How do the brakes on shopping carts work?

[Chris142]

My favorite grocery store closed and moved to a much larger store up the street. I always park my junk far away to prevent parking lot dings(Hopefully anyway).

This new store has all new carts. They have brakes that come on if you go a certain distance away from the store.

This is a bummer because now I have to park with the idiots. I'm sure it prevents cart theft though.

I'm wondering how they are activated.

 

[OilFool]

I believe magnets.
Like a loop to change traffic lights when a car is on it.

About 15 years ago, you could pick a cart up, empty, carry over the yellow line, and continue using.

 

[Hallmark]

Some stores in my locale have carts with the brake warning sign, but they're phony, i.e. carts don't have the brakes.

 

[RiceCake]

I'd have to see it. It would have to be a passive technology since batteries and electronics are expensive. Its probably magnetic like OilFool said...or totally a fraud like Hallmark said. I wouldn't know any other way such a system could be designed.

 

[Chris142]

It's no fraud. The first time I had my cart stacked full the stupid brakes came on and I had to go get my truck as I could not move the loaded cart.

Once they come on they won't unlock, must need a tool of some kind to release them?

 

[earlyre]

only carts i've seen with brakes, were the TV carts we used to have. looked like a weird car,groceries up top, kids sat inside, and it played kids tv shows(Dora, Barney, Wiggles, etc) they had a sensor in front of the LR Wheel, and a piece of reflective tape was placed @ the end of each Checkout. as the cart went past the reflector, it tripped the sensor, and you had 5 minutes to get it back to the charging station @ the door, or the brakes would lock up. they had a button on the right underside( you could normally find it with your toe), that would release them for a minute or two. got rid of them about a year ago, b/c the company that owned/maintained them, wasn't, and they were out of order more than they worked.

 

[The motor guy]

That sucks. So what do grocery cart just locks up on you and you have to ditch your groceries real quick so you can get your car? Honestly if they happened to me i'd turn my [censored] around and say i'm returning all these and going elsewhere. I don't know if you can return groceries and never have but I sure would attempt it. lol

 

[tom slick]

Here's a video of how it works

 

[Rick in PA]

Hey, I have an idea! Let's combine technologies. Take one of those wireless doggie fence collars and wire it into the cart handle. That way the customer gets an electric shock to remind them to not leave the premises with the store's cart!


Seriously, I didn't know they had those things.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
Here's a video of how it works


Similar to dog containment fences, I guess. Just a couple of days ago, I was in a big-box store and the store manager has his face plastered all over the store that says if there is a problem, the customer needs to tell him about it. As I was shopping, I actually saw him with a scanner in one of the aisles. I went to him, made sure he was the store manager (his photo I.D. also said he was), and ask him when they were going to have somebody work on their cars. I told him to just try to find a single shopping cart that doesn't jump up or down, pull or have a wheel bearing problem. (My cart had a wheel bearing that was making a lot of noise) He told me that the bearings fill up with human hair and that the hair causes problems. I told him that I know the bearing has problems, hair or not, because I can hear the thing going out and that they needed fixing. He said that sometime in the future they would be getting new carts. The future can be a long time.
Maybe when these new bearings with brakes actually fail they will get fixed because the little old lady customer cannot push the cart any longer.

 

[RiceCake]

I always find it funny because if you prevent having one cart stolen, does that really make up for the hours you'll be spending chasing down people irritated with carts, brakes jammed on, and the initial cost of installing and maintaining a system?

Besides as a kid I know exactly what I would do... Throw carts at high speed across the brake-line to see how far you can get them to go before they screech to a stop.

 

[Loobed]

They have those carts at the store I shop. The first time I used one I almost fell over the cart when the wheel locked up and the cart flipped over: I was going down a curb ramp sideways. Now I just push real hard and the cart still moves. I leave a single wheel skid mark all the way to my truck. Then I leave the cart their for them to bring back.

 

[The motor guy]

I don't know but if that happened to me one of those carts would be promptly hooked behind my truck and dragged around the parking lot.

 

[Jarlaxle]

They did it because the bums were stealing the carts...I know of one store that lost fifty in a week. The ones I have seen have a 9V battery and a sensor in one front wheel and a buried wire...if you cross the wire, the wheel locks up.

 

[spackard]

The other way I've seen it is a store charging a large fee to get a cart out of a cart locker. You return the cart, you get the fee back. Usually some slackers are mulling about, looking for people too busy to return the cart themselves. Scoop up a few carts, return them, and they get a good return.

 

[RiceCake]

Originally Posted By: spackard
The other way I've seen it is a store charging a large fee to get a cart out of a cart locker. You return the cart, you get the fee back. Usually some slackers are mulling about, looking for people too busy to return the cart themselves. Scoop up a few carts, return them, and they get a good return.


That's pretty common with stores around here. I've done that before, just noticing carts laying around so I cleaned them up. Worth getting a free coke or two (each cart holds a dollar coin) out of the deal.

That and I keep a multitool on me...more then once I've seen carts in the caddy with a coin jammed inside them that people have abandoned. Again, free coke; can't complain.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Loobed


Now I just push real hard and the cart still moves. I leave a single wheel skid mark all the way to my truck. Then I leave the cart their for them to bring back.
These lock up all 4 wheels! The harder you push the more the front wheels did into the parking lot, cant even move an empty one by hand.

 

[aquariuscsm]

HEB has them too,it`s a trip!