I am not sure exactly how we got here but from the time Ol’ Dutch was a child until now the affluence of the American people has grown astronomically. Recalling my younger days, I always seemed to get a basketball, football, tennis racket, skateboard or some other paraphernalia as a gift that could only be used out of doors. And, now looking back on that I am beginning to question that, just maybe, my mother was trying to get me out of the house and out from under her feet.

There is no doubt that people have more than ever these days and all you must do is look at their houses and vehicles to see that. It's all a sign of being more affluent which means we probably have more money than we have sense. The latter part is especially true as people borrow money to buy more “stuff” that they really don't need.

Just this past week, Miss Trixie and I went to Aldi's grocery store. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a grocery store with very good prices where you bag your own food. The owners of this chain have a unique approach to keeping track of their grocery carts too. Someone figured out that to forgo having to chase buggies all over the parking lot they would charge 25 cents to rent the cart.

How this works is a shopper like Miss Trixie will insert a quarter into a slot and get access to a cart. She can then use the cart and when she returns it, she gets her quarter back. I think she always had a thing for football. No, not that type of “quarterback” but gets her “quarter back." Now, Miss Trixie being the daughter to the most frugal woman I have ever known, will always return her cart to the front of the store and get her money back. But of late, I am seeing more and more people leaving their carts out in the parking lot, unwilling to walk the steps necessary to get the money back out of the cart that they put it in.

This really raises the dander on the back of Ol’ Dutch’s neck as I think that is probably the epitome of laziness and social rudeness to not return the cart. But for some people, like Miss Trixie, it's an exciting time as she is always eager to grab those extra carts for that quarter. It's a game she learned a long time ago with her own mother, Miss Billie. In fact, upon seeing a loose cart in the parking lot once, Billie told Miss Trixie to run and get it and take it back.

So, Miss Trixie took it back to the front of the store and upon returning to the car, Billie stuck her hand out asking for the quarter. It was her fee for being the spotter.

You cannot make that stuff up, folks.

Back to the premise of this entire column and that is, people now have so much access to money whether it be earned or credit that the quarter at the local Aldis is not enough to entice them to return their carts

Now Ol’ Dutch got to thinking about that – a dangerous proposition according to Miss Trixie – that we probably need to up the ante on the return the cart thing to make people more willing to comply.

I am thinking about something on the order of relinquishing their first-born child but then I realized that some people would consider that a blessing instead of coercion to get the carts returned. So, we need to come up with some way to get compliance.

Until then, Miss Trixie will be chasing orphan carts and earning that grocery money and smiling all the way to the bank.

And in closing, Ol’ Dutch celebrates another birthday along with Grand #2 on June 10. No gift is too large.

Kevin Kirkpatrick spends his days fishing, hunting, ATVing, hiking, or making people laugh. His email is Kevin@TroutRepublic.com. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.