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Police and business owners are preparing to curb the theft of shopping carts by all community members, including the homeless, according to a report delivered to the council's ad hoc committee on community safety and well-being.
The North Bay Police Service confirms such an initiative is planned and will release more details this week. Police can charge shopping cart bandits with possession of stolen property and theft under $5,000.
More and more retail outlets in North Bay have been forced to turn to charging for shopping carts in an attempt to keep their fleet from rolling away. Still, the rogue carts can be seen in many areas around town, with a heavy concentration from Main Street to Thomson Park, and with pockets of stolen carts littering side roads in the McKeown Avenue and Lakeshore Drive areas.
It is debatable whether the need to deposit a quarter or loonie to free a cart is a deterrent for property thieves. Some local retailers have a perimeter wheel locking system but those are expensive to install at approximately $100,000 per location.
A grocery store or box store will typically own up to a couple of hundred shopping carts for their customers to use. Many of these get pushed off the property by a combination of shoppers without transportation, mischief makers or those looking to haul their belongings around town.
Some stores send staff or hire third parties to locate and load carts onto trailers to return them to their rightful place. At a cost of approximately $200 plus for the carts, it is a large capital loss to see dozens or more of the carts taken.
