Chapter 187: SHOPPING CARTS
ARTICLE I Users’ Responsibilities

§ 187-1. Definitions. [Amended 5-28-1996 by Ord. No. 1012-96]
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

SHOPPING CART — Those pushcarts of the type or types which are commonly provided by grocery stores, markets and other types of stores for the use of the public in transporting commodities in stores, markets and other types of stores and incidentally from the store to a place outside the store.

§ 187-2. Users to return carts to store premises.
Any person who makes any use of any shopping cart, belonging to or furnished by the owner of the store, market or shopping center, for assembling or moving of groceries, foodstuffs and allied products there purchased shall, after such use, promptly return the shopping cart to the property from whence taken.

§ 187-3. Violations and penalties. [Amended 5-28-1996 by Ord. No. 1012-96]
Any other use made of said shopping carts, including the abandonment of the same upon the streets, highways, alleys and other public ways of the city, shall be deemed a public nuisance; and any person found guilty of committing such a nuisance shall, upon conviction thereof in summary proceedings, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than six hundred dollars ($600.) or to confinement to the city jail for not more than ninety (90) days, or both such fine and imprisonment.

ARTICLE II Redemption of Abandoned Carts
§ 187-4. Definitions.
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
SHOPPING CART — Those pushcarts of the type or types which are commonly provided by grocery stores, markets and other types of stores for the use of the public in transporting commodities in stores, markets and other types of stores and incidentally from the store to a place outside the store.
[Amended 5-28-1996 by Ord. No. 1012-96]

§ 187-5. Abandoned carts to be impounded.
Any shopping cart found abandoned upon the highways, streets, alleys, sidewalks or other public ways shall be deemed to be a public nuisance. Any such cart shall be impounded by the city in a central pound, namely, the City Garage.

§ 187-6. Notice to owners to redeem. [Amended 9-9-1996 by Ord. No. 1033-96]
The city shall notify the owners of such carts, setting forth the number of carts so impounded and directing said owner to redeem the same within thirty (30) days from the date of said notice.

§ 187-7. Redemption fee. [Amended 5-28-1996 by Ord. No. 1012-96; 9-9-1996 by Ord. No. 1033-96]
The owner redeeming any such cart shall pay to the city a pound fee as provided in Chapter 108, Fees, for each cart impounded, upon the release of said cart by the city. The fee to be paid to the city shall be as provided for in Chapter 108, Fees.

§ 187-8. Disposal of unredeemed carts.
In the event that any such cart is not redeemed within thirty (30) days from the date of the notice provided for in § 187-6 above and in the case of a cart which cannot be identified because the same is not properly tagged with the owner’s name, the city may proceed to sell such cart or carts by following the procedure set forth in the Uniform Commercial Code, governing warehousemen, namely, Subsection 2 of an Act of Assembly dated April 6, 1953, P.L. No. 37-210, as amended. Editor’s Note: See 13 Pa. C.S.A. § 7210(b).

§ 187-9. Effect on other legislation.
This Article supplements Article I, regulating the use of shopping carts, and is not intended to repeal any of the terms thereof.

Chapter 108: FEES
§ 108-1. Fees established.
G. Shopping cart redemption fee: $25 for each cart impounded.

About Shopping Cart Ordinances

Retailers can struggle to stop cart abandonment, often paying up to $15,000 a year on replacement carts and municipal fines and fees due imposed by communities. These cart regulations and laws are put in place to not only control the environmental impact of abandoned carts, but also to keep towns and cities clean.

Most shopping cart ordinances fall into three categories: The first category is regulations requiring retailers to have a plan to contain and collect errant shopping carts. Secondly, those that define the fines and penalties a city may impose on retailers for abandoned or errant shopping carts. Finally, the third category of rules generally requires retailers to have a system to contain shopping carts, preventing abandonment.