{"id":623709,"date":"2026-04-23T17:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623709\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:12:13","slug":"brampton-rejects-geo-locking-system-for-abandoned-carts-sticks-with-100-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/623709\/","title":{"rendered":"Brampton rejects geo-locking system for abandoned carts, sticks with $100 fine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>An Ontario city is opting against mandating geo-locking technology on <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/shopping-carts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">shopping carts<\/a> as it looks to address a growing issue with abandoned buggies.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In Brampton, council decided on April 15 to remove the geo-locking mandate after reviewing a staff report that examined its feasibility for retailers.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after council noted that the city was receiving an increasing number of complaints from residents about carts being left on municipal property.<\/p>\n<p>The original motion noted that abandoned carts can pose hazards for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, impede accessibility and create risks to public safety.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said the carts also pose risks to wildlife and contribute to environmental pollution.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won't miss a trending story.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won&#8217;t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to tackle the growing problem, the city is sticking to a recently approved approach aimed at recovering costs tied to carts left on municipal property.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11716017\/brampton-fine-abandoned-carts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Brampton introduced a $100 fee<\/a> in its 2026 budget, charged to retailers when city staff retrieve and return abandoned shopping carts.<\/p>\n<p>A previous report stated that the measure is meant to offset staff time and resources.<\/p>\n<p>Geo-locking systems use radio frequencies to lock a cart\u2019s wheels once it leaves a designated perimeter, preventing it from being removed from store property.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Canada<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>But city staff said mandating the technology across Brampton would be difficult to implement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile such technology may be effective in certain retail environments, site ownership structures, operational differences among retailers and existing cart management practices present considerations for implementing a uniform citywide requirement,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Staff pointed to key challenges, including the fact that many retailers operate as tenants in multi-use plazas where they do not control parking lots or surrounding land needed to install the systems.<\/p>\n<p>They also flagged equity concerns, noting a blanket requirement could impose unnecessary costs on businesses that already manage carts effectively.<\/p>\n<p>City staff estimate Brampton collects and returns roughly 400 to 500 abandoned shopping carts each year.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size An Ontario city is opting against mandating geo-locking technology on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[233847,51759,49,48,233848],"class_list":["post-623709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-abandoned-carts","tag-brampton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-shopping-carts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}