Customers Should Pay Attention To This City's New Shopping Cart Law

Retailers with shopping carts in Phoenix, Arizona, will now need a certified theft prevention plan or retrieval system in place or risk being hit by fines of up to $1,000. 

The new law, which went into effect on January 15, 2026, will require that retailers either have locking wheel systems in place or come up with another management plan that will make it difficult for carts to leave a store's property and easy to retrieve them if they disappear. It will also be enforced alongside an existing Phoenix code that already charges fines between $25 and $50 for every recovered stolen cart. And much like legislation that targets plastic bags at grocery stores, the cost of these new shopping cart initiatives will likely be passed on to consumers. According to CartsandParts.com, as shopping carts cost anywhere between $100 and $500, stolen carts can collectively cost stores millions every year. These losses force retailers to recoup by raising prices, just like they are forced to do in response to incidents like the Home Depot theft ring.

Meanwhile, taxpayers in Phoenix and other areas where shopping cart theft is rampant will continue footing the bill as cities work to clean up loose carts and repair any damage to public property they may have caused. In a state where you already need at least $1 million to retire, many residents will surely be happy if this new initiative winds up cutting down on some of their expenses.

Phoenix implemented the shopping cart plan because anywhere from 7,000 to 8,000 carts swiped from retailers are recovered each year, reported CBS 5's AZFamily.com. As Phoenix council member Betty Guardado complained to the U.S. Sun in September 2025, "These carts, often left behind without retailers having any meaningful retrieval plan, are not just annoyances. They obstruct sidewalks, clutter public spaces and contribute to the deterioration of our community's appearance and quality of life."

The locking devices and necessary infrastructure needed to prevent folks from walking away with shopping carts cost up to $75,000 to install, the Arizona Republic reported. However, Phoenix's deputy director of neighborhood services, Lucas Mariacher, told CBS 5 that retailers — especially smaller ones — won't have to spend a ton of money buying anti-theft measures if they can "outline how they meet objectives of the city."

Still, Phoenix stores now face the possibility of being hit with a civil action of $500 the first time a recovered shopping cart is tracked to their particular store. If there are other incidents of shopping cart thefts in the span of 36 months, retailers will be hit with a $750 fine for a second offense and a $1,000 fine for a third offense. And if the city is forced to recover ten carts taken from a particular store, a retailer may be expected to implement a pricey enhanced or mandatory plan where each cart has an anti-theft device or GPS tracker.