Is this considered stealing?

[mmmcloug]

On my university campus, a friend and I found a Kroger shopping cart near one of the dorms. We goofed around with it, including pushing each other around in it and leaving it in a different place than where we found it. A while after doing so, I felt a lot of guilt regarding this use of a probably stolen object. Was it a sin to play with this grocery cart? It was not my intention to steal the cart for myself; it was just fun to play around with. I have already contacted the store to see how I can return it to them.

Thanks for your help and God bless.

 

[Spirithound]

As long as you did not destroy or weaken it, or hurt or frighten others with it, I see no sin. It is definitely not stealing. Good on you for going to return it.

 

[achmafooma]

I’m no theologian, but I’m pretty sure it’s not stealing…although finding joy/fun in a stolen object may be a lesser sin of some kind.

Even if it is (and I’m not even sure of that), I’m reasonably certain it is not a mortal sin…I don’t see it as being a grave matter. Now, as Spirithound said, if your actions damaged the cart or caused other harm that might change matters.

By contacting the store to return it, you are definitely doing the right thing. Most people wouldn’t bother.

God bless you!

 

[Cirdan_XII]

Where I live all shopping carts have a coin mechanism, meaning you insert a coin to release the cart when you enter the store, and when you bring it back after you’ve finished you get that coin back. When I was a young boy I used to make myself some money by looking for abandoned carts and bringing them back to stores. I think there’s nothing wrong with that as the people who abandoned them obviously didn’t care about retrieving their coins. In fact I thought I was doing the stores a service by retreiving their carts. If you bring it back without getting anything in return that is much more noble though.

 

[Catholic1954]

On my university campus, a friend and I found a Kroger shopping cart near one of the dorms. We goofed around with it, including pushing each other around in it and leaving it in a different place than where we found it. A while after doing so, I felt a lot of guilt regarding this use of a probably stolen object. Was it a sin to play with this grocery cart? It was not my intention to steal the cart for myself; it was just fun to play around with. I have already contacted the store to see how I can return it to them.

Thanks for your help and God bless.

Not a sin of COMMISSION because you did not actually take the cart, but perhaps a sin of OMISSION by not returning it when you knew who it owned it. You did the right thing by notifying the store where to find it. Believe it or not, shopping carts are worth hundreds of dollars and stores lose thousands of dollars a year by replacing them.

 

[DexUK]

I think you’re suffering from a slight over-abundance of scruples, but in any case you’ve fixed it by reporting the lost object to its rightful owner.

Relax and enjoy the memory of the enjoyment you had. I remember being that young once…