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Grovery bags -- Paper or Plastic?


foodie52

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I've been helping out at the registers where I work, and I'm bothered by the amount of paper AND plastic that is used to bag groceries. I get, maybe, 1 in 30 customers who brings her own canvas bags or even the old paper bags back.

What's the feeling on this? Who amongst you makes the effort to cut down on the paper/plastic issue by bringing your own bags?

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in the UK, if you buy organic produce in the supermarket, it is invariably forty times more packaged than the equivalent non-organic, eg shrink-wrapped cauliflower, apples on polystyrene trays... which is clearly the opposite of the honourable organic intention.

Fi Kirkpatrick

tofu fi fie pho fum

"Your avatar shoes look like Marge Simpson's hair." - therese

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I'm always perplexed when the cashiers at many stores will bag one item-- like a bag of chips, or a pack of smokes. What's the point?

Don't even get me started on how they put the coins on top of the bills when they give you change :angry:

peak performance is predicated on proper pan preparation...

-- A.B.

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I'm always perplexed when the cashiers at many stores will bag one item-- like a bag of chips, or a pack of smokes. What's the point?:

I will say - "Don't need a bag for that" and they blink and bag anyways. Stupid. :angry:

Don't even get me started on how they put the coins on top of the bills when they give you change :angry:

The coin on top of the bills thing pisses me off too. I won't take the change from them; instead I first pick up the coins and then take the bills. I think our local cashiers must have my face up in the back room and throw darts at it while on break. :laugh: I really don't give a shit either!! :biggrin:

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I bring cloth bags, or if I'm only getting one or two things, ask for no bag (always gets me a funny look, too). I know it isn't common here to bring cloth, just from the reactions I get when I do it. I've actually had to explain that I wanted my groceries in the bag at one store - twice they bagged my groceries in plastic and tossed the cloth bags inside :blink:

I like cloth bags for many reasons beyond environmental concerns. They're much stronger than plastic or paper, and can hold much more securely. They're also much more comfortable to carry, and there's no worry about anything breaking. Trader Joe's sells canvas bags for $3 a piece, and I find 3-4 bags is plenty for just about any shopping trip.

Kathy

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. - Harriet Van Horne

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In my mind its always been more sound to ask for a single plastic bag around a single paper bag.

Whoa... hold your outrage, I have a rationale.

People who ask for plastic bags get about five times as many bags, and inevitably when they get home those bags clutter up a closet unused for the most part, until the person gets sick of all of those bags and throws them out en-masse.

People who ask for paper bags usually get the bags wet, or tear them, and so they don't reuse those either.

The paper-in-plastic people tend to line their smaller trash cans at home with the bags, and thus re-use them in a useful manner--tieing off the plastic bag handles across the top often even being enough to seal it without having to bag a larger trash bag around them.

Also, if you do want to re-use bags at the supermarket a second time, I believe the paper-plastic combo "holds out" the best for re-use.

Obviously canvas, or perhaps even a backpack is the best choice. But even these days people sometimes look at you like you are planning to shoplift if you walk into a store with a bag.

Edited by jhlurie (log)

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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In my mind its always been more sound to ask for a single plastic bag around a single paper bag.....The paper-in-plastic people tend to line their smaller trash cans at home with the bags, and thus re-use them in a useful manner--tieing off the plastic bag handles across the top often even being enough to seal it without having to bag a larger trash bag around them.

I actually agree with you on this. I love the paper in plastic combo because I can have one sit on the floor next to me when I work so it's easy to get rid of the scraps. The plastic ensures that your floor won't get all grimey. You can also break down the bags into two parts. The paper only is great for paper re-cyclables and the plastic is good to line the small garbage cans i.e. bathroom, bedroom.

I hate when they only put one or two things in each bag. It just seems inefficient and wasteful. I want a fewer bags, and each one full.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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I get plastic bags because what would I use to clean up after my dogs during our walks? Before I had dogs, I brought my own cloth bags to the store and I didn't bother putting my produce in those awful little bags I can never open. That was fine in Vancouver, but you get a look of utter confusion and irritation when you do that in Springfield, IL where everything has to be in a "sack."

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Explain the coins on the bills to me? I don't understand.

Where do I start? Hmm...

It comes down to two things really-- counting back change properly, and facilitating getting your change back in your pocket, purse, wallet, etc.

If I buy something for say $12.53, and pay with a $20, the cashier should put $0.47 in my empty outstretched hand and say "13", and then hand me the bills counting "14, 15, 20". This doesn't work when they just hand you a few bills and then slap the coins on top.

Also, what do I do with a stack of bills with coins balanced precariously on top with one hand since my other hand is holding my wallet? If the coins are put in my hand first I can kinda palm them while putting the bills back in my wallet. If they don't do this, I have to put my wallet down, pour the coins off the bills into my hand, stuff them in my pocket, and then put the bills in my wallet.

Am I being too much of a nut case here? :wacko:

peak performance is predicated on proper pan preparation...

-- A.B.

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Explain the coins on the bills to me? I don't understand.

Where do I start? Hmm...

It comes down to two things really-- counting back change properly, and facilitating getting your change back in your pocket, purse, wallet, etc.

If I buy something for say $12.53, and pay with a $20, the cashier should put $0.47 in my empty outstretched hand and say "13", and then hand me the bills counting "14, 15, 20". This doesn't work when they just hand you a few bills and then slap the coins on top.

Also, what do I do with a stack of bills with coins balanced precariously on top with one hand since my other hand is holding my wallet? If the coins are put in my hand first I can kinda palm them while putting the bills back in my wallet. If they don't do this, I have to put my wallet down, pour the coins off the bills into my hand, stuff them in my pocket, and then put the bills in my wallet.

Am I being too much of a nut case here? :wacko:

Dude, I'm with ya all the way on this one. It drives me crazy, and I can't tell you how many times I ended up dropping coinage all over the damn place.

Dean McCord

VarmintBites

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No, I just didn't understand. I was thinking of the food counters in Italy where the cashier will do everything possible to avoid touching a Lire. Thought is was a cleanliness issue :blink: (and then I might have thought you were being a nut). But if it's a case of not counting out your change or giving you a handful of change that will scatter on the floor, then I understand.

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I get plastic occasionally, paper most of the time, and sometimes bring my own bag. We reuse paper bags at the store, or put our newpapers and junk mail in them and it all gets recycled. We reuse the plastic for various things around the house. If the plastic starts getting out of hand I take a bundle back to the store. All of the groceries around here have a bin for recycling plastic bags.

The problem with bringing my own all the time is that I am usually buying more groceries than we have bags to put them in.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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Explain the coins on the bills to me? I don't understand.

Why do the cashiers do that? Were they taught to do that? Plus the receipt in the middle like a chinese puzzle torture, like Squeat mentions, making it even more difficult! What is the logic? I guess that it's supposed to expedite the transaction, but then it slows down and frustrates and confuses the customers (unless we are the few exceptions who fumble with this conglomeration.)

Gustatory illiterati in an illuminati land.
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Also, what do I do with a stack of bills with coins balanced precariously on top with one hand since my other hand is holding my wallet?

In my case, add to the pile a 1' long strip of cash register tape and 2' of those cash register generated coupons to get me to buy products I wouldn't consume even if they were free (what I really love are the pet food coupons; don't have a pet, have never bought pet food). And, they hurry me along to bag my own groceries. I even had a clerk suggest that I start bagging while she was checking! Like I don't watch those prices (don't assume that because they scan, the prices are correct, and some of them don't have a clue about produce varieties). Most times, I opt to spend a tad more on a full-service grocery that doesn't do any of these things.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I like the coins on the bills method. You simply tip the coins into your opposite palm, stuff the bills into your wallet, scram. Very efficient. It is a curious development though. I don't remember it happening even a few years ago and now it's the donimant technique. Do you think it started from awkwardness/squeamishness over touching the hand of another person? If so, you can hardly blame the cashiers, who have to touch who knows how many people every day and may be subject to transmitting colds etc. That and having to suffer time and again through that little hesitation dance between customer and cashier, each bringing their own expectations to the exchange. Ah, minutiae!

"Tis no man. Tis a remorseless eating machine."

-Captain McAllister of The Frying Dutchmen, on Homer Simpson

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I (pre-strike) was always having a battle with the Ralphs clerks about this. Ralphs, like Whole Foods, will give you a 5-cent per bag credit for bags you bring in. However, I've had Ralphs clerks claim that it's only for paper or plastic bags, not canvas; that it's only for Ralphs bags (my canvas bags say Trader Joe's on them); that it's 3 cents for canvas bags, 5 cents for paper or plastic; that it's 3 cents for canvas and plastic and 5 cents for paper...

The last cashier told me there was a written policy on it (he was the 3 cents for canvas and plastic guy) but was unable to produce it. Whole Foods has their policy clearly written at every checkstand, and part of me thinks it's a conspiracy on Ralphs' part to support the paper bag industry.

The rest of me, needless to say, knows the whole battle makes me officially a Crazy Lady.

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I've been helping out at the registers where I work, and I'm bothered by the amount of paper AND plastic that is used to bag groceries. I get, maybe, 1 in 30 customers who brings her own canvas bags or even the old paper bags back.

What's the feeling on this? Who amongst you makes the effort to cut down on the paper/plastic issue by bringing your own bags?

I try to reuse my bags but not when I go grocery shopping. I've found that carrier bags in the US are far less durable than in the UK so if there's no hole in the bottom that's formed from transporting groceries, I'll reuse them to collect food debris when preparing meals and throw them in the communal garbage skip the morning after.

Foodie_Penguin

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People who ask for plastic bags get about five times as many bags, and inevitably when they get home those bags clutter up a closet unused for the most part, until the person gets sick of all of those bags and throws them out en-masse.

The local Albertson's here have recycling bins inside their stores for plastic grocery bags. You just drop your massive collection of bags into the bin and then it's their problem, not yours. :wink:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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I modestly claim responsibility for the Whole Foods policy of refunding you 5 cents for every bag you bring back.

When WF opened here in Austin in 1980, after a few months of shopping there, I wrote them a letter suggesting that. A few months later they implemented it.

I think all grocery stores should encourage their customers to reuse and recycle.

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Here is a link to the Guardian that gives a nice synopsis of the sucessful Irish intiative to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags. THe trash got so bad before this plan went into effect that people called the little disposable bags "the Irish National Flag". They were everywhere. Stuck in fencerows, blowing around the streets, pinned to the grills of cars, etc. They have had great success and I, for one, would like to see something like that law adopted here in the States

Ban the Bag

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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We used to be able to put our plastic bags into our recycle bin, but now they don't take them anymore. Who knows how that decision was made.

Worse, our local grocery store cashiers are total dimwits. Now, I ask for paper and they do the paper in plastic combo. So now I have two bags to recycle/reuse instead of one. I might as well stick to the plastic.

Fortunately there is another store near here that will recycle the plastic ones.

Sigh. Maybe I should invest in canvas bags.

"Unleash the sheep!" mamster

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