by Jack Lee
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT CRIME, A COMMUNITY-WIDE HEALTH HAZZARD AND A MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITY….
It’s part of the service that the Chico Community Watch does for our city, they pick up abandoned shopping carts and also litter often found with the carts. I did a ride along with them today and in the space of just two short hours, our crew of 6 volunteers, towing two small trailers, had picked up 56 shopping carts. The carts are stolen from the locals stores and abandoned all over town. This is no small matter either, particularly with the surge in our local transient population. Those carts have an average value of $300 each and this week’s collection represents a total replacement value of about $16,800! Some of the carts had been ruined and they will be trashed, but that doesn’t matter to the stores who must replace them or to the consumers who must pick the additional overhead to run a retail business in Chico. Needless to say the store owners are happy to get their carts back!
If this is one week’s average haul, that works out to annual loss of over $873,000 in cart thefts. If these carts had not been picked up a good percentage would wind up being dumped in an empty lot, Lindo Channel or perhaps Chico Creek and that exacerbates the community loss. Now these dumped carts become eyesores, a health hazard and the City of Chico eventually has to do a major cleanup and that cost is eventually charged right back to the taxpayers.
I rode around with Michael Hicks, a retired jeweler and now a Community Watch volunteer, who is also their publicity coordinator. During our collection duties, Mike provided me with some statistical evidence to show that shopping carts in general, and I would imagine especially those that are stolen and abandoned, pose a significant health risk from all sorts of filth that accumulates on them. Later on, I did my own research and found more evidence to support his statistics. “Researchers from the University of Arizona recently released a study after swabbing shopping cart handles (in 4 states) looking for bacteria. Of the 85 carts tested, 72% showed fecal bacteria. No explanation needed, you know what that means. On closer look, the samples from 36 carts or 50% showed E. coli among other types of disgusting bacteria.
This is more bacteria than you would find in a supermarket bathroom, which makes this even more disturbing. Why? The reason is because the bathrooms are routinely cleaned with disinfecting cleaners, but carts are rarely cleaned. And these are the shopping carts that you use to fill with food items for tonight’s dinner. “Hey honey, will you please pass me some of that e coli and feces with my broccoli?” Yuk!
Here’s a great idea for a new business: Why doesn’t some local entrepreneur start a shopping cart collection service? They could offer repairs and sanitizing before the carts are put back into service. Some carts sell for over $350, that’s a huge loss for just one cart. Surely a little steam cleaning and perhaps a wheel replacement or two would be no where near that cost, right? Heck, this business might even team up with our local volunteers, from what I saw today they would gladly dump the carts off at your business… perhaps for a small donation per cart? Would be cost effective! This new cart business could offer portable steam cleaning to get those filthy carts cleaned up after normal business hours and before you sit your little baby in one the next day. Tiny tots lover to lick everything don’t they? Imagine what they are being exposed to on the average shopping cart handle? You might even have a cart just recovered from the bum camp under the bridge where Hep-C is flourishing.
For more information about the Chico Community Watch program or to be a volunteer, please visit them on Face Book – CLICK HERE.
Spot on, Jack.
Thanks Tina and Pie. We have a problem that will continue until there is serious enforcement on shopping cart thefts. Right now police pretty much turn a blind eye to cart theft. But, that attitude only promotes more thefts and like you said Tina, we wind up paying for it.
So that’s why Safeway has pop up disinfectants at the doorways.
It’s a good idea to wash your hands when you get home from anywhere.
Very informative article Jack. Theft , including cart theft, costs retailers and consumers big time. LA Times, “Theft cost retailers $44 billion last year, report finds” The thing is, most of that loss gets added to the price we pay for consumers goods.
Raising honest (moral) children would have a future payoff in all of our our wallets…ahem! Think how much cheaper things wold be if we could stop the left from disparaging things like the Ten Commandments!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the folks at Community Watch…they also paint over graffiti and gang tags don’t they?
Tina you are right about raising good kids. Amen to that one! All I can say is I did my part. Not one of mine has ever been in trouble or a burden to society.
Chico First is working with various city leaders to get a shopping cart ordinance in place to require that owners improve retention on their site. As part of that plan, local “bounty hunters” would be under contract to collect carts, and either bring them to the City yard, back to the stores, or to a third party who will refurbish them and get them back in service. The cost will be born by business, not the City, but the net cost should be less than they are currently paying in the form of lost and damaged carts. Please visit us on Face Book. https://www.facebook.com/groups/chicofirst.org/