Discrimination against the Disabled

I agree with everything you just said. The Wal Mart in Antioch,
Tennessee on Hamilton Church Road is the same way. There is never any
available and when they do have some, they allow kids to ride them at
night like it is Disney World. There was an elderly man in this Wal
Mart today who comes everyday and drives the carts around until the
battery runs out and then gets another one but he never buys anything.
First off, someone one needs to know who is supposed to be taking
care of this man and second, they are for shoppers. I have walking
boots on both feet and had to walk through this store so many times in
the past 2 months. Today I almost slipped on some spinach on the
floor in the produce department. Let me fall because of their neglect
and forcing me to walk through the store and we will see who owns Wal
Mart. People have to sit and wait on these carts and by the time they
get them, the batteries are run down. This is not only annoying it
proves that Wal Mart only cares about people's money. Sam's always
has the carts and whom ever takes care of the Sam's stores needs to
take care of this issue with the parent store, too. I sent an email
to the President and CEO of Wal Mart about this and he isn't man
enough to reply. Today I called the home office in Ark. and ask to
speak with the CEO and was told he would not answer the call unless he
knew who was calling. He doesn't answer email, either. All the
handicap people who are having this issue need to unite on one chosen
day and have signs ready to picket all the stores and see how the News
Channels will show up. Anyone else ready to do this? Lets get
together on it.

For all of those who answered, you should just get your own mobile
chair, let me just educate you a little.

One, those chairs cost upwards of $2000.00. If you are lucky enough
to have insurance there are requirements for getting those chairs.
Medicare states that if you can walk around 200ft, regardless of how
difficult it may be, you do not qualify.

Two, people with heart or lung conditions can walk...but long
distances can be a problem as they can get winded easily. They do not
qualify.

Three, mobile chairs do NOT come equipped with baskets which are
necessary for shopping. And it is nearly impossible to use a regular
shopping cart and operate a motorized chair at the same time.

Four,for those of you who say, go to another store. This is a problem
in many of the stores that offer this service.

Five, ALL shopping carts are a courtesy. When you go shopping, you
expect your buggy to operate functionally. If every time you went
shopping the store didn't have enough carts because the company
decided that fifty buggies was all the is required to for a Walmart
size store and of those fifty most were rusted and old, none of them
operated well and some were not even usable at all, I believe you
would be singing a different tune and demanding that something be
done.

I agree. Some have reply for the customer to furnish their own
motorized cart. Well keep your children off of them and let ALL
customers provide their own buggy to shop!

If you want a good cart that's always ready to go and in excellent
condition then you should provide that for yourself. The stores do
not have to provide them, they do so only as a curtesy.

The carts are horribly abused by people and I can understand corporate
not wanting to spend more money on what is essentially a very
expensive curtesy.

There is always the option for you to shop elsewhere where you find
the cart situation more to your liking.

As you yourself posted the corporation DENIED HIS REQUEST.


Wait. That means he requested carts. So he attempted to do what you
wanted and his reward for his efforts is a demand that he be fired?



That makes no sense.

Several problems with the motorized cart issues...


1) Most of the damage you see done to carts comes from other
customers.

2) There is no law that they be provided in the first place. The ADA
regulations only apply to the building design and accessibility.

The store isn't legally required to provide you a MEANS to get around.
They're only required to provide you the accessible pathway.

3) And even if you got your wish on having them all replaced it
wouldn't guarantee you actually got to use one. Other customers may
get to them first and... they're paying customers just like you.



The only real way to GUARANTEE that you have a working cart available
is to talk to your medical insurance company about getting your own.
Then you never have to worry about whether or not it's powered up or
available.

If you have this disability to limits your walking, why don't you
provide your own scooter ?

Sorry walmart has done nothing to you. They provide some carts to
help out, they are not required to provide any.

There are a bunch of companies who will work with you to get you a
cart for free, do that.

Its your responcibility to make sure you are cared for not walmarts.

How is it WalMart's responsibility to provide a cart to accommodate
your disability?

They aren't mistreating their customers at all! Times are hard and
many companies are eliminating the "extras" they used to provide to
their customers. The manager said they were denied to purchase/repair
new ones. That means they cannot afford it. He certainly does not
deserve to be fired because he couldn't replace the carts that maybe
5% of the customers will ever actually use.

Since you are disabled, you should probably be aware that there are a
number of programs that will supply you a scooter and work within your
insurance or Medicare to get it covered for you. You might want to
try searching them up.

I know it will come off sounding cold and harsh, but managing your
disability is YOUR responsibility - not WalMart's.

Buy your own scooter or wheelchair. I don't think businesses owe that
to anybody. It's a nice convenience when they do.

The ADA does NOT require that every retailer have motorized carts. As
long as the retailer is ADA compliant, they have done nothing wrong.

The motorized carts are there as a curtesy.

Why should the store manager be fired for something that the Corporate
Office denied? Any store manager, no matter where he/she works at, has
NO authority over the corporate office. So this applies to retailers
other than Walmart. The store manager did not ignore you. Corporate
ignored your request, & so you should be mad at them instead of at the
store manager. What do you expect the store manager to do since
Corporate denied your request?

The motorized carts cost money to buy as well as to maintain. If
handicapped customers want these carts, there is the possibility that
every customer, including handicapped ones, have to pay for the cost
of the carts since the price of the merchandise will most likely go
up.

I fail to see where there is any discrimination on Walmarts part.

He is not ignoring you. He has submitted a request that corporate has
refused. Would you expect him to pay out of his own pocket?
"respect the disabled by allowing them to shop in your store". You're
allowed to shop there ('though for the life of me I can't understand
why you'd want to). You just have to either wait for a motorized cart
to become available, or make your own way around the store - like
billions of people have done for thousands of years.

I don't understand why you don't use your own. If you don't have one,
perhaps you should look into getting one. I understand that some
insurance companies will pay some of the cost. I often see people
using their own scooter type carts in stores.

I am disabled and I have to tell you that retailers that supply these
carts do so as a courtesy. Yes, they should work but I believe the
alternative is that they do not supply them at all. I have seen so
many of these carts abused by both the disabled and the able bodied,
especially children.

I've been to Targets and BJ's where the carts don't work so this is
just not a Walmart problem. If this is so very necessary in order for
you to get around you should look into the possibility of your
insurance paying for one. If you are totally disabled they usually
will.

I don't understand - if you are unable to walk due to medical
problems, how do you get around when you are not at a store that has
motorized carts for people to use?

They are no discriminating - they do not even have to supply those
carts, it is done as a curtsey.

your complaint should actually be to all the people who abuse and
mis-use those carts and allow their children to use them in the
stores.