The cheap $20 versions of those things have awful wheels and are pretty much unusable anywhere that has weather or uneven pavement. I had one and never used it. But then I started using a $500 baby stroller. Of course at first I only did it including a baby, but once the baby got too big for the stroller I kept using the stroller for groceries because it worked well. Eventually I replaced the baby stroller with a "garden wagon". https://www.google.com/search?q=garden+wagon
in any sufficiently developed place those shopping carts are good enough. my grandmother had one with three wheels on each side connected to a central axis allowing her to pull it up on stairs with much less effort. as a kid i found that fascinating.
Mine sucked at curbs. It worked, so probably "good enough". It was just annoying and I preferred to just carry my groceries before the baby and their stroller arrived. But if your grandma was handling stairs with hers, curbs likely wouldn't have been an issue.
They are nice to have in general, not necessarily for daily use, or shopping. Just for when something large and heavy comes, or has to go. Like fridges, washing machines, ovens, or laaarge screens :-) Can be stowed away easily for being ready just in case.
Makes sense. Have to get past looking homeless pushing them as people who do push those in my areas are homeless. Its just a mindset shift though not insurmountable.
> Right but look at groceries, that's a ton to haul if they don't have a grocery store there.
If you go every 1-2 weeks and do a mass/bulk purchase, perhaps.
If the grocery store is between the transit stop and your home, or on your cycling route, you can pick a few things up in an ad hoc manner in smaller batches.
I walk to the grocery store, which is about a 25 min walk one way, once a week. I get about 90% of my groceries for the week in that trip and they fit in my backpack + one shoulder bag for crushable vegetables.
Do it from +40C to -20C through the year. I am in my late 30s, and do not find this difficult at all.
My grocery store is across the street. I will walk there in the morning just for a gallon of milk for my coffee when I run out. It's hard to convey how little an inconvenience it is when groceries are a four minute walk away.
They look different than anything in the store so I assume they got them for themselves.
ex. https://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Home-UPGRADED-Waterproof-Gro...