Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Today I went into Zellers, a Canadian discount department store, which looks a lot like a poorer cousin to Target with lower quality merchandise and higher prices. Zellers is a division of the Hudson's Bay Company, Canada's oldest store, which is now owned by an American.

There inside the front door beside the shopping carts, which were locked up, was this sign:

VALUED CUSTOMERS

Please note that our shopping carts require a dollar deposit. The dollar will be returned to you when you return the cart.

Translation:

We value you. We just don't trust you.

I didn't have a dollar, so they just lost any purchases I might have made. I wonder how many other people made the same decision as a result of the inconvenience?

I can understand their desire not to lose carts. But this is approximately the same logic as running a self serve cafeteria and charging for the trays. You want to make the shopping experience as simple as possible for customers. You don't want to start throwing up roadblocks the moment they enter your store.