Lack of publicity over England's shops charging 5p a bag

Legacy_user

In just over a month's time, on 5th October, retailers that employ more than 250 employees across England will levy the 5p charge to customers.

I and a few colleagues have started to warn those customers in my shop where I work that have the tendency to insist getting a bag for one or two items, even though they are carrying another bag from another shop with just one item. A few thought I was talking rubbish about the bag charge!

Hardly any publicity. When is it going to be more publicised? I remember Wales having loads of publicity months before the date.

If it carries on like this for the next 5 weeks, customers will be shouting at us saying 'Oh I'm going to Tesco' (they will charge 5p a bag you morons).

Why do customers insist on having a separate carrier bag for each shop they visit?

Has anyone else noticed the lack of publicity?

enfield_freddy

the separate carrier bags are needed to dispose of the vast amount of waste packaging on products bought today


interested to read about the " retailers that employ more than 250 employees across England " as I thought this even included the proverbial small butchers (who got an amnesty) and the local baker


is this "over 250 employees" thing correct , and does it apply or not to franchises ?

hollydays

Surely when you tell customers all shops are charging this now-they are unlikely to single your shop out for abuse?!!

enfield_freddy

by reading the first post its only shops that employ over 250 people that have to charge there customers 5p , I for see some redundancies , in order to keep customers

enfield_freddy

ok , shops or companies that employ over 250 HAVE to charge a MINIMUM of 5p per single use carrier bag


https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities




companies who employ less than 250 staff can charge or not




I wonder how many will see this as a stopping of a service , and a extra charge going in the till?

Stevie_Palimo

I cant see where it says over 250 employees to be charging for bags, It is the norm in Northern Ireland and not limited to larger Companies.

sgun

Yes, I'm guessing that there has been a lack of publicity as it is not across the board and is just the government paying more lip service to environmental issues. In fact, I'm surprised they are still going through with it as they have pretty much back tracked on every other environmental policy they introduced before the general election.

If you go to anywhere in Europe even the small and medium retailers expect you to have your own bags. Don't try asking for a plastic bag in Hungary for example as you are likely to be lined up against a wall and shot. The only other place I have been where plastic bags are more or less handed out is Russia and in some places there they still tutted at you. Even in the US you are often expected to use paper bags and their recycling policies are way more stringent than ours.

I would also urge people not to use the plastic "bags for life" but to invest in some cotton sustainable bags that don't require petro-chemicals to make.

enfield_freddy

Stevie_Palimo wrote: »

I cant see where it says over 250 employees to be charging for bags, It is the norm in Northern Ireland and not limited to larger Companies.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities




When you must charge

You must charge if you employ 250 or more full-time equivalent employees (in total and not just in retail roles). The number of full-time equivalent employees is the number of total hours contracted to work by all employees divided by the number of hours worked by a single full-time employee. A full-time staff member who worked all year counts as 1 employee. Part-time and seasonal staff, and those who did not work the full year, are counted as fractions of 1 employee.
You must charge if you:

• sell goods in England
• deliver goods to England

People with fewer than 250 full-time equivalent employees don’t have to charge. If your store is part of a franchise or symbol group (sharing a brand and products) you only count employees in your business. You don’t count the franchise or symbol group as a whole.

Stevie_Palimo

Seems a stupid rule then as charging for the bags should just be a standard practice as it is in Northern Ireland, Cannot see the sense in picking and choosing who should and should not sell them after all it is about educating the public to be green and waste less.

enfield_freddy

umm , no don,t charge for them , if the northern Ireland government want to , then let them ,




" Cannot see the sense in picking and choosing who should and should not sell them "


not picking and choosing , its clearly defined "if you employ MORE THAN 250 PEOPLE.


simple instructions , no picking and choosing


however it could easily add 30p on to the average shoping bill at asda etc

DigForVictory

To be entirely fair, our local Asda does mention it in their opening phone message, so I suspect other Asda stores have it too.

It's still going to come as a surprise for many. (Memo to self, get a containerload of fabric bags to distribute around friends & family & ebay on & around The Day!)