The shopping cart statutes come into effect on September 7th

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Grocery store owners abandoning their shopping carts may soon be spending money to get them back.

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The city council has passed statutes that require retailers who use shopping carts to develop their own management plan for the collection and return of abandoned shopping carts.

Often found on street corners, on the side of the road, or on other people’s private property, these carts have been viewed as a nuisance by city officials.

In fact, the new statute passed by the city council earlier this week resembles the city’s dirty court order.

Your charter is something of a hybrid attempt to solve the problem.

First, shopping cart retailers are required to submit a plan to the municipal works council specifying what action must be taken to keep the shopping carts on their property or, alternatively, to retrieve them. Each store is also required to provide the names and phone numbers of management who will be called when shopping carts are found off-site so they have ample time to retrieve them.

If proactive measures are not taken in a timely manner, the articles of association also provide enforcement mechanisms to intervene in the event of non-compliance that could result in shopkeepers paying fines of up to $ 5,000 for inaction.

It is the second – now approved – draft statute that the city’s legal department has prepared. It goes into effect in early September and gives retailers time to develop their own plan to keep the carts in place or to retrieve them quickly when needed.

This version addresses the council’s concerns about an earlier draft that could incriminate private landowners if the carts were left on their property.

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“I’m happy to see this is here. It took a long time, ”said Ward 3 Couns. Matthew Shoemaker for proposing the constitution.

Shoemaker said the problem is an ongoing problem in his community – as elsewhere – and he believes the bylaws are a good step in solving the problem.

Schuhmacher is happy about the hybrid statute. The key now is getting these plans right, he said.

“I think this is going to take a little longer and I think there will be some trial and error but that’s fine as the public works plans need to be approved and I am sure the staff will work with the owners of the purchasing department be carts, ”he told The Sault Star.

Some retailers have already taken a proactive approach, knowing the articles of association were on the horizon.

Food Basics has implemented a wheel lock system in its shopping buggies. When a user tries to leave the property, a locking system is activated that prevents the wheels from moving, making it difficult to take the cart with them.

“I’m glad they took some proactive steps and I firmly believe that this will save them money in the long run and not have to pay others to pick up and drop off the carts,” he said.

Shoemaker said he hoped the plans work and there would be no fines for non-compliance.

“But if there are shopping cart owners who break the law, then there is this option,” he said.

The abandoned cart problem is not new. The same issue was raised by the city council in 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2014, Shoemaker said.

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At the time, the only option seemed to be to punish the owners, something that councilors at the time were reluctant to do.

But Shoemaker said when he finished his research on the issues, he found that other communities in Ontario had development vehicle management systems similar to those used in Sault Ste. Marie.

“I think this is a win-win situation. We will have a positive burden with cart management systems, a warning mechanism that lets the perpetrators know they are on the clock to pick up some abandoned carts, and a good mechanism for those who do not obey the rules ” , he said .

Shoemaker said he will watch the statutes go through for the first year of implementation and if they don’t work well they can be adjusted.

Currently, PWT has discretion to put in place compliance schedules with store owners, but if that turnaround isn’t fast enough, Shoemaker said it has no problem requesting a change and stricter schedules that indicate when owners will see abandoned carts need to remove.