5 ms·

I was in Walmart last night and they had no bags. I asked, “have you stopped providing bags now?” Fully expecting the answer to be yes, BYO only now. “No, we’v

I was in Walmart last night and they had no bags. I asked, “have you stopped providing bags now?” Fully expecting the answer to be yes, BYO only now. “No, we’ve run out of the paper bags. We’re switching to plastic bags tomorrow” Seriously? Wow.

EGreg 8y ago
Stores should provide non plastic bags and give you a large discount for returning/reusing them.
- RileyJames 8y ago
  Agreed. But their latest option is going to be “reusable plastic bags”, which means stronger plastic bags, containing more plastic, which many customers will still treat as disposable. I’m confused as to how that’s a step forward. How fucking hard is it to use the trolley to move your goods to your car, and then into your cupboard? You managed to collect all the goods and get them to the register without any bags...
  - inertiatic 8y ago
    It's surely less convenient than paying for and using a cheap bag. Also, it would work in the specific situation you're describing (driving up to the store, parking back close to your house), but it doesn't really help in a lot of other use cases, so it can't be a universal solution.
  - iainmerrick 8y ago
    I’m with you in principle, but to answer that last question -- quite hard? Getting the groceries into your car is easy, but the last step of carrying them into your kitchen is hard. Unless you take the trolley home.
  - adrianN 8y ago
    Seems easy to make the bags expensive enough that consumers realize that they're supposed to be used multiple times.
  - mhw 8y ago
    > How fucking hard is it to use the trolley to move your goods to your car, and then into your cupboard? Addressing the sibling comments on this: I don't know if it's common elsewhere, but some supermarkets in the UK have hand-held self-scanners that you can use while you walk around the shop. You pick things up, scan them with the scanner and put them in your (reusable) bags that you brought. Once you've got everything you go to a separate till where everything you've scanned comes up and you pay and go. Your groceries are already bagged and that makes it lots easier to unload into the house at the other end. I've noticed as a result that some shoppers turn up with much more substantial reusable bags than the normal 'bag for life' variety. Ones made from fabric that are constructed to stay open. Waitrose also have a version as an app so you can use your phone to do the scanning: https://www.waitrose.com/home/about_waitrose/quick_check/quick-check-app.html https://www.waitrose.com/home/about_waitrose/quick_check/qui...
- Consultant32452 8y ago
  The trouble with paper bags is that they don't biodegrade without oxygen, which is what happens when you bury paper under tons of other material in a land fill. So the paper and the plastic are both there 100 years later, but the paper takes up more space in the long run because it doesn't compress as small. Unfortunately there's no good answer here yet that I've seen.
  - riffraff 8y ago
    what about biodegradable plastic bags? In italy those have been the norm for many years. They actually seem to decay quite fast (i.e. you can't reuse them for too many times).
- ndnxhs 8y ago
  In Australia they banned single use bags and now most people bring their reusable ones back to the store to reuse.

EGreg 8y ago

Stores should provide non plastic bags and give you a large discount for returning/reusing them.

RileyJames 8y ago
Agreed. But their latest option is going to be “reusable plastic bags”, which means stronger plastic bags, containing more plastic, which many customers will still treat as disposable. I’m confused as to how that’s a step forward. How fucking hard is it to use the trolley to move your goods to your car, and then into your cupboard? You managed to collect all the goods and get them to the register without any bags...
- inertiatic 8y ago
  It's surely less convenient than paying for and using a cheap bag. Also, it would work in the specific situation you're describing (driving up to the store, parking back close to your house), but it doesn't really help in a lot of other use cases, so it can't be a universal solution.
- iainmerrick 8y ago
  I’m with you in principle, but to answer that last question -- quite hard? Getting the groceries into your car is easy, but the last step of carrying them into your kitchen is hard. Unless you take the trolley home.
- adrianN 8y ago
  Seems easy to make the bags expensive enough that consumers realize that they're supposed to be used multiple times.
- mhw 8y ago
  > How fucking hard is it to use the trolley to move your goods to your car, and then into your cupboard? Addressing the sibling comments on this: I don't know if it's common elsewhere, but some supermarkets in the UK have hand-held self-scanners that you can use while you walk around the shop. You pick things up, scan them with the scanner and put them in your (reusable) bags that you brought. Once you've got everything you go to a separate till where everything you've scanned comes up and you pay and go. Your groceries are already bagged and that makes it lots easier to unload into the house at the other end. I've noticed as a result that some shoppers turn up with much more substantial reusable bags than the normal 'bag for life' variety. Ones made from fabric that are constructed to stay open. Waitrose also have a version as an app so you can use your phone to do the scanning: https://www.waitrose.com/home/about_waitrose/quick_check/quick-check-app.html https://www.waitrose.com/home/about_waitrose/quick_check/qui...
Consultant32452 8y ago
The trouble with paper bags is that they don't biodegrade without oxygen, which is what happens when you bury paper under tons of other material in a land fill. So the paper and the plastic are both there 100 years later, but the paper takes up more space in the long run because it doesn't compress as small. Unfortunately there's no good answer here yet that I've seen.
- riffraff 8y ago
  what about biodegradable plastic bags? In italy those have been the norm for many years. They actually seem to decay quite fast (i.e. you can't reuse them for too many times).
ndnxhs 8y ago
In Australia they banned single use bags and now most people bring their reusable ones back to the store to reuse.