Errant, Off-site Shopping Carts Target of Township Ordinance

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee’s Feb. 17 work session had only one agenda item. 
The focus was on the evolving draft of a potential ordinance governing shopping carts. The intent of the ordinance is to create an environment in which stores, reluctant to use manpower in cart containment, would face some form of fine or penalty.
It is still a very vague concept in need of much refinement as a potential policy.
The problem committee has been wrestling with is the increasing number of shopping carts, especially at large Rio Grande retail establishments, which are taken off the store property and subsequently left at bus stops and in residential areas. 
The carts create an “eyesore” that reflects badly on the township causing complaints from citizens.
The aesthetics are not the only issue. Wind can carry carts into the busy roadways surrounding the shopping areas creating potential safety hazards for motorists.
Valued at about $130 each, the carts also represent a form of property theft. Pickup of the disposed carts is frequently done by township public works employees adding public expense to the list of problems.
Solving the problem is not easy.
Police Chief Christopher Leusner told committee his department has tried tougher enforcement with arrests that end up in municipal court or warnings to motivate better behavior. Police have also launched an education program trying to get individuals to realize that taking the carts is not a permissible action. According to Leusner, efforts to date have “not made a dent” in the problem.
Leusner said that there is not much hope of controlling the problem until the merchants, especially the big box stores with lots of carts, see it in their interest to institute cart containment programs.
“They will call us about a $25 shoplifting incident, but do nothing about a $130 cart leaving their property,” he said. Merchants seemingly do not want to invest in either technology or manpower to control actions that occur outside the store’s walls.
One proposal being advocated is based on technology that creates an invisible barrier around the store property with a device on the cart locking the wheels if the cart crosses the threshold. 
Problems with this approach extend beyond the need for investment, since it is not always clear if the responsibility for such an implementation belongs with the individual stores in a shopping center or with the firm that owns and manages the entire center.
Would systems around parking lots of adjacent stores interfere with each other? The practical issues involved in implementing such a technology quickly become complex.
Committee member Timothy Donohue also pointed out that there is an important line between using incentives to involve merchants in solving the problem and penalizing merchants for the actions of individual shoppers.
Deputy Mayor Jeffrey DeVico, chairing the meeting in the absence of Mayor Michael Clark, said “We should look at fines as a way to motivate stores to develop their own mechanism.”
To the suggestion that any proposed ordinance be directed at only the large stores, DeVico also said he felt it should be “any or all” establishments.
All agreed that the current rough draft of an ordinance, which was not made public, needs work. As the drafting continues, one suggestion that seemed to gain support was to hold another public work session on the topic and invite the larger retail stores to participate in the discussion of possible approaches.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.