I do remember to take them, my issue is remembering to take them out of the car and into the store. By the time I'm in line and paying, I'm sure the people behind don't want to wait for me to go out and bring my bags in. It's only been about a year that the law was passed that we have to pay for our bags...before that they just bagged them for you automatically. I'll never remember getting them from my trunk but might if I put them on the front passenger seat...throw a bunch in there. Anyway I don't go there that often. Trader Joe's bags are paper.
I need something. Carrying in groceries is about the hardest thing I do and I have to handle that portable oxygen tank, too. Maybe a mini motorcycle with sidecar, if I could teach my wife to use it. I've got one of thjose milk crates on wheels that folds up a bit when not in use but it is small and takes a number of trips to bring in the groceries. It's abut as difficultas carrying groceries in. Regarding plastic grocery bags. We throw ours in a bin and carry them to Walmart who accepts them and recycles them but laws going through the process now appear to favor discontinuing the use of plastic for groceries or charge so much per bag. And I know our oceans are filling with plastic and are a danger to habitat. So while plastic is easier for dme to carry (not as heavy), I would gladly welcome the end off their usage.
The world would save a fortune on the obscene amounts of oil used to produce these rotten toxic bags too
I wonder what type of wildlife @Chrissy Cross has in her garage that could be damaged by her bags in there ? (My mental image of this idea is amazing......)
Capitalism has taken us in many different directions and often we didn't know where we were going as far as the environment was concerned. We developed products, hired employees, upgraded equipment produced more and better products without a notion where, what we were doing, would lead us. Product improvement, fuller employment is where we put our endeavors and doing bad things, unknowingly. In due course as the evidence becomes more sbvious we will change course.
Well, these carts are plentiful in supermarkets here, and in the Frisco & Oakland Chinatowns they are everywhere, although the Chinese all use the worst sort...the two-wheel kind shown in post#15. That is what I started with. You can't push the gawd-awful thing as it will always go in the opposite direction, and can't pull it very far without making your arm sore. From there I upgraded to the four wheel sort with the two front wheels fixed. A bit better, but you can only push it in a straight line; to turn it you have to pull it back onto its rear wheels...when its full of groceries that is a pulled muscle waiting to happen. Only sort worth having is the kind with the two front wheels that swivel. I guess convenience is in the eye of the beholder. Just as you have to watch that the bag boy at the supermarket don't put canned goods on top the eggs, bread, etc., you have to watch how you are loading one of these carts, & you have to watch how you put groceries in the back seat of the car (so if you have to hit the brakes you don't get an egg shampoo). As Sheldon pointed out in post #2, one of the carts I linked to has a stair-climbing function. If you live in an upstairs apartment, and you would rather park all your grocery bags at the landing, carry up heavy sacks two at a time, and make multiple trips up and down the stairs, then I guess we got different ideas of what is convenient. Stairs are not my friend, which is why I never consider an upstairs apartment.
And don't forget the joy of getting full paper bags of groceries, leaving the supermarket in a downpour, wrestle it all onto a bus or into your car, get it home, lift the bag, the wet bottom splits, and groceries go everywhere. Such fun! I saw an expose on TV about a year ago on paper recycling plants backed up with mini-mountains of recycled paper...plenty of supply, little demand. So if all the paper bags being hawked by the Nannyites are not coming from recycled paper, golly gee, I wonder where its coming from?
I worked in paper bag plants for about twelve years, and from about 1990 on, pretty much everything we ran was with recycled paper. I hated it, as it was much more difficult to make a good bag with.
Yes a pity the big wigs lack foresight, so much damage done now, will take many years, if ever, to see an improvement We used paper carrying bags years ago, they were very sturdy, 'one' store still uses them and Amazon are great regarding packaging - always cardboard. Our Grandmothers always took their own bags as I do
We still use a brown grocery paper bag to store potatoes in in the cupboard. Once in a while I will pick up a couple from our local grocery store.
Pretty much every store still has paper bags beneath the counter that are available on request. When I am buying only a few bags worth of groceries, I'll ask for paper because then I can put my compostables into it and simply dump the whole thing in the compost pile.
Yes, some stores have the paper bags but they still cost 10 cents. Problem with the ones at some stores is they don't have the handles and that's a pain for me to carry. TJ's has nice ones but not free either...
We bought our own bags made of cloth, they fold and are secured by press studs, really good Look like a flat purse when folded