I too have used reusable cloth grocery bags for many years now. When shopping at some supermarket chains/grocery stores here, for each reusable bag used, they either give you some points (to be used later towards free stuff) or a small credit (equivalent to the cost of a new plastic bag).. My only problem when using my bags seems to be that when they are packing my order they tend to overload the bags and subsequently they can be too heavy for me to carry. Before putting them in my car I will then rearrange and redistribute the groceries to other bags so that I'm able to manage them when I get home.
I have good intentions. It's just so much easier to let them put groceries in the plastic bags than carry reusable ones in. First, I have to remember to put them in the car. Then I have to remember to take them with me when I go into the store. If they get dirty, they have to be washed and dried.
That is exactly what my situation is, too, @Shirley Martin . I discovered that the reusable bags are always cheap at the thrift stores, so when I need some, I got them when I was shopping on senior day (30% off of everything). I keep them in the back seat of the stationwagon; but I never think to bring them into the store with me when I go in. We have some larger ones that @Ina I. Wonder gave me, and those hook on the sides of the grocery shopping cart. We use those when we make our monthly trips to Sam's club, and Bobby always remembers to get those out of the car. Sometimes, I shop at ALDI and they don't furnish bags; so I have to either remember to bring mine inside, or just take the grocery cart out to the car and then put them into the reusable bags.
Hawaii banned the little plastic bags a few years ago, so I got used to using the cloth bags at Target, etc. Safeway still used paper bags if you didn't bring the cloth bags. Now that I'm in Arizona I do still try to use the cloth bags. Yes, you do need to occasionally wash the cloth bags, but since I have at least a dozen of them its no big deal. Hoot the Poodle
California hasn't banned the plastic bags but you have to pay for them now, also have to pay for paper. Monterey County started it awhile ago but in Fresno it's just in the past year we've had to pay. All stores.
We don't get our shopping packed for us at the supermarkets...we have to bag our own... In Aldi, we have to place the groceries back into the trolley or basket ...and take the groceries over to a shelf by the window, and pack over there so that the cashier can scan everyone's shopping much faster and not be held up with people bagging their shopping and then searching for their purse to pay etc...like all the other supermarkets. That said, most of our supermarkets now have self scan tills.... just yesterday we were in our local supermarket which has 18 checkouts...only one was manned and it had a huge queue at it..... everyone else was having to use the self scanning tills. It took us twice as long to get through because the eternal robotic voice kept saying there was ''an unexpected item in the bagging area'' which of course there wasn't ..and the floor walker had to keep coming and unlocking the till for us to continue ...really irritating!!
Agreeded....very irritating. People at store where hubby works... Just turning around and walking out the door because they have one checker. It is becoming a trend here to only have one checker- yet there are 20 lanes
Champion (where I worked), along with all but one other large-scale paper bag manufacturer in the United States closed its plants down in the 1980s because there was a campaign against using paper products. Killing trees, and all that. Then, they all switched to plastic and, even today, you don't get a paper grocery bag unless you ask for one, and they're hidden beneath the counter so you don't even know to ask for one. And now, plastic bags are the problem. What's next? Are they going to start complaining about the fabric bags? I don't understand how people who impose extra taxes on the very people who they are dependent upon for reelection manage to get reelected anyhow. People are stupid, I guess.
I'm with you on the bagging issue. Some bag terrible. I too have made rearrangements even in the store, especially if it's hot. I have this little obsession that 'this bag is for these items, all cold go in this bag, heavy things in these bags.' I can't expect the baggers to be mind readers but some do pack too much and too heavy and I have had them leave a bag empty while over filling the others.
I hope they don't start complaining about the fabric bags. I have ones I made 10+ years ago and are still in good shape and have been washed multiple times. Someone might get upset if you say people are stupid. Just saying.
lol - yep - I'm always amused at such posts - is the poster saying they are not a people, or admitting that they are stupid? I don't thing that's what they mean to say...... Ken - no offense Hoot, who is a people too.
I like making and using shopping bags. I started a couple of years back when I got tired of plastic bags hurting my hands. My bags don't tear at the handles. The purchases don't generally poke holes through my bags. To make the bags I buy canvas tarps when I find them on sale. The fabric is so strong, and much cheaper than anything I can find in a cloth store. I like to personalize them with storybook themes using fabric paints. I make them really large, 36" x 36" x 18". Then I give them away just before Christmas, so that my friends have a good way carry their purchases, instead of struggling with several individual clumsy plastic bags. I'll be doing two this year. They make really nice CHEAP gifts, and it gives me something to do with my hands when I watch a movie with Bobert.
Here you are Shirley, all is revealed ; <iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
In Millinocket, we have two grocery stores and a couple of convenience stores or small neighborhood markets. The two grocery stores are literally across the street from one another. When the IGA store changed into a Save-a-Lot store, they quit giving out bags. In order to shop there, you either had to carry everything out individually, bring a bag, or buy a reusable bag. The owners apologized, saying that was a Save-a-Lot policy. Some of the regular IGA shoppers shopped there anyhow, and they did have some better prices on meat, which brought people in, but the Hannaford store across the street began doing a lot better. They have either plastic or paper grocery bags for free and will bag your groceries for you. As a matter of principle, I didn't go back to the Save-a-Lot store since we found out they weren't giving out bags. It wasn't our favorite store anyhow. I think my wife snuck in there every now and then for the better prices on meat but she did most of her shopping at Hannaford too. I know that I have spoken to other people who complained about the bag thing too, and it did seem that there were fewer cars in the lot at Save-a-Lot than there was when it was an IGA. However, my wife learned today that they have quit that policy and they now have free plastic grocery bags, and they will bag your groceries for you, so I guess they noticed the decreased business. I like seeing a win every once in a while. Unfortunately, we now have a Democrat governor and Democrats in the majority in both the state House and Senate, and they are absolutely loony. Everything California is coming to Maine except for the weather and, while I don't think it's been proposed yet, I'll be surprised if we don't have a statewide bag ban before the nuttiness is over and we elect someone sensible again. If they are banned statewide, I'll do more of my shopping online.