Archived Cart Attendant Questions and a Call Off Rant

[Barcode]

The plastic carts you can load a TON of them on, and still get movement. The problem is they like to drift a lot making steering more difficult with lots of carts. The old carts had more drag, but were much easier to steer. That being said I once did over 80 of the old metal carts, but i had to give the cart pusher a little encouragement 🙂 (aka push!)

I'd say about 30-35 is the sweet spot for being safe/efficient.

 

[StaticSun]

See, I can't stand the metal carts. I think they're too hard to steer. The plastic carts are lighter, and are easier to turn IMO. I could easily hit 50/60 of them on the cart mover and go straight in to the doors.

 

[pfreshdude]

If it was like 15 minutes to close and I had the parking lot looking like this

Id probably throw like 40 on there real quick just to get it over with lol.

OMG...that is crazy....how does that even happen haha.

 

[mrknownothing]

OMG...that is crazy....how does that even happen haha.

That's what happens when the cart attendant is slacking or non-existent and guests are too lazy to go to the next cart corral.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

OMG...that is crazy....how does that even happen haha.

It happens with my no show or slacker ca at my store too!

 

[CartStryke]

The worst part is, if you can see it, is the family-cart in the corral which really screws things up.

Actually, it doesn't (unless there's a second I don't know about). Considering the family cart is at the very end of the line, you can still get all the regular carts without any hassle. It's when the family carts are in the middle is when it screws everything up and slows you down.

 

[TargetCA]

See, I can't stand the metal carts. I think they're too hard to steer. The plastic carts are lighter, and are easier to turn IMO. I could easily hit 50/60 of them on the cart mover and go straight in to the doors.

The cart pusher is some machine 😛

Has any1 tried moving a car using 1? I have a funny story, one of the LoD's who is about to come into work asks me he has a car problem, and his car died where you usually come into the parking lot, so he asks me to help push his car w/ a cart pusher and WHADA, actually works, and with a little muscle the car moves in neutral. Kinda funny because he drove like a 1970 oldsmobile and I was like WTF, of course it would die.

 

[CartAttendantTeamLead]

Kid Carts Suck

The worst part is, if you can see it, is the family-cart in the corral which really screws things up.

Actually, it doesn't (unless there's a second I don't know about). Considering the family cart is at the very end of the line, you can still get all the regular carts without any hassle. It's when the family carts are in the middle is when it screws everything up and slows you down.

We always save the "kid carts" as we call them till the end of the night to get just because it's often too time-consuming to worry about them throughout the day (We're an A+ volume store), but what I've found is that the problem of them getting in the way can be deferred by pushing them in backwards as you go so that the regular carts don't get stuck in them. It also makes it more difficult for guests to get them out and thus going back into rotation since they often get stuck in the corral going forwards (going out in that case), but I wouldn't open with that reasoning if your LOD asks about it 🙂

 

[Barcode]

On the new carts the most ill do is 35. Like others have said they're unstable.

On the old carts I did 100 once! The cart pusher needed a little push to get going lol. The Lod wasn't too happy so I never did that many again. It was a huge line though! (I was parking them alongside the building for overnight)

Oh wow necro thread :x

 

[redeye58]

The new carts sway when they're on the pusher because the front wheels lift up when they're stacked so you either have to push down on the front one while steering or lash a rope (a la Walmart) to keep them on.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

My ca called out again.

 

[redeye58]

*me responding to carry-outs at HLM's store*

 

[mrknownothing]

My ca called out again.

*me responding to carry-outs at HLM's store*

I can help bring in a few carts (not cart pusher-certified), but someone else will need to do the restrooms and bottle room.

 

[Retail Girl]

What the heck is the bottle room?

 

[mrknownothing]

What the heck is the bottle room?

Where the can and bottle recycling machines are. Ours is only accessible from outside the store, at the opposite end from the entrance. Our cart attendants are responsible for emptying the machines when they're full.

 

[Retail Girl]

Ah...we don't have that.

 

[redeye58]

Neither do we.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Neither, do we. Thanks for the help! Plus, emptying front door trash cans helped out too..

 

[HardlinesFour]

Where the can and bottle recycling machines are. Ours is only accessible from outside the store, at the opposite end from the entrance. Our cart attendants are responsible for emptying the machines when they're full.

I think, only very high volume stores, in urban areas have those.

Case in point, New York. I've seen the recycling thing, at one store I visited there, however, none of the locations here have them 🙁

 

[EMFlow]

Where the can and bottle recycling machines are. Ours is only accessible from outside the store, at the opposite end from the entrance. Our cart attendants are responsible for emptying the machines when they're full.

I think, only very high volume stores, in urban areas have those.

Case in point, New York. I've seen the recycling thing, at one store I visited there, however, none of the locations here have them 🙁

I also depends if you are in a "deposit" state or not

 

[mrknownothing]

I think, only very high volume stores, in urban areas have those.

Case in point, New York. I've seen the recycling thing, at one store I visited there, however, none of the locations here have them 🙁

I also depends if you are in a "deposit" state or not

That would make more sense, my store is in NY. It's only A+ volume and in a suburban area.

 

[yeehz]

Most I've ever done was 57 on a Saturday afternoon. There were two of us but it was not fun trying to go around the corner with that big of a load.

I work at a fairly busy store where there just aren't enough carts because we are too poor to afford new ones.

Also let me throw it out there that the 25 cart rule is BS. At a fairly busy store like mine it is not possible to do a maximum of 25 carts and maintain a fairly full cart well (especially on the weekends) while keeping up with other jobs. Our parking lot is HUGE, so that also adds to the fact.

Ill also throw it out there as a little rant, that many people say cart attendant is the easiest job in the store which is false. It's not the hardest but its not the easiest, it's the worst. The money's fine for me since I'm young, but damn would that be a degrading job if I was older. And yes I'm cross trained almost everywhere around the store so I have an idea of what it's all like.