Ticked-off Target customers claim its new carts totally miss the bullseye.
Fire and brimstone are befalling the big-box store yet again as incensed shoppers say its 50,000 newfangled carts are “pieces of garbage” that are “falling apart.”
Sounds like hell on wheels.
Designed to be beefier, easier-to-steer replacements for older models, Target’s fresh flock of carriages — poised to roll out in its nearly 2,000 US locations over the next few years — come as part of a multibillion-dollar attempt to win back frustrated customers.
“At Target, we’re continually investing to elevate the guest experience,” company reps told the Post. “Starting this summer, we’re rolling out a new model of our shopping cart, rooted in style, design and function and backed by consumer research, to make the shopping experience even easier.”
Once-loyal patrons boycotted the retailer after it announced plans to roll back DEI policies in March 2025, and the chain also caught flak for introducing “tuck-friendly” apparel in celebration of Pride Month, triggering a massive dip in sales.
The upgraded carts were meant to act as a lure, wheeling the masses back down store aisles with sleeker, smoother turns at every corner. With improved drink receptacles, capable of holding either a Starbucks cup or a Stanley tumbler, plus revamped child seats that prohibit kiddos from unexpectedly escaping, the new carryalls were expected to be a hit.
Instead, they’re just garnering hate.
“Any others stores get new shopping carts recently? The ones my store just got are pieces of garbage that are falling apart,” griped a Target regular on Reddit. “Day one we were finding pieces of them on the floor and in the parking lot. All the same piece that’s kind of integral to the cart. “
“Every cart attendant says they are harder to push,” the continued, in part. “And the little child seat in them is L.I.T.T.L.E. Like a chunky 3 year old probably wouldn’t fit.”
“New shopping carts? That’s your plan?” tweeted an irked X user, who expressed lingering distain over Target’s DEI policy reversal. “F- -k you. I’ll never shop there again.”
Irritated Target staffers, too, are weighing in — anonymously, of course — with grievances.
“The new carts do NOT WORK with the cart pusher,” insisted an unnamed employee in a Reddit rant. “When you try to push them with the machine it just goes straight and won’t steer.”
“The issue is that when the carts are nested together in a line, the rear wheels are off the ground. They are the wheels that force the turn,” continued the alleged insider. “The only wheels on the new ones that are on the ground are the ‘caster’ front wheels…They just slide like on ice and will not steer.”
“It’s even hard to push them by hand due to that, they just wander all over and try to turn into the wind,” added the pro, before openly pining over previous models.
“The old carts had all tires on the ground when nested,” wrote the frustrated grumbler. “The back wheels stop the sideways motion.”
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