Taking shopping carts off of a store’s property is theft.

Pure and simple.

Most of the carts aren’t “stolen” in the purest sense. They are taken to push purchases home and then abandoned,

Then there are the ones that are commandeered primarily by the homeless to push around their belongings.

Even though the carts can cost a store between $400 and $500 these aren’t thefts apparently don’t concern retailers too much nor do they loom as a high priority for police who often have better things to do than round up shopping carts scattered around Manteca.

Volunteers working through Seniors Helping Area Residents and Police do once a week sweeps when they have the time and manpower to try collect and return carts.

Most people don’t appreciate having their neighborhood littered with abandoned shopping carts. Apparently the City Council isn’t thrilled about it either.

There really is just one — or perhaps two — solutions. But to impose either would require a bit of backbone from the council. It is something they historically lack when it comes to shopping carts.  Through the years a council member brings up the subject, council directs staff to figure out what to do about it, and when the obvious solutions are presented they back off saying they don’t want to add to the cost of doing business or chase business off.

News flash: Not only can’t you have it both ways but what about the business such as prospective employers you may scare off because having dozens upon dozens of shopping carts scattered around town doesn’t exactly say “great place to do business”?

Retrieving “stolen” carts is a cost of doing business for stores. So why not require cart security systems to be put in place when a new retailer that uses carts opens or an existing one exchanges hands?

The system Target has used where shopping cart wheels are locked electronically when attempts are made to take them out of the parking lot has been effective.

Another one could require a return and release cart corral that operates using four quarters. You put four quarters in to take one and you get four quarters back when you return it.

Perhaps a Silicon Valley entrepreneur could even come up with a swipe system using debit cards and/or smartphone apps. The system could be designed to tag your account for $5 but have a two-hour delay before the data is transmitted to a bank to transfer the money when the store would then incur a processing charge. But if the cart is returned after swiping the card again and the cart being verified having been returned with an electronic scan then the charge is canceled before it is processed. If the cart isn’t returned within two hours the $5 charge goes through.

Yes, it would be a pain at the start. And, yes, people might be tempted instead to patronize stores that don’t have such systems but guess what? People were ticked when full service at the gas pump went to the wayside but they adjusted nicely.

What about the customers that don’t have transportation and would be forced to lug their purchases home? There’s a simple solution. It’s called collapsible shopping pull carts. Kmart has one for $19.99.

If that is too expensive for someone on a fixed income or if stores are worried about losing business, here’s a possible solution. The stores could sell the pull carts and issue a $10 credit for the customer’s next shopping trip. Again, it is a one-time expense for the store and the customer plus the customer can use it to shop elsewhere and ferry other items besides purchases.

Somewhere along the line stores gave up on trying to keep carts on their own property. That is why people casually wheel them off at will.

But in reality is purloining a shopping cart no different than  the rash of car thefts a few years back in Manteca where meth heads and other druggies that didn’t want to walk across town would steal a car and then abandon it five miles away when they got to their destination?

While it is nice the council is revisiting the shopping cart issue they are doing no one a favor.

That’s because unless the council has the will to take the effort to stem the free flow and abandonment of shopping carts on city streets/and or private property nothing will change.

This column is the opinion of executive editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209.249.3519.