She now uses reusable shopping bags on her grocery trips.
All the stores around here have them now, unlike a year or so ago. But I’ve taken my cue from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They won’t get married until gay people can get married.
I won’t use a reusable shopping bag until they are free. If someplace like Krogers would give everyone two reusable bags as a promotion then by golly I’d use the heck out of that thing. As it stands now, though, you have to spend money to save the earth and I happen to think that isn’t the right way to do it. Corporations spend money on the disposable bags. Using a reusable bag will save them money–every reusable bag I use is two or three fewer flimsy plastic bags per trip that the store has to pay for. So why on earth should I spend three to five dollars in order to save some megacorporation like Kroger or Target some cash? Answer: I don’t think I should have to.
Whole Foods gave away one free bag per customer on Earth Day, and then they charge .99/bag for the reusable ones. Going forward they give you back a nickel per bag every time you use it. So it actually could become cash-positive to do the right thing.
Of course everything at Whole Foods costs 35% more than it should, but that wasn’t what you asked about.
Turnip Truck in East Nashville gave a free reusable bag to the first 500 newsletter subscribers who asked for one. That was pretty cool.
You can also reuse the plastic ones you normally get. In my experience they’ll hold up through 2-3 repeat uses.
I get a 15 cent credit for each reusable bag at both Safeway and TJ’s, so after a while they pay for themselves. Mine were gifts, though, from my tree-hugger sister.
Dolphin, if you do that, once they are worn out you can also give them to B to crochet new bags from.
although it’s not much and I rarely shop there, Kroger gives you 4 cents off per bag/per trip… every little bit helps…
You were the one who turned me onto Vonage. I will now return the favor.
Plumgood Food.
I’ve spent about 30 to 40% less than I usually do at WalMart or Kroger (really!), my groceries basically carpool with other folks’, and there are no bags at all.
And most of all, I dont have to spend several hours a weekend in hell.
If you give it a look, let me know so I can sign up for a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
you know, that’s a REALLY good point.
I think my Kroger bags have paid for themselves, though, in my convenience (they’re just so much easier to haul my groceries in) and maybe in the 4-cent rebate for each bag (though the cashiers usually forget to put it in, and I forget to remind them until it’s too late).
I’ll go one step further and ask why big corporations should give us free bags.
The more green-wash I see about special and designer bags, the less I want to carry one.
Why not just do it as individuals? Who doesn’t have an old totebag that can be repurposed?
Who doesn’t have an old totebag that can be repurposed?
Me, actually. Seriously; I’ve donated all my old totebags to my niece or to various fundraiser places that use them for book sales. Except for the two I use for knitting projects.
There’s one question I have — living by myself, I frequently have small shopping trips and use the self-checkout. In order to use the self-checkout, you have to place the items into the plastic shopping bag (because it’s attached to a scale) as you scan them. Is there a way to use the reusable bags at the self-checkout? If you slipped one over the hooks before you started scanning your order, would it throw off the scale?
Good question! And oddly, now that you’ve mentioned it, I can’t think of a single self-checkout line in a grocery story in the Bay Area. Weird! I never missed them.
You can either fill up your reusable bag as you shop and then just sit your groceries on the shelf as you check out or put your reusable bag on the left side and fill it as you scan. The scale will either tare itself or whoever is customer service over the self-scan will just reset it. Nobody has ever thought we were shoplifting when we put our groceries in the bag as we shopped.
Kat, I think you are good with a needle and thread, no? Make your own. I saw a cool bag once fashioned from blue-jean material, with long straps attached. I really don’t want to shill for certain stores, what happens if i take my Kroger bag to Publix? Do I pay more?
Its just way cool that people are at least talking about this…
John,
Alot of times (not always) you can fake out the self-checkout scale to accept your bag by scanning a heavy item first (like a carton of milk or a bag of pet food), place that in your bag, and then place the bag on the scale. The bag doesn’t add enough weight to the product to be outside the programmed variance hence the scale assumes that your bag+product is really just the product. Then you can continue to fill the bag right on the scale as usual.
Remember, when dealing with technology like scales in Kroger, that you are smarter than the scale. It has no idea how much a gallon of milk weighs, much less the difference between the many varieties and sizes of cereal boxes. All it knows is that the pressure on top of it changed (or didn’t).
Also, you get more ‘upscale chic’ cred if you take the publix bag into krogers, mack, so take a trip to the dairy queen in g’ville, pick up a publix bag while you’re in the hood, and then head to krogers.
Not exactly true Jim. Maybe it’s just in the newer models but there’s a certain weight programed in for items in the store (with a certain variance since even two identical products don’t weigh exactly the same thing). So the scale DOES know approximately how much a gallon of milk weighs and approx how much a cereal box with a particular SKU number weighs. Give it a try, scan a box of cereal, then put a box of cat litter on the scale. It says “Please remove the last item and scan it before placing the item in the bag.”
I use those canvas bags from Kroger at the self-checkout and have never had a problem. I just set them down on the little bag thingy before I start scanning my stuff. And Amy’s right, you do have to remind the checkers of the 4 cent discount per bag (which I do.) Hey, every little bit helps!!
I put my baggus (baggubag.com) on the hooks at the self checkout and the attendant just has to clear the system because it thinks I’ve put an item down already. It’s not a complicated process.
This point has already been made, but yes, they do already give you reusable bags–the plastic and paper bags can be reused. But I bought my own because they fold up well and hold a lot more. I use them at the grocery and anywhere else I’d get a bag. I rarely get a confused look.
Katherine–will you get your own reusable bags when they start charging for bags? It’s already happening at some stores and will become more widespread very soon.
Lesley, if you like Baggus you should try ChicoBags. They’re about half the price of Baggus but otherwise very similar. And the storage pouch is actually sewn into the seam of the bag so it never gets lost.
I use my Envirosaxs everywhere. They wad up into tiny little nothings and I keep 2 in my purse and 4 in my car. My only problem with them is the straps are too short to put over my shoulder.
I got mine on delight.com which as alot of other consumer-environmental stuff.
This week’s penny item at Publix was a reusable bag. I have never paid for any of my bags and I have several. What annoys me is that when I take my Kroger bags into Publix, the cashier makes some sarcastic remark. I’m thinking, “I’m saving your store money by bringing my own bags! What does it matter what they have printed on them?”