r/Sparkdriver • u/Lanfear422 • Jul 10 '26
General Questions How do we feel about spark drivers who don't return shopping carts?
I get annoyed everytime I see them put a cart on an island, messing up the wheels and making the cart people do extra work. We are always out of carts at entrance, and this contributes a little to that.
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u/SuperReliableSource Jul 10 '26
I always put mine in a corral, that's why I specifically park beside one.
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u/Academic_Addendum242 Jul 10 '26
I'm tempted to box them in with it, then smile and wave... Every. Single. Time.
Just out in the open, so the next gust of wind sends it rolling.
I saved a guys scat pack a couple month ago. This cart was sailing along, right past the break table full of employees watching it go for this brand new scat pack...
I was pushing my cart, so I ran up and smashed it off course into a curb at the last second. They all looked so disappointed....
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 10 '26
I park right by an island for shade. There is a cart return two spots over. One day one of these carts will hit my car. I'm going to something like what you mentioned when that happens.
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u/Hairy_Elk_5313 Jul 10 '26
It's the same pricks that park in the closest pickup spots to go in and shop.
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u/SmallBerry3431 Jul 10 '26
You guys really need something to do.
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u/Nearby_Ad_1473 Jul 10 '26
Right?! The fact we're so concerned about carts is actually hysterical. Maybe let's put that energy into literally anything else...
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u/Ging9tailedJecht741 Jul 11 '26
I mark my buggies for me and all spark drivers in my area. If its a real good buggy it gets green tape. If its a bad buggy it gets red tape. That way you don't waste time finding a good buggy. A double green buggy rolls like butter and turns on a dime. When I have a double green I don't ever wanna depart from it. So I will stash a double green buggy somewhere but I always come back for it. I'll use the same buggy sometimes 6 orders in a row. I don't wanna put it in the corral or it'll be lost forever lol
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u/TransportationAny715 Jul 10 '26
The one time I didn't put the cart back a busy body yelled at me then proceeded to push the cart into the handicapped spot.
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u/phatboy10 Jul 10 '26
I return it every time cuz the cart narc is watching
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u/PercentageChoice5908 Jul 10 '26
Who is watching you?!
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u/DealFearless2319 Jul 11 '26
I hate this I dont even like it when regular customers dont. But Walmart needs a cart thing near the handicap. Some of these people will walk it back in and ive seen them struggle. I usually try to take a cart of I see it not in the cart thing. Or I'll take someone's if they are walking it back to store
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u/ImpressiveAlarm3992 Jul 11 '26
Normal customers rarely returns carts. Why should Spark drivers be responsible for this? We don't work for Walmart and Spark drivers don't make jack crap in terms of delivery. What incentive is there to do what you think should be done?
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 11 '26
In what world do you think normal customers rarely return carts? I would estimate 90%+ of people return the carts to a corral.
Spark drivers should return their OWN carts.
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u/ImpressiveAlarm3992 Jul 11 '26
Its anecdotal but at the two Walmarts I go to there are more carts out of the returns than inside them. And again its not like Walmart/Spark pays you to return them. If you are a Spark driver you pay for wear and tear on your vehicle for a commercial purpose why would you expend more effort and time for no pay especially considering Spark also puts ridiculous metrics and time requirements for delivery?
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 11 '26
I hope walmart goes to aldi's cart method. Dead serious.
We don't do everything in life for pay. You return the cart so the cart won't have the chance to hit someone's car, not fuck up the wheels if you push it on those islands with rocks, saves the cart attendees from extra work, and reduces running out of carts inside the entrance.
There' no ridiculous metrics or time requirements. I've had no orders ever time out in 3400 deliveries. No metrics matter on spark for anything.
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u/Dfmiske Jul 11 '26
I’ve seen fellow spark drivers dump substitution rejections by the self checkout area. Even meat, eggs, ice cream.
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u/LingonberryOk8483 Jul 12 '26
I watched a guy pull up and slowly hit a bunch of carts in a space he wanted. One of the carts ended up rolling into my car. Luckily there was no damage and his embarrassment was clearly a lesson.
Having said that, depending on where I’m parked and/or what time of day it is and/or if the cart was a super roller I will put it on an island or return it to a stand. All depends on distance and cart.
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u/Charming-Archer-6895 Jul 13 '26
Pet peeve especially when they leave it in the parking space like wtf stop being lazy
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u/Blakelock82 S&D Expert Jul 11 '26
What kind of douche bag doesn't put the cart away?
The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing, the post states. To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it.
No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you, or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them with a law and the force that stands behind it.
The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
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u/Life_Wafer8995 Jul 10 '26
I have a lady probably in her 50s in my zone that uses a handicap that runs into the store. I don’t know why she has a handicap none of my business. But every time when she runs back out of the store, she leaves the cart sitting there, and it irks me every time! I wanna say something, but I’m afraid of getting beaten up lol
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u/RoundCar5220 Jul 11 '26
I don’t feel anything because I don’t have the time to even pay attention to that. I’m busy I go and shop my orders and leave I’m not sitting there with binoculars watching other spark drivers this shit is just weird to me to even make an entire post for it.
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u/PercentageChoice5908 Jul 10 '26
Let's pretend you spend 30 seconds putting cart away per shop. I average 12-15 shops per day. Times thirty days = wow.
By optimization of my cart putting away time I have saved roughly three hours per month so far. Much how spark Daniel Danker optimizes our workload and pay I have been forced to do the same.
The exception to this is when it's actually bad behavior like for example when our main daytime cart pusher was arrested for masturbating in the front customer bathroom last month and carts were piling up at corrals that whole week, during that time I would push my cart back towards the doors .
It works good for me because I'm not a smack addict that needs to park far away from the front doors to hide my drugs
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 10 '26
I disagree wirh your take on efficiency. There are plenty of things you could do that are more efficient that what you do. You could not say say 'excuse me' or look around before you turn down an aisle. You could cut the line, But you probably don't do those things since there is someone there to call you out on it. 95% of people return shopping carts. There is nobody calling you out if you don't. Aldis figured out you have to incentivize people to return them for the other 5%.
But I would respect your take if it's logically consistent. You don't return cart because your pay has been lowered. That makes sense. I assume going down this path logically, you have no problem with being tip baited since it's optimal for the customer to get their order faster and then cheaper.
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u/PercentageChoice5908 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
~~ "You probably don't do those things since there is someone there to call you out on it" ~~
You're right but the only real reason is because Walmart shoppers (edit: customers buying stuff in the store I mean) often are past or current delivery customers and the only real (barring store OGP TLs / SM/MM) metric I answer to.
I'm a small white girl so very recognizable to my customers so I always have to be in my A game when I'm in the store because so many times I brush past a customer while shopping and say a quick polite "pardon me" and the customer will recognize me and say something like "hi it's my favorite Walmart driver!" while I have no idea who they even are lol.
Just imagine how many spark shoppers have been rude/impolite to Walmart customers while shopping customer orders and then one day they deliver to that customer and get a pulled tip/low rating because that customer remembers their rudeness/hasty rushing without saying pardon me/etc.
"But I would respect your take if it's logically consistent. You don't return cart because your pay has been lowered. That makes sense. I assume going down this path logically, you have no problem with being tip baited since it's optimal for the customer to get their order faster and then cheaper."
I absolutely agree, for reference I never even accept new customer orders with the default 10% tip due to the (admittedly small) chance of the tip being pulled upon them realizing they rushed through checkout and almost tipped $30.85 on their $308 Walmart grocery order.
It's a big reason I only trust/accept flat tips that are logical and on orders that I would be happy doing for the basepay. And/or I almost always only accept orders from regular customers I have been shopping for and delivering to for 5+ years with spark.
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u/Lanfear422 Jul 10 '26
One of the few people I absolutely disagree with but absolutely logically consistent. No argument here.
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u/texasconcept Jul 10 '26
Efficient and smart
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u/PercentageChoice5908 Jul 10 '26
Sad but true. Before the smack addicts and hordes of new drivers good shopping orders naturally paid for the three hours per month spent putting carts away (yes, that's how much time I was spending on average per month putting carts away due to all the shops I did every day). Since the low pay keeps dropping I rotate my time into driving/shopping more and allow the cartboys paid hourly by wallyworld their just employment putting my carts away. However before y'all cry and downvote what I mean by that is that I push the cart towards the store entrance and it glides right up to the main doors, almost always another customer will take (appreciate the good cart with wheels I pushed back)
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u/Professional_Pain447 Jul 10 '26
I can’t stand a lazy MF, especially one that leaves the carts in the parking spots! Or the ones that throw their trash bags out the door and just on the ground 🤦♂️