We have the same problem here where I work.
We have been told we are not to give bags unless the customer asks.
Almost every customer has a bag even the kids when they buy a few sweets, although I'm sure that's so they can go around the store and put a few more in their bag.

We are now only allocated a limited amount of bags.

Senior citizens are the least bother,the majority of them always bring their own reusable bag.

I think a charge will soon be brought in, which I can see will cause all kinds of upset amongst customers,however I do think it's a way around the problem.

I even have people coming in asking for a carrier bag, because their dog has done it's business on the street and they had forgotten to bring their own bag.

It's the worst of two evils really... do you leave the mess on the street for a passer by to walk in and maybe carry into the store.. or do you just give yet another carrier bag!!

I think charging for bags is a good idea in theory, but will it really cut down on how many bags end up in the garbage? People still throw away cans and bottles - and their deposits have been in place for at least 20 years.

I think people are either conscientious about the issues or they are not.

I don't know, I think it could cut down on the number of bags in the trash because it doesn't seem like people will want to pay for them. So if they're not buying them, they're not being thrown away by those people either.

At the public library where I work, we have always had available heavy plastic bags (with a library-type logo on them, silhouette of a girl reading a book). We would hand them out during rainy or snowy weather, or if someone checked out a lot of books that would be hard to carry, especially if he/she was also wrestling with a child or two. These plastic bags got to be expensive, and patrons didn't seem to bring them back to and reuse them at the library.

A couple of years ago, we bought sturdy navy blue canvas bags that hold maybe ten (or more) books. A patron had to pay $2 for each one. That didn't work, so we put a bar code on each bag and checked it out like any other library item. (We still also have bags available for purchase, the money to benefit the library in some way.) Now patrons can check out and return the bags just like they do other library materials. This has worked very well.

That sounds like a great idea Wondergirl!
The library here doesn't even have bags :eek: You just have to juggle the books.

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Originally Posted by shazamataz

That sounds like a great idea Wondergirl!
The library here doesn't even have bags :eek: You just have to juggle the books.

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Your library might appreciate hearing from you about this idea... Janway is our source for the canvas bags.

http://63.174.244.217/sub-productlis...sp?id=396&cid=

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely suggest it.

While we're on the subject of bags... do plastic bags really help to keep cold items cold? I have so many customers tell me, put this or that in a plastic bag so it stays cold. I just don't see how a thin, flimsy plastic bags keeps things colder then the paper bags (which are way easier for me to open lol). Especially when there's a lot of cold things that I could put all in one bag together vs spreading them out into a bunch of plastic bags.

I don't think they make a lot of difference keeping things cold.
It is handy for cold items as the wet condensation doesn't get everywhere when you put them in a plastic bag.

We have insulated cooler bags at our supermarket, they cost $2 and they have that silver shiny stuff inside them to keep everything cold :)

To top it all off now they said they had some micro biologists analyze used cloth bags and they had bacteria from the foods from previous shopping trips so I guess that means we need to run them through the washer after every use.

I was thinking about making some grocery totes cause I hate how the plastic breaks.

That's believable. Usually I like it when people bring their own bags but every now and then some people bring some bags in that I'm a little nervous to reach into... lol I guess I should start washing my bags regularly

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Originally Posted by N0help4u

To top it all off now they said they had some micro biologists analyze used cloth bags and they had bacteria from the foods from previous shopping trips so I guess that means we need to run them through the washer after every use.

I was thinking about making some grocery totes cause I hate how the plastic breaks.

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It's a great idea and they are easy to make...
Just please don't make them with drawstrings or anything silly!
Trust me, the supermarket staff will hate you! Lol

Put some hard cardboard or plastic on the botton too for your groceries to sit on.

I've often wondered if the grocery store would coroperate with me if I just used some cardboard boxes left over from work. Personally, I'd rather use boxes than bags. Especially since our county really has not recycling program. They have recycling boxes by the dump, but they just dump the recyclebles in the landfill (just in a separate place).

I have saved up a few cloth bags, I have a few from walmart and the dollar general. I keep meaning to use them for groceries, but I always forget and leave them at home. Every once in a while I do like to get some plastic bags though because I use them for liners in small trash cans. I also have about 20 other uses for plastic bags around the house.

Personally, I miss paper bags.

Same here.
I like Saves A Lot and Aldi's because you can just take some empty boxes off their shelf and use them. Their plastic bags you pay a nickel or whatever for are way better than the other grocery stores.
I have to tell Shop 'n Save and Giant Eagle to triple bag groceries because there are ALWAYS rips down the sides before they even put anything in them. You'd think they wouldn't make them so cheap since in the long run you have to use two or three.

Well yea, it's like at the autoparts store, if I'm going in for an oil change, I normally get a case of oil, open it, remove the quarts I don't need and stock them on the shelf, then put my filter, and other items in the oil box and check them out that way.

Smaller grocery stores are hard to do this since they always keep their shelves nice and tidy, thus removing the trays that cans and such went in, but in big box stores, you can take a cardboard tray from the canned veggie isle and use that.

Yeah, my store doesn't usually have many boxes laying around but I love it when people do happen to find one and just want everything loaded into that.