Shoppers with carts in the store went through the check out where the bagged and paid for groceries were placed into tote boxes, identified with customer, sent down a roller line (conveyor) to the pick up window.

The customer went to their car, drove to the pick-up with receipt and there the groceries were put into the car by an employee.
Elegant.

However, that was all long before Reagan turned the USA into a shit-hole land of greedy-rich grabbing the nation's commonwealth, leaving shopping-cart crumbs for the masses.

For those who have nothing, a good-wheeled shopping cart is everything; car, closet, tool for salvage work, carrier of all home comforts.

For many of us, bagger at the commissary was our first job. We bagged the groceries at the checkout, carted them to the customer’s car, loaded them, and returned the cart to the store. We worked for tips only, but did okay- we were kids looking for spending money.

Now, I would pay extra and go out if my way to shop somewhere that had customer service like that. Increasingly, we have to do more and more while companies provide less and less. Self checkout. Self bagging. Apps to find things. Online return processing. I certainly would not shop somewhere that wouldn’t let me take a cart full of groceries out to my car….

You have to wonder how much it cost to add anti-theft poles to the carts, and how that compares to hiring some young person to monitor the lot and bring carts back in….