Coronavirus and Plastic Bag Bans

[BillyGr]

Aside from Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops, pretty much everybody else is business as usual around here in regards to bags. Hannaford and Wal-Mart are using thin plastic and Target is using (and NOT charging for them) paper bags with handles. I just wish there was one coherent policy and every store would follow it-this one is using plastic and not charging, this one is using paper and charging, this one is using paper and not charging-sheesh! It frustrates the daylights out of the consumer.

One thing that also adds to it is that while the state allowed a 5 cent fee as part of prohibiting plastic bags, it was left to each county as to if it would be collected or not. Only 7 counties (5 of which make up NYC, Suffolk on Long Island and Tompkins) approved that (though two cities, White Plains and Troy have also now approved it). There were also some areas that had their own rules before the state (Ulster County being one I know of).

So other places are not required to charge any fee.

But then some of the stores themselves decided to add fees (Price Chopper, Hannaford and ShopRite at least) as their way to encourage use of reusable bags (which are no different than what a chain like Aldi has always done to cut costs by not providing free bags, no matter of what type).

So, it really gets confusing (and doesn't help when store employees say it's a state rule in areas where it isn't).

[TW-Upstate NY]

Wal-Mart is now back to paper bags this week. I really wish NYS would step in and issue some kind of coherent guidance on just exactly how this is going to go-are they or are they not going to enforce this. I mean one week it's paper then it's plastic the next time and on and on. Has to be as confusing as all get out for the stores too. And it's not just Wal-Mart either. Aside from Price Chopper/Market 32 which has announced it is now all paper and is charging for them, you have no idea what to expect with any of the others.

[storewanderer]

Went into multiple CA grocery stores today. All were using thin bags and no bag fee being assessed. Most had no paper bags either. At one store I sat in the car for a bit messing with my phone and in passing I watched about 25 customers come out and all but one had thin bag(s); the one who didn't had a cartfull of groceries loose in the cart and proceeded to put the groceries into reusable bags out in the parking lot which stinks of smoke and has air quality of "hazardous."

I did go into a couple Rite Aids and Walgreens. Both have thick CA compliant bags (though the ones at Walgreens don't say anything- maybe it has always been like that?). Neither store charged me for a bag but it looked like the Walgreens register prompted the cashier to enter the number of bags used (which she put in zero).

[Alpha8472]

Most stores in the San Francisco Bay Area in California have thick bags. Some Walmart stores might have ordered too many thin bags and still need to get rid of them.

Most customers prefer free bags. The thick bags may be sturdier, but most people hate the 10 cent bag fee. Enforcement is rare.

[storewanderer]

In a California Wal Mart self checkout, I was adding the bag fee to the transaction for a thick bag today, and the self checkout employee told me no we don't charge for bags right now, press zero...

Dollar General is collecting the 10 cent fee for thick bags.

[Alpha8472]

The store realizes that if they give free bags customers will shop there as opposed to competitors that charge for bags. There are some stores that do not charge for bags and I go there even though there are closer stores.

[storewanderer]

CA Plastic Bag Ban continues to limp back. Very slowly.

This week I went into multiple locations of one large chain and they continue to have free thin bags, now these free thin bags even have the store logo/branding on them (during April/May/June they had thin bags with no store name/logo). I did go into one location of said chain that had thick bags (which say Thank you for shopping with us- no branding) and was charging a bag fee. That location was in a town that has its own bag fee. The other locations I went into were all in towns covered by the statewide CA bag ban. Maybe the statewide ban is not being enforced still?

I also went into two small regional chain locations. Both of these stores had signs posted that said effective September 1 we will be charging for bags. The first one only had paper bags (no plastic at all) and a very limited supply of bags and asked me if I wanted a bag after I paid (so, not charging...). They said they can't get enough bags since everyone wants bags and they took the thin bags away again. They said they were trying to order more thin bags from their supplier but they were on back order. The second one still had thin bags and was giving those away for free; they had paper bags and if you wanted paper bags then you had to pay the 10 cents. This store, I was in back in August and they had only thick plastic bags and paper bags and were charging the 10 cents, so I am not sure what the effective September 1 signage was all about.

Raleys seems to be full on with the bag ban again and its Made in Malaysia super thick plastic bags, and strictly prohibiting its employees from handling customer's reusable bags. Not very customer friendly compared to what the competitors are doing, but they are complying with the law...

Hardly anyone is using reusable bags in these CA Stores. This law is a failure. It is time to throw it off the books. Perhaps put a tax or fee on the thin bags in an effort to reduce bag usage. However in a period of high unemployment/recession it does not seem like a great idea to be promoting regressive bag fees that hurt families who buy large quantities of the food the most, at all. The bag fees certainly help the big corporations like the retailer and the plastic company though. At this point with more people using the store provided paper and plastic bags, stores cannot get enough of those super thick bags to meet demand.

[veteran+]

I only use reusable bags.

I bag my own stuff now but feel bad it slows up the line.

Baggers don't know how to bag anyway!

LOL

[klkla]

Baggers don't know how to bag anyway!

So true! Luckily I'm a fast bagger. I actually prefer it this way. There's a lot less damage to my perishables.

[storewanderer]

Baggers don't know how to bag anyway!

So true! Luckily I'm a fast bagger. I actually prefer it this way. There's a lot less damage to my perishables.

That is odd. I've never had any damage to perishables in all of my shopping. I use self checkout often when it is available but some stores I go to, do not have self checkout, and I have never had damaged perishables... worst I've had is the paper milk carton flat and tipped the wrong way so it leaks.

But I've sure seen a lot of perishables getting damaged by cashiers in CA Stores where they are trying to stuff everything into a single bag to avoid an additional bag fee. I guess that is a CA problem. Better for the customer to control the bagging process in that case. Rather than stuff everything into a single bag it may be best to keep some meat or produce outside the bag entirely. That also potentially helps reusable bag cleanliness.