Oh the embarassment

The other day I went to the Trader Joe's at Grand Lake. Like may other parking lots in the East Bay (Monterey Markert is another good example), the TJs lot is a disaster. This is largely due to people getting confused about which way to turn and the subhumans that back traffic out of the lot because they are waiting for someone to pull out of a space a few feet closer to the front door. Anyway, I was in a hurry to pick up ZZN, so I bypassed the lot and parked on the street *behind* TJ's (I know, this is EXCITING!!), ran in, got what we needed and then rolled the cart towards the car as fast as I could. Unfortunately, the cart came to a screeching halt as I passed out of the lot. I thought that I had run over a pebble and put my back into it, but to no avail. One of the TJs workers who was taking a smoke break was watching me and pointed with a smirk to a sign stating that the carts would stop moving at the edge of the lot! Ah, the sweet, sweet humiliation of looking like a common shopping cart burglar.

I now had even less time to get to day care, so I quickly shuttled everything the thirty feet to my car. I also resisted the urge to check out how the stupid thing worked and/or pick the cart and stuff it into my car just for spite.

I still haven't had a chance to see how they work. I don't remember seeing any big farings over the wheels, so I don't think it is this:

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.03.99/shoppingcarts-9922.html

but is this, perhaps:
http://www.gatekeepersystems.com/solutions.php

The Euro method is to chain carts to each other with a small device that only releases when you insert a coin (1 euro). You get the coin back when you re-chain it to another cart.