayer is quite logical and straightforward, yet one state can’t accept that obvious truth.
If you guessed the state was California, you would be right. Once again, the state that anchors the left coast is at it again with another brainless scheme to punish businesses, which, as we all know, will eventually be passed down to the public.
The mindless city council in someplace called Brawley, California, about 100 miles from San Diego, has unanimously voted in a new ordinance that will fine retailers $50 per day for every abandoned cart found around town. This means that businesses like Walmart, Target, and probably any other company that uses shopping carts will be forced to pay these ridiculous fines for something that is out of their control.
The Brawley Police Chief, Jimmy Duran, gets credit for this piece of logistical red tape, in which he calls stranded shopping carts a “public nuisance.”
“They become potential health hazards and really interfere with some of the pedestrian and vehicular traffic within our city.”
Under the new ordinance, businesses get 30 days to submit “compliance plans” to the city. After that, it’s $50 per cart per day if any are found around town. Duran
specifically called out Walmart as the main culprit. The city is even discussing whether to hit larger chains with higher fines than smaller businesses like Grocery Outlet.
To be fair, Brawley isn’t the only place to raise this flag of stupidity. Last month, the Eureka, California, city council voted to fine retailers there $80 per cart, per day.
In Stockton, city officials have modified their ordinance to encourage stores to improve cart containment by threatening citations and fees.
Other cities in California, such as Duarte, Glendale, Fortuna, and San Jose, are either imposing or considering similar fines.
Cities in Texas, New Mexico, Georgia, and other states are also starting this unnecessary looting of businesses
Fort Worth, Dallas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Atlanta, and Warner Robins have laws that impose fines on retailers for abandoned shopping carts.
Every year, two million shopping carts are stolen, costing U.S. retailers approximately $175 million in replacement and repair expenses. New carts can be quite expensive, typically ranging from $100 to over $500, depending on the model.
In the retail industry, certain expenses are categorized as “shrink,” which refers to inventory shrinkage. This term encompasses various types of inventory loss, including shrinkage itself, inventory loss, shortages, and overall loss. “Shrink” represents the total value of inventory that is lost due to several factors, such as theft by customers and employees, administrative or operational errors, and waste.
Businesses cover these costs by passing them downline, which means they pass the cost onto us. In fact, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report found that nearly 65 percent of retailers have increased prices due to theft.
Although Chief Duran claims otherwise, this isn’t about public safety or neighborhood aesthetics. This is about California politicians seeking new revenue sources while they continue to waste taxpayer money on their favored projects.
Shopping cart theft has drastically increased because California’s homeless crisis has spiraled completely out of control.
Homeless individuals use these carts to carry their belongings and then dump them in alleys and vacant lots.
Typically, instead of addressing the root cause, incompetent California politicians would rather fine the businesses than correct or eliminate their failed policies. Their rhetoric never changes; they blame everyone else for problems they create and punish the public for their mistakes.
It’s no surprise that Duran called out Walmart. They are a large retailer that does a large volume of business, and it’s almost impossible to keep track of every shopping cart on the lot. A homeless person doesn’t even need to go into the store; they can pluck one from the lot and be on their way.
Some retailers are combating cart theft with GPS tracking systems and magnetic wheel locks that activate when carts leave the store’s property. Others hire specialized companies to retrieve abandoned carts from nearby neighborhoods.
Still, these deterrents are not cheap, and the costs get added to the price of everything we buy. We shop at Aldi, which uses a coin-operated cart system. It requires a quarter to remove the cart to use, and when you return it, you get your quarter back. That system seems to be very effective, because I have never seen an unattended cart in an Aldi parking lot.
Politicians are great at pointing fingers and lying to the public about what is wrong. Instead of working to solve homelessness and other fundamental problems, California politicians continue to roll out the red carpet for illegals, release dangerous criminals back onto the street, and chase pie-in-the-sky green energy remedies for a problem that doesn’t exist.
The result is that families and businesses are leaving the state in droves, thus shrinking the tax base, and creating a government incubator for ridiculous revenue stream delusions such as this moronic “Cart Tax.”
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
These companies are being unfairly punished for something they cannot control, and the politicians inflicting the pain are not the people bearing the most significant burden. However, change can occur; these officials can be voted out of office if only the citizens of California and other leftist states have the courage to do so.
