15 steps to the shopping cart return is a massive sacrifice many are not willing to make. Hah!
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I try to keep decency alive by always grabbing a stray cart to return with my own.
Here, most trollies take a 50c-€2 coin to unlock so this rarely happens. I usually use a US quarter instead of a €2 though.
We have a chain of stores here, Alidi and Lidl, that require a US quarter to get a cart. Surprisingly effective, and also funny that walking your cart all the way back to the store is worth the 25 cents, but walking 15 steps to a cart return is too much of a burden.
We also have aldi/lidl here. I think the lidl mechanism is identical in the US though, since the quarter works in it. (try a €2 some time, if you have one)
Really you only have to walk to any other cart to get your coin back, and I think it being a loss aversion thing makes it feel like more than just paying 25 cents. Also, anyone parking up is likely to grab abandoned carts with the coin in them for their own shopping.
Unless they get $0.25 back, then they'll even walk it back to the store!