The Evil Shopping Cart
I was shopping at HEB the other day watching people pile these shopping carts that will hold 4.5 cubic feet (176 lbs) of stuff with tons chips and sodas and meat and bread and super sized boxes of sugary cereal and 5 pounds of potatoes, and I thought “The evolution of the shopping cart was the downfall of the health of the American society.” Prior to the invention of the shopping cart we would not have dreamed of hauling 5 lbs of potatoes home on our back. We would not lug a weeks worth of groceries home to a family of four. We would not carry liter bottles of soda pop home to the house, one in each hand. It is a twist on the classic, but “If you buy it they will come and eat it.” It is clear. Shopping carts are obviously a terrorist plot to destroy the health of American society.
Let’s look at the scientific data. It is believed, according to Wikipedia (source of all knowledge) that the shopping cart was invented in Oklahoma in 1936. One night, the owner of Piggly Wiggly’s grocery, Mr. Goldman “…sat in his office wondering how customers might move more groceries.” Now Oklahoma is one of sixth fattest states in the union. Shopping carts!
It is undeniable that the average weight of American’s is going up, up, up this century. Although I can find no data pre-1936, in 2002, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the findings of a study that charted the changes in the American body since 1960. It found that Men aged 20 to 74 weighed 191 pounds on average. In 1960 the average was just 166.3 pounds. So the average weight has risen nearly 30 pounds. The Shopping Cart!
Don't you see?!?!? The shopping cart was a uniquely American phenomena. If you travel to most European neighborhoods, groceries are carried in small bags from 90% of the stores around the world. People often stop by the neighborhood markets and grab small loads of groceries on the way walking home from work. Yes, I said walking. It is this thing that lots of people do around the world, and you don’t see them hauling a sack of potatoes on their back and a liter of soda pop in each hand when they walk out on the street. But I’m sure it’s just a matter of time until we improve everyone else’s lifestyle as we have improved ours.
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