Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee Memorandum
TO: SAFETY, WELLNESS, AND YOUTH DATE: JANUARY 17, 2024
COMMITTEE
FROM: PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: SHOPPING CART RETRIEVAL PROGRAM
ISSUE:
Receive a report and provide input on the shopping cart retrieval program.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee receive a report and provide input on the shopping cart retrieval program.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Chapter 9.58 of the Riverside Municipal Code (RMC) requires that all retailers possessing shopping carts for customer use must either submit a detailed prevention plan explaining how they will prevent shopping carts from leaving their business premises or agree in writing to reimburse the City for shopping cart retrieval services.
On January 18, 2017, the Public Safety Committee recommended that the City Council adopt an Ordinance to amend Chapter 9.58 of the Riverside Municipal Code relating to the retrieval, impound, and disposal of lost, stolen, or abandoned shopping carts.
On February 28, 2017, the City Council unanimously voted to adopt an Ordinance amending Chapter 9.58. The RMC changes addressed retailer comments and incorporated ideas that resulted from meetings with retailers, and included the following “10-step plan”:
All retailers utilizing shopping carts, whether they utilize City services or not, must submit a prevention plan stating how they will prevent carts from leaving the business premises; Require the prevention plan to provide details on how the retailer will actively locate carts within one mile of the business premises and respond to complaints from the public or notifications from the City regarding abandoned carts; Require the prevention plan to include an employee training program regarding the prevention plan and state law as they relate to shopping carts; Require retailers who have a minimum of 20 carts and have more than 20% of their carts retrieved in a year to submit an annual evaluation report for that year; Require retailers to install disabling devices if their prevention plan has been revoked more than three times in a four-year period. If the retailer already uses disabling devices, then they will be required to show proof of quarterly maintenance and repairs ensuring the devices are working properly; Require retailers with carts already equipped with disabling devices to test and repair the devices on abandoned carts returned to the retailer by the City’s retrieval contractor prior to making them available to customers; Require retailers to pull carts from circulation if disabling devices are not working properly; Allow the City to revoke a retailers prevention plan and require more stringent prevention measures if they have more than 20 carts and more than 25% of their carts are retrieved in a 6-month period; Require retailers to lock up their carts at night; and
Require new construction projects that will accommodate large stores utilizing carts to install disabling devices.
BACKGROUND:
On July 19, 2023, the City Attorney’s Office presented a review of the Ordinance for abandoned shopping carts to the Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee. Following discussion, the Committee voted unanimously to continue the item and requested that the Public Works Department return to the Committee for additional review of the program, including the following discussion points and suggestions, in anticipation of soliciting for a new shopping cart retrieval vendor through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process:
Incorporate proactive review of shopping cart plans in the Land Development process as new retailers come online.
Provide one annual date for collecting retailer plans for shopping cart plans, possibly at the start of the calendar year, so that all retailers at 68 locations across the city are working from the same deadlines and are engaged in this process at the same time.
More proactive education and enforcement of the program such as Take the “10-step plan” out into the community and share it with retailers so that City expectations are clearly communicated.
Implement the 10-step plan effectively and consistently.
Improve cost recovery, which is currently at about 92%.
Provide for same day retrieval of shopping carts, if a report is received by a specific time in the morning.
Consider adjusting the threshold for revoking services or plans from three violations within four years to two years.
Evaluate the City’s retrieval service provider and depending on performance, consider using funds allocated by the City for the shopping cart retrieval program to help retailers and stores offset costs associated with shopping cart retrieval.
Provide a breakdown of retailers that had carts retrieved, how many, etc.
Describe previous conversations with retailers to help them understand the program and that the City is heading towards a more proactive enforcement.
Clarify enforcement personnel and the roles of various enforcement personnel, such as Code, Public Safety Engagement Team (PSET), Police, etc.
These items are incorporated into staff’s plan to enhance the program, either as an educational component, a requirement in the next Request for Proposals, or as a planning item.
DISCUSSION:
Overview of Shopping Cart Retrieval Program and Breakdown by Retailer Through the City shopping cart retrieval program, retailers may elect to enter into an agreement with the City for retrieval of abandoned shopping carts by the City’s contractor and pay the City a fee of $20.00 per delivery, regardless of how many shopping carts are delivered that day.
Alternately, retailers may opt out of the City’s Shopping Cart program and implement their own retrieval program and take on the responsibility of retrieving their own carts. If carts owned by these retailers are retrieved off-site by the City’s contractor, the carts are transported by the City’s contractor to the City Corporation Yard and retailers may retrieve their carts from the Yard for a fee, regardless of how many shopping carts were transported to the Corporation Yard. During COVID, the practice of returning carts to the City Corporation was stopped, and we will revisit this going forward and consider other possible options, too.
The following is a breakdown of shopping cart-related calls received by the Call Center from January – October 2023:
WARD
Dumping, Shopping Cart
Ward - 1
67 Ward - 2
25 Ward - 3
119
Ward - 4
47 Ward - 5
111
Ward - 6
370
Ward - 7
72 Blank
52 Total
863
The Public Works contractor receives service requests from the City’s 311 Call Center. The contractor is then required to collect off-site shopping carts within 24 hours of receiving the service request. The contractor does not currently guarantee same day service for calls received by a certain time in the morning.
Through this program, shopping carts were retrieved for 30 retailers with stores at approximately 68 locations across the city since January 2023. Through October 31, 2023, the contractor has made 4,942 deliveries for a total of 6,804 carts retrieved. Various stores, such as Stater Bros. Markets and Target, have started using locking devices on their carts. Detailed information is provided in the attached Shopping Cart Database.
Enforcement and Education
The shopping cart retrieval program has shifted among various Public Works divisions and was assigned to Field Operations in late 2022. Enforcement of this program is multi-faceted, and education is critical to improving the overall effectiveness of the program.
Proactive education will be crucial in ultimately reducing the amount of shopping carts abandoned on City streets. Education needs to expand to include retailers, the community, and to bring awareness to City employees, and is an important first step ahead of enforcement. Enforcement of the RMC to ensure retailers are adhering to the 10-step process will require cooperative efforts of Code Enforcement Officers and other City personnel.
The Riverside Municipal Code provides a number of enforcement tools related to shopping carts. A copy of RMC Chapter 9.58 – Lost, Stolen, or Abandoned Shopping Carts is included as an attachment to this report. RMC 9.58 offers a number of administrative enforcement tools to Public Works staff, such as Chapter 9.58.080 – Penalties for failing to submit a prevention plan or evaluation report or to implement prevention measures.
PSET’s Process
In instances where a shopping cart is not empty, PSET is notified through the 311 Call Center on weekdays only, the PSET Officer will tag the cart with a 72-hour notice, after which the Public Works contractor retrieves the cart. This can be challenging, as a cart may be moved somewhere else in the city making it hard to keep track of the correct cart and the amount of time that has passed since the tag was posted. Although RMC 9.58.040 requires signs on carts that identify the owner of the cart of the name of the business establishment, stolen carts may be vandalized making it difficult to identify the owner of the cart.
When PSET encounters a cart during encampments cleanups, PSET’s contractor disposes of the cart and neither PSET or their contractor will notify the retailer that the shopping cart was retrieved and disposed.
Plan to Improve Program
In order to bring the shopping cart retrieval program current and move toward better enforcement, Public Works Field Operations staff plans to focus on the following tasks:
Engage with retailers to increase awareness and improve their understanding of the retailer responsibilities under RMC 9.58.
Develop marketing materials for educating retailers on the 10-step program, City expectations, and enforcement of the program.
Develop annual correspondence providing a unified deadline for mandatory prevention plans, so that all retailers are engaged in this process at the same time.
Update and send out the postcard mailer for retailers to identify whether they will participate in or opt out of the City’s service to retrieve carts (a sample mailer is included as an attachment to this report), with clear deadlines for return of the postcard. Clearly define the follow-up process for City staff in both scenarios. The approach will be an annual mailing to all vendors, so that they are processed at the same time.
Develop a checklist for retailers to identify what tasks they have completed in accordance with RMC requirements.
Research opportunities to improve reporting of shopping cart retrieval needs, such as possible use of the City’s internal app currently in use by the graffiti crew to self-report reactive and proactive service requests in the field. This app interfaces with the Call Center to generate a service request.
Engage with retailers for current point of contact, current cart inventory, whether locking mechanisms are in use, identify what locking mechanisms are in use, and contents of signage on carts.
Audit payment history to determine current and past due accounts and identify gaps in revenue collection. Consult with City Attorney’s Office and Finance on bringing accounts current, if needed.
Audit agreements with retailers and consult with CAO to prepare an updated agreement template.
Audit retailer mandatory prevention plans to determine current and expired plans.
Evaluate the City’s retrieval service provider and depending on performance, consider using funds allocated by the City for the shopping cart retrieval program to help retailers and stores offset costs associated with shopping cart retrieval, and bring back a recommendation to the Committee for further discussion.
Engage with the City Attorney’s Office to consider adjusting the threshold for revoking services or plans from three violations within four years to two years, and bring back a recommendation to the Committee for further discussion.
Staff’s goal is to educate the retailers and the community to increase reporting of abandoned carts through 311. Public Works is currently working with Human Resources to recruit for an Education Coordinator position. The Education Coordinator will engage with businesses and residents on a variety of topics, including graffiti abatement, the shopping cart retrieval program, residential and commercial solid waste & recycling, edible food recovery, and trees/landscape. Social Media for Public Works was launched in November 2023 and will be used to help increase awareness of the shopping cart retrieval program and how to report abandoned carts.
Additionally, to further increase awareness and outreach, staff proposes the following:
Identify Hot Spots where carts were retrieved and work with GIS to map these locations. A sample Heat Map showing Call Center service requests is provided as an attachment to this report. Through the upcoming RFP process, staff is looking to improve data collection to include the Contractor’s proactive shopping cart retrievals and provide a more complete look at the program.
Focus on Hot Spots by connecting with the retailers within these areas to discuss high number of carts being retrieved near their location.
Focus Education/Outreach in high-volume areas.
Educate retailers on alternatives to protect their carts, such as installing high poles which prevent carts from leaving the store or placing wheel locks to prevent the cart from going beyond a certain distance within the parking lot.
Provide an annual report to retailers regarding the number of cart retrievals for their establishment and for the area where they are located.
Reporting abandoned carts – Call 311
City response
Encourage all City employees, including Police staff, to call in abandoned carts, especially those carts that contain debris. Once declared debris and not property, the cart can be retrieved.
Develop an awareness campaign to educate and encourage all City employees to report abandoned carts.
Community response
Include shopping cart awareness when staff participates at community meetings.
Develop an awareness campaign to educate and encourage the community to report abandoned carts to 311.
Partner with Community Volunteer programs to encourage participants to report abandoned carts to 311.
Request for Proposals
The current agreement with Retail Marketing Services, Inc. dba CARTRAC for abandoned shopping cart retrieval will expire in June 2024. Staff has started preparing an RFP to secure a new agreement for collection and delivery of shopping carts beginning July 1, 2024, and will work with Purchasing to issue it for bidding in early 2024.
The proposed scope of work includes items such as those listed below, with the understanding that there may be some negotiation.
Collect carts at least on weekdays within City limits, except for holidays. The ability to respond to requests or proactively retrieve carts seven days per week service is preferred.
Retrieve and deliver shopping carts to participating retailers within one business day of receipt of service request. Provide a cost to provide same day retrieval service if request to retrieve a cart is received by vendor by 9:00 a.m.
Retrieve abandoned shopping carts from non-participating retailers and deposit them at City’s Corporation Yard, or another location as designated by the City.
Notify non-participating retailers that cart has been deposited at Corporation Yard (or other location as designated by the City) within one business day following retrieval.
Maintain a log of carts retrieved and returned to all participating stores, including the number of carts retrieved for each participating store location, date and time contractor was notified, date and time of retrieval and return of each cart, geographic location of retrieval of each cart, and signature of store representative accepting returned carts. This log is due to the City by the 15th of each month for the preceding month.
Maintain records of abandoned carts from non-participating retailers or carts without identifying signs retrieved and deposited at the City’s Corporation Yard, including the number of carts retrieved, date and time contractor was notified, date and time of retrieval and deposit of each cart, geographic location of retrieval of each cart, and signature of City representative accepting deposited carts. This data will be reported to the City by the 15th of each month for the preceding month.
Monthly reports must be provided to the City of Riverside on the 15th day of each month. Reports shall include retailer business name and name of contact person, number of carts retrieved and deliveries made for each retailer, number of carts deposited at the City’s Corporation Yard, and cost of services. Reports will differentiate shopping carts retrieved following a notification from the 311 Call Center from shopping carts retrieved through Contractor’s proactive efforts.
Attend quarterly meetings with a designated representative of the City.
Provide information on locations where carts are most commonly retrieved and the percentage of carts retrieved for participating retailers versus non-participating retailers.
Given the continued, abundant amount of shopping carts found throughout the City, City staff believes a new RFP and an enhanced public education program will improve reporting and retrieval of shopping carts and bring more awareness to the retailers about the need to minimize the loss of their shopping carts.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This item contributes to Strategic Priority 6 – Infrastructure, Mobility & Connectivity and Goal 6.2 – Maintain, protect, and improve assets and infrastructure within the City’s built environment to ensure and enhance reliability, resiliency, sustainability, and facilitate connectivity.
This item aligns with each of the Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – The retrieval of abandoned shopping carts enhances the aesthetic appeal of our community and fosters a sense of responsibility and orderliness throughout the City.
Equity – Project outcomes will benefit the entire community.
Fiscal Responsibility – Consistent and timely retrieval of abandoned shopping carts demonstrates efficient use of resources.
Innovation – Project utilizes innovative strategies; partnerships are leveraged with community members.
Sustainability and Resiliency - Project improvements aid our sustainability initiatives by minimizing waste and promoting responsible resource management among retailers, thereby contributing to a more resilient environment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
Prepared by: Alex Rendon, Administrative Analyst
Approved by: Gilbert Hernandez, Public Works Director Certified as to
Availability of funds: Kristie Thomas, Finance Director/Assistant Chief Financial Officer Approved by: Kris Martinez, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachments:
Shopping Cart Database
Riverside Municipal Code Chapter 9.58
Sample Postcard Mailer
Heat Map
Presentation
Shopping Cart Retrieval Program ● Page 2