It's surely less convenient than paying for and using a cheap bag.
Also, it would work in the specific situation you're describing (driving up to the store, parking back close to your house), but it doesn't really help in a lot of other use cases, so it can't be a universal solution.
The reusable bag idea only really works for car owners where you can keep a bag stash or intentional, stand-alone grocery runs where you can take bags from your house ahead of time.
If you're just walking back home from some unrelated task and want to grab some groceries you will rarely have a bag on you, so you'll end up buying one anyway, it'll be then collecting dust at home for months before eventually being thrown away.
If I’m driving in my car, no problem. But I often go to the store by foot from somewhere else and am unprepared. The disposable bags are only like 8 cents anyways.
That's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure the problem it solves is worth the implementation cost. It's really trivially easy to bring a reusable bag with you when you go to work, on the off-chance you might go shopping. We're talking a couple cubic inches of volume and a few dozens of grams of weight.
I mostly agree, but here in NYC I don’t have a car to keep the bags in. If I stop at the grocery store on my way home from work, I either have to have planned ahead and put a reusable bag in my work backpack, or I have to buy more reusable bags (which eventually get tossed because we have too many of them).
It’s definitely better to have the bag with me, and just typing this out made me realize I can keep one or two in my backpack at all times.
The paper bags aren't that reliable though. They're fine if you're just carrying the groceries to/from your car, but then you're also likely to already have a bunch of bags/baskets laying in the car. They also suck for cold stuff (eg milk), as the condensation quickly renders them useless.
> It’s not worth $1.50 of my time to shlep a bag to the grocery store.
We keep a few reusable bags in the way-back of the (cross-over) vehicle; it's now a habit to grab the bags as we're getting out of the car in the grocery-store parking lot. Then after we get home and put the groceries away, we return the bags to the way-back of the car before closing the garage door.
Confused - are you saying that you go to the grocery store on an impulse and those impulses are never from home? (Where one would store the bags) And maybe you’re saying you just walk to the store - you don’t own a car or live very close - so you couldn’t even store the bags anywhere that would be convenient for use?
I’d understand if that’s the viewpoint but this sounds a bit contrived. I find bringing my bags is same or less effort as dealing with the ones I have to get rid of at the end of the trip plus the tax included. And I hate throwing away things that are single use when I could easily use something that doesn’t have that lifecycle.
Yes, I am well aware. But with kids and multiple adults sharing cars life happens. So I am still often stuck in stores without any sort of bags. I don't mind paying for them or using paper, but increasingly stores in our area have nothing except for totes.
In the UK shops have to charge for bags, think it's about 10p or more for the better quality ones.
Tbh it's easier to just bring your own bags, for a big grocery shop I have 2 bags lined with foil insulation to keep cold items cool. They're super easy to pack if you're smart with your item placement and super easy to get into the car. Cost about £20 from Amazon but you can probs find cheaper ones.
We've stopped using bags because we forget to bring the resubable ones to the store. Turns out that loading straight from the cart to the car is convenient, and grabbing a laundry hamper to haul stuff inside is even more convenient.
Would this problem be solved if there were bins in front of supermarkets where people could drop off their extra bags and other people could grab them if they needed them? I get that the stores may not like it because they sell the bags, but if they were onboard, would there be any reason why it wouldn't work?
> But the problem with reusable bags is that you have to know to bring them in advance
Or, you know, buy them in the store the time you forget. It adds a little expense, sure, but if your walking your not going to be buying more than one or two, and having a few extras around is useful.
> which is OK for the weekly massive shopping excursion, but not feasible for the "we're out of eggs and milk, please pick up some on your way back from work" situation.
Actually, there are ultracompact folding reusable bags that can easily be carried in a pocket or even fit on a keychain (and, also, would take a trivial amount of room in a backpack, briefcase, etc.) If you really have a non-car-using lifestyle, it really isn't that much of a burden to keep one handy for incidental shopping.
Reusable bags aren't an option for you? We have several of them and just put them in the trunk. If I forget to bring one (which happens 1-4 times a year) I buy a new one for 2€, replacing an almost broken one.
Also, it would work in the specific situation you're describing (driving up to the store, parking back close to your house), but it doesn't really help in a lot of other use cases, so it can't be a universal solution.
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