We've all seen the occasional abandoned shopping cart here and there around Yakima. Maybe someone used it to walk their groceries home or perhaps some teens used one for a joyride, I'm not sure. Either way, a new city rule went into effect this year that threatens stores with a hefty fine if they allow their carts to leave the premises.

Ordinance No. 2019-047 states that all shopping carts must have proper signage on them so they know who the carts belong to. Fair enough. Section 2 of the ordinance states that the city of Yakima has the right to impound the shopping cart under certain guidelines -- if it's off the store property and left in a public park, for instance. The city will contact the store letting them know, but the store has 24 hours to respond. That's right, they'll impound a shopping cart. If there's no identification or if it's in a hazardous place (like the middle of a street) they won't give notice.

If it comes to this, the city can collect a fee of $115 per cart. What's more is that the city can then destroy or even resell the impounded cart. I'm not what sure the market is for shopping carts, but they have the option to sell them if they wish.

This had to have been an issue if they're charging impound fees on shopping carts. Crazy stuff. You can read the entire ordinance for yourself through city of Yakima document center.

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