A new use for old shopping carts

All those abandoned shopping carts lying around Annandale will soon be put to good use. A new company, called Cartz, has developed an app that lets pedestrians rent a shopping cart for their short-term needs, like walking home with their groceries or giving a break to a tired child or dog.

The program works the same way as the dockless bicycle and scooter apps that have taken cities by storm.

“Up to now, people have been forced to drive their cars to the grocery store because they don’t want to walk home carrying a bunch of shopping bags,” says Cartz CEO Travis Beamer. “Now, they can just roll their groceries home and leave the cart by the curb, making it easy for someone else to grab it and go.” 

The carts can also be used as a temporary, mobile storage space by residents who don’t have a permanent residence.

“The new Cartz system will encourage people to get more exercise,” says Beamer, “while also reducing the use of cars, which will alleviate traffic, while saving the planet by cutting carbon emissions.”

Like most scooters, the Cartz carts will cost $1 to unlock, but even less, just 5 cents a minute, to operate.

If the Cartz experiment proves successful in Annandale, it will be expanded to Bailey’s Crossroads, Seven Corners, Springfield, Lincolnia and other areas with pent-up demand for dockless shopping carts.

And since there aren’t enough abandoned shopping carts in the area, Cartz plans to import many more.