Very odd shopping cart mis-hap . . .

[Erich L-ster]

They could have an army of cart wranglers and still, one wayward cart left by one lazy customer could do damage less than 60 seconds after said lazy person leaves it. The onus is on the customers to make sure their cart is safely stowed.

I do think OP was somewhat at fault for setting the cart in motion.

[Isometric]

I had to laugh, because this is the kind of thing that would happen to me!

I think you handled it perfectly, really what more could be done??

I don't think anyone is really at fault, it could be argued several ways. But it is so annoying when you think you've found a free spot and some lazy person has dumped their cart there.

[JenJay]

They could have an army of cart wranglers and still, one wayward cart left by one lazy customer could do damage less than 60 seconds after said lazy person leaves it. The onus is on the customers to make sure their cart is safely stowed.

I do think OP was somewhat at fault for setting the cart in motion.

I agree on both counts.

[Xandraea]

Every store with shopping carts around here has designated corrals into which the customer is expected to put their cart after they unload it into their car.  Nearly every one of these cart corrals has a large sign over the top that declares the store is not responsible for vehicle damage in the parking lot and asking people to please put their carts in the corral where they belong.  Stores employ people to come retrieve the carts from the corral and put them back inside for customers to take while shopping.  I'd think while out there they'd collect any stray carts they found as well.

I don't think the OP is responsible for the cart that was left in her parking spot, either.  She didn't try to hit it, certainly didn't intend to send it on wild adventures, and did attempt to take responsibility for any damage caused.  The customer who used that cart in the first place and left it there in the parking spot rather than corralling it properly, is the one responsible, but since that person was likely long gone before OP parked there, they'll receive no consequences.

[Virg]

I think there's a bit of responsibility due to jpcher for bumping the cart with her car, so in her place I'd consider it my fault that the cart hit the first car.  Sure, someone shouldn't leave a cart loose in the lot but by the same token, it's my sole responsibility not to hit things with my car.  However, that's where it ends.  Once it came to rest against the first car, it stopped being jpcher's fault and became a random accidental event.  I wouldn't have even approached the second driver, and certainly wouldn't have persisted in trying to take responsibility.

Virg

[rose red]

They could have an army of cart wranglers and still, one wayward cart left by one lazy customer could do damage less than 60 seconds after said lazy person leaves it. The onus is on the customers to make sure their cart is safely stowed.

I do think OP was somewhat at fault for setting the cart in motion.

I agree on both counts.

I agree too.  They can't hire people to man every square inch of the lot to swoop in to snap up carts the second it leaves the customer's hand.  It's not fair to say it's the store's fault for "allowing" carts to be left around.

[BarensMom]

OP, I agree that it's not your fault - it's the fault of the lazy so and so who didn't put it back in the first place.

Over the years, I developed a theory that certain sadistic shopping cart manufacturers make the carts magnetic so they'll be attracted to cars.  They also are attracted to each other, which is why you can never pull them apart when you need one. 

[AffirmedHope]

Huh.

I would not have even planned on leaving a note to begin with for starters. Its not your fault the cart hit her car. Nor is it the other car's fault. It was the fault of the store for allowing carts to be left around the lot haphazardly. If it weren't your tap, it could have been a gust of wind, or someone inadvertently brushing against it, or a squirrel or pigeon setting it off on its wild ride.

If I had somehow ended up listening to the woman ranting, I would have just shrugged and walked away, not tried repeatedly to engage the crazy.

Absolutely, unequivocally NOT. Stores with carts almost always have cart returns all over the lot, as well as employees on regular lot duty bringing them back to the store.  Even if they didn't, personal responsibility comes into play.  If a customer takes a cart to the lot, for goodness sakes, it's the CUSTOMER'S responsibility to secure it.

I agree. Even the most vigilant of stores can have this situation. It's completely the fault of the lazy shopper who left the cart that there was a cart in the parking lot.

Agreed - if people would return carts to the cart corrals this wouldn't happen.  I do think that some stores need to add more cart corrals in their parking lots to make it easier to return carts.

Not to get into the legal issue, but most parking lots I've seen have signs specifying that the store is not responsible for damage done by unruly carts.

Most stores in my area have employees making constant rounds collecting carts - there is never a time when there is not an employee out there rounding them up - or the carts that take a 25 cent deposit to unhook and return the 25 cents upon returning the cart (thus enticing people to return them or collect them them-self). other stores do not allow the carts into the lot at all, only as far as the pavement between the store and the lot. Between these options, carts in the lot are generally not an issue. If the stores supply the carts, IMO, the stores, ultimately are responsible for the carts.

I've never seen a store with such a bad rate of cart returns that they pay someone to constantly chase carts that have been abandoned by lazy shoppers. That's pretty extreme. Personally if I lived in that area I'd be annoyed that I was probably paying extra for my groceries because the store has to employ someone to do something that's the sole responsibility of the shopper.

My store has a job title called "cart pusher" with the amount of traffic going through the store, they constantly have to go and round up the carts from the parking lot in order to run out from the cart bay in the store. If it happens to be a down time, they will check on register when needed or go and take the trash out from the cans in the parking lot. Small grocery store or chains might not have this position, they might just send out a floor associate to get carts as needed, but the larger, busier chains for sure have job titles like this.

[PastryGoddess]

OP, I agree that it's not your fault - it's the fault of the lazy so and so who didn't put it back in the first place.

Over the years, I developed a theory that certain sadistic shopping cart manufacturers make the carts magnetic so they'll be attracted to cars.  They also are attracted to each other, which is why you can never pull them apart when you need one. 

Actually some companies use magnetized carts as an anti theft measure or to make them easier to corral. I know Walmart and Target use those motorized cart pusher thingies (technical term) which magnetizes each cart in the line. So you might not be too far off

[strawbabies]

People do weird things with carts. On the weekend DH and I watched a guy take his cart to a gap between the parked cars, 5 cars away from his, push it up onto the raised part between the cars and dump it. 1 car space to the other side of his car was the trolley bay. It would have been easier to return it properly and he would have gotten his money back.

Do they require a deposit to get a cart where you shop? If so, I really wish they would do that everywhere.  I think it would cut down on some of the abandoned carts in the parking lot, especially at Walmart.

[BeagleMommy]

Is anyone else thinking of a children's book entitled "The Adventures of Little Shopping Cart"?  No, just me?  Okay.

OP, I don't think there's anything else you could have done.  I'm not even sure you are at fault.

[jaxsue]

People do weird things with carts. On the weekend DH and I watched a guy take his cart to a gap between the parked cars, 5 cars away from his, push it up onto the raised part between the cars and dump it. 1 car space to the other side of his car was the trolley bay. It would have been easier to return it properly and he would have gotten his money back.

Do they require a deposit to get a cart where you shop? If so, I really wish they would do that everywhere.  I think it would cut down on some of the abandoned carts in the parking lot, especially at Walmart.

Where I live (NJ), that is very rare. I think it's a good idea. I think I remember that being the norm in N. Ireland, IIRC.

[PastryGoddess]

People do weird things with carts. On the weekend DH and I watched a guy take his cart to a gap between the parked cars, 5 cars away from his, push it up onto the raised part between the cars and dump it. 1 car space to the other side of his car was the trolley bay. It would have been easier to return it properly and he would have gotten his money back.

Do they require a deposit to get a cart where you shop? If so, I really wish they would do that everywhere.  I think it would cut down on some of the abandoned carts in the parking lot, especially at Walmart.

Nope they're just freely available, waiting for you to turn your back before attacking your car.

[Diane AKA Traska]

People do weird things with carts. On the weekend DH and I watched a guy take his cart to a gap between the parked cars, 5 cars away from his, push it up onto the raised part between the cars and dump it. 1 car space to the other side of his car was the trolley bay. It would have been easier to return it properly and he would have gotten his money back.

Do they require a deposit to get a cart where you shop? If so, I really wish they would do that everywhere.  I think it would cut down on some of the abandoned carts in the parking lot, especially at Walmart.

Where I live (NJ), that is very rare. I think it's a good idea. I think I remember that being the norm in N. Ireland, IIRC.

Then you have the situation with a store I refuse to shop at.

The norm in this chain is you get a cart, fill it, then they take the stuff off of the belt, and put it into a cart they have at the end of the line.  Your cart then becomes the new "end of the line" cart.  Everyone follow that?  Okay.  Well, one of the local stores in this chain went over to the pay carts, and this started happening.

I put a quarter into the cart, do my shopping, and get to the line.  When I take the "end of line" cart out to load the minivan, I discover that the cart I got doesn't have a quarter.  It happened every time I went in, to the point where the deposit was basically a fee.  The store was getting a surcharge out of me, which I think is ridiculous.  I started only going in if I could carry everything to the checkout, then eventually stopped going at all.

[Bluenomi]

People do weird things with carts. On the weekend DH and I watched a guy take his cart to a gap between the parked cars, 5 cars away from his, push it up onto the raised part between the cars and dump it. 1 car space to the other side of his car was the trolley bay. It would have been easier to return it properly and he would have gotten his money back.

Do they require a deposit to get a cart where you shop? If so, I really wish they would do that everywhere.  I think it would cut down on some of the abandoned carts in the parking lot, especially at Walmart.

Yes, a $1 or $2 coin. It's really cut down the amount of trolleys left around the car park which is good. It does cause some issues when people can't be bothered to connect the right size trolleys together and you can't attach yours and get your money back but generally it seems to work ok.