Abandoned Shopping Carts Are Costing Taxpayers. Here’s What Retailers Can Do About It

Between May 2020 and October 2022, the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina, spent $78,000 in taxpayer funds to collect abandoned, stolen, and otherwise wayward shopping carts. It also became the first city to consider placing regulations on shopping carts in an effort to mitigate the growing challenge of carts littering city streets. 

The issue of missing or stolen shopping carts may seem like small potatoes to a large city or large retailer, but it can be a costly problem that ultimately affects everyone’s pocket. The Food Marketing Institute estimates that upwards of 2 million carts are stolen or go missing each year — resulting in significant costs that are eventually passed down to consumers or, in cases such as Fayetteville, the taxpayer. 

Over the years, retailers have developed several strategies to combat cart loss and theft, from stationing workers whose primary job is to retrieve carts to charging a quarter to unlock a cart from a corral, with a promise of your quarter back when you return the cart. None of these options have seemed to quell the number of carts that go missing each year.

Haim Heller, COO of TRACARTS, believes they have the solution that will stick and an idea of why other approaches have failed. “Some security measures utilize the promise of the return of a quarter in exchange for the cart. If you wanted a cart, would you be willing to spend or lose 25 cents for a cart that costs upwards of $250?” he explains.

The team at TRACARTS has leveraged technology and psychology for their TRAC system, a revolutionary new approach to saving time, money, and frustration in the retail sector.

Solving the problem of missing carts

The TRAC system is based as much on technology as it is on the moral pull for people to return their cart to where it belongs. In recent years, returning shopping carts has become, in some ways, a meme-ready test of good versus bad. People who return carts get an instant dopamine rush — a sense of accomplishment that tells them they are good citizens and seek to set themselves apart from others who leave their carts scattered around the parking lot or, worse yet, take off with them to keep. 

TRACARTS does not lean solely on psychology for its state-of-the-art system, however. The TRAC hub is strategically installed in the retail parking lot and allows access to the carts without the shopper having to weave through cars in search of a wayward cart to call their own. The patented TRAC system manages the cart inventory, securing them in place until they are released through TRAC’s own smart system. Shoppers can use any white label app, the fob, a PIN code, a store loyalty card, or their phone number to release the cart. 

While shoppers visit the retailer, they can receive “real-time marketing” such as coupons, notifications, and VIP specials while shopping. They will be given reminders and incentivization to return the cart, tapping into that aforementioned psychological pull to do good.

“Technology, psychology, and engineering are coming together to turn shopping cart pain into a pleasurable shopping experience, money savings for the retailer and ultimately savings for the customer,” says Heller. 

Using smart technology to save the carts 

In addition to being an easy-to-use and advantageous experience for the shopper, the TRAC system also offers customizable incentivization opportunities for the retailer. The TRAC system can be used as an additional tool to engage with shoppers. With positive engagement, shoppers are more apt to return to the retailer again and again. 

TRAC also offers valuable analytics for the retailer, including information about how long shoppers spend in a store, the busiest times, and other shopping cart data. The analytics will show real-time information about how many carts are in use at a time and alerts of when the carts are returned to the hub. The program gives the retailer a birds-eye view of shoppers’ habits beyond just control of the carts, cutting down on lost or stolen carts for good. 

“With our 3-month pilot program resulting in a 97% cart retention rate, we are significantly decreasing shopping cart loss,” says Heller. 

The price of retail goods keeps rising, and the pervasive issue of shopping cart theft poses formidable challenges for both retailers and consumers. The financial burden placed on retailers who have to replace carts or someday pay fines for missing carts if the city decides to crack down on the problem is significant. The ripple effect of missing and stolen carts also affects other areas, such as the overall shopping experience and city blight. 

Efforts to combat the problem continue to emerge, and with innovative ideas such as the system introduced by the TRACARTS company, we may soon see a noted reduction in the number of carts that disappear from retailers nationwide.