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What is 'Shopping Cart Theory'? The test can tell if you are a good or a bad person
Meaww ^ | 6/17*21 | Anusha J

Posted on 03/22/2023 5:42:49 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants

What is the making of a "good person?" Different people use different scales to determine who is good and who is not. Over the years, there have been many factors that have been used to categorize people. And the internet keeps providing more updated benchmarks for us to measure people by. The latest theory that has been making rounds on the internet is the "Shopping Cart Theory" and it can perfectly define a person's character. It is a modern-day take on the trolley problem with a more real-life application and implication.

Depending on how you answer the following question, you are either a good or a terrible person. Would you return a shopping cart to its designated spot after use or would you simply leave it wherever you want? Of course, this is provided that there is no dire emergency. The theory was picked up from a Reddit forum and was posted by a Twitter user for further discourse. Now, let's see what it indicates.

there is no dire emergency. Do you accept your duty to return the cart even though you gain nothing?

"The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing," the post explains. "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." So if you chose to return the cart, then you are a good person. At least according to this theory.

The theory further states: "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." The theory then goes on to make some extreme declarations. It reads, "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 theory then concludes by stating, "The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society." While the original trolley problem was also an exercise to determine a person's ethics, the modern version is less violent while also being more apparent.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: cart; shopping; theory
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To: 9YearLurker

We live in a reputable area and shop at Aldi’s. We must put a quarter in to use and cart and then we get it back upon returning it.
As a senior with arthritis, it really does make a problem as we need to walk all the way back to the store rather than having a cart rack close by.
You also bag your own groceries at Aldi’s.


101 posted on 03/22/2023 6:45:54 AM PDT by pollywog (" O thou who changest not....ABIDE with me")
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To: 9YearLurker

Aldi’s carts are linked/strung together with a foot long chain on each cart. There’s a key at the end of the chain. The key slides into and locks in a slot on the front side of the cart handle. When you get a cart, there’s a slot on the back of the handle. You insert a quarter into the back slot...releasing the chain key of the next cart in line. Your cart is now free. When you’re finished shopping, you push the cart into the line of carts (as normal), grab the chain on the next cart in front of you, slide the key into the front slot of your cart...and your quarter pops out. Sometimes, people just push their cart into the general cart area and the next person gets a “free” cart...not to mention a quarter when they properly park their cart. Really a good system.

Not really a high crime area...although I did watch the city cops take down a car thief in our back yard one time. That was fun. We were already aware of this yahoo before the cops even arrived...even pointed the cops in the right direction. And yes, I was in “protective mode”.


102 posted on 03/22/2023 6:46:18 AM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: Tommy Revolts
"It annoys me when I pull into a parking space and a shopping cart is right there blocking me."

That might be me putting a shopping cart in your parking space.

I deliberately park at the far end of the parking lot and I've still had many of my vehicles dinged and dented by inconsiderate shoppers opening their car doors into mine. Now, when I park I locate a loose shopping cart and place it in the parking spot next to mine to prevent idiots from parking there and damaging my car.

I still park at the far end of the lot away from all other vehicles, so if someone is still parking right next to me, it's because they're an A-hole.

103 posted on 03/22/2023 6:46:35 AM PDT by 10mm
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To: V_TWIN

It seems like I’ve seen that somewhere else in my lifetime, but Aldi’s is the only one I know of now.


104 posted on 03/22/2023 6:49:49 AM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: 9YearLurker; moovova

Its an Aldi thing.


105 posted on 03/22/2023 6:50:08 AM PDT by BraveMan
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To: 1Old Pro

Only at Aldi 😏

As Aldi is a German outfit I doubt they’re familiar with the plight of the homeless.....I suspect Germany has few outdoor dwellers.


106 posted on 03/22/2023 6:50:17 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: moovova

Baby carriages at the mall maybe 🤔


107 posted on 03/22/2023 6:52:10 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: metmom

Interesting, indeed. I’ve also heard . . .

“What you do when nobody is looking.” Sometimes, I’m tempted to the lazy, inconsiderate course of action, but I remember those words.

OTOH, I’m a bit of a nonconformist, often in ridiculous ways and sometimes just don’t want to behave. Pretty childish. And, at my age, supernaturally so.


108 posted on 03/22/2023 6:53:53 AM PDT by StAntKnee (Add your own danged sarc tag)
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To: I-ambush

Well, of course! LOL


109 posted on 03/22/2023 6:55:45 AM PDT by Howie66 (Let's Go Brandon!!)
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To: V_TWIN

Thank you - that explains it....


110 posted on 03/22/2023 6:55:54 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: moovova

Totally agree.


111 posted on 03/22/2023 6:56:42 AM PDT by Howie66 (Let's Go Brandon!!)
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To: rigelkentaurus

Same here. The non-returners are one click above litterbugs on my scale.


112 posted on 03/22/2023 6:56:50 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Trump will be sworn in under a shower of confetti made from the tattered remains of the Rat Party.)
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To: Howie66
I always bring mine back to where I got it...inside the store. I need the exercise.

On a rare occasion when I'm feeling lucky, I'll take a long shot at the Cart Corral in the parking lot to see if I can judge the break and get the speed right and get my cart to nestle inside the last cart inside the Corral.

I call it Cart Putting. One time I hit it right on the nose...a decent break to the left...and drained it from 50 ft.
The guy next to me getting in his car watched and commented. "Nice shot there Mr. Palmer."

113 posted on 03/22/2023 6:59:05 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (You can never have enough clamps. Thanks Ben.)
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To: rlmorel
When they assigned me, I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t even know how to make coffee, and I didn’t drink it, but they forced me to do it.

Same thing happened to me in the Air Force. I wasn't upset about it. I told them I didn't drink it, and thus knew nothing about brewing it. We had one of those big percolator machines that had the big metal basket for grounds at the top. Well, it held a lot of water, so I figured the coffee basket was supposed to be filled to the top. They didn't ask me to make coffee anymore.

114 posted on 03/22/2023 6:59:57 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: Thank You Rush

Aldi is a German outfit....as usual their processes are well thought out


115 posted on 03/22/2023 7:00:02 AM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
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To: crusty old prospector

You get the cart quarter back

The John? I don’t know.


116 posted on 03/22/2023 7:00:54 AM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: KingLudd

Didn’t you mean to say you “shook your head at them”?


117 posted on 03/22/2023 7:01:42 AM PDT by webheart
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To: Tell It Right
Shopping carts left scattered all over the parking lot are an illustration of why socialism and communism fails.

There's only one thing worse than shopping carts left scattered all over the parking lot. It's shopping carts that end up far away from the parking lot because they're stolen by entitled @ssholes.

118 posted on 03/22/2023 7:02:02 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've just pissed in my pants and nobody can do anything about it." -- Major Fambrough)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I like it when people leave carts in the lot. I grab it then I don’t have to pull on out of the tangle mess near the store.


119 posted on 03/22/2023 7:03:38 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: V_TWIN

Bingo.


120 posted on 03/22/2023 7:04:00 AM PDT by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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