Target Should Not Assume Carts are Abandoned

I seriously doubt that the cart was abandoned for a very short time.

If it was so short you would have seen the employee with your cart and
stopped him/her.

Ooooh! I absolutely HATE when this happens! It happens at my
Wal-Mart all the time. And here's the thing... If the aisles were
not so narrow and full of stuff that is on floor displays in the
middle of the stinkin aisle, then I could actually pass someone in the
aisles!

I will say that 15 minutes should be the minimum that a cart is left
alone before it is deemed "abandoned" by store staff. It stinks that
my 2 hours of shopping is completely undone in 3 minutes flat.

(Though I will say that I would probably not have asked for a discount
for this. But maybe that is just me)

I agree . I have had the same experience at grocery stores. I turn for
a couple minutes and someone is off putting my selections back.

Sometimes in Walmart , if there is a cart shortage , other customers
take someones cart.

I worked in a Walmart and we always assumed the carts on the sales
floor were with customers. We had so few abandoned carts that we did
not worry about them.One a stock room employee was moving a truck down
an isle and he moved a customers cart out of the way and the customer
complained and he got fired for it so we had to walk on egg shells to
avoid getting customers mad at us .

I am Canadian and have shopped at Target times during trips to the
USA.
I didn't know of this policy at any store. I think it is a good policy
and I can see why they would be extra dilligent during the busy
holiday rush. (How many people do you think leave the store because
they can't find a cart). I also think that there needs to be some
discretion used. One minute seems excessive, and since they were able
to take the cart without you seeing them, you were away from it for
more then one minute. There should be some kind of time frame though,
like 10 minutes or something.

BTW I publically shared this letter not for your collective pleasure
of judging me and my experience, BUt in sincere hope that someone may
have had the same bad experience at Target that I had. Notice the
logo on this site says "The voice of ONE, the power of MANY." Not one
person pubicall shares his problem must be exagerrating and let's
judge them and say they must be way off with their facts. wHERE IS
THE POWER OF MANY here? I will think twice before pubically showing my
letters. The voice of ONE, the POWER of MANY.

I cannot stand these responses from people . I am sorry but with a
little baby after literally 2 hours of shopping to have your cart
taken away and very many things removed is rude and BAD customer
service. Maybe more people should raise their voice, that is what this
site is for after all. Target apparantly agrees this is not
appropriate because today I received a nice little gift card, very
nice of them and yes it is correct to compensate me it was wrong to
take away my cart that I left for a minute. Thanks target.

They wouldn't assume it was abandoned if it was something that didn't
happen ALL THE TIME.

I don't know how many times, certainly daily, someone will push their
cart up to my checkstand and run off.

They don't unload it, don't say "I will be back in a sec", nothing.
They just leave it there.

I have no issue with removing the cart and parking it with the rest of
the go backs. I don't care if it's been less than a minute. There are
other customers who want to buy their stuff and are ready to do it.

You walk away from your cart, yes, you are abandoning it. (Look it
up).

How do you not notice items in your cart that you didn't put there?
You load it on the belt right?

Im sure it was honest mistake. Quite ridiculous that a cart would be
removed after one minute?yes. Do you deserve monetary compensation?
No. But again, a half hour is 1 minute to a customer with a cart, and
vice versa at the checkout line.

Assuming that everything in the letter is true and not exaggerated, I
have to say I think it was unreasonable of Target employees to assume
the cart was abandoned after just a minute or two. (Almost) everyone
has done exactly what the OP is describing and I'd be ticked off too.
How frustrating. I wouldn't let a cart sit there for an hour or two
before taking it away, more like 10 or 15 minutes. But one or two
minutes? That's just a bit much in my opinion.

As you are aware,the cart has wheels and can be pushed down the
adjacent aisle then manouvered to the item required. After two hours
of shopping this action would be wheely smart.

I put this in the same category as people who illegally park in
handicapped parking spaces for just "one minute."

Just as those drivers take more than one minute to return to their
vehicle, I think you abandoned your cart for more than one minute.
Otherwise, you would have seen your cart being moved and could have
stopped the person who was moving it.

I'm a disabled person and I grocery-shop around 6 a.m. on Saturdays
because that's one of the few times I can always get a handicapped
parking space and also not have to try to maneuver around carts
abandoned in the store by other shoppers for "just a minute." I wish
Target and other stores would open that early so I could shop for
other items.

The holiday season means stores are more crowded than usual. In the
future, if you spend two hours shopping and have a full cart, I
suggest you exercise a little more patience and either wait until the
aisle you want is clear or ask an employee where you may safely leave
your cart.

babysitting your cart because you feel it's RUDE for them to keep the
aisles clear and the merchandise on the shelf where it belongs?

The irony that you couldn't get through that particular aisle (likely
because people had ABANDONED THEIR CARTS there!)is amusing to me.

As for them adding things to your cart, no way. Othere guests, maybe,
but not the staff.

Maybe next time YOU will keep an eye on your own cart.

I work at Target, and we NEVER take items and put them in people's
carts. I'm fairly sure this is across the board, that's not something
we do.

And to put things in perspective...How many times are YOU shopping,
realize you don't want something, take it out of your cart and throw
it on the first shelf you see. Yeah...That's what I thought. So
guess who gets the lovely task of walking through at 11pm when we
close (and I am supposed to get to go home) of walking around and
putting things back where they actually belong. Yeah, it's me. 18
year old innocent college kid just working to make ends meet, or
trying to. Please. Be responsible for your own things. It's
probably your kids throwing things in your cart.

I've also had this happen at Target, and yes, it's annoying. In the
last incident, I had been shopping for 30 minutes when I had to go to
the bathroom. In this particular store, the restroom is located in the
middle of the store. I parked my cart right by the bathroom and came
out five minutes later only to find it GONE. When I asked a nearby
employee about it, he said they assumed it was abandoned.

Since then, I take my cart everywhere, even if it means I have to
knock over one of their displays to do it.

I see your point, and I also see theirs. But sometimes retail means
using a little common sense. If you see a cart, wait to see if it's
claimed. If more than 15 minutes has gone by and no one has claimed
it, then by all means Target, take it away.

The only person who should be keeping an eye on a cart is the shopper.
Whenever I leave my cart unattended, I check back on it every 1-2
minutes to make sure someone doesn't think it is abandoned. I do this
precisely to avoid the hassle you went through.

The store employees can't keep tabs on all the carts, with a running
total on how long each has sat in one place.

I think your estimate of being away for 1 minute is far low. In one
minute, unless you briskly walk directly away from your cart, you
can't get far enough away to not be aware someone has swiped it. And
if you knew after one minute, you could easily spot the perpetrator
pushing it away, unless *they* were sprinting away while pushing the
cart. And the perp would have had to virtually have swiped it as soon
as you turned your back. It doesn't make sense.

I don't think you deserve compensation for this - take it as a
learning experience and keep track of your buggy next time. It is
your responsibility.

Hm, I am with you.

This is my "cart gathering" policy. We have a limited amount of carts
as it is, probably about 50 to 75 in the whole store...if I see a
empty cart, I loudly ask, "Is this anyone's cart?" and if there is no
reply, I put it back where it belongs. Of course, there are a few
exceptions...if the empty cart is near the bathroom or a fitting room,
I leave it alone for ten minutes.

If the cart has items it in, I ask, "is this anyone's cart?" and if no
one answers, I push it up to a cashwrap so it is out of the way. After
thirty minutes, I unload it and put the items up.

You can't just leave your cart for twenty minutes or even an hour and
expect it to be there when you get back. Especially in this busy
season, some stores (like mine) don't have an unlimited supply of
carts. We need every single one that we can get. It doesn't help that
people take them out into the mall and abandon them in other stores
(even though on the cart it says "Do not take from store.") Carts are
there for you to use in the store, not as your personal junk holder or
kid holder, etc.

I can see why they do this, although I totally agree that 1 minute is
much too little time. It would be impractical, however, to monitor
how long a cart's been there.

What I might suggest that stores do is take apparently abandoned
carts, but not empty them immediately. They should keep the cart in
the back for, say, 30 minutes. Or, until there are too many carts
back there. At which point, they can empty the cart.

This way, is a customer can't find their cart, they can go and look
for in the "cart holding area."

I can't believe, on the average day, that there would be more than 4
or 5 carts there at any time.

I agree it's annoying to have it removed after a minute but an hour is
too long for them to wait as well. I don't think the employees have
the time to monitor each cart. This store must have had a problem at
some point which is why they instituted this policy.

I agree with you but also I agree with another comment(s) that its
hard to time how long a cart has been sitting there unattended. And
you did say the aisles were crowded which is another reason mgt
probably had staff out hunting down carts and merchandise.
Also this is the time of the year when lots of people are doing more
shopping and carts are being left in the aisles more often it seems.
I think its just the time of the year...I doubt it happens as
frequently as now with the expception of maybe back to school time.

I am completely on your side. In a pinch, I had to shop at Walmart
one night (my Target was closed for remodeling and I was tired of
driving out of my way to other Target stores). I had like 15 things
on my list. When I had most of them, I was in the back of the store.
I left my cart for not even two minutes to step over a couple of
aisles to grab a pack of batteries. When I got back to my cart, my
cart was gone and all my items were on the floor. I flagged down an
employee, who was irritated that one customer would do this to
another.

It's bad enough for one customer to do this (although, given the
"clientele" at Walmarts in the Twin Cities, it doesn't surprise me),
but for a store employee? Shame on them.

They had no business doing it and even if you had left your cart for
10 minutes, they shouldn't have emptied everything out.

And to put loose stuff in your cart is just LAZY.

I hope you hear back something positive regarding this. I'd be
pissed.

I find hard to believe the in ONE minute your cart was taken to the
back and had all the items you had gathered in TWO hours...

I don't doubt the cart was removed, but I suspect your estimate of how
long you were gone is way off

I can see where that would be irritating, but I also think it's a bit
much to ask that employees monitor how long a given cart is sitting
unattended.

Stores are very busy and crowded this time of year and they need every
cart and clear aisle they can get.

People at my store ask my staff to leave their cart at the front of an
aisle if they aisle they want to go down is crowded. But they do not
park their cart at the end of every aisle, blocking the aisle.

It is also not a good idea to leave your cart at the end of an aisle
for several reasons.

Other customers will mistake it for their cart, put their item in the
cart, and push it for a while, and realize it is not their cart, and
they will abandon it. Happens quite frequently to people that leave
their carts and walk off. Lets also hope your purse was not in
there.

You may have the last can of pumpkin, whipping cream, whatever, and
find it missing from your cart when you return.

Good Day