Do you have bags?

50 cents! wow, used to be a nickle

Bags aren't taxed here Dawn, but an increasing number of supermarkets make you pay for the good ones and give flimsy awful ones for free - or not at all. We always have a few bags in the car and a few (thousand) more in the house. There are different styles that you can buy quite cheaply too. Once you build it into your shopping regime it's easy to remember to take them with you.

I don't have bags, but i do have what I call a shock box on my back seat. Instead of packing groceries into bags & making several trips to carry 'em into the house, I just dump it into my shock box, bring the box into the house, unpack, 7 bring the empty shock box back to the car. Why do I call it a shock box? Along the way, I ended up having to replace the shocks & springs on my vehicle. The springs were paired in what were shaped like abnormally long dominoes, & a pair of shocks were in the box that I took with me. That's why I call it a shock box.

I think this is a fantastic initiative and if forcing people to pay extra for plastic bags or offering incentives to use cloth bags forces them to be more environmentally friendly, then it's great! I unfortunately would be one of those people that would consistently forget to bring my own bags though I think. I'd learn eventually!

I am totally with you on this as plastic bags remain just plastic bags. I do have strong cloth bags - this renminded me so much of the shopping bags used as a child int he U.K. I try to keep in car but to be honest sometimes forget them. If I have done a large shop then I ask for a box to pack my stuff in. I am trying and refuse little plastic bags for one purchase. We all have to cut down and try to save the planet. If we each helped in this way - just a littel - such a bog difference could be made. I don't get discounts by the way. Wish that I did.

I know when I'm at Walmart we are feeding a family of 6 so therefore we don't have enough reusable bags to use so we end up getting the plastic bags but we do reuse them at home so they are getting use. Like for our smaller trash cans etc. So I don't feel AS BAD about it - but if we are only picking up a few small items I have some to use. And then at the store I'm working at - we have this customer appreciation card where you get a stamp for every $10 you spend and so when its filled (20 stamps) you get 20% off. In order to help our store save money on bags (they are expensive) and go green we're offering a stamp for not using a bag and I think on a daily basis for every 5-8 customers that go without a bag there is maybe one that refuses and says they need one anyways. But I completely think that every store should start charging for bags. I know here Bottom Dollar charges you 5 cents for using one and I think if everyone did, not only would it help support the costs for the company to supply them but I think more people would be likely to go green. Now offering money off - its an incentive but I think it should only be used at first and finally after a few months stop when people really get the hang of it and it catches on.

I use my green bags all the time and my blue ones too. The blue ones are for carrying cold and frozen goods. I hate plastic shopping bags...if I do get some I take them back to the store for recycling...I will not use them for rubbish so they end up as landfill. I user proper bags for rubbish, bas that will break down quickly. It takes time to get into the habit of remembering to take your green bags and then making yourself go back when you leave them in the car, but it eventually becomes the norm.

I do have a few reusable ones however I hardly use them as they are so small. Im thinking about sewing some of my own and see how that works. We dont have a tax on bags here, however I do reuse them most of the time. The one store we go to you have to buy bags or hope that they have boxes up front to use and I think it makes people think more of what they are doing with them. I have to say alot of the time I do forget them thou and that just makes me think duh to myself! lol

I think that is a good idea. I just wonder if people are willing to buy the re-useable bags, we have supermarkets here selling them for $3-$4 each. Giving rebates or discounts, for using these bags is also a good idea to encourage shoppers to try to remember bringing their re-useable bags with them. I have a couple of them with me, but I always seem to forget to bring them with me when I go for groceries. Even when I already have them in the trunk of my car! hehe Its one habit that I have to develope

i have backpacks and canvas bags.i hate those flimsy things the stores give you anyway,sometimes they rip before they're out the door.we used to have a choice as far as their bags go,but none of them really use the paper anymore. my cats loved the paper ones too..i guess they'll just have to make do with the canvas ones.

I think this s great idea. I have been using reusable grocery bags for a while now. They are environemntal friendly and easier to carry and you can fit more in them.

oh yes i do have bags under my eyes! lol but talk about recycling, the country where i live s*cks when it comes to recycling, people here do not know how to do that much worse when it comes to grocery bags..people here still use plastic bags!!!

Here in india it is now banned not taxed.... On using it ..you may have to pay a heavy fine or go to jail for 6 months and the shopkeeper goes for upto 5 years for keeping them. I think it is pretty outrageous but it is right....

I like the idea of a credit for the bags. I usually don't bring with bags, unless I know I have to. I bring bags with me if I go to Aldi ( a discount grocery store), they charge 5 cents a bag, or something like that. I sometimes bring cloth reusable bags with me, but the one reason why I do take paper bags from the grocery store is because I need them for recycling, in Minnesota you have to separate cans, glass, aluminum in paper bags each week. If I don't get bags from the store, how am I going to recycle properly?

My mom carries cloth bag while doing grocery. Here, I would like to share something funny with you. IN one of my shopping endeavors I got to know that the mall was offering free cloth bags for the shoppers. This was to promote 'GO GREEN' and stuffs like that. I bought some stuffs and put it inside the free cloth bag that I collected while entering. As I was about to come out the security took the bag from my hand and tucked it inside a plastic bag which endorses theie brand! Now, that was ridiculous!

They're thinking of doing the same thing here...taxing the plastic bags...I do have the reusable kind but often will accept the plastic bags as well--if anything I use them as garbage bags, so I'm not buying separate plastic garbage bags

In Canada, we have a similar thing going on here. In the majority of the stores - many grocery stores - they are charging you for the plastic bags. I own a few "green bags" so I don't mind the fee, but many feel it is expensive and are against the idea. I personally don't mind it because by using "green bags" we get a to save the environment - and I am big on the whole green environment thing.

I haven't gotten any bags yet, but I am looking for a pattern to make some. I had mixed feeling about it ( I know it's to help the Earth ) but lets face it . We check ourselves out at the stores now they want us to furnish our own bags. Its feels like the customer is doing more work and getting less survice. What's next we bring in our own stuff to sell to each other while paying the store. When I do get around to making them I will most likly use them but I can see myself forgetting them from time to time. Esp since I sometime go to the store on impulse.

yes i have a bag. i use my bag at school.

I think this is an amazing idea! I live in toronto and there has been a new law that started in toronto (since june 1) where stores have to charge the customers for plastic bags. i think this is an amazing idea because plastic bags are extremely bad for the world. they kill animals, and take years to break down. i have been using reusable bags for years. we go to a independent, organic, fair trade food store. they do not give out plastic bags with your purchase so we have had to bring our own boxes and reusable bags. we tend to keep the bags in our car so that when we go food shopping we don't have to remember to bring them shopping. i think that it's a great idea to give back to the customer when they use reusable bags. different stores in toronto use methods like these to promote reusable bags.