Paying for carrier bags.

bambibear

I have to admit, this is one of my main bugbears! The amount of time that supermarkets have tried to do their bit and give away free "bags for life"..yet people still buy carrier bags and whinge about doing it. I've got a nice posh Jimmy Choo cotton bag (sent free in the post)that I use for impulse buys..always in my handbag...Several Waitrose ones (also free but quite big, given when the new store opened us) although I don't shop at Waitrose as there's a Morrisons next door. Morrisons don't charge for bags..but I like to think that I'm doing my bit so I use the bags I have. If you object to buying bags........then just don't!

DCFC79

I dont see the problem, businesses are charging us for bags and its up to us to either buy 1 or not,

CallaLily

moonpenny wrote: »

I don't mind paying a little for bags (I usually carry some anyway) but, what I really get annoyed about is the fact that I am paying the store to do the advertising for them.

If you have to pay, then the bags should be completely plain otherwise , they should be paying us to advertise for them.

Totally agree, although I do take my own bags if my shopping doesn'r all fit in said bags I have to pay 9p per bag in my local Lidl to advertise their store as I walk home, blinking cheek if you ask me.

Middy

Personally I think charging for carrier bags is a bloody good idea. I see customers use a carrier bag for one single item such as a lemon, a Colemans' packet sauce and worse a packet of Extra chewing gum. These can be put into a pocket or handbag with no problems. Then you get customers using carrier bags for things that have handles on them and are designed to be carried on their own - cat litter, loo roll, nappies etc.

charlie792

Lucyxx wrote: »

I work in a shop and ask people if they would like a bag regularly. A huge amount of our customers reuse their own bags, or if it's a small purchase pop it in their handbag and are quite happy to do so.

Please don't get infuriated by it, as it sometimes hard to tell what a customer wants to do. They can be standing holding reusable bags, but still want one of ours, or I can pack someones shopping only for them to turn around and say "I don't need a bag" and produce one out of their handbag so I have to repack into theirs, making people who may be queing get cross, because of course we don't like queing in this country either

Obviously we can use a bit of common sense, if someone has come to the till with loads of items and just their wallet then the likelyhood is they will need a bag so I won't bother asking. Sometimes it just pops out, though out of habit, so apologies for that :o

I personally love my companies' bag policy. We give a decent reusable bag for life for free, but if a customer reuses their own bag we reward a charity with a donation of a penny out of the company pocket instead. It doesn't sound alot, but a lot of our customers reuse their own bags, and with all the shops it certainly adds up.

Totally agree with this. I used to work at Woolies and it was company policy to ask customers if they needed a bag, although were told to use common sense if someone had a lot of things etc but it amazed me how rude some customers were when you asked them - as in 'how dare you ask - of course I want a bag!'.

I remember once we ran out of carrier bags with the exception of the sack bags (really huge ones) - a customer bought small tube of glue and demanded he had a bag for it, i explained we had no small ones but he inisted it wasnt good enough etc so I got a huge sack bag out and said here take this.....:rotfl:

Middy

We get customers at my store that ask for carrier bags, pack them then transfer them into their own reusable bags or shopping trolley - !!!!!! is that all about? I don't mind if its an item that is prone to leaking such as cream, sugar, flour as we have a supply of small bags at the checkouts- our store calls them 'drip bags'. Sometimes I wrap something that is too big to put into these drip bags inside a carrier bag such as a fresh chicken.

Foggster

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

A bit of an aside, but does anyone know if any supermarket uses fully biodegradable bags? I used to think that this meant the bags only hung around for a few hundred years in landfill, but I bought some souvenirs 2 years ago from the championships at Wimbledon (so I know the exact date) and I was given them in a sturdy biodegradable plastic bag, I stored it all in a cupboard and when I got them out this Xmas the bag completely crumbled into dust. Would this be a way forward? I know nothing about biodegradable bags in terms of expense or suitability but as far as I know they used them as standard at Wimbledon (no idea of the type either) so it can't be that way out. The idea that I could get a supermarket bag that wouldn't spoil the environment and could still be disposable would get my vote.

I am sure the Co-op bags are biodegradable and I think I did the same as you and stored some Xmas decos in one and the following year I found them all on the floor of the attic covered in dust!!

I dont mind taking my own bags into supermarkets, although I am rarely in there because I prefer home delivery (and yes I take the option of no bags). I love the Morrison bags (bag for life types) because they are strong and they dont spill my groceries all over the back of the car like normal plastic bags do.

If you have the time to protest and leave your potential purchases at the till then so be it but I did laugh out loud at those who left their purchases at the till, what a total waste of time and remember the cashier wouldnt have been the one putting it back on the shelves or having the loss of income taken from their salaries, that would have been the multi-billionaire owners of the store!;)

Stompa

Foggster wrote: »

If you have the time to protest and leave your potential purchases at the till then so be it but I did laugh out loud at those who left their purchases at the till, what a total waste of time.....

The word 'juvenile' springs to mind.

Lotus-eater

Yes the coop bags are degradable. I don't object to being charged for a bag at all, I should have remembered to bring my reusable ones. We are a throwaway society and it really annoys me when you get dinosours calling us hippies because we care about something. The sooner they all go extinct the better.

But if you buy a reusable bag in a shop, when it breaks you should be given a replacement, because these sometimes very expensive bags actually aren't very good often.

bizzylizzyh

Stompa wrote: »

The word 'juvenile' springs to mind.

Please be nice to all MoneySavers. That’s the forum motto. Remember the prime aim is to help provide info and resources. If you don’t like someone, their situation, their question or feel they’re intruding on ‘your board’ then please bite the bullet and think of the bigger issue... a recent Guardian article “doffed its cap” to this forum as being the one place where consumers can collect together and fight back, our job is to help keep it that way.