CHAPTER 559 – Safety, Sanitation and Health

559.13 SHOPPING CARTS.

(a) Definitions.
As used in this section:
(1)”Shopping cart” means those types of mobile vehicles used for the transportation and portage by human propulsion of goods and merchandise in and about the markets, stores, shops, shopping centers and business establishments in the City.
(2)”Business establishment” means a grocery store, supermarket, drugstore, dry goods store, department store, discount store, variety store or other retail establishment which supplies shopping carts for the use of its customers to transport articles of merchandise.
(3)”Merchant” means either the owner of a business if it is owner operated, or the manager of a business if the same is not operated by the owner, or the person normally in charge of a business when there is no owner or operator normally present in the City.
(4)”Parking lot” means any parcel of land used for parking vehicles or otherwise, adjoining or used in connection with a business establishment, and which is owned or leased by the person who is the owner, lessor or operator of such business establishment, or which is provided for the use of the customers of such business establishment under any form of lease or other contractive arrangement.

(b) Identification of Carts.
No merchant of any store, shop, market, supermarket or business establishment shall have on the premises where such store, shop, market, supermarket or business establishment is located, or supply to any patron or customer of such store, shop, market, supermarket or business establishment, any shopping cart, or permit the use of any shopping cart, without having securely attached thereto a permanent tag, label or plate of identification setting forth the name of the store and the location of its use.
(Ord. 1988-38. Passed 8-4-88.)

(c) Carts on Public and Private Property.
No merchant of any store, shop, market, supermarket or business establishment shall permit any shopping cart supplied by such store, shop, market, supermarket or business establishment to remain unattended on any street, highway, parking lot or public sidewalk, except in the private sidewalk immediately in front of the business establishment, or on any other private or public walkway or thoroughfare of the City.
(Ord. 1988-56. Passed 11-14-88.)

(d) Responsibility of Merchant.
The presence of any shopping cart on any street, highway, parking lot or public sidewalk, except the private sidewalk immediately in front of the business establishment, or on any other private or public thoroughfare of the City, shall be presumed to be with the acknowledged consent of the merchant of the store, shop, market, supermarket, discount store or business establishment to which it belongs.

(e) Penalty.
Whoever violates or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor, and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 597.02.
(Ord. 1988-38. Passed 8-4-88.)

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.