Beeps, Wheel Locks Are Among New Ways Stores Stop Cart Theft
During its ride through a Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. store in Chicago, the shopping cart behaved normally, as it did in the parking lot outside.
But a few steps beyond the parking lot it did something unusual: It beeped. Then it beeped again, a two-toned noise loud enough to draw suspicious looks from nearby pedestrians. The cart wouldn't stop beeping.
This is the sound of a new cart-security system that retailers hope will save them millions of dollars a year. Industry experts say thousands of carts are stolen annually nationwide, at a cost of about $125 a pop.
Yet the impetus for such tactics as the beeping carts isn't coming from retailing bean counters. It's coming from the growing number of cities and towns that are fed up with the sight of abandoned shopping carts and are financially penalizing stores for carts found off their premises.
Who steals carts? Teenagers, just because they can. Homeless people who deploy them as rolling storage bins. And shoppers without automobiles, who use them to wheel their purchases home. Abandoned on lawns, sidewalks and streets, these carts are an eyesore as well as a traffic hazard.
North Las Vegas, Nev., passed an ordinance requiring retailers to establish mechanisms to prevent shopping-cart theft, then hired a company that retrieves abandoned carts for $3 each and passes the cost along to stores. Kissimmee, Fla., passed an ordinance forcing stores with more than 20 carts to install a device, such as a beeping system or a physical barrier at the store's perimeters, to curb cart theft; retailers that don't comply can be fined up to $250 a day per cart. Edgewater, N.J., charges stores $10 per abandoned cart found by authorities.
Kart Saver's cart beeps and locks a wheel to stop thieves
Some retailers are fighting the ordinances. A group of chains including Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. has sued Kissimmee, the Orlando suburb. The supermarket chain calls the regulation an "unnecessary intrusion into the business operations of Winn-Dixie" and says that Kissimmee hasn't "demonstrated there is an underlying problem requiring this onerous regulation."
But the wave of new rules has been a boon to companies that make high-tech cart-saving devices. Closely held Carttronics Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., says its devices -- which trigger wheel brakes when a cart leaves a store's property -- are attached to about 200,000 carts world-wide. Kart Saver Inc., a closely held Sacramento, Calif., company, says sales are strong for its K-2000 device, which beeps both to alert store personnel and embarrass the would-be thief. If the cart-pusher doesn't stop the device locks one of the front wheels, forcing the cart to travel only in a circle. Gatekeeper Systems LLC of Irvine, Calif., also makes carts whose wheels lock if a cart nears the store's perimeter.
But for customers faced with full parking lots, the new devices pose a problem: No longer can you push your merchandise to your car if it's parked in the street beyond the store. Even if you are willing to tolerate beeping -- and the suspicious stares that go with it -- carts that have automatically activated brakes would stop your journey.
Gatekeeper's warning sign
Such braking systems are being deployed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in some locations, and Federated Department Stores Inc. is testing wheel-lock carts at 10 Macy's in metropolitan New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami. The Container Store opened its San Francisco outpost using carts that are restricted to circles once they are too far from the store.
Pathmark Stores Inc. took a different tack at some of its supermarkets, installing kiosks that released a cart in exchange for 25 cents, which was reimbursed when the cart was returned. But customers complained, and out went the kiosks.
Retailers and government officials say shopping-cart theft is particularly pronounced in urban areas, especially at stores near apartment buildings or where few people own cars. Some stores report replenishing half their fleet of 300 shopping carts in a given year. However, the ordinances seem to be working: Kissimmee officials say that before its ordinance was passed in 2002, more than 300 shopping carts were picked up by authorities each week. That figure is now fewer than 20.
Some cities are targeting the thieves themselves. Dallas has passed an ordinance making it illegal to carry personal belongings in a shopping cart -- prompting a hue and cry from advocates of the homeless. The ordinance resulted in a decrease in shopping-cart theft, says Sgt. F.X. Carrillo of the Dallas Police Department.
Now, he says, the homeless are "pushing baby cribs, and they're carrying luggage." In March, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill raising the penalty for stealing a cart to $500 from $50.
For years, a Longs Drug Stores Corp. pharmacy in Fresno, Calif., lost about 100 shopping carts every six months. Longs regularly would marshal sales associates to search the low-income neighborhood for abandoned carts, which often were found in ditches. In December, the store bought the K-2000 device, which locks the wheels when a cart is taken 100 yards beyond the store's front door. Its shopping-cart losses have been halved, says Michael Ingalls, the store's manager.
But neighborhood kids have gotten hip to the game: They poke screwdrivers into K2000's electronic eye, or put duct tape over it, rendering it impotent. "My customers are too smart," Mr. Ingalls says.
购物车儿嘀嘀向 不是贼儿也心慌
在把购物车推出芝加哥的一家Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc.商店时，它没有表现出任何特别之处，到了外面的停车场里也是如此。
但是，只要离开停车场几步，情形就大不相同了：购物车开始嘀嘀作响。然后又响，这样两种不同程度的音响已足以吸引周围人怀疑的目光。然而购物车还会不停地响下去。
这声音来自一种新型购物车安全系统，零售商们凭藉该系统每年可以节省数百万美元。业内专家称，全国每年会有数千辆购物车被偷，而每辆购物车的成本在125美元左右。
然而实施这种防盗策略的动力并非来自零售商的精打细算，而是因为越来越多的城镇受够了满街废弃购物车的困扰，已经开始对丢失购物车的商店进行罚款。
那么是谁偷了购物车呢？很多人都有可能：十几岁的年轻人，只是因为他们有偷东西的本事了；无家可归的人，他们会将购物车当作滚动的储物箱；还有没车的顾客，他们可以用购物车把购买的商品推回家。结果是，草坪、人行道和街道上到处都是被丢弃的购物车，既有损观瞻又阻碍交通。
于是内华达州北拉斯维加斯颁布了一项法令，要求零售商安装购物车防盗设备，之后又以每辆3美元的报酬专门聘请一家公司负责找回这些购物车，再将这项成本转嫁给丢车的商店。
佛罗里达州基西米也通过了一项要求拥有20辆以上购物车的商店装配报警系统或在商店周围设置路障的法令；违反此项法令的零售商要被处以每辆购物车每天最高250美元的罚款。
而新泽西州埃奇沃特则针对被官方找到的丢弃购物车向零售店索取每辆10美元的罚款。
部分零售商对这些法规发出抗议。包括Winn-Dixie Stores Inc.在内的一个连锁店团体已经对毗邻奥兰多的基西米提起诉讼。Winn-Dixie称这项法规对公司的业务运营造成了不必要的干扰，并称基西米并没有阐明是什么根本问题导致政府实施如此繁冗的监管条例。
但是这一系列新条例却让生产高科技购物车防盗装置的公司大受裨益。加州卡尔巴斯德私人持股公司Carttronics Inc.称，全球已有20万辆购物车安装了它生产的防盗装置，一旦购物车被推到商店界外，它就会自动刹车。加州萨克拉曼多的私人持股公司Kart Saver Inc.也表示，其K-2000装置销售非常强劲，该装置可以在购物车被盗时发出响声，既可提醒商店店员又可令偷车贼惊慌失措。如果推车人还不停止，该装置就会锁住购物车的一个前轮，使购物车只能原地打转。
加州欧文的Gatekeeper Systems LLC也生产一种当购物车接近商店外围时会自动锁住车轮的装置。
但是，当停车场车位已满时消费者就要头疼了，这些新设备也带来了一个新问题：如果你的车停在商店范围以外的街道上，你就无法把购买的商品运到车上。即便你愿意忍受这种嘀嘀声──以及周围投来的异样眼光──那些可以自动刹车的购物车仍会阻碍你的脚步。
沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)的部分网点正在配置这类刹车系统，Federated Department Stores Inc.也正在位于纽约、旧金山、零售机和迈阿密的10家Macy's店测试锁轮购物车。Container Store在旧金山开设的一家新店也装备了一批超出一定范围后能够自动锁轮的购物车。
Pathmark Stores Inc.则别出心裁地在其超市中安装了取车亭，要投25美元的硬币才能取出购物车，用完归回原位后钱币会自动吐出。但消费者仍然牢骚满腹，并且打翻了部分取车亭。
零售商和政府官员们表示，购物车被盗现象在市区尤为突出，而在临近公寓住宅区或有车人少的地方，商店购物车丢失现象更是屡见不鲜。一些商店的报告显示，有一年它们补充了300辆购物车的一半数量。然而各地方政府推出的相关法令似乎收到了成效：基西米官员称，在2002年法令颁布前，政府每周会找到300多辆被丢弃的购物车，而目前该数字已经缩小至不到20辆的水平。
一些城市也出台了针对小偷的法规。达拉斯通过一项法令称用购物车携带私人物品是违法行为，此举招致无家可归者的强烈抗议。达拉斯警察局的卡利洛(F.X. Carrillo)说，该法规使购物车被盗现象明显减少。
今年3月，威斯康星州州长签署了一项法案，将偷购物车的罚金从50美元提高至500美元。
多年来，Longs Drug Stores Corp.设在加州弗雷斯诺的一家药店每6个月要丢失约100辆购物车。Longs通常会动员销售人员在附近的低收入街区寻找被丢弃的购物车，而这些购物车往往会在排水沟旁找到。去年12月，这家商店购买了一种能在购物车离开商店前门100码后自动锁轮的K-2000设备。店长迈克尔。英戈尔斯(Michael Ingalls)说，目前其购物车丢失量已经减半。
但周围的孩子们却觉得这些小东西非常好玩：他们用改锥刺K2000的电子眼，或者在上面贴上胶带，致使设备失灵。英戈尔斯无奈地说：“我的顾客太聪明了。”
