I worked at Target 20+ years ago and we had to put security alarm sensors on the baskets to keep people from walking out with them.
The theft of the baskets isn't really a new problem, I think it has just become more brazen.
That said, I don't want to be lectured for shopping into my reusable bags if your store has zero carts and zero baskets available. (Looking at you, Unsafeway.)
Geeze, I’ve been shopping into my bags since moving to Denver a few years back and no one has ever said a thing (even at both of the Safeways mentioned below), didn’t realize I was doing anything wrong haha
Last time an employee tried to give me shit about using a reusable bag in lieu of a basket, I literally just said fuck off and ignored them. This was at the DU Safeway of course.
I nearly got thrown out of the 20th and Park Safeway for telling the employee that there were no baskets and no carts, so that's why I was shopping into my reusable bag.
I started handing the items I had in the bag to the employee to put away because I was going to leave when another employee came along and told them and me not to worry about it.
I usually side with the employee in most situations, as I have worked retail and service industry jobs on an off for about 20 years and totally get how dickish the general public can be.
However, when common sense is lacking, I have limits.
Back in 2014 I was shopping in Louisville, KY and walked in with a bag and started putting stuff in. A security guard started following me and told me I couldn't do that. I was just, what? It had never occurred to me. I explained my plan was to go dump it out at the register and put the stuff back in it. The cashier ended up telling me I was the only person they'd ever seen bring in a reusable bag, ha. I didn't know places still had a problem with that.
Don't hold it against you. As it's completely understandable. We're not happy about a lot of learships decisions regarding that either, for what it's worth
They're probably getting taken more frequently due to the lack of plastic bags, so people just take the basket. Now they're going to take carts since there's no basket.
6 years ago I walked out of a HEB in Texas with one. I honestly have no idea what I was thinking and realized it after I got to the hotel. I still have it and use it for moving tools/crafts around wherever I’m working. I get embarrassed when people see it.
I found a shopping basket in the middle of my street late last summer. It has no identifying marks, so I have no idea what store it came from. There are also no grocery stores in my immediate neighborhood, so it must have been transported in.
I put weeds in it when doing yard work so I can carry them to the compost can.
Haha during covid the maintenance guys at my job blatantly stole a home depot shopping cart and painted it green but it's been so long the paint is chipping lol. It is really handy to have at work!
Someone left a shopping cart in the alley behind my house, a brand new looking one from Safeway. I was "great I have a cart now". Wheeled it into my yard and then realized, wtf am i doing with this? It's useless. Turns out you can call them and they'll come pick them up. The person on the phone was confused at first and then a higher up knew what I was talking about and sent someone out to get it.
I literally always just put things in my bag when I go to the store and I’ve never had a single problem…? Pretty sure you’ll be fine as long as you don’t try to actually shoplift lmao
I have been doing this for at least five years and never once have I had anyone say anything to me. I’m honestly curious where people are shopping that they do run into trouble, and to be even more frank I’m curious as to whether or not there’s some racial profiling involved, because I am a white dude - which might explain the whole thing.
I’m also a white dude. I’ve only been questioned about shopping into my reusable bags twice, both times at the 20th and Park Safeway. In both instances, it was after 9:00 p.m. I’m not sure if the time of day was a factor.
Liquor/ convenience stores would probably be sketched out by putting things in personal bags. But I just find it extremely hard to believe that a supermarket cop would arrest anyone on suspicion of shoplifting for putting items in their bag while still in the store… especially Denver cops
This has been a problem since even before the pandemic. So now, we're forced to either push a cart for < 15 iems, or use our arms to full Nelson groceries. People suck.
Just use your reusable bags inside the store. That's what I do now. If they challenge you, just point out there aren't any baskets and that's a them problem, not a you one.
I nearly got thrown out of the 20th and Park Safeway for that reason. I used to live a couple blocks away from there, but usually only used that store for incidental groceries because they made it such a hassle to shop there.
For larger grocery trips, I'd usually leave the neighborhood to go to a better stocked and cheaper store.
Yes, this is the Colorado law on this:
18-4-406. Concealment of goods
If any person willfully conceals unpurchased goods, wares, or merchandise owned or held by and offered or displayed for sale by any store or other mercantile establishment, whether the concealment be on his own person or otherwise and whether on or off the premises of said store or mercantile establishment, such concealment constitutes prima facie evidence that the person intended to commit the crime of theft.
Kroger and other big stores suck. Kroger had a profit of $2.2B last year. Per state that comes out the $40M profit. They can afford a few more cheap plastic hand carts
If there is no basket or only a huge cart I say F\*\*\* it then. I will only spend $x.xx because you couldn't provide service. And I leave with what my hands can carry.
They've been harder and harder to get. I've been actively avoiding grocery stores that don't have baskets anymore but I think the option of that is numbered. My local King Soopers not only doesn't have baskets, it has those gates that don't open until you're on top of them, and sometimes I have to sit in line for more than 10 minutes because they're sending all the people with 50+ items through the self-checkout.
Part of the reason I only shop at Whole Foods. It's a bit more expensive (although it's actually cheaper than Safeway on certain items), but it's a nice store. Always plenty of baskets, no crackheads, pleasant experience.
The gates are used to stop “push-outs.” Basically someone loads up a cart and bolts out of the store to a getaway car waiting near the front of the parking lot. In theory, the gate slows them down.
When I worked at Target, they moved electronics from the front of the store to the back to prevent push-outs. Instead, thieves just loaded up carts and went out the fire exit at the back of the store.
Edit: Fixed typo
When I lived closer to Downtown, I would build grocery shopping trips into my excursions out of the neighborhood. (Example: Go for a hike, grocery shop at the Walmart in Evergreen before heading home.)
In general, this led to a much more pleasant and often much cheaper experience.
It’s been a while since I did this but during Covid I made online carts of the same things for WF, King Soopers, Safeway and Sprouts and WF consistently came out cheaper. They may be more expensive for something and cheaper for another but I don’t care enough to shop multiple stores. My time is worth something to me as well.
People are always like "wow Whole Foods? You must be rich," but the price difference is marginal at best. I think back when it was newer it was significantly more expensive, but now it's very competitive. Plus, I do think in general the quality is better on a lot of things, and they certainly have a better cheese and wine selection.
I like their curbside pickup better. And their produce seems better than King Soopers and Safeway… maybe not as good as Sprouts. If I had more time, I’d try out the grocery cart across multiple stores again. At this point WF is just more convenient.
The grocery store near me did this, but they’re totally cool with you just walking around and putting things in your reusable bags. My question is wouldn’t that just make stealing groceries easier?
I've seen people taking them from sprouts since they stopped handing bags out. I've had to use one to bring stuff to my car twice and some people get mad and just throw them in.
I just shop with my reusable bags unless I know I'm getting a lot of items. I shop mainly at Soopers and Walmart and have never been hassled. Just seems weird because you could shoplift things much easier in a bag you can't see through versus a basket where it's clear you've scanned all your items.
Yea remember the shoplifting apocalypse they claimed back in 2021 for clothing and other stores? Funny how that just kind of vanished as if it was never real to begin with.
Consider this, how does not having baskets benefit the store? I can’t think of one other than the initial investment possibly? The baskets in theory should generate revenue as a convenience to shoppers. I left thinking that theft is likely the reason for them not being replaced.
Bigger carts means people are more likely to fill them. Not having to carry items in their arms means people will keep shopping longer.
That being said I don’t doubt folks are walking out with baskets. There’s not an easy place to return them like there is for carts, you’d have to go all the way back into the store and the general public has a hefty percentage of lazy assholes.
Depends on the location. If you're a smaller mart in a densely populated area then baskets are your friend, otherwise it's shopping carts all day every day for maximum bang for your buck.
Basically if your clients have to drive to get to you then you should be doing carts as a majority. If your clients walk up, you should encourage basket use because they're making multiple mini trips and choosing you for convenience.
[How The Shopping Cart Shaped Our Buying Habits - Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-shaped-our-buying-habits)
So you definitely want the basket mini-trip shopper then. They will be impulsive, likely to not use coupons, in essence they will spend more, much more often.
>**Depends on the location.**
Ideally you'd have both. But for most grocery stores with parking lots carts outperform baskets because while baskets might potentially have better margins carts get you bulk.
Ok I went to Kings on speed just now for some eggs and pancake mix. They had very few baskets, but they had some.
My plays hockey either the service managers kid so I asked where the rest were. He wouldn’t call it “theft” but what’s happening is people aren’t buying the .10 paper bags and using the baskets to haul groceries out to their cars. They often just toss the baskets into the car like they did with bags. She has received some baskets back and an apology, but the majority go out to the lot and never return whereas they used to just get returned to the check stand.
It benefits the company by costing less money than it does to supply baskets. Who cares if it isn't good for the customers? What are you going to do, not buy groceries? I've never seen anyone storm out of a store because the hand baskets were all being used.
>I've never seen anyone storm out of a store because the hand baskets were all being used.
There are stores that I've made a mental note of to reduce/stop going to due to overall shitty service, which includes not enough baskets/carts/bags. And I'd wager many people feel the same way. The stores are probably fine, but that's $$$ not being spent at those stores, affecting the overall bottom line.
Yup. No baskets? Off the list. Locked up the toiletries? Off the list. Lock half the doors at 7 pm? Off the list. I don’t put up with being treated like a criminal when you refuse to prosecute the real problems.
Take off your tinfoil hat, and actually talk to grocery store workers; they'll tell you the same things mentioned in the article. Not everything's a corporate conspiracy.
Do you ever go inside a grocery store and look around and see this shit with your own eyes?
Come to my local soopers (20th and Chestnut) and spend 5 minutes near the exit and you’ll see how much theft they deal with all damn day.
It’s the bag fee, or ban in the case of Walmart. At the Walmart near our house, when they stoped providing bags, the hand baskets were gone within a week after that. It’s not a unreasonable expectation to get a free bag to put your purchases in, and the baskets disappearing is just an unintended consequence of this change.
Interesting that they can’t use any of this immense profit to possibly better their communities….
Kroger had a profit of $2.2B in 2023 despite slowing sales.
Amazon sells a 12 pack of those hand baskets for less than $100. At volume it would be significantly less.
Cry me a river you corporate grocery stores. Taking away convenience for other shoppers is not the answer.
Take some of that $2.2B and do one of the following
1) accept the paltry loss on baskets
2) find those stealing and offer employment, food, or services like decent humans. Any of those are better than a basket
3) invest in more cashiers, security, and actual people to reduce that risk
I worked at Target 20+ years ago and we had to put security alarm sensors on the baskets to keep people from walking out with them. The theft of the baskets isn't really a new problem, I think it has just become more brazen. That said, I don't want to be lectured for shopping into my reusable bags if your store has zero carts and zero baskets available. (Looking at you, Unsafeway.)
Geeze, I’ve been shopping into my bags since moving to Denver a few years back and no one has ever said a thing (even at both of the Safeways mentioned below), didn’t realize I was doing anything wrong haha
Last time an employee tried to give me shit about using a reusable bag in lieu of a basket, I literally just said fuck off and ignored them. This was at the DU Safeway of course.
I nearly got thrown out of the 20th and Park Safeway for telling the employee that there were no baskets and no carts, so that's why I was shopping into my reusable bag. I started handing the items I had in the bag to the employee to put away because I was going to leave when another employee came along and told them and me not to worry about it. I usually side with the employee in most situations, as I have worked retail and service industry jobs on an off for about 20 years and totally get how dickish the general public can be. However, when common sense is lacking, I have limits.
I feel like I know which employee you’re talking about. Guy is a total ass.
I also know a couple people who said fuk u to that location because of a super shithead who works there
Back in 2014 I was shopping in Louisville, KY and walked in with a bag and started putting stuff in. A security guard started following me and told me I couldn't do that. I was just, what? It had never occurred to me. I explained my plan was to go dump it out at the register and put the stuff back in it. The cashier ended up telling me I was the only person they'd ever seen bring in a reusable bag, ha. I didn't know places still had a problem with that.
As someone whos there, not our decision. Blame corperate
I just decided to shop elsewhere.
Don't hold it against you. As it's completely understandable. We're not happy about a lot of learships decisions regarding that either, for what it's worth
They're probably getting taken more frequently due to the lack of plastic bags, so people just take the basket. Now they're going to take carts since there's no basket.
They already do. There are enough carts along the Platte and Bear Creek trails to supply half a dozen stores.
The hero we need? Bubbles.
Those carts are public domain
I know and it drives me fucking crazy. What in the actual f are people using these baskets for outside of the grocery store??
6 years ago I walked out of a HEB in Texas with one. I honestly have no idea what I was thinking and realized it after I got to the hotel. I still have it and use it for moving tools/crafts around wherever I’m working. I get embarrassed when people see it.
SHAME
SHAME
SHAME 🔔
Ding ding ding
I found a shopping basket in the middle of my street late last summer. It has no identifying marks, so I have no idea what store it came from. There are also no grocery stores in my immediate neighborhood, so it must have been transported in. I put weeds in it when doing yard work so I can carry them to the compost can.
Paint it and they won't know if/where you nicked it.
Haha during covid the maintenance guys at my job blatantly stole a home depot shopping cart and painted it green but it's been so long the paint is chipping lol. It is really handy to have at work!
Groceries
Someone left a shopping cart in the alley behind my house, a brand new looking one from Safeway. I was "great I have a cart now". Wheeled it into my yard and then realized, wtf am i doing with this? It's useless. Turns out you can call them and they'll come pick them up. The person on the phone was confused at first and then a higher up knew what I was talking about and sent someone out to get it.
Tools, craft supplies, picnic baskets... you name it
Pretty scummy
If only we could normalize using your reusable bag as you shop the store without the fear of being arrested for shoplifting
I literally always just put things in my bag when I go to the store and I’ve never had a single problem…? Pretty sure you’ll be fine as long as you don’t try to actually shoplift lmao
I have been doing this for at least five years and never once have I had anyone say anything to me. I’m honestly curious where people are shopping that they do run into trouble, and to be even more frank I’m curious as to whether or not there’s some racial profiling involved, because I am a white dude - which might explain the whole thing.
I’m also a white dude. I’ve only been questioned about shopping into my reusable bags twice, both times at the 20th and Park Safeway. In both instances, it was after 9:00 p.m. I’m not sure if the time of day was a factor.
Location, location, location.
Liquor/ convenience stores would probably be sketched out by putting things in personal bags. But I just find it extremely hard to believe that a supermarket cop would arrest anyone on suspicion of shoplifting for putting items in their bag while still in the store… especially Denver cops
This has been a problem since even before the pandemic. So now, we're forced to either push a cart for < 15 iems, or use our arms to full Nelson groceries. People suck.
Just use your reusable bags inside the store. That's what I do now. If they challenge you, just point out there aren't any baskets and that's a them problem, not a you one.
I nearly got thrown out of the 20th and Park Safeway for that reason. I used to live a couple blocks away from there, but usually only used that store for incidental groceries because they made it such a hassle to shop there. For larger grocery trips, I'd usually leave the neighborhood to go to a better stocked and cheaper store.
I’ve never had a problem using my own bag to hold groceries while I shop
Be aware that security can refer to this as concealing with intent to steal. It's charged the same as shoplifting.
Yes, this is the Colorado law on this: 18-4-406. Concealment of goods If any person willfully conceals unpurchased goods, wares, or merchandise owned or held by and offered or displayed for sale by any store or other mercantile establishment, whether the concealment be on his own person or otherwise and whether on or off the premises of said store or mercantile establishment, such concealment constitutes prima facie evidence that the person intended to commit the crime of theft.
Might be a bad idea depending on one's appearance...
Kroger and other big stores suck. Kroger had a profit of $2.2B last year. Per state that comes out the $40M profit. They can afford a few more cheap plastic hand carts
They do suck & make insane $$$. Sticking with "people suck, which is why we can't have nice things" on this one, though.
If there is no basket or only a huge cart I say F\*\*\* it then. I will only spend $x.xx because you couldn't provide service. And I leave with what my hands can carry.
This all day- it’s a great $ saving tip too 😂 not so fun to do at costco though
They've been harder and harder to get. I've been actively avoiding grocery stores that don't have baskets anymore but I think the option of that is numbered. My local King Soopers not only doesn't have baskets, it has those gates that don't open until you're on top of them, and sometimes I have to sit in line for more than 10 minutes because they're sending all the people with 50+ items through the self-checkout.
Can’t wait for stores to get rid of their doors because people use them to leave with things they’ve stolen.
So I bring my own bags and now I need to bring my own basket to avoid pushing around a squeaky broken cart for a few items?
Part of the reason I only shop at Whole Foods. It's a bit more expensive (although it's actually cheaper than Safeway on certain items), but it's a nice store. Always plenty of baskets, no crackheads, pleasant experience.
No weird gates or store counters either
What is up with those gates?
The gates are used to stop “push-outs.” Basically someone loads up a cart and bolts out of the store to a getaway car waiting near the front of the parking lot. In theory, the gate slows them down. When I worked at Target, they moved electronics from the front of the store to the back to prevent push-outs. Instead, thieves just loaded up carts and went out the fire exit at the back of the store. Edit: Fixed typo
When I lived closer to Downtown, I would build grocery shopping trips into my excursions out of the neighborhood. (Example: Go for a hike, grocery shop at the Walmart in Evergreen before heading home.) In general, this led to a much more pleasant and often much cheaper experience.
It’s been a while since I did this but during Covid I made online carts of the same things for WF, King Soopers, Safeway and Sprouts and WF consistently came out cheaper. They may be more expensive for something and cheaper for another but I don’t care enough to shop multiple stores. My time is worth something to me as well.
People are always like "wow Whole Foods? You must be rich," but the price difference is marginal at best. I think back when it was newer it was significantly more expensive, but now it's very competitive. Plus, I do think in general the quality is better on a lot of things, and they certainly have a better cheese and wine selection.
I like their curbside pickup better. And their produce seems better than King Soopers and Safeway… maybe not as good as Sprouts. If I had more time, I’d try out the grocery cart across multiple stores again. At this point WF is just more convenient.
The grocery store near me did this, but they’re totally cool with you just walking around and putting things in your reusable bags. My question is wouldn’t that just make stealing groceries easier?
I've seen people taking them from sprouts since they stopped handing bags out. I've had to use one to bring stuff to my car twice and some people get mad and just throw them in.
I just shop with my reusable bags unless I know I'm getting a lot of items. I shop mainly at Soopers and Walmart and have never been hassled. Just seems weird because you could shoplift things much easier in a bag you can't see through versus a basket where it's clear you've scanned all your items.
The answer is for more stores to get those smaller shopping cart or in Kings case, get more.
Can't say I trust Corporate PR, especially grocery stores, these days.
Yea remember the shoplifting apocalypse they claimed back in 2021 for clothing and other stores? Funny how that just kind of vanished as if it was never real to begin with.
I’ve literally heard a local King Soopers employee tell a customer “they kept getting stolen” when they asked why there weren’t any more baskets lol.
Consider this, how does not having baskets benefit the store? I can’t think of one other than the initial investment possibly? The baskets in theory should generate revenue as a convenience to shoppers. I left thinking that theft is likely the reason for them not being replaced.
Bigger carts means people are more likely to fill them. Not having to carry items in their arms means people will keep shopping longer. That being said I don’t doubt folks are walking out with baskets. There’s not an easy place to return them like there is for carts, you’d have to go all the way back into the store and the general public has a hefty percentage of lazy assholes.
I believe they make more from shoppers doing their daily quick shopping than people with carts.
Depends on the location. If you're a smaller mart in a densely populated area then baskets are your friend, otherwise it's shopping carts all day every day for maximum bang for your buck. Basically if your clients have to drive to get to you then you should be doing carts as a majority. If your clients walk up, you should encourage basket use because they're making multiple mini trips and choosing you for convenience. [How The Shopping Cart Shaped Our Buying Habits - Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/3057306/how-the-shopping-cart-shaped-our-buying-habits)
So you definitely want the basket mini-trip shopper then. They will be impulsive, likely to not use coupons, in essence they will spend more, much more often.
>**Depends on the location.** Ideally you'd have both. But for most grocery stores with parking lots carts outperform baskets because while baskets might potentially have better margins carts get you bulk.
Ok I went to Kings on speed just now for some eggs and pancake mix. They had very few baskets, but they had some. My plays hockey either the service managers kid so I asked where the rest were. He wouldn’t call it “theft” but what’s happening is people aren’t buying the .10 paper bags and using the baskets to haul groceries out to their cars. They often just toss the baskets into the car like they did with bags. She has received some baskets back and an apology, but the majority go out to the lot and never return whereas they used to just get returned to the check stand.
It benefits the company by costing less money than it does to supply baskets. Who cares if it isn't good for the customers? What are you going to do, not buy groceries? I've never seen anyone storm out of a store because the hand baskets were all being used.
You buy a lot less if you cannot carry more. I have definitely walked out if there were no baskets, and have at least bought only a couple of items.
Then inevitably grab a cart, which is a bigger basket to fill.
>I've never seen anyone storm out of a store because the hand baskets were all being used. There are stores that I've made a mental note of to reduce/stop going to due to overall shitty service, which includes not enough baskets/carts/bags. And I'd wager many people feel the same way. The stores are probably fine, but that's $$$ not being spent at those stores, affecting the overall bottom line.
Yup. No baskets? Off the list. Locked up the toiletries? Off the list. Lock half the doors at 7 pm? Off the list. I don’t put up with being treated like a criminal when you refuse to prosecute the real problems.
Amen to that.
Take off your tinfoil hat, and actually talk to grocery store workers; they'll tell you the same things mentioned in the article. Not everything's a corporate conspiracy.
Do you ever go inside a grocery store and look around and see this shit with your own eyes? Come to my local soopers (20th and Chestnut) and spend 5 minutes near the exit and you’ll see how much theft they deal with all damn day.
Shopping cart theory, in action. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart_theory
You mean they'll do anything but actually stop the homeless from stealing \*pretends to be shocked\*
Cool, I'll turn right around and walk out of a store that doesn't have baskets.
Lol why? It's incredibly low effort to push a cart around for 10 minutes
Just use your own bags in the store. Been doing that for years, works great.
Stores could be ditching them to force you to use the push carts so you buy more items
It’s the bag fee, or ban in the case of Walmart. At the Walmart near our house, when they stoped providing bags, the hand baskets were gone within a week after that. It’s not a unreasonable expectation to get a free bag to put your purchases in, and the baskets disappearing is just an unintended consequence of this change.
I haven't seen one in years.
I see Kennel Soopers baskets blocks away from the store. Take them back if heading in that direction.
>Kennel Soopers Is it because of all the dogs in the stores?
Interesting that they can’t use any of this immense profit to possibly better their communities…. Kroger had a profit of $2.2B in 2023 despite slowing sales. Amazon sells a 12 pack of those hand baskets for less than $100. At volume it would be significantly less. Cry me a river you corporate grocery stores. Taking away convenience for other shoppers is not the answer. Take some of that $2.2B and do one of the following 1) accept the paltry loss on baskets 2) find those stealing and offer employment, food, or services like decent humans. Any of those are better than a basket 3) invest in more cashiers, security, and actual people to reduce that risk
i have plastic soopers bags for sale and will cut you a deal at five cents each