San Jose approves stricter rules to combat abandoned shopping cart epidemic ...Middle East

Fed up with the thousands of abandoned shopping carts dumped on city streets and in its waterways, San Jose is moving ahead with new regulations and a cart retrieval pilot program to solve the longstanding problem.

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Earlier this year, the City Council voted to explore changes to the municipal code and advocate for less burdensome state rules, citing the ineffectiveness of both sets of regulations and the inability of the city to recover costs.

While a state bill addressing the issue slowly moves forward, the new local amendments will force larger retailers with at least 76 carts to either install theft prevention mechanisms or security deposit devices or enter into a cart retrieval contract that obligates the company to make weekly, proactive efforts to pick up their carts.

“I don’t think any of us ran for office or signed up for our day jobs here thinking we would be so focused on shopping cart loss prevention, but the reality is we estimate that our teams end up going out and having to pick up over 2,000 abandoned shopping carts per year across the city,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. “They are quite often on sidewalks, in the right of way, in parks and down in the creeks. I have personally fished dozens of shopping carts out of our waterways.”

San Jose is one of about 150 local jurisdictions in the state that have established rules on abandoned shopping carts.

Its original ordinance required retailers with at least 26 carts to submit a yearly plan for how they would retrieve and retain their carts, including what loss prevention measures they intended to deploy. Retailers also are required to have signage on carts that identifies the owner. Under the changes approved Tuesday, stores with 26 to 75 carts would still be required to submit plans, but they are not subject to the enhanced regulation.

Peter Hamilton, assistant to the city manager, said the city also explored penalties for cart theft but declined to make any additional amendments because the city already had the authority to cite and fine violators. Under the existing law, shopping cart theft could lead to a maximum fine of $1,000, up to a six-month prison sentence or both.

The other significant change adopted Tuesday was creating a cart retrieval pilot program in two areas that particularly face challenges.

The first area runs south of the airport down to Tully Road, bound to the east by Highway 101, respectively. The second area is centered around the intersection of Blossom Hill Road and Almaden Expressway.

District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan said he and a group of volunteers removed 40 carts near Story Road and Felipe Avenue — within one of the pilot areas — that created blight and posed a public safety threat to drivers.

Hamilton said the pilot program will run between May and July before the city administration returns to the City Council in September with its findings and recommendations for an ongoing, citywide service. At that time, the city could also issue recommendations on a volunteer cart retrieval program in which retailers voluntarily reimburse San Jose for picking up their carts in exchange for incentives, such as exemptions from the more stringent regulations.

Business organizations, generally speaking, expressed support for the changes adopted Tuesday.

“We see the proposal as a balanced approach that keeps streets and creeks cleaner while offering large retailers flexible options such as prevention devices, security deposits or cart retrieval contracts,” San Jose Chamber of Commerce policy manager Kat Angelov said. “Together, the ordinance changes and pilot represent a collaborative step toward reducing blight, enhancing safety, supporting our retailers and finding practical solutions.”

While the California Grocers Association supported enhanced local regulations – noting it brought San Jose closer to the rules other cities have adopted – it raised concerns about the city exploring a mandatory retrieval system and a bill introduced by Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) that the city and Mahan are sponsoring that would cut down on the most onerous statewide rules for carts.

Along with requiring an impound lot for abandoned carts, the state caps fines at $50 per day and requires the city to provide a three-day window for retailers to pick up their carts without charge, which San Jose officials said inhibited its ability to recover costs.

Cortese’s bill, if passed, would alleviate all of these concerns by allowing cities to return carts to retailers directly and bill them for retrieval services, removing waiting periods to return carts and permitting cities and counties to set their own fines.

Nate Rose, vice president of communications and public affairs at the California Grocers Association, said with profit margins averaging 1.6% in the industry, retailers fear they will have to pass on costs to customers if local governments are given carte blanche when they set fines.

“Once it is a statewide bill, it becomes a problem in every jurisdiction,” Rose said. “California has the highest grocery prices alongside Alaska and Hawaii. We should really be focused on that and reducing the costs, not adding to them.”

Tim James, director of local government relations at the California Grocers Association, said if San Jose pursues a mandatory retrieval program, it could hurt businesses.

James estimated it would cost retailers eight to ten times more if the city returned a cart to them versus the retailer retrieving the cart themselves. With most shopping cart thefts occurring in low-income areas, he said, it would further exacerbate their predicament by driving up food costs.

He said San Jose instead should focus on its efforts on ensuring consistent enforcement and compliance with its rules.

“The metric for success on this issue is how little the city does, not how much the city does,” James said.

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