What happens if you need to carry your bags to your car with the cart?

My husband loves when there's a cart near the car so he doesn't have to use his cane to walk in.

Some our stores have carts where the wheels lock at the edge of the parking lot. Never heard of them where they lock at the door of the store.

That' just what it said on the door.

I'm sure if you need someone to help you with your purchase, someone will help.

Just sharing what I read :o)

Hmm interesting, I wonder if the loss of some shopping carts is worth the hassle of carts congested in the entry way, people angry that they have to carry their bags to the car if they have limited mobility or heavy items or employees having to stop what they are doing to help load cars. I imagine most purchases are fairly light at the dollar store but there are always exceptions...canned food maybe?

I'm curious the reasons behind that decision. I've seen the parking lot one a lot and that makes sense to me.

I hope my Dollar Tree doesn't adopt that policy. My most frequent purchase is cat litter, usually 40-50 lbs. at a time. Some of our carts have poles that make it impossible to remove the cart from the store, but I can always find one that doesn't have the pole.

This is a big shopping area, huge parking lot.

I imagine there's a loss of carts money wise, and this place decided what was best for its store.

I was on the way home, live in a completely different area from where that DT store is, and I saw a Kohl's cart right along the side of the busy hwy I was traveling and Kohl's store was a ways from that area.

I'm sure there are pros and cons. Probably their decision was on loss of carts and the expense.

Just stating what I read on the door.

Ross's has poles on their carts, here.

Plus Aldi's you have to use a quarter to get a cart and the quarter is returned when you put the cart back in its proper place.

How much do carts cost? A loss of bucks if stores are losing them to irresponsible people.

Right but making customers angry loses money too - I would estimate far more of a loss than a few carts going missing. I wouldn't shop somewhere that wouldn't let me take my cart to my car if I had heavy items. It's horribly inconvenient to have to wait for help. I expect stores to cater to me if I'm spending my money there, not for me to deal with their money-saving policies. There are way too many other places that have awesome customer service.

You said it's a new store so I wonder if that policy will change once they start getting some feedback.

I agree with you Chi.
I have never heard of a cart locking at the door; I see a backlog of customers trying to leave. Our Dollarama stores are hugely popular but the aisles aren't large by any means, and especially narrow at the checkouts.

We have the tall poles too. I didn't know what they were for, I thought it was for ease of finding your spouse.....didn't think of not allowing access past the door.

I've never seen big boxes of kitty litter there, I wish! But I would not be lugging that to the car by hand, along with my other purchases.

Walgreens carts stop at the edge of the parking lot. Not to bad,but I'd hate them to stop at the door. I use one to lean on to go to my car.I hate our DT's anyway,love the prices but most of them here are dirty,messy places!I can understand them blocking the carts though...lots of homeless here and most that you see have a cart.I think the carts are a couple hundred apiece.

This is a huge parking lot, so if the carts stopped at the edge of the lot, that's a ways to go.

I said it was a new DT, but it's a newly remodeled DT in a well established area that has been there for years. And they were busy as they usually are.

Obviously some are not familiar with Dollar Tree as there are no big ticket items there. Everything a dollar.

Even thought everything is a dollar, it is very inconvenient not to be able to take the cart to the car. Reason: grandkids, too many bags, too heavy, weather, handicap, But then I have not seen places to put their cart, which is too bad. Also the places I have been in and have seen the employees refuse to help because they have told the person that their insurance would not allow them to leave the store.

A Kmart I've been to has carts that lock when to tilt them so if you go over a curb, it locks. An Aldi locked the wheel when I took it in the exit door. I haven't seen places not allowing the carts outside. Menards did prohibit taking their electric cart outside which I think is a good idea but boy did a couple of people throw tantrums!

Anyone who expects groveling level customer service at a dollar store is in for a surprise. When I was managing station stores we were the price leader. Gas was lowest in the area, though in the later years they'd let someone match but we always were the first to drop prices and last to raise prices as the price would trend. Sold milk, cigarettes and other support items at state minimums, coffee and fountain pop was the cheapest around and had a lot of promos on pop and things. But still, people would come there all the time taking the extra two or three cents of gas or trying to tell us to cut prices, change check policies and all that or "you'll lose a customer!!!" Buh-bye now, don't let the door knock you over on the way out and I'll see you in a couple weeks since you're not going to give up the penny or two a gallon savings for very long! And they'd be back far more often than not. Losing a customer for a short time happens but losing them long term takes quite a bit.

There's an interesting thing in sales. If you price things higher from the start, people are less likely to complain and want more. The "upscale" stores sell the same Tide detergent, the same Colgate toothpaste, the same Maxwell House coffee and the same Skippy peanut butter but people aren't near as likely to complain at the upscale store. And curiously, it's not the truly poor people who try to get more for less!

That said, not being able to take a cart full of purchases out could have an impact with a few people. This weekend I bought 3 cases of spring water at a Walgreens. If I couldn't take it to my vehicle I wouldn't have bought it. People who have trouble walking likely will avoid a place where carts couldn't go out. As suggested, multiple bags, someone walking with a cane and other times when multiple trips would be necessary could have an affect. But I doubt it'd be many. I doubt the true loss would offset the cost savings though so I highly doubt they'll change this policy. The one thing though is if this is successful, other stores will follow. Retail trade is a herd of cattle. One or two try things out and if it works, others follow. I remember when self-serve gas started in this area. The chants of "I'll never buy that!" and the like. Now getting gas pumped for you is a rarity. Prepaid gas, drive up windows, no checks, etc are examples of how businesses follow the lead. Take out, delivery. Burger King is experimenting with delivery. Yes, retail is interesting.

I do kind of chuckle at Aldi's quarter concept. Talk about puppets on a string. People really will do most anything for a quarter. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, but just like the clubco type stores and their perceived "savings" it's amazing what people will to to think they're saving money. And you never hear of people complaining about lack of service there. They will not help you carry out even a furniture or appliance purchase. I asked for a flatbed and maybe someone to help me load it and it was like I asked for the Taj Mahal. He did bring a flatbed and shoved it at me from about 10' away and took off. "We don't help people load". LOL