There they sit. On the curb, sometimes in the street, lying on their side in the bushes, or even worse—rolling across the parking lot and into the street creating a hazard all alone. The abandoned shopping cart, some make their way to apartment complexes or homes; others find their way to any number of locations, blocks if not miles from the stores that own them.

CALL TO ACTION

In the City of Sparks, store managers want to know where their abandoned carts are so they can be picked up and put back to use. Most, but not all shopping carts display the name of their owner—a grocery store, drug store, or department store—so the solution is fairly simple. If anyone sees and identifies an abandoned shopping cart, a call to the store whose name is on the cart should solve the problem. The stores should have their carts picked up within 24 hours.

THE NUMBERS

Here is a list of numbers to call and people to ask for when reporting an abandoned cart: