CART OF CONVENIENCE

by Pam North

Visit almost any large grocery or discount store these days and the
first thing to greet the eyes is a large line of shopping carts.
Credit for this convenience goes to Sylvan Goldman (1898-1984), who
was the owner of two Oklahoma City supermarkets.  As he observed his
customers in 1936, Goldman noticed that as soon as the store-provided
wicker or wire baskets became too full or too heavy while being used
by the shoppers, people stopped purchasing.  Always concerned with
expanding the natural limits of his customers' shopping, Goldman began
to mull over how to provide more basket space, ease in transporting
purchases, and freeing customers' hands so that they could pick up
more items.  His first insight of a solution for arm-weary shoppers
was the idea of transforming some folding chairs he had on hand into
larger, moveable basket-carriers.  He hired a carpenter to put wheels
on one of the chairs, raise the seat to accommodate a rack below for
an additional basket, and adapt the back to function as a handle. The
adaptation effort was a flop; the experimental cart hit a wooden
matchstick on the floor and promptly collapsed.  Goldman knew his
concept had merit, however, and he and his carpenter persevered,
eventually creating a collapse-proof, steel-framed basket-carrier that
Goldman was ready to introduce to the public.  He ran newspaper ads
for a week announcing that a brand-new shopping convenience would be
in his stores that weekend, not specifically stating just what that
convenience was to be.  Curious customers came to his stores, where
employees were on hand to introduce the new shopping baskets, but the
shoppers were not impressed.  Women, tired of pushing baby carriages,
rejected the idea of pushing anything else, and men, afraid that their
masculine image of strength might be compromised, continued to tote
the heavy baskets.  Goldman's solution to the dilemma was to hire men
and women of various ages to push merchandise-loaded carts around the
stores, encouraging reluctant customers to try out the new
convenience.  Seeing the carts actually in use broke the barrier, and
soon the basket-carriers were extremely popular.

Goldman, encouraged by his success, continued to improve his product.
The folding design was a strong selling point, as the cart took up
very little space after the baskets were removed and the apparatus was
closed. The casters, which threatened to fall off when the basket was
pushed over a curb, were replaced by regular wheels.  Goldman patented
his design and formed the Folding Basket Company to manufacture it.
He and a cousin, Kurt Schweitzer, demonstrated the cart at a meeting
of United States supermarket operators, which went so smoothly that
Schweitzer quit his import-export job to try to sell the carts to
every major grocery store between New York and St. Louis.

Again resistance was encountered.  Store managers were afraid that
children would race the carts up and down the aisles, running into
merchandise and customers, resulting in accidents and injuries, and
ultimately lawsuits; risk eliminated convenience in their estimation.
Goldman countered their objections by returning to one of his own
stores and enlisting his employees to pose as customers after store
hours.  He made a film of them acting as shoppers putting their
purchases in the baskets, and instructed Schweitzer to show it to the
store managers as he traveled.  This maneuver was successful in
eliminating the doubts and fears of the store managers, setting up an
overwhelming demand for the shopping carts.  Goldman's Folding Basket
Company purchased new equipment and went into mass production. By
1940, Goldman had a seven-year waiting list for his basket-carriers.
Over the next ten years, he made continued alterations to his
invention, adding the baby seat, which made the cart safer for the
children parents deposited into the cart, and left more room for
groceries.  He also developed the nesting cart, which slid into the
one ahead of it to conserve space.  By the 1950s many variations of
the nesting cart were in use, and today there are 30 to 35 million
shopping carts in the United States, with 1.25 million new ones
manufactured each year.  The shopping cart has become the single
biggest invention to impact retail sales.  Studies have proved that 
stores using shopping carts have shown a much greater increase in
sales over those that don't, and carts also have doubled the sales of
hard-to-carry bulky and heavy items.

Ease in shopping brought about by Sylvan Goldman's invention
doubtlessly will be appreciated during the Christmas season's shopping
expeditions, as large quantities of gifts and goodies are loaded into
shopping carts.  Imagine having to carry several wicker baskets
instead.