I hopped back onto the calorie counting/working out train last week, and have been doing pretty well so far. Last night I went to the gym, which is in the same complex, but across the lot, from Von's. Did my workout then remembered I had to go buy some veggies for lunch, and I figured I'd jog across the parking lot rather than driving the 20 seconds it would take to get there.

Got to Von's okay, got my veggies, then found a whole bunch of other things on sale - whole chickens! Club soda! Wheat crackers! Cheese! (AKA: heavy stuff!!) Loaded up my cart, checked out - 12 bags later! - then started wheeling my cart back to my car.

Cue 15 car lengths to go. SCREECH!!!! Cart jerks to a COMPLETE halt, and refuses to budge even an inch. Apparently Von's recently implemented that awesome limited cart zone, whereby the wheels lock up the second it hits the boundary a certain distance from the store. Wish I'd known that since I was leaning quite comfortably over the cart handle and pretty much jammed it full-speed into my ribs!! Clear knocked the wind out of me!!!

that sucks .... our supermarket does the same thing with the cart locks ... im suprised i still have a toe left ..... i stub my toe almost evreytime i leave the supermarket .... in the summer when im wearing open toed shoes im cursing !!! lolz

How do they cause the lock? I've never heard of that before.

Hope you're feeling better! Did you manage to lug all your groceries to the car?

jitterfish i have NO IDEA how they do it i think its some sort of sourcery ?

no lol but seriously it seems once i get to a certain point in the parking lot the cart wheel comes to a dead stop its next to impossible to continue rolling it .... i will google it to see if it comes up because im baffled by how they do that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoppin...eft_prevention

lo and behold there it is under the subheading electronic and magnetic ... it seems a thin wire is implemented around the perimeter of the store and when the wheel is rolled over it a boot is then put into affect to stop it from continuing to roll

i live in brooklyn im not too suprised we have those things lol people steal grocery carts around here ... idk what they will do with it .. but yeah lolz i guess the cost of implementing such a device is cheaper than replacing all the missing carts year after year lol

It's silly annoying but makes total sense lol. I'm jus used to them actually having warnings on the end of the carts, this one was completely unexpected!! I had to run back and forth from the cart to the car like a crazy person but yes I finally got everything there. So much for my first attempt at putting the whole "walk a little further - park at the end of the parking lot" theory into practice!

I guess it's like "invisible fence" for shopping carts. I'm sure it's way more cost efficient than replacing carts. I've never heard of it before this. It's interesting.

Lin

That would drive me crazy, since I intentionally park at the back of the lot so I get more exercise. I'm glad they have found a way to stop cart theft (they're expensive to replace!) but perhaps they could make the field a wee bit wider?

Sorry about your ribs. Also wanna say....I wish they had that here. We live across the street from a grocery store and the people here bring home carts all the time. I hate seeing three or 4 piled up in front of someone's door. I mean can't they take it back the next time?