Plastic, paper or...? The Bags Poll!

[Nrthwnd]

Decided to BUMP this, as people are still concerned about whether cutting down on plastic bags is really doing anything good...

 

Of course it is!

 

And if one gets plastic bags in their shopping day, recycling the bags back to the store (where the bags came from) is always acceptable, yes?

[spaceace12]

At my p/t job we have a plastic type of bag that is re useable that sell really well. Plus they hold tons of weight, so much I think they get on the heavy side. Also people like to re use the brown paper bags.

[nagro5]

I'm not really the one who goes shopping, but my family gets plastic. We have a whole drawer full of them. When our drawer gets full we just recycle them.

[coasterfreak101]

I've noticed in American grocery stores that they tend to use both paper and plastic bags. They'll put plastic on the outside, and the put a paper bag on the inside. My question is why?????! Also, it seems to be standard to use plastic in grocery stores right? You have to ask or else they will just give you plastic? Maybe it's different on the west coast...

 

I'm a casheir at a grocery store, and I absolutely HATE when people do the paper-in-plastic thing. I mean, isn't the point of using paper to save the environment? And how are you doing that if you're using plastic as well? I want to punch people when they ask me for that. (No offense to anyone here who does it.)

 

I use plastic - one, because it's easy and carryable, and two, because, being a casheir, I know how much it sucks to have to load paper bags or those new rreusable bags. Unless those reusable ones have the plastic base, then they're easy to use and I don't mind them.

[spaceace12]

As a cashier/bagger/cart guy at a grocery store, I know what you mean, but about the paper in plastic thing. Fresh meat has a tendacy to leak, and that is why. You don't want meat blood all over your bread or fresh produce. And paper hold a lot more groceries (just remember, light stuff on top heavy on bottom). I work at a store with millionaire shoppers (I just found out there were a few more than what I thought), so I do as they wish and they remember me at Christmas time! Paper takes longer to bag, but paper holds more.

[astroworldfan1]

I like using the reuseable bags because you can use them for anything!

 

-Tatum

[Gav]

I remember when I visited an American supermarket for the first time being asked "Paper or Plastic".....At the time I thought they were asking if I was paying with Paper (Cash) or Plastic (Credit Card), needless to say I never realised you had a choice about the bags you get.

 

When we shop we use some of the reusable fabric bags, but the rest still come in plastic (We don't have paper as an option) just so we can get some bin liners.

 

Regardless of the criticism plastic bags receive, they do have some

of

[Kalepi_Konei]

I carry the stuff with my 2 bare arms, when we go we never get much so it's really easy.

 

But on the days where its rainy so we don't go and after a while everythings gone, and we need to make a BIG load, we use plastic.

[terrancew_hod]

Unfortunately I use plastic, but we reuse the bags for carrying lunch or other items back and forth to work. Since there is a fight for parking in Miami, I have to walk back forth to the car when I go shopping... paper bags, unless they have some handles won't work for me, especially in rainy season.

[TheRapidsNerd]

I still use plastic bags, however, I have entertained buying the reusables from Walmart. Thing is, I recycle the plastic bags as trash can liners, thus saving money and more plastic.

[spaceace12]

i use plastic as cat litter holders after kitty dirties it up.

[Kalepi_Konei]

^ So do we....I thought I was alone on that one....

[Nrthwnd]

^

 

See? It just goes to show you are never alone in the world.

 

When it comes to plastic bags and their faaaaaaaaaabulous uses.

 

[doublex98]

My mom does the shopping, but I am pretty sure she uses plastic.

[Jumboshrmp]

I am a grocery store bagger at Publix.

 

The store and all of our orientations tell us to always use plastic unless the customer asks otherwise. The official rule is to ask "Is plastic okay?" (in those exact words) but almost nobody does that.

 

Plastic isn't very wasteful as long as you pack them reasonably. A lot of people are pansies and ask for them light, either because they think they are going to break (won't happen unless the bag is broken from the start, in which case the bag will break as soon as I put it in the cart, not when you are walking up your 20 flights of stairs at the apartment that every publix shoppers says they live in when they tell me to pack light.) Sometimes they tell me to pack light because they are "old and can't carry them. In that circumstance, they pick all the handles up with one hand and walk away....

 

I'd say maybe 5% of our customers ask for paper, and a few ask for paper in plastic, but these people are rare. The thing with publix, is that we put customer service VERY high on ou priorities, so however the customer wants their s*** bagged, we HAVE to do it. Some people even come up to me, say they don't trust me and tell me to go away while they bag their own. Fine with me, I go to the break room and have some of yesterday's bakery products that they can't sell anymore (as long as another register doesn't need help).

 

And The number of people bringing in reusable cloth bags is getting higher and higher. I'd say about 20% are bringing them in or buying them. For $0.99 you can buy a reusable Publix "Green Bag", and I love these things. Easy to bag, and you can stuff them to the top and people won't mind.

 

 

So....... for anyone who doesn't feel like reading my bagger rant (actually, my official job title is "Front Service Clerk ), heres a summary:

 

75% Still are okay with plastic. If I ever shop I get plastic too, but I fill them up.

 

5% Ask for paper.

 

20% Either bring their own reusable bags or buy them at the register.

 

0.1% Want paper in plastic.

 

Some people ask for no bags.

 

Isn't my life exciting?!

[supertrooper]

I use plastic, because I need them to pick up my dog's poop in the yard. Gross, but true.