There is no hope, and here’s the proof: shoppers often stack empty store baskets with one handle positioned as shown.
It’s widely agreed that if we’re going to save the world, we have to plan beyond the next quarterly statement, stop being so selfish, reduce our footprint, eat less beef, burn less oil, invest in infrastructure, conserve resources for future generations. But how can we keep future generations in mind when we can’t even keep in mind the next shopper who has to stack an empty basket?
Please, let the future begin. Keep the next shopper in mind and move your empty basket handles to the sides.
Well, we all know what we’re going to hell in.
I see a business opportunity. We need to design a basket where the handles are spring-loaded a little, such that you need to apply some force to move them from the folded down position to the carrying position. Then when you drop the basket back in the stack, the handles will snap down automatically. As a bonus, if the shopper squeezes the handles together idly while filling their basket, they get a workout a la those gripmaster things!
We’ll make millions, Bob.
Far more annoying are the jackasses who leave shopping carts in the middle of parking spaces when the corral for empty carts is like 15 feet away.