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How Much Weight Can a Shopping Cart Really Hold?
If you’ve ever filled a shopping cart to the brim during a grocery run (or taken a sneaky joyride in one as a kid), you’ve likely wondered how much weight the handy moveable baskets can actually hold. According to Sploid, the amount probably varies from cart to cart, depending on its model, maker, size, and material. But Illinois-based shopping cart manufacturer and reseller The R.W. Rogers Company says its largest cart (made from metal and plastic) has a weight capacity of around 350 pounds. Meanwhile, Target hired industrial design firm Continuum to create an ultra-light, all-plastic shopping cart that can hold up to 500 pounds [PDF]. But in the video below, Finnish YouTube personality Lauri Vuohensilta—creator and host of the popular Hydraulic Press Channel—shows viewers that the average shopping cart is far stronger than most companies advertise.
Vuohensilta—who typically crushes objects with his hydraulic press and films the ensuing destruction—took a hiatus from his typical smooshing schtick, and instead filmed himself loading a shopping cart with around 1015 pounds of steel. Amazingly, the cart's bottom supported the weight. It finally collapsed after Vuohensilta added another 418 pounds.
We never do find out the shopping cart's true capacity, but Vuohensilta's video is a good reminder that you probably don't ever need to worry about breaking one. So go ahead, splurge on those industrial-sized boxes of cereal.
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