READERS RESPOND -- What should be done with shopping carts?

For years, I have endured the ugliness of abandoned shopping carts in

our city streets, and I do what everyone should: I report to the store

they should be retrieved.

A week ago, I returned from a visit to my native Greece, where, to my

surprise, I saw how the local supermarket has solved the abandoned carts

problem. I think it is a worthy idea because I saw it working there.

The shopping carts are chained in their port to one another and in

order to release the first on the line you insert a coin to a special

device and the cart automatically is released.

You go do your shopping, and when you return you empty your groceries

to your car and then you return the cart to any port. After you anchor

the cart in its place, your coin can be retrieved. This is one of the

positive experiences I had and think is worthy to look at. If a small

country such as Greece is so advanced, why not us?

TIM KATALANOS

Costa Mesa

What is wrong with this picture?

Would someone tell me why a person in business, that has something

stolen from him or her, should have to pay a fine for its return? What is

wrong with this picture? Those shopping carts are not abandoned, they are

stolen. They are removed from a business property without payment or

permission. That is theft.

I suggest that every time you see someone with a stolen shopping cart

not on store property, report them to the police. What a novel concept.

How about if these people were made to collect all the stolen carts as a

punishment for stealing them in the first place? Maybe, just maybe, the

stealing would stop. If someone is to be fined, how about fining the

people who steal the carts?

Has anyone ever thought how much the businesses pay for those carts?

You know, the carts that make it so nice to carry your goods to the car?

And you want to make business owners pay again to get the carts back?

Again I ask, what is wrong with this picture?

JEFF BRACEY

Newport Beach

They are not “abandoned” carts. They are stolen carts.

Let me see if I have this right. Prior to signing a $7,000-per-month

contract with a company to retrieve “abandoned” shopping carts, the city

of Costa Mesa is considering fining store owners of these abandoned

carts. Taxpayers do not want to pay for picking up the carts, but if we

charge the stores, we simply will pay for it in the higher cost of

groceries.

How about this? For three months, take the $7,000 and pay for a police

officer to sit a block or two away from the stores that have been the

“biggest offenders.” If they see me pushing a shopping cart down the

street, stop me and attempt to determine if I own it. If the name Ralphs

or Albertsons or Smart & Final is on the cart, there is a better than a

99% chance that I have stolen it. Since the cart costs more than $200, I

could be charged with grand theft.

Remember, with our three strikes law, the third time that I am caught

“stealing” carts requires a mandatory 25-year prison sentence. If that

keeps the supermarkets from “abandoning” their carts, sign the contract

and start fining them.

HOWARD WELLS

Newport Beach