Abstract: The shopping cart retrieval system has been designed to allow search teams to detect and recover stolen or misplaced shopping carts. It consists of two distinct units of electronic equipment integrated together to form a retrieval system. The heart of the system is a VHF "beacon " radio transmitter implanted in the handle of the shopping cart which is continuously emitting a signal when it leaves the store. A search team, assigned the task of locating and recovering shopping carts, is equipped with a VHF radio receiver with both omni-directional antenna for detection of a shoping cart at maximum range, and a directional antenna used for the close-in location process.