Vons Puts Brakes On Shopping Cart Borrowers 

Carolanne Sudderth

Mirror staff writer

   Supermarkets are moving into the millennium with a state-of-the-art plan to cut down on shopping cart theft.
   Already in place at the Vons Market on Lincoln and Broadway, it will be activated at Vons Pavilions on Montana in the next three weeks.
   An electric cable is being installed underground around the perimeter of the parking lot and very specialized wheels have been put on the right front corner of each cart.
   “It has a lock on one wheel,” Pavilions Manager Jeff Haddox said. “Once you go out of the perimeter, it locks the wheel.”
   A piece of plastic fits over the wheel like a fender. When a cart rolls over the cable, it pulls the plastic down over the wheel, between it and the ground, causing the wheel to brake and the cart to stop in its tracks. The wheel remains locked, even if the cart is hoisted over the cable and well away from it. 
   Haddox said he realized the inconvenience this may cause. “We are doing some things to accommodate the people who are taking their groceries home. I will hold on to some of the older carts for people who actually need them.” Pavilions will sell two-wheeled carts for less than $10.
   The braking carts cost $130 each. Vons did not return Mirror phone calls. 
   Haddox said the man who retrieves carts from neighborhood streets and alleys makes six to eight trips every day, returning 12 to 14 carts each trip.
   “It will help to clear up the neighborhood of abandoned carts,” Haddox said. “We get quite a few complaints about that.”