A new technology designed to prevent losses to major retailers has recently come to light. Major food brands and retailers like Walmart, Cosco and Sam’s have begun implementing a new technology designed to prevent shopping cart theft. Managing shopping carts has become a major expense for large retailers. From rust prevention to wheel maintenance, it takes a lot of labor to ensure that shopping carts are difficult to clean and are hard to steer and noisy. 

Cart theft has become a major concern for these retailers as well. With rising number of homeless persons, carts are in demand as the vehicle of choice for the belongings of the disadvantaged. Anxious to preserve their bottom line and increase executive salaries, these companies have turned to a disturbing new technology. 

CARTIAC ARREST was a small startup company in West Chicago that has pioneered a theft control technology that has been adopted by major retailers all over the United States. Cartiac Arrest ( C.A.) uses a mid frequency magnetic field in and around large retail stores that functions much like an “Invisible Fence” for dogs. Upgraded shopping carts are fitted with receivers in one or more wheels that respond to these magnetic fields that are designed to lock up the wheels of carts as the reach a predefined perimeter. unfortunately, there have been complications. 

Certain customers with electronic implants such as pacemakers, cochlear implants and some hearing aids have been negatively affected, causing not only medical distress for those customers, but the premature activation of the locking wheels. Reports of customers standing by their carts staring blankly and slack jawed at shelves opposite their carts, have been sharply on the rise. Confusion as to what to purchase and the apparent inability to recognize other shoppers in the aisle appear to be primary manifestations of the magnetic field / C.A. interaction. 

The problems with C.A. don’t end within the interior areas of C.A. equipped stores it has been discovered. High tech automobiles with multiple sensors and computer assisted devices also seem to unintentionally trigger the C.A. equipped carts. Carts seemingly “lock up” well away from cart return areas, leaving well-intentioned and normally responsible customers unable to move carts from being scattered all over parking lots. 

There is some speculation that the CARTIAC ARREST  company has partnered up with automobile  “door ding” and “scratch removal” businesses nearby the larger C.A. equipped merchants. Those allegations remain unproven though, even while the recalcitrant shopping cart numbers continue to rise. 

If you encounter a “frozen” shopper at one of the major retail chains, experts recommend carefully reminding them to “get the f**k out of the way!” This may disengage the cart wheel lock in some cases. If you experience Cartiac Arrest yourself, dial 1-800- DUMBASS on your phone and report it to the Cartiac Arrest Helpline.