Your property is your responsibility, including your shopping carts and baskets. If you own a retail or grocery store, your baskets and carts are crucial components to your success. Not only are they convenient, but they encourage shoppers to grab more items off the shelf and improve their overall experience.

Of course, every store is different, and depending on your needs, the amount and type of shopping carts and baskets you offer may vary. For instance, some larger stores offer a greater number and wider variety of cart and basket options, including shopping baskets on wheels, mini baskets, specialty carts, etc.

No matter which tools you have, you must maintain them properly. This is especially important for carts and any baskets with wheels, as the wheels themselves can break down over time and render the basket useless or even dangerous to use.

Here we will go over every reason why upkeep and maintenance are so important for your shopping baskets with wheels, what to look for during inspection, and what you can do if your baskets or carts become damaged.

What to Know About Shopping Basket Maintenance

Why Shopping Basket Maintenance Matters

Of all the features you must maintain inside and outside your store, carts and baskets might seem like the least important. Every store owner and manager knows that floors, walls, restrooms, breakrooms, and everything else must be well-kempt for a number of reasons. But your baskets and carts should be included in this list as well. After all, these are the vehicles your customers use nearly every time they enter your store. Maintaining them matters for the reasons listed below:

• Customer Experience: When your customers are happy, your business thrives. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Would you want to walk into a store and be faced with broken down carts and shopping baskets? Conversely, think about how nice it would be to enter the same store and view clean, organized, and functional carts and baskets. You would be more inclined to walk around the entire store and pick up more items, enjoying a smooth experience from start to finish.
• Reputation: Your store’s and business’ reputation are directly linked to the aforementioned customer experience. If you want your customers to leave good reviews, recommend you to others, and return to shop again, you must provide them with well-maintained shopping tools.
• Safety: Success and profit are your ultimate goals, but the safety of your employees and customers always needs to be top priority. Failing to maintain your store as a whole (and your carts and baskets in particular) leads to safety hazards that can ruin your reputation and even yield legal ramifications. If the wheels on your carts and rolling shopping baskets are rusting, falling off, or sticking, for instance, customers may not just have trouble navigating your store, but may get injured or injure others along the way.
• Liability: This point ties into the previous one. You are liable for any damages and injuries incurred by neglecting your property, including your carts and baskets. Maintaining them properly will reduce the risk of unfortunate lawsuits or other legal reparations.
• Protecting Your Investment: Your shopping carts and baskets are key investments in your business. Like any investment, the better you take care of it, the more valuable it is for you in the long run. If you fail to maintain your property, you will likely end up having to spend more money in repairs and replacements in the long run. It’s worth it, then, to spend some of the resources you have in cleaning and maintaining your carts and baskets to avoid these larger repairs.

What Daily Inspections Should Include

By now it should be clear that maintaining your carts and baskets is essential for providing your customers with a great experience and protecting your business from costly fees and damages. That said, what does this type of maintenance involve? Here is brief list of the things you and your employees should look for when inspecting carts and baskets on a regular basis:

• For shopping carts that can hold children, make sure readable safety warnings/information is attached to the cart
• Ensure any safety belts are functional and not damaged
• Inspect frame of basket or cart for damage, including bending, rusting, missing parts, etc.
• Inspect fasteners for damage or missing pieces
• Carefully inspect wheels. Look for loose or missing pieces, test the wheel and make sure cart or roller basket moves in a straight, even path and operates smoothly
• Ensure cart or basket is level

What to Do When Baskets are Damaged

Checking your carts and baskets for these damage signs will help you maintain a functional fleet. However, if you do come across any of these types of damage, what should you do?

First, immediately remove the damaged object(s) from the rest of the group. You don’t want any of your customers to grab a faulty cart or basket, especially when you know it’s there. Then, label them as defective so it’s clear to any employee or customer who might accidentally take it that it’s not in usable condition. After you’ve rounded up all defective items, contact a reliable cart and basket repair service to further inspect each one, and then make all necessary repairs as quickly as possible. Don’t attempt to fix a cart or basket if you lack the experience or tools to do so properly.

Maintaining your shopping carts and baskets is just as important as maintaining any other part of your store. Make sure to train your employees so they’re aware of what to look for and what to do if they come across a faulty or damaged cart or basket. Be sure to work with a trustworthy cart and basket manufacturer so all your new products are of the highest quality, whether you need custom shopping baskets with wheels or a new arsenal of carts for your customers. Good L Corporation delivers innovative shopping cart and basket solutions for retailers on a global scale. From a fleet of new custom carts to launch your store opening to replacement baskets that supplement your existing shop supply, Good L Corp can configure the right carryall strategy to boost your retail business. Let’s get started! Contact us today for a no-pressure sales quote.