Walmart is changing its shopping carts at its 4,600 stores – but customers who have used them are giving mixed reactions.
The new shopping carts include extra features such as a cup holder, popular with Stanley cup fans, and an area to place cell phones or a grocery list.
Whilst the convenience of specific storage went down well many consumers were left annoyed by the increase in height of the carts – see our graphic below.
The handlebars are now about 3.5 inches higher at 43.3 inches, which short people say has been annoying.
But there is an even bigger problem for short people with children. The child seat is amost 8 inches taller than in the old carts – meaning they cannot see wher they are going.
‘Dear Walmart, please explain to me how a person who’s 5 feet tall or under can push those new high carts you so stupidly acquired?’ one outraged customer wrote on Facebook in response.
The grocery giant has made their carts taller and added a cup holder
One Walmart customer posted a video on TikTok showing how she was eye to eye with her child when pushing one of the new shopping carts around a store
The grocery giant started rolled out taller carts to stores nationwide over the last year.
‘My arms and shoulders actually ached pushing that freak of a cart through the store!’ they added.
‘Those carts aren’t made for us short people’ another chimed in response to the post.
Some were so incensed that they threatened to boycott the chain altogether over the changes.
‘I stopped going to Walmart’ one wrote in response to a Facebook thread about the issue.
Adding: ‘I do not like the new carts. Making fun of short people.’
Others claimed the new measurements made it harder to see while pushing their children around on the carts.
‘Walmart did not think about short people before getting these new carts,’ a shopper explained in a TikTok video.
‘I can hardly see around my daughter’ she complained.
A spokesperson for Walmart told Business Insider the new design is to enhance customers shopping experience.
The average Walmart store has between 600 and 800 carts with super centers keeping up to 2000, according to trolleymfg.com.
Walmart is facing backlash from customers after rolling out a new shopping cart
The shopping cart was invented by Fred and Sylvan Goldman in 1937.
The introduction of a pushed rather than carried basket revolutionized the way people did their grocery shopping.
The new carts allowed consumers to buy bulkier items and to do a full week’s worth of grocery shopping in one trip.
That retail revolution in turn changed consumer habits for almost a century.