Shopping cart loss and the resulting loose carts throughout communities has triggered many cities...
Reviewing shopping cart ordinances can be a painstaking process. In our first article on the topic we summarized some of the broader elements of these laws and what retailers are required to do. In this article we’ll analyze (with the help of some AI), how these ordinances specifically address retrieval and containment in the State of California. While we can’t give legal advice, and always suggest retailers and their legal staff review these regulations in full, we hope to at least shed some light on what is actually law versus what is perception.
We analyzed the state with the most cart retrieval laws and ordinances in place: California. If you don’t have stores in California, you should still pay very close attention to what happens there. Most laws in other states are modeled after California’s. If you don’t have these laws in your operating area, there is a chance they could be coming and this is what they will look like.
We reviewed every city with an ordinance and used Gemini AI to categorize and analyze the text. In total, we reviewed 58 separate ordinances spanning over 30,000 words. We assessed these in the context of a state law, Section 22435 of the California Business and Professions Code, which specifically addresses shopping cart theft and retailer’s rights and responsibilities for their containment and retrieval.
Regarding containment versus retrieval and how often a law specifically requires containment or retrieval, here is a breakdown:
- Out of 58 individual ordinances, only 3 require some type of containment measure.
- 2 of the 58 required both retrieval and containment measures.
- 21 of 58 require a retrieval plan only with broader requirements around the timeframe required for retrieval and what those plans need to look like.
- The remaining 32 laws are some combination of retrieval and containment but with nuances between the two where one could suffice over the other but was up to the local jurisdiction to approve.
Regarding retrieval specifically, this is where Section 22435 of the California Business and Professions Code comes into play: There are restrictions around when you can retrieve a cart that is possession of another party. While this may seem like where many of your carts are going…the data doesn’t support this. Most of your carts are being taken to sources and locations you have not yet identified. Way too many carts are stolen every year for them to be exclusively in the hands of unsheltered, homeless or transient populations. Even if these carts are not immediately "retrievable", there are many other hiding places for your carts.
The average time allotted for a retailer to retrieve their carts across all jurisdictions was 3 days. Provided a retailer had a retrieval plan in place and retrieved their carts before the 3 day window, they would not face a fine or penalty in most jurisdictions.
