Something not too many people have, but you really like. Not like a flashlight or a knife/multitool. My most unique (although still popular) are probably my loop quiet ear plugs. They come in handy in a lot of cases and word really well.
Where did you get the idea it’s to prevent cart theft? It’s to get people to bring the carts back so they don’t need to pay staff to do it.
Carts that lock their wheels if brought offsite are to prevent theft. No “homeless” (criminal cart stealer) is going to want a cart that doesn’t roll.
I’m not sure where you are or what sort of cart technology you’re referring to, but they’re purely mechanical devices in my area. Inserting a coin physically unlocks the lock cable tethering them together.
The idea is that once you put your cart back and reconnect the tether lock to the next cart in front, it’ll pop your shiny quarter back out and lock the tether again.
None of that fancy electronic GPS stuff around here, it’s all mechanical. And in practice, nobody gives a flying fuck to go through the extra inconvenience, they just leave the quarter in there and leave the cart wherever.
The idea might have sounded neat in the research, development, and engineering phases, but they totally underestimate people’s laziness when they’re loading their groceries up in the rain.
And since most everyone just leaves the quarter in there, then they all remain unlocked, and anyone can just up and steal one if they want anyways.
You must be American.
They cost more than a quarter here. Nobody ever leaves money in them. They’re always locked up to get people to pay to unlock them.
Everyone also uses automatic wheel locks on them (a separate device) to disable them from rolling if taken off the lot. I’ve never seen a thief with one.
