If only, IF ONLY there was some kind of alternative ...

[Pixelated]

First ... NO FRATCHING, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.



Now, on to it ...

To nobody's surprise, I'm sure, the issue of single-use plastics is BIG these days. I work in a grocery store and the split between people bringing their own carriers and those who don't is, at a rough guess, 50/50.

So here's one guy coming in and needing half a dozen bags. Can't remember whether he doesn't have reuseable carriers (bags, bins, whatever) or left them in his house or his car.

Customer: "I've got a ton of these things at home! I don't know what to do with them anymore!"

Me: "Well, some of the thrift shops in the city take them and re-use them. I take mine to [Specific Thrift Shop]."

Customer: "Yeah, but I paid for them!"

Okay, buddy, first of all: You paid FIVE CENTS APIECE for them. We're not talking the Hope Diamond here. Donate the fucking things!

Secondly: Have you never thought of, oh, the alternatives to paying a whole nickel apiece for plastic bags? There are all manner of reuseble bags out there. Why, by golly, we sell them ourselves! Some of them are even right at the cash registers; you can just grab one as you go by!

Got too many groceries for those (admittedly) small bags? Take a gander at those nice big plastic BINS at the front of the store. Best thing EVER for family-sized grocery orders. And yes, the initial price might look high, but add up what you've spent on these cheap plastic things over the years ... you've probably paid enough to buy three or four of these babies. AND of course they can be used for other things as well (I used them for laundry baskets for years; they're much sturdier than the baskets actually sold AS laundry baskets).

Seriously, keep your complaints to yourself. All you'll get from me by way of acknowledgement of your hardships is a brief nod and "Your total today is ...."

[RealUnimportant]

Customer: "I've got a ton of these things at home! I don't know what to do with them anymore!"

Me: "Well, some of the thrift shops in the city take them and re-use them. I take mine to [Specific Thrift Shop]."

Customer: "Yeah, but I paid for them!"

"Then maybe, just maybe, you could put a few in your pocket before you come here next time to save you having to buy any more?"

Nah, that could never work right?

[TheWolfEmperor]

Our bag ban doesn't go into effect until 2020 but I'm already glad I'm not a cashier any more. I say look at the bright side. If you have your own business, or if there a fundraiser going on, there's never been a better time to invest in canvas bags.

[Ghel]

On those occasions where I forget my canvas bags, I re-use the grocery bags for cat litter. Assuming the bags are free of holes after I've used them, of course. The bags from Mart of Wall are so cheap they usually have holes in them before I even get them to the car.

I like my flat-bottom reusable bags. They're much easier to fill, and much easier to organize in the trunk of my car, than plastic bags. They now live in my car so I don't forget them when it's time for groceries.

[Rosco the Iroc]

I guess he will have to keep paying the stupid tax for forgetting.

rest goes right to fracking so [end]

[CyberLurch]

I used to have a dozen or so reusable cardboard boxes. They were literally made to be used, knocked flat, then pop open to be used again. I'd take them to the store with me, they'd fold flat in the cart, then open up in like one second to be filled. They were sturdy and didn't fall over and two of them could hold more than enough groceries for a week. I got them when the place I worked were pitching them in the trash. I never had to worry about plastic bags (the store would still use a couple for stuff like meats or produce). Easy to carry and even stack.

Some grit stole them out of my shopping cart when I wasn't paying attention.

[Kit-Ginevra]

If they do have holes in them...use them as eyeholes for a cheap and cheerful balaclava.

[Food Lady]

I would just pay for bags and not complain. It's 5 cents. If I don't complain about gas prices--care so little that I don't even know nor have I ever known the price--then I certainly don't care about a nickel.

[Monterey Jack]

Anyone honestly wanting to "get their money's worth" after spending a fucking NICKEL needs to get a life. Sadly I have people turning down our (quite nice & sturdy) reusable plastic bags all the time because they cost ten cents. "No, just double-bag it, please..."

[Sparklyturtle]

I've been using homemade cloth bags for years, ever since I had to fish some canned goods out from under an SUV after one of those flimsy plastic bags broke. My area stopped using plastic bags as of June 1, and stores charge 5 cents for a paper bag.

[earl colby pottinger]

Free bags

I posted it before and I post it again.

When bags were free I use to see them blowing in the wind all the time in Toronto, they would be in the trees, they would be in the drain, they would be on the streets.

People did not care because they were FREE!

Today when you have to pay a nickel or bring your own bag/box there is hardly a wind blown bag to be seen.

People only value what they have to pay for.

[TheWolfEmperor]

Today when you have to pay a nickel or bring your own bag/box there is hardly a wind blown bag to be seen.

Which was a sad day for lonely art film maker living in the house next door, I'll bet.

[Food Lady]

and stores charge 5 cents for a paper bag.

I usually get paper bags at the store. I wouldn't mind paying a nickel. That's like $2.50 a year.

[Pixelated]

At present almost no stores use paper bags anymore. That might change next year IF our current federal government gets back in and IF they keep to their promise to ban single-use plastics.

The little pet place that I shop at has gone to paper bags, with a small sticker on each one with the company's name and logo on them. The shop has a big sign on the window about it being "locally owned and operated" but the name is definitely part of a chain. Not sure if that's a franchise or what you'd call it.

[Slave to the Phone]

I used to have a dozen or so reusable cardboard boxes***Some grit stole them out of my shopping cart when I wasn't paying attention.

That is just wrong on so many levels.

We don't have a bag ban here, but I sure do wish we did. I see bags (witches bloomers) in trees all the time. Many people are using reusable bags now, but I do think it will take a bag ban with charge for bags to make a difference.

(As a happy side note, last time I was at the grocery store, I had all of my reusable bags with me, but didn't need them all. At the next register, a man was rearranging his stuff in his bags because he had bought too much and didn't want plastic, so was making his bags heavier. I have a bunch of bags, they are easy to come by, so I gave him one of mine. We both left happier.)