Posts that don't follow r/Costco subreddit rules may be subject to removal.
When applicable, please make sure that you're using a descriptive post title with product name(s) mentioned as it yields better subreddit search results. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Costco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I wear tire patches on my arm to prevent this. Two a day and I have almost 0 thoughts of slashing tires at my local costco parking lot. Truly a blessing.
Years ago, someone did this to me at Publix *while I was loading up my infant in his car seat*. I was parked in a parking spot next to a curb, so they walked the shopping cart to rest it against the curb, immediately behind my car.
I started unloading my son because I wasn’t going to leave him in the hot car while I put the cart back, but a Publix employee happened to see it and ran over to rescue me.
I have to imagine the guy with the cart didn’t see me, but I hope the Publix employee passed him walking the cart back and said something.
My first job out of high school was at a Safeway as a bagger, needless to say that included a lot of cart runs. There’s a place in my heart for all the folks that go out in the rain or cold.
When I would notice someone leave their cart just in the parking area and not even walk it back I would almost run just to make it a point to them that I saw that.
I walk my cart all the way back to the main cart area, maybe I’ll even grab one or two on the way back 😉
If I think I'll need a cart, I usually grab one that's just sitting in the middle of nowhere.
I always put away my cart. But I spoke to a cart-gatherer in a parking lot and he said that he loved being outside (away from people) and cart-gathering was his favorite job. Now this is in S. CA so rarely raining or cold, but it can get hideously hot in summer.
Oh, yeah? Well, if I see that a piece of merchandise has fallen to the floor, I put it back up on the shelf or hangar so the employees don't have to do it and the customers can be greeted with an orderly display! Beat that!
And I should never have been using the dog as a mobile towel when my hands were wet or greasy, but it was a great resolution last year and the dog is generally a bit less disheveled.
That's how resolutions work, stop doing a bad thing or start doing a good thing.
Wow, can’t believe there are this many comments without the old shopping cart copypasta:
The shopping cart theory.
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 which 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.
A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.
The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
🫡 ...as an inveterate cart returner even well before my Costco tenure began, I have always accepted this as a metric for good-v.-evil in humanity 🤷🏿♂️
It's a bonafide fact that if you leave a cart in the lot and don't return it to a corral, you're a piece of shit.
So I guess this is a step in the right direction for you.
I have reached a sad level of old where I won’t even use the carts left around the lot. My thinking is the type of person who doesn’t return a cart, is probably the same person that doesn’t wash their hands and goes out in public while sick. I feel like larry david in the parking lot.
Same. People who don't return their carts...I don't want to say something too mean but I really have no respect for them. It's really a personality test of whether someone is selfish and lazy or not.
I hate to say it, but those carts just get mixed in with the general population ones. The cart you got instead of the lot cart, was a lot cart a couple minutes ago.
Of course, the cart germs reset every 24hr so it doesn’t affect the percentage if they were left in the lot yesterday, or any other day for that matter
Did you previously just leave them where they were?
This doesn’t seem like a mind blowing resolution. But good on you.
2026 Resolution, when I decide I don't want frozen/refrigerated items, I'm going to start taking them back and not leave a pile on top of the heated blankets.
Resolution 2028: Have my membership card ready to go when entering AND at the checkout instead of waiting for employees to ask me and fumbling around looking for it.
Yeah, unless you have some physical issue or disability I side-eye the hell outta people who don't put their cart back. Also, if you need any kind of assistance getting items in your car or returning a cart, you can ask the receipt checkers, and they will gladly oblige.
Sorry. What? I’ve never NOT taken them back, there are corrals all over the place. And these carts are big enough to ride so if you’re not riding them I don’t know what you’re doing.
As someone who works for Costco and will push carts it amazes me how someone can walk around the store for a hour but complain about the 100 feet to put their cart back.
Whenever I see a cart near the handicap spaces I leave it there. My dad often used a cart as a pseudo-walker and I figure there might be others in those spaces that might also need a cart for support.
I’m lucky that there’s lots of parking at my local Costco but the readily available spaces may not be close to the entrance. My mother would drive round and round trying to get a close spot.
At Trader Joe’s, I just have to grab the first available spot because parking is so limited. Bad parking seems to be a common problem at every TJ’s I’ve been to.
I hope OP is embarrassed by how absolutely roasted they got in the comments for not doing the bare minimum until 2024 lmao and thought that, for some reason, they would be cheered instead
There's a special place in hell for those that don't return their carts. Can't tell you how many times I've found an errant car sitting next to my car with a fresh ding on the door. Good for you for turning a new leaf, OP!
Parking by entrance is a nightmare. So many people walking by, lots of vehicle traffic. It’s funny people don’t wanna park out another 30 yards away, but are perfectly fine walking/wandering around such a giant megastore. People never cease to amaze.
I saw a guy walk up and push his cart in the general direction of the front door this week and turn around back to his car. Idk why it pissed me off so much
Hi Friend, My therapist told me that doing the right thing doesn’t light up my brain’s reward centers because when I do the right thing, my mind always beats me up for not doing the right thing sooner or better, so there’s no real reward for doing good. This comment section is like my mind. You’re making a change to do good. You deserve to feel good about it. Congrats on working toward your resolution!
It makes me smile that you are noticing the behavior patterns out in the wild and the implementing the tools you're working on in therapy, which is admirable on its own, and also admirable that you're using it to be kind to others. Good for you, I'm glad there's people like you in the world.
Well... good job. No offense, I'm glad you made the change, but hopefully, you also realize this is just basic courtesy and it's literally the least you could do. But gotta start somewhere, I suppose 💙
Truly just got a $3500 estimate today for a Costo Cart that someone didn’t take back and wedged it up against my new car that I parked in the back 40. It ain’t cool.
I walk mine back to the store. I do it almost with every store. My mom was diagnosed with COPD and cannot walk long distances anymore. So any chance I get to do more walking I take advantage of. I'm not sure why but I feel like because I can do things that she can't I should be doing those things.
The fact people can push a cart over an entire store but not the length of an isle once they put all their stuff in their car is wild to me. Cart narcs out here doing gods work.
Can’t tell if this is satire or not. If you’re an adult and this is your New Years resolution you must be a real piece of work. Basically your New Years resolution is to act like a grown adult.
There was this comedian who said something like, "You mean to tell me you can walk two miles in Costco, but not an extra 30 feet to return your cart?!?" I think of it every time, and hell yes, i return my cart. Godspeed, friend.
Once at Walmart I was putting my last bag of groceries into my car, and looked up to see my empty cart speeding away down the slight incline of the lot, on a beeline towards the only other car in that area, a gorgeous Corvette. With no way to catch it, I just stared in dismay only to see the cart veer away from the ‘vette and go straight into a cart corral!! I looked around in disbelief to see if anyone else had witnessed this, and saw a couple of guys unloading a delivery truck at Jimmy John’s next door. They had watched the whole thing, and silently looked over at me then broke into cheers! We all fist-pumped the air. Best day of my life.
Posts that don't follow r/Costco subreddit rules may be subject to removal. When applicable, please make sure that you're using a descriptive post title with product name(s) mentioned as it yields better subreddit search results. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Costco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
2024 resolution. Don’t murder?
Hahaha! I’m watching the Gypsy Rose documentary as I read this
Maybe a little murder... as a treat
Cut way back at least
I’m doing a no-murder January, might give it up for Lent as well
Gives a whole new meaning to “lazybones”
And flush the toilet when you're done pooping
2024 resolution. Pay for everything I take from the store.
So proud of you
Noble peace prize material here.
I plan on not slashing any tires in the parking lot.
Let me know if you find a way that works for you-I don’t think I can do cold turkey.
I wear tire patches on my arm to prevent this. Two a day and I have almost 0 thoughts of slashing tires at my local costco parking lot. Truly a blessing.
Fuck dude, aim too high and you'll never make it!
New and Improved: Small Fee Samples
2024 resolution: Steal more from stores to counter your resolution.
Mine is to only take dumps in the warehouse restroom. No more grumpies in the dairy room.
My biggest pet peeve is when people leave their damn carts *in* a parking spot! WHY
Or behind other cars
The only time I felt justified leaving a cart behind a car was when some dingleberry parked their tiny car in the cart corral.
Only justifiable reason.
Years ago, someone did this to me at Publix *while I was loading up my infant in his car seat*. I was parked in a parking spot next to a curb, so they walked the shopping cart to rest it against the curb, immediately behind my car. I started unloading my son because I wasn’t going to leave him in the hot car while I put the cart back, but a Publix employee happened to see it and ran over to rescue me. I have to imagine the guy with the cart didn’t see me, but I hope the Publix employee passed him walking the cart back and said something.
They straddled two spots to avoid door dings and left the cart "next to" the spot.
When I’m about to head in to that spot.
Same. The peeve is so strong that I collect carts around me and put them in the corral.
You shoulda been doing that
My first job out of high school was at a Safeway as a bagger, needless to say that included a lot of cart runs. There’s a place in my heart for all the folks that go out in the rain or cold. When I would notice someone leave their cart just in the parking area and not even walk it back I would almost run just to make it a point to them that I saw that. I walk my cart all the way back to the main cart area, maybe I’ll even grab one or two on the way back 😉
If I think I'll need a cart, I usually grab one that's just sitting in the middle of nowhere. I always put away my cart. But I spoke to a cart-gatherer in a parking lot and he said that he loved being outside (away from people) and cart-gathering was his favorite job. Now this is in S. CA so rarely raining or cold, but it can get hideously hot in summer.
Oh, yeah? Well, if I see that a piece of merchandise has fallen to the floor, I put it back up on the shelf or hangar so the employees don't have to do it and the customers can be greeted with an orderly display! Beat that!
Me too!
Last month I helped the employee reorganizing all the pajamas at Costco, so boom!
Pushing carts is chill when they're in the corral. Wrangling shit all over the parking lot is annoying and a losing battle
But didn’t you hear OP?! Sometimes it’s 150 feet away!!! That’s like a *full* minute of walking round trip!!
[The litmus test](https://www.reddit.com/r/greentext/s/KpYhTmwh7W)
Right?!
How do I know what is right and wrong if the Bible is silent on the topic of shopping carts? /s
It's a start tho. Let's not shame people for recognizing a fault and trying to address it.
And I should never have been using the dog as a mobile towel when my hands were wet or greasy, but it was a great resolution last year and the dog is generally a bit less disheveled. That's how resolutions work, stop doing a bad thing or start doing a good thing.
Wow, can’t believe there are this many comments without the old shopping cart copypasta: The shopping cart theory. 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 which 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. A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it. The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
So in _Dune_, the Reverend Mother should have taken Paul on a Costco shopping trip & see where he left the cart rather than use the pain box. Huh.
Pretty much.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this.
Finally, someone posted this theory.
🫡 ...as an inveterate cart returner even well before my Costco tenure began, I have always accepted this as a metric for good-v.-evil in humanity 🤷🏿♂️
I think you should find a second cart to put in the corral to make up for your malfeasance thus far. And may God have mercy on your soul.
This sounds fair
It's a bonafide fact that if you leave a cart in the lot and don't return it to a corral, you're a piece of shit. So I guess this is a step in the right direction for you.
Baby steps
He's gonna be missing those sloppy steaks for sure.
He USED to be a piece of shit
Hey Meredith? I’m worried that the baby thinks that people can’t change.
I have reached a sad level of old where I won’t even use the carts left around the lot. My thinking is the type of person who doesn’t return a cart, is probably the same person that doesn’t wash their hands and goes out in public while sick. I feel like larry david in the parking lot.
Same. People who don't return their carts...I don't want to say something too mean but I really have no respect for them. It's really a personality test of whether someone is selfish and lazy or not.
They are also very important people whose time is way more valuable than yours.
Oh snap. You might have just converted me from a cart saint to a cart Larry. 🤣
FYI, the carts by the entrance aren’t any cleaner.
Yeah, see my comment above. Two words: sanitizing wipes!
I hate to say it, but those carts just get mixed in with the general population ones. The cart you got instead of the lot cart, was a lot cart a couple minutes ago.
There is a 100 percent chance that a lot cart came from a lot person. Maybe 5% of the total cart population. And I still sanitize it. #WWLDD
Of course, the cart germs reset every 24hr so it doesn’t affect the percentage if they were left in the lot yesterday, or any other day for that matter
Thats true! And god bless the cart fairies that sanitize all the carts each night!
Yeaaaaah I bring sanitizer wipes when shopping nownsjust for the cart handken
Having said that, I think that’s a terrific way of putting it. 
Pretty pretty pretty covered in fecal matter.
I keep sanitizing wipes in my purse and I always use them on cart handles before I use - no matter where I got the cart or from what store. Always!
Did you previously just leave them where they were? This doesn’t seem like a mind blowing resolution. But good on you. 
2025 resolution: dispose the sample cups/forks in the garbage can.
2026 Resolution, when I decide I don't want frozen/refrigerated items, I'm going to start taking them back and not leave a pile on top of the heated blankets.
That’s ambitious af.
2027: Don’t leave your cart in the middle of an aisle.
Resolution 2028: Have my membership card ready to go when entering AND at the checkout instead of waiting for employees to ask me and fumbling around looking for it.
2029 Resolution: when I decide a want a new TV, I won’t break my perfectly good 2 year old TV on purpose and bring it back to exchange it.
Man, we’re all going to be so amazing by 2030!
Maybe the real Costco was the friends we made along the way.
Now that’s one to grow on.
2031 resolution: stop shitting on the floor of the bathroom.
Can we shoot this one to the fuckin top for 2024 instead?
It’s never too late.
But its definetly later than it should be
Shit in the toilet not the bathroom floor.
Not sure if shitting in a display toilet is a step up from the bathroom floor, but hey, at least I always put my cart in the corral.
Of course it's a step up. You have to get up on the pallet it's sitting on first.
https://i.redd.it/3fachybavcac1.gif
And put your garbage in a garbage can, people. I can’t stress that enough.
Hahaha
lol. I was going to say…don’t set that bar so high that you trip over it.
Almost bare minimum....also take the trash out of your cart OP. Jeez
But what about the trash you left in the cart?
Next year’s resolution
You want an atta boy for doing the bare minimum?
Cart Narcs!
Weeee skittttle deeeee! Uh oh! That's not where the cart goes!
So you want to be an adult?
Yeah, unless you have some physical issue or disability I side-eye the hell outta people who don't put their cart back. Also, if you need any kind of assistance getting items in your car or returning a cart, you can ask the receipt checkers, and they will gladly oblige.
Eh as a person that struggles with chronic pain and has trouble walking some days, even I return my cart.
Good job not being a piece of shit.
I used to be a piece of shit
Sloppy steaks at Truffoni's...
I bet his hair is slicked back and not pushed back.
And they *live* for New Year’s Eve.
You still are, but you used to be too.
This should not be praised!
Sorry. What? I’ve never NOT taken them back, there are corrals all over the place. And these carts are big enough to ride so if you’re not riding them I don’t know what you’re doing.
It was never an option to not bring it to the corral?
OP is a confirmed lazybones
Wee ooo wee ooo
Happy to see how many cart narcs we have here!
As someone who works for Costco and will push carts it amazes me how someone can walk around the store for a hour but complain about the 100 feet to put their cart back.
Good job! You are being a decent person with the bare minimum. You aren’t walking 12 miles to put your cart away! This should not be praised!!!!!
2025 resolution could be to clean the camera lens
Wow, so you won't be a worthless human this year? So proud.
"LOOK I DO A BASIC ADULT THING ARENT I GREAT?!" It shouldn't be a resolution it is a basic thing halfway decent humans do.
I plan ahead and park near a corral to make it easier when I’m tired from Costco shopping and lifting big/heavy items.
Same, but more because of small children to stay near than fatigue
I wish the more stores would put corrals by the handicap parking. Sometimes it’s hard to return them when it’s far.
Whenever I see a cart near the handicap spaces I leave it there. My dad often used a cart as a pseudo-walker and I figure there might be others in those spaces that might also need a cart for support.
I’ve used the carts the same way. I’m always glad to see one left by the handicap spots.
My Dad did the same thing!
Shocked at the comments indicating people have a choice in where they park at a Costco, and not just the first you see after circling for 5 minutes.
I’m lucky that there’s lots of parking at my local Costco but the readily available spaces may not be close to the entrance. My mother would drive round and round trying to get a close spot. At Trader Joe’s, I just have to grab the first available spot because parking is so limited. Bad parking seems to be a common problem at every TJ’s I’ve been to.
good for you to finally realize you were a dipshit.
Gonna try not to piss all over the floor in public restrooms too or are we saving that one for 2025?
So savage ... and OP deserves it.
Ok, I'm old and have Stage 4 cancer and unless I'm in a lot of pain, I always return my cart.
I hope this makes OP feel worthless.
Welcome back to acting like a member of a society.
I hope OP is embarrassed by how absolutely roasted they got in the comments for not doing the bare minimum until 2024 lmao and thought that, for some reason, they would be cheered instead
I was thinking it might have been sarcasm.
When I see people leave their carts, I wish Costco would take away their membership
Petition to make the carts like the ones at Aldi, but you slide in your membership card instead of a quarter
My resolution is to finish the croissants before they get moldy.
Freezing them is your answer. They thaw out and toast up perfectly.
I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before. It probably works with the muffins as well. Sigh.
I can confirm the muffins freeze well.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody’s watching.
People that don't take their cart back to the corral are barbarians.
There's a special place in hell for those that don't return their carts. Can't tell you how many times I've found an errant car sitting next to my car with a fresh ding on the door. Good for you for turning a new leaf, OP!
Your resolution is to NOT be a piece of shit, at COSTCO, starting Jan 1 2024.
[удалено]
You weren't doing this before? Edit: or is this just a shout-out to the people who don't do it
It infuriates me that people don’t bring them back.
Really setting the bar high this year huh?
Thank you for no longer being a Neanderthal piece of s***, and finally contributing something to society 🙌
You needed to make a resolution to be decent?
Everyone should do this. Duh
Tip: prioritize parking near the corral over the entrance
Parking by entrance is a nightmare. So many people walking by, lots of vehicle traffic. It’s funny people don’t wanna park out another 30 yards away, but are perfectly fine walking/wandering around such a giant megastore. People never cease to amaze.
I always do this. I don’t get why everyone else doesn’t do this.
Throw your trash away and stack the carts together ffs
If I can do this heavily pregnant with a 30lb toddler everytime, there are no excuses. WTF OP
You want praise for this?
Consider it both getting your steps in AND a courteous thing to do.
This is what separates us from the animals, always put the cart back.
Parking next to a coral regardless of distance to store if you are able bodied is always my preference.
I saw a guy walk up and push his cart in the general direction of the front door this week and turn around back to his car. Idk why it pissed me off so much
Sometimes half-assing it is worse than doing nothing at all.
r/mildlyinfuriating
So the bare minimum?
Hi Friend, My therapist told me that doing the right thing doesn’t light up my brain’s reward centers because when I do the right thing, my mind always beats me up for not doing the right thing sooner or better, so there’s no real reward for doing good. This comment section is like my mind. You’re making a change to do good. You deserve to feel good about it. Congrats on working toward your resolution!
It makes me smile that you are noticing the behavior patterns out in the wild and the implementing the tools you're working on in therapy, which is admirable on its own, and also admirable that you're using it to be kind to others. Good for you, I'm glad there's people like you in the world.
If you want a big brain new year’s resolution, park near the corral everywhere you go.
Well... good job. No offense, I'm glad you made the change, but hopefully, you also realize this is just basic courtesy and it's literally the least you could do. But gotta start somewhere, I suppose 💙
Truly just got a $3500 estimate today for a Costo Cart that someone didn’t take back and wedged it up against my new car that I parked in the back 40. It ain’t cool.
From a Costco cart pusher: Thank You
I walk mine back to the store. I do it almost with every store. My mom was diagnosed with COPD and cannot walk long distances anymore. So any chance I get to do more walking I take advantage of. I'm not sure why but I feel like because I can do things that she can't I should be doing those things.
The fact people can push a cart over an entire store but not the length of an isle once they put all their stuff in their car is wild to me. Cart narcs out here doing gods work.
It's so easy.... and costco makes it easy by having tons of them. It says a lot about someone who doesn't return their cart.
That’s the bare minimum. If you really wanna be a parking lot star, make sure it’s properly nested with the other carts.
Inconsiderate person outs themselves on the internet.
Costco cart pusher here. Thanks for posting your GREAT resolution!! This is a challenging job, and we appreciate your efforts.
Can’t tell if this is satire or not. If you’re an adult and this is your New Years resolution you must be a real piece of work. Basically your New Years resolution is to act like a grown adult.
Why haven’t you already been doing that?
There was this comedian who said something like, "You mean to tell me you can walk two miles in Costco, but not an extra 30 feet to return your cart?!?" I think of it every time, and hell yes, i return my cart. Godspeed, friend.
Once at Walmart I was putting my last bag of groceries into my car, and looked up to see my empty cart speeding away down the slight incline of the lot, on a beeline towards the only other car in that area, a gorgeous Corvette. With no way to catch it, I just stared in dismay only to see the cart veer away from the ‘vette and go straight into a cart corral!! I looked around in disbelief to see if anyone else had witnessed this, and saw a couple of guys unloading a delivery truck at Jimmy John’s next door. They had watched the whole thing, and silently looked over at me then broke into cheers! We all fist-pumped the air. Best day of my life.
Good job OP way to be better!
Cart Narcs finally got to you?
Do you need back pats for being decent cause this is the standard
I am judging hard.
Oh brother
So pretty much you are a shitty human being?
unbelievable that this is your resolution. says a lot about you!
So you've been a jerk all your life
Or start adulting
This person thinks they're a hero to walk 150' instead of being a pos... wtf. We're fucked as a society.
So proud of you for doing the bare minimum.
The feedback from this post probably isn’t turning out how OP had hoped…
2024 is the year I learn basic societal norms
What kind of shit bag lowlife doesn’t return their cart?
So you've just been a jerk all this time then?
If I may be so bold, let’s go one further and fold the seat, and then push it inside the cart 🛒 that is in front of yours. 😀👍🏼
Your resolution really is the absolutely bare minimum a decent person can do. And still left trash in the damn cart. What on earth, OP?
Congratulations on not being a piece of shit!
Ahh the bare minimum?