We received a strange tip from Steve, who says the new shopping carts in his local Walmart shock him every time he touches them. He says he saw another shopper get shocked as well, and that a cashier confirmed it. Has anyone else experienced this?

I would like to know if your readers have experienced the same thing that I have experienced over the last few trips I made to Wal-Mart.

Two weeks ago while pushing one of Wal-Mart’s new shopping carts through the store. I began to get shocked through my hands. The shocks were weak to mild in nature and I just brushed it off to the weather or some other force.

Today while in the store I saw a woman who using one of the new carts. She touched her cart after getting something off the shelf. Well she must have gotten a good shock from her cart because; she jumped back and yelled “Ouch!”.

I thought maybe two ago weeks was not just a fluke. I began to touch different parts of the cart while pushing it to see if there was something to this. I began to get shocked over and over again. Some mild and some were quite painful.

When I got to the front I asked the cashier if anyone else had this problem. He said that several customers have complained about the same thing. I have used shopping carts at other locations and never had a problem. It is just the new carts at my local Wal-Mart that do this. I understand this is just static discharge. But whatever materials are used in the new carts makes the static discharge 20 times worst than with the older carts.

It’s a good thing this didn’t happen when I was 12 years old, because I would have pushed the carts all over the store and left them there, charged up and ready to bite, for unsuspecting shoppers. Static electricity is funny.

(Photo: Elsie esq.)

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