Costco Raises Food Court Prices

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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

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buckguy wrote: July 22nd, 2022, 4:25 pm
storewanderer wrote: July 19th, 2022, 9:38 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: July 19th, 2022, 5:12 am

We need to help people realize that plastic is being buried in landfills and we need to encourage alternatives. Ultimately, plastic particles are contaminating our food and getting into our bodies. Plastic particles are found in fish and other food. This is coming back to haunt us. Micro-plastics are found in humans and it is causing all sorts of health problems. Many health conditions were very rare until plastics started showing up everywhere. Plastics contain endocrine disruptors. These are linked to autism. The rate of autism has exploded ever since plastic replaced glass in many food containers.

Plastics #3 to #7 used to be sent to China where it was burned for fuel.
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/ ... g-america/

Plastic may seem more convenient but ultimately perhaps Costco and other food places need to switch back to traditional materials such as paper cups that are not leaving micro-plastics that go into the food chain. Maybe they could go back to paper straws coated with wax. Those were used in the past.
But the problem is everything done to regulate and restrict plastic is causing more plastic to be used. Regulate the thin plastic bag, but allow bags 6 times thicker... regulate the plastic straw, but not the plastic cup so places give you a paper or some other material straw but give you a plastic cup (who used to give you a paper cup).

So the solution is to force the recycling to actually take place. As was suggested in the post above- figure out what China was doing with all of that plastic they used to take, and do it here. And let industry figure it out. Regulate how much plastic is allowed in the waste stream and how much must be recycled. Force the companies who make it to deal with the problem if it is such a problem (I think it is being overblown how much of a problem it really is), like they did with the tobacco companies.

If industry can't figure out how to recycle it, then they can't produce it. I suspect they would figure out how to recycle it in short order.

All the plastic regulations have done is INCREASE plastic use, INCREASE overall waste, INCREASE profits for the plastic companies, INCREASE profits for other little companies who make the "allowable" alternate products and price gouge for it and actively participate in anti plastics legislation to build their alternate product businesses, and most importantly INCREASE costs to the consumer. These regulations have also hurt US jobs as many of the "replacement" products tend to be imported. But if you force the recycling and make it take place here you will retain the jobs producing plastic products here plus create more jobs here for the new industries that pop up from the recycling. Seems like a win win to me.

And that is the biggest problem I see is this is a legislated as a waste reduction move but all that is being done, at best, is you shift the waste type around. Instead of a little plastic shampoo bottle in a hotel now it is a little foil thing like a fast food ketchup. No more little plastic straws, but a ton more big huge plastic cups. No more thin plastic bags, but super thick ones replace them. No plastic utensils, new "compostable" ones that look suspiciously like plastic.

This is turning into yet another topic that is just costing the public at large more money, lining corporate pockets further, and wasting everyone's time because it is being over-regulated and the regulations are a total and complete failure at accomplishing what they claim to want to accomplish.
I don't see anyone presenting any data for the usual statements supporting the status quo. This is the same stuff we used to hear about cars and air pollution. It's the same strategy used by big tobacco to fight regulation of smoking and it served as the blueprint for everything else the corporate sector is unwilling to do: Create doubt, don't present any real data and conceal what you already know to be true.

Recycling moved from China to other countries with Indonesia being a major importer. It's likely that markets for this will simply move like any other markets have. The long-term solution is buying less commodity junk and making more use of reusables and better consideration of materials entering the environment. The products that accomplish this often start out as relatively expensive but often go to scale and become cheaper. Jackets insulated with recycled soda bottles are one example of this.

Back to where this started people holding on to leaky cups and complaining about faulty straws. Frankly a decent milkshake or the usual frappacino (or a knock off) will ultimately get stuck in any straw. Ditto a slurpee, even with the bigger straws they used to have. Cheap cups often leak. The tops sometimes don't fit and any straw is going to have problems with a lot of drinks. Styrofoam is among the most difficult products to recycle. Investing in a good insulating bottle is probably a better use of rime and resources. I mentioned it because it is one of my favorite travel gadgets and saves me from things like overpriced bottles of water at convenience stores on turnpikes, so it's more than paid for itself. Whether you buy a gadget like that is your choice, but the point is you don't have to buy junk that is a drag on the environment even if the drag is cut just a bit. I gave up Amazon except for downloads and things I truly couldn't find elsewhere---not difficult and it means that more money circulates locally which is good for any community. I avoid Walmart, in part, because they circulate so little money in the communities they dominate. They've been destructive in numerous other ways---they've been destructive to communities, workers, and suppliers. It's taken a long time, but their apologists have become fewer and fewer and perhaps the same will come to be said about styrofoam. WM and Amazon are no longer the bargain they once were, so it's actually pretty easy to live well and not spend a lot of money or cause a lot of un-necessary packaging to be used. Believe whatever you want from corporate talking points, but they usually turn out to be willful lies and it's not too difficult to live outside of them.
Well said !!!!!!
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by storewanderer »

People won't buy less commodity junk because sales of commodity junk are a huge economic driver both for the countries manufacturing the products and the countries in the importing/retailing field.

So that is the issue- most of the plastic waste is from commodity junk that is overly plastic. Seasonal goods, etc. The waste that is coming from things like cups, straws, bags, and cutlery is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the total waste. These items are not the problem. Regulating them is accomplishing nothing. And that is my whole point is that regulating the extremely thin/limited use/cost engineered to be almost no plastic use-plastic products, and then pushing people to "reusables" which are yet another one of those "junk commodity" items at this point with the usual race to the bottom, is just increasing plastic use, increasing plastic waste, hurting the environment, hurting the consumer.

Do you think the homeless folks out there on the street are buying Yeti reusable cups or good $8 cloth bags for reuse for groceries? They are out there scraping to get by with the disposable goods available.

And the majority of society can't afford the Yeti reusable cup or the good $8 cloth bag either- they are buying the junk commodity $4 reusable cup that goes bust after a few months and the $2 reusable bag that starts cracking after a few uses and is thrown away.

Not everyone is so privileged that they can buy top of the line durable reusables. And the mass produced reusables are the Amazon and Wal Mart junk you refer to that just increases waste more and more and more. This is why the whole plastic reduction movement of banning thin/limited use items is a complete farce. Folks are being played here, and played hard.
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: July 24th, 2022, 1:18 pm And the majority of society can't afford the Yeti reusable cup or the good $8 cloth bag either- they are buying the junk commodity $4 reusable cup that goes bust after a few months and the $2 reusable bag that starts cracking after a few uses and is thrown away.
Not all those cheaper reusable bags are bad - in fact, using them here (since NY started that rule in 2020, so at least 2 years for most of them) only 2 have had issues (and they were fairly small holes that would have continued to work fine for a bit longer, but I used them for someone to donate items in).
That is using the same bags weekly, generally the same one for each store (as I have a couple with each store's name, so try to use the ones that coordinate when possible).

None of these cost probably even $2, in fact many cost nothing (give aways by the stores in question, or "rewards", depending on the store).
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: July 24th, 2022, 2:04 pm

Not all those cheaper reusable bags are bad - in fact, using them here (since NY started that rule in 2020, so at least 2 years for most of them) only 2 have had issues (and they were fairly small holes that would have continued to work fine for a bit longer, but I used them for someone to donate items in).
That is using the same bags weekly, generally the same one for each store (as I have a couple with each store's name, so try to use the ones that coordinate when possible).

None of these cost probably even $2, in fact many cost nothing (give aways by the stores in question, or "rewards", depending on the store).
I have some that I've used many times. But not everyone takes care of them well. Some get much harder use than others. Some have items spilled in them, etc. and not cleaned properly and are then ruined.

This also assumes most people were in the right place at the right time to get these free reusable bags in the first place. What I find is it seems to be the same people who are in the right place at the right time to get free reusable bags, so certain people have a huge excess of them, while many other people have none of them and don't care about it.

Have had this same issue with cheaper reusable plastic mugs for hot drinks. Some of the cheaper ones, for whatever reason, I have not quite gotten clean properly. As in they retain the smell of what was inside, after many cleanings (and without letting anything dry out in the cup for hours). These are still super thick plastic, typically insulated by foam in the middle. This doesn't happen with the more expensive ones, they clean well.
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: July 24th, 2022, 8:42 pm
BillyGr wrote: July 24th, 2022, 2:04 pm

Not all those cheaper reusable bags are bad - in fact, using them here (since NY started that rule in 2020, so at least 2 years for most of them) only 2 have had issues (and they were fairly small holes that would have continued to work fine for a bit longer, but I used them for someone to donate items in).
That is using the same bags weekly, generally the same one for each store (as I have a couple with each store's name, so try to use the ones that coordinate when possible).

None of these cost probably even $2, in fact many cost nothing (give aways by the stores in question, or "rewards", depending on the store).
I have some that I've used many times. But not everyone takes care of them well. Some get much harder use than others. Some have items spilled in them, etc. and not cleaned properly and are then ruined.

This also assumes most people were in the right place at the right time to get these free reusable bags in the first place. What I find is it seems to be the same people who are in the right place at the right time to get free reusable bags, so certain people have a huge excess of them, while many other people have none of them and don't care about it.

Have had this same issue with cheaper reusable plastic mugs for hot drinks. Some of the cheaper ones, for whatever reason, I have not quite gotten clean properly. As in they retain the smell of what was inside, after many cleanings (and without letting anything dry out in the cup for hours). These are still super thick plastic, typically insulated by foam in the middle. This doesn't happen with the more expensive ones, they clean well.
Of course, a few (OK, probably many) of those bags were a bit older - seemed much more common a few years back to offer them as giveaways, probably since there was no reason to use them at that point.

Maybe they are also better made because of that (though the couple newer ones seem to do OK as well, so then again maybe not).

Then again, even if someone has to buy them for a buck or whatever, if they are taken care of properly (which doesn't seem that hard most times), the cost is fairly small when averaged over the number of uses they can have.
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: July 25th, 2022, 12:42 pm
Of course, a few (OK, probably many) of those bags were a bit older - seemed much more common a few years back to offer them as giveaways, probably since there was no reason to use them at that point.

Maybe they are also better made because of that (though the couple newer ones seem to do OK as well, so then again maybe not).

Then again, even if someone has to buy them for a buck or whatever, if they are taken care of properly (which doesn't seem that hard most times), the cost is fairly small when averaged over the number of uses they can have.
The reason you see fewer giveaways directly by retailers is because some states have written into their legislation that there is to be a minimum bag fee. So they can no longer do giveaways in some states. On the contrary, some states have explicitly written into their regulation that giveaways are allowed. Still others have written giveaways are allowed but only for a certain number of days in each year. But this doesn't stop things like banks, non profits, etc. from doing giveaways.

Evidently you have not bought one of the under $1 Wal Mart reusable bags lately (they look like a usual plastic bag but are reusable). It is so small it barely fits anything and it will only last about six times. There are some $2 ones out there that will last longer, or some around $1 at WinCo that are larger and will last longer.
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Re: Costco Raises Food Court Prices

Post by Brian Lutz »

I've never been all that impressed with the reusable bags at the grocery stores. Lately when we go shopping we've started using the Ikea "Blue Bags" for the purpose, as they are much larger than most reusable bags, and as long as the weight isn't an issue you can fit an entire cart of groceries in two of them.
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