Sure, you've heard about road rage but did you know that shopping cart rage is a real and growing problem that is playing out in supermarkets across the country? In fact, its an epidemic that was first documented by researchers in 2005. Since then cases of shopping cart rage have been increasing in frequency – especially around the holidays.
"The supermarket is an energizing place," said Steve Albrecht, a workplace violence consultant, who has written about the psychology of road rage. He's also a former San Diego policeman with a degree in psychology and another in security management. "[There are] lots of bright lights, attention-grabbing displays, changing temperatures (nice in one part, freezing in another); they are also loud, busy, and filled with people all trying to get what you want: to get through the checkout line, get through the parking lot, and get home. It's easy to feel impatient, feel time pressure (perhaps to cook dinner, get the kids ready for the next day, etc), and get angry at fellow shoppers and employees who don't share your urgency."
This rage often becomes heightened during the holidays because of the stress and sense of urgency we feel, and because shopping crowds double, said Albrecht, who added that the psychology behind shopping cart rage is very similar to that of road rage.
"Road rage perpetrators have anger issues they can't control that take over and hijack their nervous systems and cause them to act in outrageous ways they often regret later," said Albrecht.
In April of this year, Maden E. McAnear, 24, of Washington, was arrested in a Wal-Mart parking lot for punching a man who allegedly cut off McAnear's girlfriend without apologizing in an apparent flare-up of shopping cart rage.
"He basically tracked this guy down and swung a big arm at him," Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said to The Daily Evergreen. "Kind of like shopping cart road rage."
Although most people have the capacity to snap under less than ideal circumstances, certain psychological disorders can make some people more inclined to fits of shopping cart rage.
Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which the Department of Motor Vehicles linked to road rage, can cause a person to lose control of the stressors of life, work and other interactions – including food shopping, explained Albrecht.
Other illnesses, such as Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASP), in which a person has low impulse control, can explode into shopping cart rage in stores.
"Everyone gets angry, but the people with ASP disorder operate in kind of a cold and calculating rage, like a coiled and predatory snake, harming people with words, threats or actions without empathy," Albrecht said. "ASP is untreatable and hard for therapists to manage."
Shopping cart rage incidents that make the news usually have one thing in common – they started with a verbal disagreement.
On Nov. 13, a man overcome with shopping cart rage shot and injured two people in the parking lot of a Dallas grocery store following a verbal fight inside the store, WFAA reported. The suspect fled the scene and his victims were hospitalized.
In another case of shopping cart rage turning violent, 77-year-old William Golladay was escorted from a Florida supermarket in January after yelling at another customer who was in front of him at the express checkout. He was upset because the customer had more than 20 items in his cart, which was a violation of the checkout rules, according to a Florida NBC affiliate. When the customer didn't listen to Golladay, he started ramming him with his shopping cart.
Although shopping cart rage is often more obvious during the holidays, when personal space shrinks to a minumum due to an increase in shoppers, it's happening with increasing regularity throughout the year.
"As a society, on the road, at work, or in the supermarket, it no longer feels like a 24/7 world. It feels like a 72/7 world," Albrecht said.
One Shop Rite store manager said that shopping cart rage is an epidemic he notices more often just before a storm when people switch into "survival mode."
"People get territorial over their shopping cart," said the store manager, who spoke with HNGN on the condition of anonymity. "It usually happens on a register checkout line when there's a big crowd."
Despite the rage some shoppers express during peak seasons, the store manager, who has worked in supermarkets for 35 years, said he's learned how to maintain control of the situation and diffuse tensions.
"I usually try to diffuse it, or just say, 'Here have a cookie.' It actually works!"
If you, as a shopper, feel targeted by another customer expressing shopping cart rage, Albrecht says you should avoid the person and tell a store manager or employee.
Employees at Fairway supermarkets are taught to handle customers expressing shopping cart rage by recalling the acronym "ARTT," which stands for "apologize first, respond to concern, take action, thank them."
"It normally works. If not, they [employees] get a manager," said Jessica Delgado, a customer service representative at the Plainview, N.Y., Fairway.
Albrecht agreed that employees should immediately notify a store manager when an incident of shopping cart rage occurs because "[they] don't want bad customers driving good ones away; their profit margins are razor thin to begin with."
Depending on the severity of the situation, Albrecht suggests customers subjected to shopping cart rage leave their shopping cart or exit the store. If you're followed out of the store or are threatened, Albrecht advises calling the police and getting the instigator's license plate number as well as the make, color and model of his or her car, if possible.
If you recognize that you're the one who is becoming overheated, Albrecht has a few suggestions for you too.
"Breathe slow and deep," he advises. "Keep your head on a swivel and see others and their carts around you. Have patience with yourself and others. Even before all that, go at off-peak hours during the day, and choose less-crowded stores with more staff at the checkout lanes."
Beyond that advice, there are grocery shopping alternatives that can help you stay in check by avoiding grocery stores entirely. Several large chains offer delivery service for a nominal fee. Amazon does too, so try them some time and stay rage free.
