I cannot imagine a world where people don’t come with bags or something to the counter. Are people actually just purchasing bags as they go?
Short answer: yes
Slightly longer answer: depens on where you live
In Singapore there was some pushback after supermarkets started charging for plastic bags (it used to be free for many years).
I’ll repeat this.
ProTip: Leave a bag of bags in the car. When you shop, use a cart. Skip the bagging at the cashier and have them just put everything back in the cart. Bag at your car in peace and at your own pace. The cashier will appreciate you. The bagger will appreciate you. The other shoppers in line will appreciate you. Most of all, your nerves will appreciate you.
Other people bagging stuff for you is a thing? I have never seen it in my life in Europe. Unless you have a disability then to me it just seems like adding extra work to the workers for no real purpose
We usually have dedicated baggers in the US, though many stores switched to having the cashier do it due to the ‘labor shortage’ during the pandemic. It’s basically a jobs program, usually given to disabled or older applicants that management wants tax credits for, but don’t actually have a use for; also teens that otherwise would be too costly to train if they’re only being employed for the summer.
Capitalism breeds innovation in how to pretend labor is necessary for everyone to do.
Stop taking our jobs!
+1 on leaving bags in the car
And this concept of bagging at the car just blew my mind
Costco style.
It’s not even extra hassle to me because I hate how the cashiers were bagging items anyway. Problem solved. No waste. Exactly how you want it every time.
We have this awesome thing in a lot of places where you can use a scanner and scan as you shop. You can put the bag in the cart and bag while you shop. When you get to the self checkout, you can use the scanner and instantly pay for everything and be out within seconds. I pay with my phone so just a touch is needed and I’m out of there. If you are the carry bags kind you can even take the bag out of the cart, return the cart to the correct place and walk to the car with the bag. It’s so fast and efficient.
I’ve become so spoiled I actively avoid places that don’t have such a thing. And I hate people who have a full cart at the self checkout and scan everything much much slower than the regular checkout with a person who’s job it is to do that. It’s fine if you have like 5 items and just scan them quickly at the self checkout. Anything beyond that really should be scanned during the shopping or just go to the regular checkout which is designed to handle a lot of stuff.
I order on the website and they text me when ready. Pull up, they bring out the groceries and I am wear sandals and shorts when it’s snowing
you don’t care about your produce! 🫢
Not too much but they’ve been under cooking the blueberry muffins so I quit ordering them.
This is genius! thanks for sharing 🙂
Some places have banned single use plastic grocery bags, its not uncommon in my area to see at least a few people use reusable bags now.
Not banned in my area, and I use reusable bags anyway. So do other people, though it’s still uncommon.
My area is so conservative they banned bans on single use plastic to own the libs.
Republicans love to take away freedoms.
You’re using it wrong!
Here’s to hoping a federal mandate will eventually come. Sooner, the better, though.
Yeah, it’s been banned in New Jersey for the last couple years. It was a cool overnight shift and it’s just second nature to just leave reusable bags in my car now for when I need them.
I only miss the single use plastic bags because they were the perfect size for bathroom garbage can.
I guess I’ll be the one to mention Costco, and the recycleable boxes I take home instead.
I was just thinking about this yesterday. In Washington state, they passed a law awhile back where stores can still give out plastic bags, but they have to be “reusable” (which means they’re thicker, which means they use more plastic) and they charge you 8¢ per bag. Most people just pay the 8¢ per bag and walk out with half a dozen of them. I assume they’re throwing them away at home, because I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ever seen someone actually reuse these bags.
How does this reduce plastic waste? If anything the amount of plastic being thrown away has increased. The per-bag cost far too low to incentivize people to bring their own. Some stores offer a rebate if you supply your own bags, but it’s usually 5¢ per bag, which is also too low of an incentive. So what we have is performative “feel good” legislation that ends up making the problem worse. As usual.
A plastic bag tax came into for in the UK a few years back. The fee was minimal, but it was still remarkably effective. It’s not the amount, its the fact you have to pay at all. Most people have transitioned to using reusable bags. It’s made a significant dent in plastic bag waste.
I’m a Washingtonian and have thought the same. It has led to more people bringing their own bag(s), though.
I imagine it depends where in the state you live. I’m sure the west side has more people bringing their own bags than the east side.
Oh, no doubt.
In Chicago we did the same thing, but we only charge $0.07 per bag, and they’re the exact same crappy plastic bags we had before.
Yeah, I do that because it was difficult to get into the habit of bringing bags with me. Now I probably have over 109 10¢ plastic bags
But I do reuse them. I’m getting good at remembering to bring them and haven’t had to buy more in months. However sometimes it seems like I’m the only one. I’ve had cashiers be confused about them so it probably really is rare.
My biggest concern is portability - I can fold up these plastic bags and carry a few in pretty much any pocket, but how would I carry cloth bags? Do I need to invest in cargo pants just so I can use reusable grocery bags?
I keep my reusable bags in the car, so when I drive to the store I already have them. If I have to carry them anywhere… Well they are bags after all, so I just put them all into one bag and boom! Bag of bags! And then once I’m in the store, they just go into the basket or cart. Sometimes if I know I’m only buying 1 or 2 items, I’ll just bring a single bag into the store and carry it around with me.
There have been a few times where no baskets have been available, so I’ll just put the stuff I’m buying directly into the bag, and then take it all out when I get to the checkout counter. It feels weird to do, but no one has ever seemed to care.
The proper way to do this was get like nice cloth bags that cost much more maybe like $10 or something so people actually get the message
Maybe but those $10 bags are so expensive that you’ll never be able to use them enough to be worth it. At least with a 10¢ plastic bag I’m invented to reuse it plus only a few uses is already better for the environment (they are a lot thicker than the older disposable plastic bags but I don’t know how to quantify that)
Let’s say you buy groceries every week of the year. That’s $10/52 = $0.19. If you use this for 2 years then it will be less than a 10 cent bag.
Now let’s say your a wasteful person, and actually spend $10 every single trip, you’re gonna be tossing a cloth bag, which isn’t as bad as plastic.
Or the 10¢ plastic bags are now reusable …. Now I’m getting into the habit of reusing them, and the cost is rapidly approaching zero. They’re still plastic, but that also means they are lighter, more compact, and they’re an improvement in that I do re-use them many times. It means that yes, I’ve accumulated 100 in my trunk so I always have enough and I’m not afraid to throw one out if it is contaminated
When the cloth bags first came out, I typically saw them for more like $1. Maybe I’m spoiled by that expectation
we just leave the bags in our car and fill them there
My partner and I just use big backpacks, easier than having to hold heavy bags in hand, especially since we don’t drive.
Even if you do drive, one big-ass backpack is way more managable than any number of smaller bags or (god forbid) multiple trips.
The hard part for me is remembering to return it to the car once all the groceries are put up.
Same. That’s what I mean by reusable bag.
every bag is a reusable bag
I haven’t seen plastic bags in years
It’s illegal to outlaw plastic bags in Texas.
You’re not serious, are you?
Wish I wasn’t.
In Connecticut, towns started outlawing plastic bags but in Michigan it’s not possible to pass town-specific laws like that according to a manager at the local recycling plant.
I’m a basket man.
Lol i started seeing people in my store use the same kind of trolly bag. I feel like a trend setter.
I have some reusable plastic bags at home. Perhaps I should use them to take the pile of reusable plastic bags to the trash
I bring my own reusable bag nearly every time I do grocery shopping. But I also live in NYC, which might as well be a different planet compared to most of the US. It’s a five minute walk (on sidewalks! Big ones!) to the grocery store.
Why America tho? There have been reusable only bags in grocery stores for a long time now.
In Austin, there was a short period of time where all grocery stores were legally required to ditch plastic bags.
A successful campaign strategy for city council right after that was to run against the plastic bag ban because people kept forgetting their reusable bags. Everybody agreed they are bad but individualism and a sense of laziness prevailed. This is America.
I’m not sure Texas counts
Depends on the state/area.
I know at least in Georgia (US), they still had those tissue paper thin bags at Target when I was there on business earlier in the year. They may have had reusable bags that you could buy didn’t notice any), yet I didn’t see a single person using one.
Some states have banned those, but some have not
Where do you live?
Yeah, but depending on the state, they’re not widely adopted. A lot of people aren’t going to spend the extra money for reusable bags unless they’re forced to.
Mark.
What have you done, Mark.
I went to stay a couple of months in the US and of course I brought my reusable bag to the übermarket. The cashier didn’t want to fill it. She insisted to use single-use bags :|
I have these reusable nets for fruits & veggies, and I always figured I’d encounter a cashier at some point, who’ll say “Excuse me, you need to be destroying the environment, otherwise I cannot weigh these”.
Thankfully, I have not yet (here in the Europes), but the self-checkout register at one of the shops genuinely has a step programmed in where it asks you, if you’re using a reusable net or similar. If you click “Yes”, it has the nerve to ask you to remove it before weighing. And it’s just like:
Thankfully, self-checkout registers can be easily lied to, so I just tell it that my veggies are unpacked.
Those reusable nets have weight unlike the nearly weightless cling wrap-like ones. Of course you could ignore the instructions when going through self-checkout, but they’re literally trying to charge you less via a more accurate weight! Based on your meme I realize you understand this, but I’m emphasizing it for others…
My local grocery store doesn’t have a self checkout and I swear they must assume they heard me wrong when I ask them not to bag things. :(
