Charging for carrier bags!

[SueEllen]

It's only a big deal in the UK (apart from Wales) because shops stopped charging for carrier bags sometime in the mid-1980s.

I have no issue with bringing my own carrier bags or other bags but the things that irritate me are:
1. shop assistants who can clearly see you have no bags and ask you if you need one,
2. shop assistants who immediately shove your one small item into a large carrier bag when you have some bags with you, and
3. self-checkouts that cannot cope with people using their own bags and the fact that these bags may have other stuff in them i.e. book, shopping list and pen.

[bless 'em all]

self-checkouts that cannot cope with people using their own bags and the fact that these bags may have other stuff in them i.e. book, shopping list and pen.

"Unexpected item in the bagging area." It the only time I have shopping-rage.

[Old Greg]

"Unexpected item in the bagging area." It the only time I have shopping-rage.

You try "unexpected item in the tea-bagging area."

[TimberWolf]

Till traffic lights

We've got a cluster of about a dozen self-service tills at my local Sainsburys and people mostly form an orderly queue along an isle opposite the cluster as they wait for one of them to become free, but every now and then a chancer nips in before the queuers who, from the queuing isle, have to traverse a people-flow. Sometimes this is protested with a murmur, sometimes it goes undetected and no doubt sometimes benefit of the doubt exists in the melee. These interlopers seem to come from nowhere too, I've had it done to me, a little Chinese girl in my case who pleaded the 5th amendment while pulling a face, but, presumably realising the game was up, went looking for fresh till-kill - I was only a nano-second behind her and she had no time to press or scan anything or otherwise stake permanent occupancy. Where she came from remained a mystery, it's almost as if they happen to be passing a till at the moment it comes free and get there before you do. The tills have a traffic light above them, 3 colours, and they can flash. These would potentially provide a powerful indicator as to their current and future states, but, alas, their meaning remains shrouded in mystery and appears to be mostly random, whether occupied, soon to be vacated or vacated. Not sure why they flash, either, but red flashing appears to indicate that you can forget about that till for a while. Maybe queue-jumpers have them figured out.

[kingcook]

It's about social reponsiblity does it not prompt you to think perhaps I should be reusing other bags or recycling more?

+1

[CheeseSlice]

It's beginning to get on my tits. Last month I went to B&Q bought 13 items for about £40 paid on credit card. The cusomer advisor then just looked at me blankly. 'Can I have a bag?', '5p' came the reply. I don't have 5p, a shrug of the shoulders. I picked my stuff off vowing next time they could keep all the stuff.

Just been into WHSmiths to buy a book(of a personal nature). Went to the counter, the fat fooking gurning shop assisting cretin behing the counter barely looked up. Took the book, added a voucher. Then a leaflet. Then another voucher. My credit card went through. He then placed a credit card receipt on top. Then the receipt. Not saying a word.

"Can I have a bag please?" '1p' he replied. 'I don't have 1p'. Silence. Big queue building.

I offered my card. 'I'm not doing that it's stupid'.

'Fine. If you no bag. No sale. Refund me the money'

Not a word, refunded me the money & I left. WTF is wrong with customer service in this country.

Get back at them.
Buy ALL of the carrier bags they have at the till.
Keep going back to buy tiny little items for 50p or so, and buy ALL the carrier bags they have.
When they've finally run out.. offer to sell them back at 10p each.

[Sysman]

When I lived in Switzerland in eighties they already had strong paper bags made from recycled paper in the supermarkets.

I never did understand why they didn't catch on over here?

Also I think charging for carrier bags is right. Anything to reduce packaging waste. Bananas sometimes get sold in plastic bags FFS.

Switzerland still has the strong paper bags for groceries and they have to charge for them by law, save the environment and all that. For clothes, books and electrical items etc the (normally plastic) bag is free.

The idea is to use them more than once and it's your choice whether you pick one up or not. I got caught out the other week when I didn't have one with me and the shop had run out of paper bags. 1.50 sorted me out with a strong cloth one instead, and I regarded that as an investment, even though it has an advert for a cut price naff place on it (don't knock it though, they have am excellent wine section).

[wim121]

When I lived in Switzerland in eighties they already had strong paper bags made from recycled paper in the supermarkets.

I never did understand why they didn't catch on over here?

Also I think charging for carrier bags is right. Anything to reduce packaging waste. Bananas sometimes get sold in plastic bags FFS.

Yourself and everyone else in the same vain after you is 100% wrong and it pains me to say it ............... MF is right on this one ..

Paper bags are more harmful to the environment than plastic bags. They require immense energy and resources to produce and the chemicals and ink treatments used on them are very damaging.

Re-usable bags tend to be made from dense plastic, sometimes tens or more in magnitude than disposable plastic bags. Studies have shown they are on average only re-used a few times before being "recycled" for a new one.

Black bin bags have more plastic in than disposable bags as well.

The fact is, many plastic bags in supermarkets and other places, are made from thin plastic and degrade within six months completely. Most councils insist that rubbish has to be bagged inside wheelie-bins otherwise they wont empty it and fine you. We have to use some form of bag.

[wim121]

You try "unexpected item in the tea-bagging area."

Ohhhh that drives me mad, I think it's AI humour.

- unexpected item in bagging area - please remove item
> pick it up
- item removed from bagging area - return item to bagging area
> put it back down
- unexpected item in bagging area - please remove item
> pick it up
- item removed from bagging area - return item to bagging area
> put it back down
- unexpected item in bagging area - please remove item
> pick it up
- item removed from bagging area - return item to bagging area
> put it back down


Arghhhhhh !!!!!

(Then some snotty know it all/patronising cow assistant says that you should have left it still, but the machine wont let you and tells you to pick it up)

[mudskipper]

Top Tip!

Sainsbury's: beginning of transaction:
"Are you using any of your own bags?"
"Yes"
Requsting authorisation....

End of transation:
"Did you use your any of your own bags?"
"Yes"
"Enter number"
"63"
"Your bags will be added to your green Nectar points"