Shopping cart

Design

Most shopping carts are made of metal or plastic and designed to nest within each other in a line to facilitate moving many at one time, and to save on storage space. The carts can come in many sizes, with larger ones able to carry a child. There are also specialized carts designed for two children, and electric mobility scooters with baskets designed for disabled customers. 20,000 children are injured each year in shopping carts. Some stores have child carts that look like a car or van where a child can sit in the seat while shopping. Such "Car-Carts" or "Beans", as some people call them in the cart business, may offer added protection for children by keeping child restrained, lower to the ground as well as protected from falling items while they are kept amused.

Shopping carts are fitted with four caster wheels, which can point in any direction to allow "easy" maneuvering. However, when any one of the wheels jams, the cart becomes extremely difficult to handle. Note that some carts only have swivel caster wheels on the front, while the rear ones are locked. This presumably improves the steering life of the cart, at the expense of maneuverability.

An alternative to the shopping cart is a small handheld shopping basket. A customer can often choose between a cart and a basket, and may prefer a basket if the amount of merchandise is small. Small shops, where carts would be impractical, often supply only baskets. A third options is a collapsible utility cart. The basket of the collapsible utility cart is pivotally mounted to a forward facing, C-shaped cart frame. As the lower portion of the C-shaped cart frame is moved under a truck bed, the upper part containing the basket slides onto the truck bed. The frame is then pivoted upward around the truck bumper and about the basket and conveniently stored around the basket. U.S. Patent No. 5,503,424 details this invention.

Often there is the problem of theft of shopping carts by pedestrian customers who use them to carry groceries all the way home. Many end up in rivers. Shopping carts cost on average between $75 and $100 apiece in the United States.[citation needed] One solution is to set up an electric perimeter around the parking lot.

Rental

Sometimes the customer has to pay a small deposit by inserting a coin, which is returned if and when the customer returns the cart to a designated cart parking point. Some retailers sell "trolley tokens" as an alternative to coins, often for charity. The mechanism can often be unlocked by inserting a key into the slot to open the lock.

This is also done for profit with luggage carts at many airports, where companies like Smarte Carte charge two or more dollars (U.S.) (or equivalent) for rental, and return a small token reward of a quarter (25 ¢) for returning carts to the other end of any dispenser machine.

History

The first shopping cart was introduced on June 4, 1937, the invention of Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Piggly-Wiggly supermarket chain in Oklahoma City. With the assistance of Fred Young, a mechanic, Goldman constructed the first shopping cart, basing his design on that of a wooden folding chair. They built it with a metal frame and added wheels and wire baskets, and advertised the invention as part of a new “No Basket Carrying Plan.�

The invention did not catch on immediately. Men found them effeminate; women found them suggestive of a baby carriage. "I've pushed my last baby buggy," offended women informed him. After hiring several male and female models to push his new invention around his store and demonstrate their utility, as well as greeters to explain their use, shopping carts became extremely popular and Goldman became a multimillionaire. Goldman continued to make modifications to his original design, and the basket size of the shopping cart increased as stores realized that their customers purchased more as its size increased. Today, most big-box stores and supermarkets have shopping carts for the convenience of the shoppers.

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