Also the subject line of the e-mail was odd, "Get $10 off $50 or more + Free Paper Bags are Back."
Not sure what that was all about I went to Google Reviews and this store which previously received lots of positive reviews suddenly is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, and people complaining about being charged a fee for bags. I was in this store last year and there was no fee for bags and there is no City of Naperville bag fee or any regulation on bags in that city.
Apparently this store about six months ago despite City of Naperville having no bag regulations decided to eliminate plastic bags and start to use paper bags with a 10 cent per bag fee, despite no other store in the area doing this. This is part of Kroger's "Zero Hunger Zero Waste" program and they have done this program of a bag fee in a few other test stores including a Kroger in Richmond (Short Pump), VA. Not sure what the status of the test there is. However it appears to have gone over like a lead bullet in Naperville. For Kroger to basically go out and put a communication to people who shopped this store that they no longer have a paper bag fee, throw in a $10 off $50 coupon, and send it to a customer who didn't even shop there when this bag fee program was in place, shows this place must be seriously hurting over this issue.
Of course once this merger is done and competition is eliminated/reduced, Kroger can do all it wants and charge for bags as it sees fit and as much as it sees fit, perhaps the .25 that the paper bags actually cost the stores now. I am sure the Jewel across the street in Naperville enjoyed letting customers know it "proudly offered paper or plastic bags at no charge" for the past six months.
