Yeah, but when you leave it in the middle of the parking lot you're senselessly adding more work for the poor employee who probably is paid minimum wage to bring the carts back into the building...
I've heard the same. If there are no carts to retrieve, then that one manager who takes his job FAR too seriously will find some much more shitty extra work for you to do. Slow-rolling the carts back to the front is definitely an extra break, from what I understand.
They also employees who will clean up feces that are in the aisle but that doesn't mean you should take a shit on the floor in the produce section.
Leaving carts in the spaces blocks access to spaces, leaves carts that can be blown into parked spaces, and causes extra work for employees. Just walk your cart back. Spoiler: if you don't want to walk far, just park next to the cart return. It's not that hard.