“It’s an important issue for the supermarket business,” said Arthur Sallyer, president of Carttronics, a San Diego company that manufactures an electronically triggered device that locks a wheel on the cart. “They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in retrieving carts and repairing carts that have been lost.”
Albertson’s spokeswoman Judie Decker said the company has tried a variety of ideas to keep carts at home. At some stores, the company tried a cart-delivery system like those used at airports, where users deposit a quarter in a machine to take a cart, and get their money back when they return it to the rack.
“In theory it works well,” Decker said. “But it wasn’t a great hit with the customers.”
The company tried other devices, including one that locked wheels when they roll over an electronic barrier in the parking lot.
We found people dragged them down the street regardless,” Decker said.
Albertson’s now is trying Prather’s system, created during the past seven years at his Yorba Linda company, MIND TECH GLOBAL™^®. The firm works with inventors who in the past have worked on such projects as missile guidance systems and race car chassis.
Prather’s idea, which he believes is the latest and best way to prevent cart theft, came to him on a flight. He sketched the device before he got off the plane and soon efforts were under way to make it happen.
The cart looks like a normal cart but has a rectangular electronic device beneath the carriage.
Freely turning front wheels are attached, allowing people to use the cart as they would any other.
Another pair of wheels attached to the cart’s front end are fixed to roll to roll only to the right. They do not touch the ground until a shopper tries to leave the parking lot and an electronic signal triggers the freely turning wheels to retract. The fixed wheels then touch the ground and the cart can only go in circles, whether the user pushes forward or backward.

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