Mother's Day miser

[Monterey Jack]

My store started charging ten cents per paper bag two weeks ago, and there's been the obligatory scattered grousing from customers since (I shudder to think how they're gonna react when we stop offering paper bags entirely at the end of July ), but today had a doozy, a woman who balked at the twenty cents we were gonna charge her for her pair of bags, tried to bargain her way down to a penny apiece(!), and then delivered the memorable line, "You're gonna do this to me on MOTHER'S DAY?!" A manager had to be summoned, who gave her the two bags free, but sternly added that she would be charged in the future (she stood to the side arguing with her for the next several minutes).

Fuck's sake, lady, a pair of dimes never bankrupted anyone.

[Pixelated]

Sorry, but that manager's an idiot. Next time she comes in it'll be "BUT THEY DID IT LAAAAST TIIIIIME!"

Do not EVER give these people an inch. They will try to take a light-year.

On the other hand ... starting in August, she's really have something to whine about ....

My favourite little grocery store stopping having any kind of bag a month or so ago. As far as I can see, people have gotten used to it. I don't work there so don't know how many complaints they had about it, tho ... despite having had signs up for a month or two before the bags stopped, and despite still having a sign at the front door saying they have no bags.

[taxguykarl]

At least she didn't demand the whole purchase free
Also, Pixel's right: the precedent is set.

[Dreamstalker]

We also started the ten cents per paper bag at the beginning of the month, and oh my Dog you should hear the screeching. Some people at SCO just don't ring up bags (no way we can really enforce that) or just grab a handful of the bags and walk out. The company is getting rid of plastic entirely in July (my town won't let us have the good reusable plastic bags at all, only paper). Not sure what the stores that don't have paper will do. I'm already seeing EBT/WIC customers who think that because those forms of tender void the bag fee, they can just grab as many as they want whenever they want.

I could see charging if our paper bags were any good, but...they suck (Corp probably figured that they'd stick it to the town by sending us the cheapest possible paper bags).

[Rosco the Iroc]

Charging for the bags is a D move. But of course, places are doing it with these do nothing bag laws.

[workerbee222]

Charging for the bags is a D move. But of course, places are doing it with these do nothing bag laws.

Stores in our state have no choice. The way the law was written, store are not allowed to give away bags.

[Dreamstalker]

I've been seeing feedback from customers along the lines of "how does charging for a crappy paper bag reduce waste?" Paper also obviously doesn't hold up great against wet weather/wet items. If anything we should have brought back the rebate if you use your own bags.

I've been making an end-run around this on the pickup side of things by encouraging customers to call the store if they want to use their own bags, packing orders or heavy items in boxes (we don't charge for the boxes yet, and I can get creative with making carry handles for them); and if we find good-condition reusable bags abandoned in the store I've been taking them home, washing them and then using them for customer orders.