Customers who bring their own bags=Bitchy, Pissy and Crabby

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Usually (not always) the customers that come to my till gives me their bags to put their groceries in. I'd prefer the customer put the stuff in their dirty, gross looking bags more than I do. Usually they are moody customers who do bring their bags and if you accidentally put more groceries in a plastic bag they shout and get really pissed. They are pretty crabby if they leave the store as I'm working the greeter's shift without any of our store bags I ask for their receipt. Some of the customers care about the environment so much you'd think they live inside trees like the friggin' Keebler Elves.

[CurlyLocks]

I often bring my own reusable bags - but I promise, I keep them clean and I'm nice to the cashier!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I have a bag I keep in my car, and if I'm just picking up a few things I try to remember to bring it into the store with me. But I throw it in the laundry when necessary...

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

Awesome, just so long as.

#1 they are clean
#2 knows how much you buy can fit in the bags! (God knows how many times I get customers who buy so much that they don't fit in their bags and I have to use plastic)!

[BookstoreEscapee]

I'll put what I can in my bag and if necessary I'll take plastic...the main reason I have the bag is cuz I can't stand the plastic bag accumulation in my house. We use them as garbage bags in the kitchen (we have a frame meant for hanging grocery bags on) and sometimes I'll take them back and put them in the recycling box at the grocery store (the one store I go to has 3 or 4 of them in their vestibule).

[Killer Bees]

Reusable bags are very popular here. The supermarkets are even making them in different colours now instead of just the boring bright green that they used to come in.

I have dozens at home and even use them for holding my recyclables until I can be bothered taking them to the outside bin. Because they stand up by themselves, they're even good for storing stuff. I use a few for storing my balls of knitting yarn (of which I have many).

I wash them regularly and let the cashier pack them, if they go to do so. Otherwise I'm happy packing them myself.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Reusable bags are very popular here. The supermarkets are even making them in different colours now instead of just the boring bright green that they used to come in.

Actually, I stopped at the grocery store today and on the pharmacy counter they had a little display of reusable shopping bags, they were black mesh with canvas handles...sturdy, quick-dry... I thought about getting one but there was no price and I wasn't feeling well so I just wanted to get my drugs and go home.

[Becks]

I'll put what I can in my bag and if necessary I'll take plastic...the main reason I have the bag is cuz I can't stand the plastic bag accumulation in my house. We use them as garbage bags in the kitchen (we have a frame meant for hanging grocery bags on) and sometimes I'll take them back and put them in the recycling box at the grocery store (the one store I go to has 3 or 4 of them in their vestibule).

I really should get some of those reusable canvas bags. I'll have to remember after one of my shifts.

I also have quite the collection of plastic bags. Mini garbage bags, overnight bags when I can't find my duffel bag, cheap wrap for breakables, and bags crammed full of bags. See what happens when gallons of milk are bagged?

[BookstoreEscapee]

I also have quite the collection of plastic bags. Mini garbage bags, overnight bags when I can't find my duffel bag, cheap wrap for breakables, and bags crammed full of bags. See what happens when gallons of milk are bagged?

I like them for kitchen garbage (just make sure there's no holes) cuz then the food trash is sitting around for a lot less time than it takes to fill a tall kitchen bag before it goes out to the can in the garage. Not so smelly...plus, no spending money on tall kitchen bags

My mom also made a little trash can out of a sheet of plastic canvas (just rolled it into a cylinder and sewed the edge together with plastic yarn) and we use smaller bags (usually the ones the newspaper comes in) in it; we keep it on the counter next to the sink; really handy for scraping plates or tossing other small kitchen trash, and it's really easy to clean.

[Killer Bees]

Actually, I stopped at the grocery store today and on the pharmacy counter they had a little display of reusable shopping bags, they were black mesh with canvas handles...sturdy, quick-dry... I thought about getting one but there was no price and I wasn't feeling well so I just wanted to get my drugs and go home.

Those bags sound good and sturdy.

The ones we have are made from nylon or polyester or something but they look like a light canvas material. The handles are made from the same thing and stitched on sturdily. They have a plastic insert at the bottom to stop it from bulging out. But you can remove that which I do since it generally gets in the way.

Like another poster here said, I also accumulated a large number of plastic shopping bags which I'm slowly using up as garbage bags.

[RentalRacer]

The grocery store I used to work at gave customers 5 cents off per fabric bag they brought in, or 3 cents off for a plastic/paper bag. And yes, these customers were a pain in the nuts. Especially when they did not give you the bags up front and demanded A. That we repack their groceries and...B. We give them their discount, which of course was usually once they had already paid. And, we had the nutcases who would try to grab bags from the end of the register and give them to me claiming they brought them in and demanding the discount.

The best story was when I was on Express and this SC came through with way way too many items, and did not give me her fabric bag. And she paid with a check in a Cash Only line. 3 strikes. Since it was express, I simply gave her the $$ off and put her plastic bags inside the fabric ones. This, however, failed to make her happy. She started spewing about the enviroment, and how that was the purpose of fabric bags, blah blah blah while dumping everything out of the bags, and repacking it, leaving the plastic bags on the counter.

I waited while she ranted. Then slowly picked up the plastic bags, and threw them away while she watched, and commented on the waste of the bags. I then told her that the point of a 10 Items or less Cash Only register was not for someone with 30+ items who wrote a check.

She did complain, and I did get spoken to, but it was worth it.

[HALFHUMANHALFZOMBIE]

I love these ideas keep them coming. Use fabric bags when necessary to help reduce plastic in the kitchen. Sure, it help the environment and some stores endorse that with their environmentally friendly bags. I don't mind Fabric bags at my till just so long as they are friendly and they don't mind if I start using plastic after their fabric bags are full. People tell me that they need to save a bag like 1/1000 of the environmental consumption used for bags oh how they are recycled adds up I guess by saving one bag.

[ContraCorriente]

Oh, joy. People that have to put up with the same hell that I do. =P

I won't say -all- the time, because we do have a few customers that bring their own bags and are an absolute pleasure. However...

The Kroger up the street has recently started selling cloth bags for 99 cents. I am so tired of seeing those things. And they say, "Fill it up! I don't want any plastic." And when they pick up the bag you can hear the straps stretch. Hello, nylon shouldn't stretch like that!

The upside of people that bring their own bags is that I figure, hell, if they insist on fitting all their groceries into a couple of small bags, and if their eggs get broken or their bread is smashed, then they shouldn't have been so damn picky to begin with.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Quite a few people where I work prefer their milk be bagged. Otherwise they complain because o noes, the jugs 'sweat' inside their vehicles.

BYOB people are a funny lot, I've noticed. They can be decent customers, or they can be 'tards that act like the earth will implode the second you lay fingers on an EEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL plastic bag.

[powerboy]

I like those Reusable bags. My mom, used to have one that the grocery store gave out, now she uses it to take her lunch, newspaper, and other things for work in. I am wanting to get one also.