The Bozeman Daily Bee

The Shopping Cart Situation

The WinCo parking lot has become a lawless frontier. Not because of crime — because of shopping carts. Abandoned shopping carts rolling freely across the asphalt like tumbleweeds in a western nobody asked for.

There is a corral. It is painted yellow. It asks nothing of you except an additional fifteen to forty feet of walking after loading your groceries.

Last Tuesday I watched a grown man in a Carhartt jacket park his cart directly behind someone else’s Subaru and walk away. He did not look back. He did not hesitate. He simply decided the cart’s journey was over and the next chapter was someone else’s problem.

Stop Calling It A 'Quick Trip' To Costco

There is no such thing as a quick trip to Costco. It has never existed. Every person who has ever said “I’m just running to Costco real quick” has returned ninety minutes later with a rotisserie chicken, a forty-eight pack of paper towels, a patio umbrella they didn’t know they needed, and a facial expression that suggests they’ve been through something.

Last Saturday I went for dog food. One item. I left with $247 worth of goods and a sincere belief that my family needed a six-pound bag of frozen potstickers. The sample lady made a compelling argument.