Shopping Carts Push Politician to the Brink

After pulling 136 shopping carts out of a creek in the Alexandria area during an October cleanup, Del. Scott Surovell (D-44th District) has introduced House Bill 2011 during the 2013 Virginia General Assembly. The bill states it “shall be unlawful for any person to place, leave, or abandon on any real property in the county, or within specified districts within the [Fairfax] county."

It does not mention shopping carts specifically, but Surovell said the bill covers abandoned personal property. Grocery stores and department stores with shopping carts should be held accountable for retrieving the carts left abandoned in Fairfax County communities.

If you’re caught taking a shopping cart from a grocery store and you take it home, under the Code of Virginia, you could be charged with a class 3 misdemeanor.

According to section 18.2-102.1 of the Code of Virginia: “It shall be unlawful for any person to remove a shopping cart from the premises, of the owner of such shopping cart without the consent, of the owner or of his agent, servant, or employee given at the time of such removal."

Rosemary Diaz, property manager of the Kingsley Commons housing development in Falls Church wouldn’t have a problem with that. She said the housing development, like other areas near shopping centers, have problems with residents bringing their groceries home in the carts and leaving them around the development.

“Kingsley Commons does not have any rules set in place pertaining to the grocery carts,” Diaz said. “When management is made aware of resident(s) bringing grocery carts over, notices will be sent. If the problem continues the resident will be fined.”

With more than a dozen shopping carts from a local Giant Foods store lined up near dumpsters in Kingsley Commons, Diaz said the housing development’s maintenance staff routinely returns the carts.

Jamie Miller, a spokesman for Giant Food, said the grocery store chain is glad to supply carts and their stores have a process in place where employees retrieve carts regularly.

“Occasionally, shopping carts are removed from our parking lots, and some store locations experience a higher than normal occurrence of carts not being returned,” Miller said in a written statement. “We very much appreciate the courtesy of our customers in returning carts and baskets after use.”