Misleading: All Walmart stores will charge customers $1 for using shopping carts.

By: Vivek J
February 3 2023

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Context

A seven-second video clip in which a TikTok user claims that Walmart outlets will start charging $1 for using shopping carts from February 1, 2023, is going viral on social media, creating panic in many shoppers. The video was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, with many users in the United States claiming the retail corporation will levy a $1 service charge on customers for using shopping carts at Walmart stores in the country. However, this claim is misleading because, according to Walmart's new system, only select stores in Canada levy a $1 refundable fee to customers as part of a resource-saving exercise. 

In Fact

A spokesperson for Walmart told Logically that only select Walmart stores in Canada need customers to pay a refundable fee of $1 for using shopping carts. “This (viral) clip is from a Walmart Canada store, not a U.S. facility. Select Walmart Canada stores offer a deposit system for shopping cart use intended to increase availability and to ensure they are properly returned. The dollar is refunded when the cart is returned. Many discount retailers in Canada offer a similar cart deposit system, " the spokesperson said.

Also, the user who originally posted the seven-second clip on TikTok shared another video clarifying the new system put in place in some Walmart stores for customers using shopping carts. The user said that the video was recorded in a store at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, and according to the new policy, all customers would get back their $1 after they successfully return the shopping cart to the store.

A poster shared on Walmart Canada's (Thunder Bay North) Facebook page also stated: "Put $1 in the Walmart shopping cart. Shop and return the cart to get your $1 back." The poster, shared on the official page of a local Walmart store in Canada, also noted that the system helped in keeping prices low as the store didn't have to spend time retrieving carts. The system is apparently aimed at ensuring that the store didn't need additional human resources to retrieve shopping carts left behind in the parking lots by customers. Another post on the page said the practice will be adopted in the store from January 28.

Hence, it is clear that the new system of depositing a refundable $1 fee to use shopping carts in Walmart has been introduced in select stores in Canada and is not a company-wide practice. It should also be noted that the $1 deposit is not a service charge, as many social media users claimed, and Walmart stores in the U.S. have not introduced this system. 

Previously, Adli, a German-based grocery store, introduced a similar system of inserting a 25-cent coin into the shopping cart so that people can retrieve the coin back once they have successfully returned it to the store.

The Verdict

Walmart is not charging customers $1 to use shopping carts in its stores. Only select Walmart stores in Canada require customers to deposit $1 to use shopping carts, and the amount can be retrieved upon returning the cart. Therefore, we mark this claim as misleading.