Abandoned Shopping Carts: Abandoned shopping carts can be reported to the California Shopping Cart Retrieval Service online or at (800) 252-4613. They are supposed to pick up carts (from their subscribing stores only) within 48 hours. The stores currently signed up with CSCRC are: Babies R Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, Big Lots, CVS, Dollar Tree, Food 4 Less, Marshalls, Ralphs, Rite Aid, Seafood City, Smart & Final, Stater Bros, Target, and Vons. You can also call individual stores for shopping cart retrieval. In 2008 CSCRC picked up 6,331 shopping carts in Mira Mesa. Here is information for reporting carts and getting them picked up.
Also, see Bari Vaz’ article on the subject in the January 2011 newsletter. We have been looking for more effective ways to address the abandoned shopping cart problem in Mira Mesa. On Saturday morning, Feb 20, 2010, Mira Mesa volunteers staged a demonstration by collecting abandoned shopping carts and placing them at a visible location next to Mira Mesa Blvd. The event was covered on KGTV Channel 10 News. After the event, the shopping cart retrieval service and individual stores were called to come and collect them. This is a typical number of carts that can be easily found any time on Mira Mesa streets.