I am only approaching middle age in the US but I never saw coin deposit for carts anywhere else. With that said I would never suspect it has anything to do with crime and all about incentivizing people to bring their own carts back instead of having to pay employees to do it.
Right, I am suggesting that you have the wrong mental model. You are obviously entitled to do anything you want or think anything you want. From an economic model the quarter deposit is to reduce having the need for employees collecting carts. Thats the Aldi's model, low prices through process optimizations. Now that might not be the model you like to shop at and it is a free market but I find it silly to adopt such a hostile take on it.
I have been all over the United States and I have never had such an observation on carts but hey you learn something new every day.
I've live in western NY, OH, NC, VA, FL and the Bay Area. The only place where I've found that a messy parking lot doesn't correspond to a bad neighborhood is in the Bay Area. I'm specifically thinking of the Safeways in Mountain View & Palo Alto
You should conduct research perhaps we are missing a new economic indicator.
Going back to the main point. While it might seem as a company stiffing you, it’s mainly for economic reasons at Aldis. They run on a very lean model and part of it are small things like not having employees collect carts.
