City of Phoenix Tackles Abandoned Shopping Carts with New Ordinance

Categories: Business NewsEnvironmentHomecareLegalNews

Abandoned shopping carts on a city street in Phoenix

News Summary

The City of Phoenix is proposing a new ordinance to manage the rising number of abandoned shopping carts. The ordinance requires large retailers to implement locking mechanisms and GPS devices on their carts to prevent them from cluttering neighborhoods. With substantial support from the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee, the ordinance aims to improve street cleanliness and streamline shopping cart management while ensuring compliance from larger retail establishments. Residents look forward to a cleaner community as the City Council prepares to vote on this initiative.

City of Phoenix Tackles Abandoned Shopping Carts with New Ordinance

In a move to combat the growing issue of abandoned shopping carts, the city of Phoenix is considering a new ordinance that aims to make shopping cart management more efficient for retailers and less of an eyesore for residents. Over the last few years—especially during the pandemic—the number of carts left scattered across neighborhoods and commercial areas has reached staggering levels.

Addressing the Cart Crisis

The Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee has shown early support for a plan that would require retailers to install locking wheels and GPS devices on shopping carts. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to ensure that fewer carts end up abandoned, cluttering our streets and sidewalks. In the last fiscal year, Phoenix city employees retrieved a whopping 7,851 abandoned carts from over 460 different stores, highlighting just how pervasive the problem has become.

Notably, one Winco store reported losing 262 carts, making it the highest offender in the city, followed closely by Walmart with 131 missing carts. On average, stores lost 16 carts, whereas a median of just four carts were collected from each retailer over the year—a sign that bigger retailers seem to be the primary contributors to this cart conundrum.

Focus on Larger Retailers

With this ordinance, the city is honing in on large retailers—those that stretch beyond 50,000 square feet—who would be required to implement locking mechanisms or establish contracts with shopping cart retrieval services. Smaller stores, while also affected, will have to submit a Shopping Cart Compliance Plan every six months. This plan needs to detail how they plan to keep carts from escaping their premises and how quickly they will retrieve any that do.

The city’s Neighborhood Services Director noted that they have the authority to file citations against non-compliant stores, making sure that retailers take the issue seriously. If small retailers collect more than ten carts within that semiannual period, they, too, will need to develop a compliance plan.

Innovative Solutions on the Horizon

City staff are already noticing some retailers are proactively exploring new technologies to tackle the problem head-on. Utilizing GPS systems seems to be a topic of interest among many, as it allows for better tracking and quicker retrieval of abandoned carts.

The proposed ordinance will also be flexible, allowing for adjustments based on compliance reviews conducted within six months of implementation, ensuring that the guidelines meet the practical needs of both the city and the retailers.

The Costs of Cart Collection

The cost of dealing with abandoned carts has skyrocketed over the years, with Phoenix spending approximately $58,000 on cart retrieval services in the last fiscal year alone. This may sound like a lot, but when you consider that neighboring Valley cities like Peoria, Glendale, and Avondale have already adopted similar measures, it seems to be a necessary expense in preserving the community’s cleanliness and organization.

Although there is some skepticism among community residents about the effectiveness of locking devices—many pointing out that they often malfunction—the city is determined to find the right balance between needed regulation and operational flexibility for small businesses.

The Road Ahead

As the city of Phoenix prepares for a vote on this ordinance, it’s clear that the community’s voices are being heard. There is a sense of hope that with the new rules, not only will our streets be cleaner, but shopping cart management will become a much more structured process for retailers. This can potentially lead to fewer carts littering our neighborhoods and a smoother shopping experience for all.

Stay tuned for updates as the City Council considers this pressing issue. It looks like Phoenix is stepping up to make our city a cleaner, more organized place, one shopping cart at a time.