By Ron Wolforth –
Not too long ago, Coach Carson Ellis and I had a conversation about what it says about you as a person if you don’t return your shopping cart to the store or bin. Come to find out, this phenomenon and what it means has been debated online for several years now.
The viral “Shopping Cart Theory” proposes that an individual’s moral character can be determined by whether they choose to return a shopping cart to its designated spot after use, or whether they simply leave it wherever it suits them.
According to a tweet by a user named Jared, “The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore, the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it.”
“No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you, or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. The Shopping Cart Theory, therefore, is a great litmus test on whether a person is a good or bad member of society.”
After tossing a multitude of arguments and counter-arguments, the majority on Twitter voted in agreement with the theory, with many retail workers presenting their personal experiences to make the case.
Twitter user @THEheadhunter44 wrote, “This is true. I’m the cart guy at a grocery store and I can confirm that I look down at you when I see you abandon the carts. Please for the love of God and man and all that is right with the world RETURN YOUR CART. YOU’RE NOT HELPING ANYTHING BY DITCHING IT! PLEASE!”.
Another user @mercedestractor tweeted, “I worked at a grocery store in the past and you’d be absolutely shocked at how many people don’t. Even worse, often they’ll like kick it up on the curb so it doesn’t roll away, meaning they literally put effort into not returning it.”
Meanwhile, some users pointed out that returning a shopping cart – although a simple enough job for most – might be a bigger deal for those with disabilities or those suffering from chronic illness or pain.
Unsurprisingly, there were some pompous souls who claimed to leave the carts anywhere but the designated spots to give retail workers more work and – by their uninformed and entitled logic – more income.
So what do you think? Is the Shopping Cart Theory an efficient gauge of someone’s moral character? Coach Ellis and I were actually in agreement with the Shopping Cart Theory before we even knew it was a thing.
I fervently believe that our character is defined in large part by what we do when no one is watching and how we treat others who can’t do anything for us. Returning a shopping cart to the store or to the bin after you’ve utilized it seems to fit both areas.
So the question is:
First, do you see how this isolated behavior may possibly reveal something about your character? And second, how do you do in this specific area?
Do you never return your cart? Do you just leave your cart next to your vehicle? Do you prop it up on the curb so it doesn’t roll?
Do you return your cart with some exceptions like your mood, the weather, pain, or a time crunch?
Do you or a family member always return your cart with no exceptions?
Do you actually go the extra mile and put away other’s carts left out around you?
Full disclosure: I think I personally have been each of these over the course of my 63 years on this planet, so I’m happy to report that we can absolutely change. Today, and for some time now (the last 30 years or so), I have been the last description.
One of my philosophical mentors, the late Jim Rohn, implored me to constantly “leave a profit” wherever I go and in whatever I did. Meaning that whatever I was involved in, I was to be of benefit or value to those around me, whether that was direct or indirect.
I personally pride myself in leaving my hotel room, my Airbnb, the dugout, or facility BETTER than I found it (which many times is actually quite difficult). In those situations, I quite often enjoy that challenge.
In closing, I highly endorse, not only returning YOUR shopping cart, but also finding little, simple ways to be a benefit to others who may not even ever know your name. It’s a double blessing; it not only blesses others, but it reinforces servant leadership in our own self-image. You will simply feel better by doing something honorable.
Until next week,
Stay curious and keep fighting the good fight!
Coach Ron Wolforth
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