Half In The Bag

When it comes to recycling, I feel like the reusable shopping bag is literally the least a person can do. You know the things I am talking about - the $2 bags which are made out of a stronger material than your average free plastic or paper bag that you then bring back around every time you go grocery shopping. The reason I think everyone should have a few of these bags is that they really are a win for both sides. The bags are supposed to be much better for the environment because even if you recycle a plastic bag it takes forever to fully break down. The consumer wins because they don't rip or tear between the cart and the car like every other bag the grocery store tries to give you. You can get six bottles of soda in these bags - try carry more than two in a plastic bag. (Seriously, plastic bags rip if the wind is blowing too strongly. Quick theory: grocery store bags have gotten weaker in the last few years as a way to guilt you into buying the reusable bags.) As an added bonus since the reusable bags have wider handles which don't dig into your hands you can carry more (my record is 8 bags in one trip), which means fewer trips between the car and the kitchen. It's a great idea and it is really too bad it took us this long for it to catch on considering the early days of grocery stores were probably giving you bags which could have been reused and we just didn't make the connection. All that being said, I don't feel like every other kind of store should assume we brought a bag with us into their store.

The other day I was in a store buying a non-food item. What it was is not important, just know that it was slightly heavy and kind of an awkward size. On top of that I had one more loose item, a bottle of soda. So, I bring my items up to pay and the woman scans through the drink and hands it back to me, as you do. But after she scans through the box she looks at me and says, "This doesn't need a bag." Not wanting to disagree with a woman who makes this judgement call all day, every day as her chosen profession I didn't say anything but she then hands me the box, my soda and my change with my wallet still in one hand. Now I am trying to get out of the way of the next people in line but also put my money back in my wallet without dropping my soda and carrying this box which was again not heavy, but awkward. You know what really would have come in handy at that moment? A bag which would have allowed me to carry this box with two fingers and left the rest of my hand free to finish my business and fish out my keys. Instead I was left balancing these things like an idiot as I made my way to the car while everyone I walked passed was probably wondering why I didn't use a bag and make it easier for myself.

I bring this up because it has come to my attention that a lot of stores have begun to try and get people to opt-out of taking a bag for their items. I'm not talking hippy stores like Trader Joe's which want to guilt you into it, I mean the stores which try to slyly withhold the option. What's even stranger is when it happens in stores where the items they typically make some kind of bag to carry them all in a given. I don't know why it happened, but suddenly the people behind the registers are acting like every bag which is given away comes straight out of their paycheck. As a result, they try to convince you to go without, especially if they see you already have a bag from another store. (No, I don't want to shove a dirty shoe box into the same bag as my new sweater. Call me crazy.) It's usually very subtle, with the clerk just asking, "Did you want a bag for this?" with a tone which indicates they don't think you do. Normally I agree with them because the last thing I want is one more thing to throw away. But it really depends on what you are buying and how many. If it is just one item than yeah, I can carry it to my car but if it is a lot of something, even if those things are small, sometimes a way to corral them would be in my best interest. I just think that whether or not I will do that should be left up to me.

This is a large cultural shift from just a few years ago when stores were willing to shoehorn bags onto items that didn't even need them to begin with. I remember buying a TV which came in a box that had handles on it and the woman behind the counter still tried to put a bag on each half to try and cover it all up before she finally heard me say it really wasn't necessary. Apparently plastic was more abundant then. I guess it is probably good that more people are environmentally conscious, but some times it does feel like we have done that oldest of moves, which is to try and correct bad behavior by over-correcting in the opposite direction even though the answer probably lies in moderation (as it always does). Any way you want to look at it, I don't think we have quite reached the point where people are trained enough to bring their own bags to every store, so why don't we have one common sense rule: if people bring their items to the register in some kind of cart that is their signal to the clerk they have more than an armful of items and are going to need something to carry them home. Besides, when you remember that most stores are going to self-checkout whenever possible maybe looking busy for a few extra seconds isn't the worst thing in the world.