Good exercise, and no skin off my nose.
I do the same. Sometimes there are no carts in the store, so I automatically bring one in from outside.
Once I load up the truck, I return it to the proper place and never leave it in the lot.
“I actually bring a cart or two in when I first go into the store.”
If the carts in the parking lot are anywhere near where I park, I always take a cart from the lot into the store. Only a couple of stores in Central Virginia have the quarter requirement so there’s almost always a cart to take back in.
This. Before cart corrals were ubiquitous, I’d often leave my cart by the car, somewhere where it wouldn’t roll around. But when i went INTO the store, I always took two or three with me, unless there were none to be found. And back in those days, there were always PLENTY to be found. I don’t think I EVER saw someone bring an empty cart all the way back to the store. I actually worked for one summer bringing carts back. (And on the register, but carts were more fun.) I never looked at someone who left a cart behind as making me work, but rather as keeping me employed.