Wow do i hate being a cart pusher. I work at a wally world in a suburb of detroit. I dread going in everyday and loath the the monotony of constantly gathering carts. The machine seems to be in a state of perpetual disrepair. However, everyone insists on fixing the motor when it is evident that the remote is the problem: the button has been stuck in since i started which causes it to stutter every 5 seconds.

Then there are the people. "Can I give you another one." Ha, that quote makes me laugh when other people post it because i literally hear it dozens of times each day. Most of the other guys hate when people throw them their carts but i insist that they whip it 30 yards across the parking lot so i don't have to walk for one cart. The feeble woman don't want to shove it so they walk over to me until they're about 15 feet away then try to push it but hesitate at the last minute so that it only goes 2 feet and i have to walk over and get it.

But after a few months i started to learn the ropes. I can sit on the little curb right in front of the building tucked away in a sort of alcove. Well i got caught here once and i said i was just taking 5 so he said well stand inside so higher management doesn't bitch at him. So i started doing that and now i stand inside the vestibule with a water bottle looking like i'm getting a drink. i used to scatter when i saw a manager inside but now i realize they only think i'm getting a drink so i can stand around for up to a half an hour! I still prefer to sit when i know i won't be caught.

I also used to fear the CSMs, then i realized they are completely clueless. They couldn't care less what i'm doing. I used to tell them I was going on break but now i don't even bother. If they call me for a carry out and I don't answer they just get someone else! "I don't know where the stockman is now" they say. They figure i'm out back gathering carts from TLE.

Not to say I don't do a good job. There is just no use in busting my ass during the day trying to get every cart because the bastards keep regenerating. But at night, at 11 o clock i make sure i get all the carts in, especially when the night shift guy is off. (there is only one)

Then there is the cashier who used to be a cartpusher like me. He told me how bad he wanted to be a cashier and he's been one for a year and hates it. Rather be a stockman again.

In other words, this job sucks, but what job doesn't. The freedom is a huge plus for me. It's the monotony that kills us, as with any job. You just have to dig a groove. i have a system. Hell, on a slow day i can spend half my time not even working! and i literally count it out to see how efficient i am at wasting time. Oh and i find stuff in the carts and if its good enough i take it. Pop, waterbottles, im talking whole packs. That just compensates for my low pay.

I work for the Wal-Mart in Salisbury, NC and I have to say, it is the worst job I have ever had. I've been a server, gas station attendant, data entry, web designer. But cart-pushing is on a whole other level of badness.

The heat in the summer, the cold in the winter. Both can be problematic. My store allows us our own closet to store raincoats and ponchos and things like that. Unfortunately, management recently threw everything in our closet into the trash. With no warning to any of the cart pushers. Which leads me to the one of the worst aspects of the job which is lack of any real respect or importance, even within the company. Management pretends we don't exist unless there is a problem, then you better believe you're going to get bitched at, regardless of whether or not it's your fault.

Our cartpushing machines break down on a regular basis and we are given little in the way of support on this score. When the machines break, we're told to do the best we can without them but, I don't know if you've ever been to a wal-mart, especially on a busy day, but it can be a daunting task without that mechanical assistance.

The other cartpushers and I are constantly and consistently being left to cover half or even the whole parking lot by myself for hours at a time (there are only 7 cartpushers employed. That's 7 to cover every shift of every day.) I am especially likely to be left alone as I work the late shift (3pm-12am) and the third shift doesn't come out to the lot until after I leave.

Customers, at least here, are largely considerate. I've had few encounters with overly aggressive customers and most of those were over the electric wheelchairs. Or, rather, the lack of wheelchairs. As if not having any available is my fault.

This job does have its perks, just like anything else. My body is built like never before after 6 months of cartpushing and a co-worker of mine (who started this job as pretty large) has lost 70 pounds in the last 4 months. This job is definitely heavy on the exercise. Also, contact with management and CSMs is mostly brief and far in-between (because, again, they really don't care).

All in all, I would have rather worked a different job (any other job, really) but it pays my bills. I would rate it 5 stars but the great exercise this position offers tries really hard to make up for the terrible nature of this job as a whole.

I'm thankful I don't have it as bad as some of the people here, but I am damn envious of some of you guys, too. Thinking of positives, we get to use ponchos, we get to make Gatorade when it's 95 degrees plus, and we get paid. The negatives:

-Most people don't understand how intertia works and think I can just stop a huge row of carts on a dime. So, they give me the ol' bird when they're forced to jerk their cars to a stop.

-I am convinced that I am dating the only sexy woman in my town, because I have yet to see even one of these "hot babes" that everyone keeps mentioning. Here, we have males and trolls.

-The people who are the kindest to me don't know any English beyond "Thank you."

-"DO YOU WANT ANOTHER ONE?!"

-I don't know about you guys, but my knees are shot, I'm losing weight, and I can't retain muscle very well anymore.

Pushing carts with a machine is not that diffuclt, I push carts at Super Target in Sugar Land, Texas I like it . Pay is great and will be going up soon In quote If you dont like to be a cart attendant find another job!!!!!!!

Well im a cart pusher i have been for nearly a year, i dont mind the weather too much, exept that management wont let us store use ponchos or anything else besides water. more times than not we have one person covering the entire parking lot on a saturday, and the idiot CSMs force us to give the door greeters a break (btw why does wal mart need door greeters) so theres nobody out there and i get blamed for it.

customers are rude they leave shit in the baskets, literally multiple times a day i find dirty diapers in the baskets (and yeah we dont clean the carts out, exept the tossing of the soiled diaper) our quik cart is always broken, management refuses to fix it, customers in a whole are idiots, they drive way to fast, yell at me for things i cant control, ive even had a customer pick a fight with me because his above ground pool wouldnt fit in his sedan...

im not giving this a 5 cuz i know door greetings worse... because is soooo boring

First off, I am a Wal-Mart cartstocker... It is a horrid job that I feel sorry for anyone else doing, though I have a lot of respect for anyone who actually stays long enough to last through the 3 month probationary period.
I agree with the given description on the fact that the customer most often feels that the cart boys are in the way and completely unneeded. The store I work at has little respect for my job, we are scheduled chaotic hours (Such as 2pm-11pm then 7am-4pm, ect.), we must work in near all weather conditions, if we need help it will NEVER arrive, customers are constantly vigilant for every mistake and accident, we are under manned (Usually about 3-5 people for a 17 hour period...), and management literally doesn't care. As a good example I was actually fired from this job not long ago because I refused to show up for work when I found out I was to work from 7am to 3pm, the entire parking lot, alone, the Friday before a holiday weekend. Granted, I came back because I could not find another job. But where this sounds as if it is a rare occurence always happens to somebody about once a week or so. And as far as the cart machines go? The "QuicKart 2000"s being the one used at my store, rarely work properly, and are even rarer to get them fixed. They started to fix them more often as of late when one of them caught fire... We told them the machine was broken, we told them twice a day or more for a month "Just keep using it until it doesn't work." was the standard reply... So we did.

Now, everybody who works this job has their own experiences to draw from, some good and others bad. My experience as a cartpusher sucks, but when going through school... what else is there?

I am a cart pusher in West Virginia, and the store i work at is a decent store to work at. Everyone gets alone, more like the days of our lives soap opera kind of store. I should not have to explain. The managers here are pretty nice, and the csm are awesome, they like to joke with us and things, lol. We have only one machine which we reference it to as being called the mule. On cold weather days our batteries die quickly and it is the new model quickcart. We have to hand push then, and out lot is and up hill lot, so it gets tiring after times. We get ponchos and things, one manager gave us hot cocoa on a cold cold day. Our customers are rude, and they like parking in front the building where it says no parking, and block us from getting the carts in. also they like to speed up when they see us. there are time that when we are working cars back up into the carts, and we laugh about it. all five of us. I like being outside. but i soon would love to move inside, being one of my csm's i like and walmart is against the rules, and will no put myself and her into harm of getting fired. anyways, when we need help, management comes out and they also bring the Unloaders or ICS, sometimes the assemblers will follow. or some of the formal cart pusher who are up there, lol.

i did it too for about a day and relized it was retarted so i grew up and got a real job makin 12.50 hr in construction and im 16 so that queer chalky studmuffin down there get a life and for everyother damn one of ya

I am a cart pusher at a walmart in Memphis, Tn and it sucks not only am i stuck doing the job by myself even when there are other cart pushers there, its the people who shop there. they are some of the ruddest people you'll ever meet.

I'm a 17 year old Wal-mart Cart-Pusher, and it really is not nearly that bad. Hardly anyone honks at me, and no one has ever flipped me off or threatened me. As for 20-30 carts at a time, It's against the safety rules to push more than 10 at a time on hand, and I have been told not to several times. We also have a cart machine that were not suppost to go past 20 carts on, but I push 80 on that because it can handle it fine. I've never encountered anyone stealing from the store, and were told my management if we do to not risk our lives and stay out of their way. I do have to lift heavy objects into peoples cars but if its too heavy I just ask for help from co-workers. It is annoying working in bad weather but my store provides us with ponchos for rain and snow, sunscreen, and we are also required to go inside the store in serious weather. All in all its a good job, I got paid 8.00$ when i started off a year ago and now i get 9.00$ I also get a nice tan and some exercise.

I am a cart pusher at a Wal*Mart in Upstate NY. I started not so long ago, and I guess that everyone's got a different opinion; but I have to say it really isn't all that bad. You gotta figure in that Wal*Mart is trying to break away from the bad-paying, ill-treating-associate big, bad super-company stereotype so they start you at a pay of AT LEAST $8.40/hr. (That Is $1.25 more than minimum wage) and give you a $0.40 raise after a six-month probation period.

At my store we get a whole-lot of friggn RESPECT! Management sees it that we are doing them a favor as to lower the chunk that is coming out of their bottom line at the end of the fiscal year due to insurance claims against the store because of flying carts meeting shiny new cars... even though each cart corral clearly displays the statement "We Are Not Responsible For Damage Due To Carts"!

Also Wal*Mart Hired Me! A 17 yr Old, and they work around my school schedule! They Also Obey All The Rules For Employing Minors that I never even knew existed while working for a nearby KFC (Should Be Rated #1 Worst Job In Hell!) who would schedule me impossible shifts with hours going through midnight for minimum wage!

I can see how the position can be strenuous given the several lines of carts that I have had to push myself, but there is an abundance of "Quik-Kart 2000"'s that work off a remote control and like 6-car batteries! All you have to do is line the carts onto it and push the button, then steer the train with the front cart...really not that hard!

This job is Not That Bad! Maybe pushing carts for other stores is a real pain the ass but WalMart is actually pretty cool, you don't have to deal with angry customers enraged over their credit cards being overdrawn and if anyone asks you something just say "I dunno, I just push carts!" and give them a really retarded-looking expression. Obviously this isn't a really great aspiration for a long-term career, but for a physically-fit, 17 year old High School student, this is a great job except for the occasional diaper or trash bag left in a cart, which you can just leave, empty onto the ground via the trap-door-back feature of modern carts, or call management for a Haz-Mat team to come, lol.

People can be idiots to you, but you can leave a train of carts behind their parking spot while you "get sidetracked" with the other lots too. No Solicitor has yet come up to me, and I think me and my co-workers know better than to get in the way of someone crazy enough to try and steal a big screen TV from Wal-Mart, that's what security is getting paid for!

Overall, It pays MORE than my friggen' car insurance bill and definitely wipes the floor with Any Fast-Food Position!

i was a sams club cart guy and i got to tell you it sucked. Yes i got a nice tan in the summer and met alot of cool cart guys and hot chicks and got nice and built but its not worth it. Most of the time i got disrespected by members and by my fellow imployees and i know that this job can't be good for your back. Members always leaving junk in the carts and leaving anywhere becuase for some reason they can't read the huge sign saying return carts here. Theres also those times where you get hit by drivers that can't drive and blame you for the accident and then you get in trouble becuase the customer is always right, So my advice to someone that would like to be a cart guy just make sure you are strong physically and mentally becuase you'll need to be. But I think there's worst jobs out there so ill rate it a low four. Oh yeah only Wal Mart and SAms club have these machines but they don't work on the snow and are slower than a turtle there's also a limit to have and its 25 and by the time you waste putting those twenty five on the machine you could have pushed 25 by hand so it helps but you also work harder with it as well.

I think they have a machine that does a lot of the cart work now so it can't be that bad.

its not as bad as it says its great excersize and u get to meet sexy woman everyday , nobodys ever made fun of me actullay ive gotten more respect cuz we work the hardest job yeah the pay shpould be better but what can u expect its walmart!and its such a bad job go somewhere else

being a cart pusher at walmart is kind of like being in a fraternity house.

Fo sho

i am a cart pusher i have been one for 2 years and it is hard work i feel good wen i hear people reconcile that it is hard don't git me wrong i have tried to git other jobs with no luck and i guess i work at a busy wall mart and we do git under man power a lot and most of the time the cart pusher does not work one time the cart pusher was leaking battery acid on the ground and i mean a lot and thy told me to keep running it!!!! i thout it was going to catch fire 2 weeks of this tell it got fix... man if only we got paid better and got more credit this job would not be a carpy job oo well.. i pick this job i am going to work it and ty for ppl that put the carts up =)

acually i am a cartpusher at walmart and the weather is alot different then you think when we have to go in severe weather like a tornado and bad lightning or just a regular thunderstorm but i haven't been there long to tell you here were i am the work is not hard when it gets to about 7 o'clock here it just dies down to where there is about 30-50 customers and the rows are not all filled up but being a cartpusher gets your foot in the door and tell the supervisors that you can do the job and maybe other jobs in the future when you show them how good you are like me when i came in the day i was coming into work the manager and a csm (customer service manager) were all glad to see me but its not bad at all

This job would stink because Wal-Mart parking lots are usually huge and tons of peeps shop there 24/7, so you'll be workin' nonstop. And Wal-Mart doesnt hire enough peeps so you'll be workin' extra hard to make up for the lack of manpower.

I agree completely and totally with this review of the job that I had done for 6 months. For 6 months, I was treated like shit. People looked at me like I was an idiot. And, you want to know the funniest thing about it? I've got a visual handicap and the managers didn't see it reason enough to put me somewhere inside. To further explain it, I only have one eye. My right eye was removed during surgery to prevent infection in my left eye. Not 3 months after working there, I get hit by a car on... you guessed it, my right side. I still worked, though, and got no respect for working when I could've left.

I hate this job, and I hate those that belittle the hard workers who do the job. It's a job that needs to be done and people need to realize how hard it is. Next time you see a cart pusher, do something out of the ordinary and say "Thank you." Truth be told, I might've stayed if my managers or someone had given me that kind of recognition.

Equal pay for equal work doesn't apply here.

Pretty terrible, but it still has to be better than working inside the store and having to deal with customers all day, as well as listen to that noise pollution passing for music that gets piped in over the speakers at most chain stores. I used to work a cash register in school, and while I was probably being paid better than the cart-pushers, I looked forward to nothing more than getting outside...

Very hard work and very low pay.

i feel sorry for these guys seriously. they have to work out in all that weather and deal with customers, get called inside to do crappy other jobs and dont get paid jack for it. but for all my buddies still out there on the lot still pushing, keep up the good work and take care of those greeters. let me correct my rating btw

Anything working for Wal-Mart rates a minimum four stars, from everything I've heard.

Go to COLLEGE and get an education, then you won't have to work jobs like this.

i been at wal-mart pushing carts 4 2yrs and i been hit by a car and got my hand caughd in the cart to and im still push carts in that what i fell sometime we have a cart machine put it dont work some time.when we need help we ask the csm so they can call for help and they never show up halfe the time they show up and they stay out for 4mins im talking abount ics they r the 1 that ways get call out.my wal-mart is 24 and they dont work r hrs right.

I am glad that they get the carts if they did not. then our cars would all be scratched up from all the carts flying around because people leave carts everywhere i praise Wal-mart cart pushers.

Anything Wal-Mart is bad. Soon most of America will be Wal-Mart greeters as the big outfit grinds the life out of independent American small business.

Didn't do this for Wal Mart, but back when I ran track in high school I RAN through the lot at the good 'ole grocery store doing this because it was bonus conditioning. I hacked my mile time down by 13 seconds in two weeks with this as part of my training regimen. The lesson here, kids? Any job is what you make of it. I worked like a dog and had a blast.

I've done worse!!

This is a perfectly respectable job and these people ought to be given proper credit for getting all the annoying carts lazy asses leave sitting around in parking lots, right on that perfect parking spot, for example. Thank you, Wal-Mart (or other) cart pushers of America and of the world!

I work at one of the busiest Wal-Marts in the world and without a doubt, that this job sucks, no one has any respect for your be sides senior citizens. Managers and other associates look at us as if were a bunch of high school dropouts that are useless to this store and to the world. If we needed something it takes them about a month to recognize it and about another month just to order it. Nobody realizes that were the one's pushing in some of the worst weather, hot , cold, rainy, slippery, and everything else mother nature throw's our way. Yes Wal-Mart is the best Store in the world, and yes, its a good place to work during college, but they put the cart pushers on the bottom of the paying levels, and they schedule minors out there by them selves, when they know that they cannot use the machine, and some of them can't push carts in by hand for 5-6 hrs.

This job is not actually that bad. I did this for awhile straight out of college. I never left work without feeling I actually accomplished something. I would imagine the person that put this up here is opposed to physical labor. Sometimes there's nothing more rewarding than actually DOING something.

The pay can't possibly be very good. Not only are they on the bottom of the totem pole, they are on the bottom of the totem pole at Wal-Mart. There is little to no respect from customers, and likely from most fellow employees. It's probably more dangerous than you might think, and harder than it looks. Yeah, I think this deserves a five. And if any cart pushers, or former cart pushers, happen through, I would like to proudly say that I am one of those people who take the carts to the designated area.

I feel really bad for those poor kids, although we all started in a job like this, at one time. The reason I feel bad is not because of the job itself but because they have to be out there on the scorching hot pavement in the bright, hot sun doing this high-exertion job. Can't be healthy.