Life is full of decisions, and one of those decisions is what to do with the shopping cart after we load groceries in the car. It seems as if there is a theory circulating online that says you can learn a lot about someone by what they do with their shopping cart after shopping.
Like many online viral trends, the “shopping cart theory” seems to have gotten its start on Reddit. It is now circulating on social media on all levels.
The premise behind the shopping cart theory is easy to understand. When you are finished shopping and loading groceries in the car, if you take your cart to the nearest designated collection area, then you are a good person. The reason why is that you tend to be someone that considers others because your shopping cart is not going to be banging into others’ cars or be taking up unnecessary parking spaces, and it creates less work employees responsible for locating the carts.
Most shopping outlets will make it fairly easy to return your cart to a designated area. If you decide to ignore that option and simply leave your cart sitting in the parking lot somewhere, it might just mean that you are a bad person.
Glenn Danzig, the frontman for Danzig and Misfits, is credited by many people with coming up with the theory. It really doesn’t matter where it came from, however, the fact that it has gone viral means it is either truthful or it hit a nerve.
There are also many people who believe in the test and aren’t afraid to say so.
Shopping Cart Theory 💯 pic.twitter.com/xL4LZQaOQO
— Donnell Boucher (@CitadelCoachD) May 9, 2020
Yo.
(1) How am I just now reading this?!
(2) There is nothing more true.
Good night.#ShoppingCartTheory pic.twitter.com/ytap0zYftF
— Micah MacDonald (@MicahMacDonald) September 14, 2020
Even though it is a simple matter to return a cart to a designated area, there are plenty of people who don’t do it.
Scientific American weighs in on some reasons why carts may not be returned to their proper place.
It may be due to the weather or perhaps they need to venture too far from their vehicle to get to one of those areas. Parents are not likely to leave their children unattended in the vehicle just to bring back a shopping cart. There may be people who have disabilities or issues with mobility that would limit their ability to return the cart as well.
There are also some people who say that it is the job of someone employed by the store to pick up carts. If everyone took their cart to a designated area, it would cheat someone out of a paying job.
I’m not so sure about that last one, but there are valid arguments in either direction.