Federal Way Shopping Cart Recovery Team to be recognized

While some cities have “shopping cart jail,” which charges retailers for recovery, Federal Way volunteers spend their time returning carts to grocery stores and shopping cart bays.

While some cities have “shopping cart jail,” which charges retailers for recovery, Federal Way volunteers spend their time returning carts to grocery stores and shopping cart bays.

To date, the Federal Way Shopping Cart Recovery Team has returned over 12,000 carts since 2010 and are on track to hit 15,000 by the end of this year.

To recognize their hard work, Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang will award the team a Police Chief Citation at the June 16 Federal Way City Council meeting.

“They’ve [recovered] well over 100 in a month, but sometimes it’s between 30-50,” said Federal Way police Commander Brett Hatfield, who recently inherited the supervision of the team. “Generally, on the average month, it’s right around 300 carts every month.”

Shopping carts can cost between $75-$150, with some fancy ones priced between $300-$400.

Hatfield estimates the volunteer-based program has saved retailers about $2.25 million from their efforts.

According to May 2015 data, Federal Way’s north Walmart is the worst culprit with at least 47 shopping carts scattered around the city.

The former Paldo World site, now known as New World Market, produced 31 stray carts and the volunteers recovered 27 carts for H Mart.

“It’s kind of interesting because some retailers are under the impression that this is more than a volunteer program,” Hatfield said. “One particularly has two different color carts — same store, two locations. And when our volunteers returned carts to one store, the manager [came] out and said this isn’t the right store.”

Hatfield said if the volunteers didn’t return the carts to the “right” store, it would be fine with him.

The goal is to keep the city streets clear of something retailers should be taking care of, he said.

“It’s unbelievable the difference they’ve made,” Hatfield said, adding that if the program didn’t exist, 4,000 carts laying around city streets would be “pretty unsightly and difficult to walk around.”

The team has pinpointed problematic areas and specific neighborhoods the carts tend to hang around most often. Hatfield said apartment complexes, bus stops and the Transit Center are generally the worst areas.

“It’s not uncommon to collect 15-20 in one spot,” he said, noting some of the volunteers have nicknames for streets, such as “Shopping Cart Alley” or “Shopping Cart Row.”

The team doesn’t solicit donations or compensation for returning the carts, and only started the service after a private business specializing in cart retrieval folded.

Hatfield said people take shopping carts off of business’s commercial property simply because it’s easy to transport groceries from point A to point B.

While some homeless people use carts in a more permanent manner, the Shopping Cart Recovery Team doesn’t bother them, as they only take abandoned carts.

However, taking a cart from a business is still considered a misdemeanor crime, which is punishable up to 90 days in jail with a $250 bail.

“We wish there wasn’t a need for this program, ideally, there wouldn’t be, but the city’s very fortunate to have these volunteers who are willing to go out and take part in this exercise,” Hatfield said of the four-to-five regular volunteers. “We’re always looking for more volunteers.”

To volunteer for the Shopping Cart Recovery Team, contact Lauri Jackson at 253-835-6788.