I’ve got sciatica in one of my legs. Not bad enough to justify a handicap spot (although those never have a cart coral near them), but bad enough that some days it is, actually, very painful to walk. Especially the walk back from the coral, where I don’t have the cart to lean on.

In fact, I often appreciate when people don’t put a cart away, and I can find a stray cart on the way to the store.

I still put the carts away when I’m done, with one exception: this fucking Dollar Tree near me, where their carts are all absolute shit to begin with and there’s one cart coral and no parking spots anywhere near it. I park against an embankment under some trees where there is always space and shade.

Usually there’s already a cart there waiting for me. When I’m done, I leave it pushed up against the embankment, back wheels on pavement, front wheels on grass, so it can’t roll back into the lot, and right in between the parking spots so it is easy to retrieve by the next customer.