Bloody Co-op carrier bags
Discussion
In a fit of greeness, no doubt inspired by desire to get a quick headline, some PR and save money all at once, the Co-op has stopped giving out normal carrier bags at the checkout.
I was given three choices.
Firstly, a very small biodegradeable bag for 1p, which is too small to get anything in. There is no point in having a bag that small - whatever would fit in it could simply be carried.
Secondly, a slightly larger biodegradeable bag for 2p, which looks OK until you try to put anything in it. The plastic is so weak that a jar of marmalade was sufficiently heavy to put a 3" split in the side.
Thirdly, a much larger and visibly more robust for 10p, but which looks totally gay so not an option.
So, we have a company that sells a product not fit for purpose and saves money by doing so. Its green credentials are more transparent than its useless bags. All they have done is make life more expensive and difficult for its customers. How ethical is that? If the bag is biodegradable, it's carbon neutral anyway so what's the problem?
I was given three choices.
Firstly, a very small biodegradeable bag for 1p, which is too small to get anything in. There is no point in having a bag that small - whatever would fit in it could simply be carried.
Secondly, a slightly larger biodegradeable bag for 2p, which looks OK until you try to put anything in it. The plastic is so weak that a jar of marmalade was sufficiently heavy to put a 3" split in the side.
Thirdly, a much larger and visibly more robust for 10p, but which looks totally gay so not an option.
So, we have a company that sells a product not fit for purpose and saves money by doing so. Its green credentials are more transparent than its useless bags. All they have done is make life more expensive and difficult for its customers. How ethical is that? If the bag is biodegradable, it's carbon neutral anyway so what's the problem?
Ah yes they're not very 'Co operative' 
I witnessed a similar situation in Waitrose last week. Before me in the queue was a little old lady who had about a dozen items. When asked if she had a bag of her own she promptly produced a rancid rag of a bag which was filthy and torn. As she opened it it launched fluff and dusty crap all over the conveyor belt. I'm sure she did it on purpose and I couldn't help but snigger as the cashier tried in vain to help clear it all up
Well done Gran that was a corker
I witnessed a similar situation in Waitrose last week. Before me in the queue was a little old lady who had about a dozen items. When asked if she had a bag of her own she promptly produced a rancid rag of a bag which was filthy and torn. As she opened it it launched fluff and dusty crap all over the conveyor belt. I'm sure she did it on purpose and I couldn't help but snigger as the cashier tried in vain to help clear it all up
Well done Gran that was a corker
Cheeky Jim said:
Here's an idea....take your own bag/s before you go?
It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
Yep. It's also the same reason I don't bake my own bread, grow my own veg or rear my own cattle. Civilisation is supposed to go forwards, not backwards! We want cheap, fast and convenient, not expensive, slow and inconvenient. That way you get happier bunnies It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
FourWheelDrift said:
It is ridiculous. Other places have started doing this as well, but I like getting plastic carrier bags from shopping as I recycle them into pedal bin liners. Ironic when they also sell pedal bin liners separately, damn perhaps they have found out. B'stads..
Exactly. I had a bit of a run in with the dullard on the checkouts at Pikeysons because I didn't want a free "bag for life" (or "mother-in-law" as I like to call it). I asked if she seriously wanted me to go and pick up a roll of bin liners, and carry them home in my "eco-holdall". Bloody nonsense the lot of it. Cheeky Jim said:
Here's an idea....take your own bag/s before you go?
It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
No we didn't, I was born in the 1970's and even I remember what was around before plastic bags, brown paper bags. Now why don't they go back to them (the do in the USA) and they are biodegradable and recyclable as well.It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
Also, if I go to my local farm shop, as well as hugely better quality produce, they hang on to the empty veg boxes and give them out instead of carriers. That box is then recycled once (into a device for carrying food home in) and then again (into a box for storing crap in my garage).
Of course, the supermarkets no longer keep old boxes. Why? Health and Safety, of course - I asked.
Of course, the supermarkets no longer keep old boxes. Why? Health and Safety, of course - I asked.
FourWheelDrift said:
... brown paper bags. Now why don't they go back to them (the do in the USA)
You watch too much television. All the large shops like K-Mart, Wal-Mart etc use plastic bags and put a maximum of three items in each. Madness. The only place I've seen brown paper bags is in specialist shops, delicatessens and the like.Simpo Two said:
Cheeky Jim said:
Here's an idea....take your own bag/s before you go?
It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
Yep. It's also the same reason I don't bake my own bread, grow my own veg or rear my own cattle. Civilisation is supposed to go forwards, not backwards! We want cheap, fast and convenient, not expensive, slow and inconvenient. That way you get happier bunnies It's what we all did before the invention of plastic bags in the first place...it's only cause we are so bloody lazy we can't be bothered to carry it round the shops....
Having said that, Fridges would work better if they were kept in rooms designed to be cold like larders used to be. Instead the fridge is in a centrally heated kitchen which is pointless. Could you argue that civilisation was going backwards because good ideas from the past are not used now?
Flintstone said:
FourWheelDrift said:
... brown paper bags. Now why don't they go back to them (the do in the USA)
You watch too much television. All the large shops like K-Mart, Wal-Mart etc use plastic bags and put a maximum of three items in each. Madness. The only place I've seen brown paper bags is in specialist shops, delicatessens and the like.Flintstone said:
You watch too much television. All the large shops like K-Mart, Wal-Mart etc use plastic bags and put a maximum of three items in each. Madness. The only place I've seen brown paper bags is in specialist shops, delicatessens and the like.
Not true. How do I know this? Well, on my first visit to an American supermarket (Dillons, in Wichita, if you're a sucker for detail) I put all my stuff through the checkout and the girl asked me "paper or plastic?". "I'll pay cash, thanks" was my reply.
"OK, but, paper or plastic?"
"I'LL PAY CASH, THANK YOU"
"DO YOU WANT A PAPER BAG, OR A PLASTIC BAG SIR?"
"Plastic for the shopping and paper for me
""Have a nice day"
So I know, for certain, that they do offer paper bags in American supermarkets.
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