What is a bag fee?

I haven’t actually come across this yet, but I think it’s a great idea. I wish every place did this. It’s as though we forgot that that bags can be made from strong, re-usable canvas. If I forget my bags when I go to the market, I should have an incentive to bring them the next time (other than not being an asshole).

More rampant capitalist greed? Maybe the market will self correct and Macy’s will rethink.

Yes, there are some places that charge for you bag, just like you got a gift wrap.

In the UK, they are going to start charging 5p per carrier bag in supermarkets.

It is not Macy’s. It is countywide in Montgomery County, MD and Washington, DC. It is to discourage the use of plastic bags which end up polluting the Anacostia River. You can avoid the fee by bringing your own reusable bags, which most residents do.

It is a good thing environmentally.

@josie: “Not that I shop much at Macy’s-it’s close to the hotel. Never again.”

You really won’t shop there again? So, you purchase a tie that was likely made by teenagers in Indonesia for 10% of what you paid for it, and you have a problem that you will be charged 5 cents if you decide you either can’t carry your ties without a bag or refuse to bring your own bag? 5 cents? If the ties were simply 5 cents more, would you have the same reaction? What exactly about this angers you so much?

All grocery stores where I live charge 0.05 for a plastic bag. Some other shops do, as well. It’s a way of making people think about whether they need the bag, and also a way to encourage people to bring their own bags. This has been in place for a couple of years now in large Canadian cities (don’t know about the smaller towns), and it has reduced my own plastic bag use to almost zero. People routinely carry cloth bags in their cars or bike bags. It’s slowly becoming normal to bring our own when shopping for other kinds of goods.

I now generally refuse free plastic bags when offered, because it seems weird to me that I should want one. I think this is a great trend. And I was kind of resistant to it when it first started. I think most people were.

In Europe it is since many many years totally normal to pay for plastic bags…

It is spreading everywhere around our area and at 10 cents a bag. I have no problems with the concept and have used string or cloth bags and hand-made baskets from Kenya for years.

Fold the ties in half and place in your pocket, or knot both of them around your neck and wear back to the hotel.

I would gladly pay five cents per bag if it meant that many less bags around, potential pollution.

I have about 20 plastic bags in my kitchen, in a bag holder. I have at least the same amount at work. I try to reduce, reuse, recycle but many people don’t.

If it’s 5 cents more to have a better earth, it’s worth it, to me.

I don’t see why buying ties and having to pay 5 cents extra would be so anger inducing.

Stay away from Seattle then; it’s a city ordinance. Also, plastic bags are not an option.

@tom_g

What exactly about this angers you so much?

You’ve never seen me angry.

Anyway, it wasn’t announced, and I was not given a chance to opt out. I will opt out next time.

@josie It probably was announced… to residents. Do you expect a full briefing on all town/city ordinances every time you cross a border? Tell me, without using Google, what the King/Snohomish county sales tax is. Most Americans won’t know simply because it doesn’t pertain to them. Same here; most of the people who shop in DC are DC residents, or at least spend enough time in DC to already be aware. Those who aren’t should have done a little homework before leaving home.

If you get like this over a bag fee, I suggest you never travel to other nations!

I don’t mind these so much when they’re announced – and they should be, despite @jerv‘s assertion that “the natives know”.

I shop at a “warehouse” type supermarket sometimes where they never bag groceries, period. However, they will sell you great, strong, re-usable plastic bags for 9¢ apiece – and you only get them if you agree to pay for them (you still have to stuff them yourself) – or just let you take your paid-for cart full of groceries out to the car and pack them any old way. (They even charge a 25¢ “rental” on the carts, which is refunded if you return them to the store entrance.)

Perhaps it was your unfamiliarity with Macy’s that meant you missed a sign or something, either at the store entrance or the register. It does seem chintzy and slipshod to not even inform you that “the bag is 5¢ extra.”

Next time request a sack instead.

15c to 20c here. I have a mountain of bags in a canvas bag that I take. When I forget em I get really mad at myself.

Here in Texas we do not charge for plastic bags. Hell, they double bag your groceries for you and after we are through using them we throw them out the window so they can decorate the barbwire fences like pretty little christmas ornaments. West Texas is awash with them but WTH we got plenty oil.

Welcome to D.C. The bag charge is a city ordinance, to encourage people to cut waste and keep shopping bags out of landfills. It doesn’t take long for someone to develop a habit of either bringing a bag or going without. If it were up to me, the bag charge would be $1.00 or more per.

By the way, don’t blame Macy’s . Bag charges are the local law, by which retailers must abide.

@josie: You say the 5 cent bag fee is actually a price increase on merchandise? I imagine the cost of the ties was probably at least $30 each. In that case, the 5 cent “price increase” was miniscule.

@CWOTUS If it were a Macy’s-only policy, yes. Your warehouse store seems to have it’s own policies that even locals may not know unless they shop at that particular store. But it seems to me that you also believe that people need to be reminded/notified of every single regional/local norm.

How about forcing gas stations to prominently display cost breakdowns of gasoline? I mean, different places have different tax rates and fees on it, and it seems that government-incurred fees are a huge issue with some people. And I suppose it’s deceptive business practices that @josie was charged an extra 4% (the local meals tax) on any meal he ate out while in DC without it being put up in neon lights as well.

Such are the perils of traveling without researching your destination.

@jca I guess there is no distinction between charges incurred by Macy’s and charges incurred by the government.

Some stores I have shopped in give a 5¢ credit if you bring your own bags, but otherwise the bags are “free.”

I like the idea of discouraging plastic bags. Any bag actually; even paper. I re-use paper bags.

I do think there should be a return fee when people return plastic bags for recycle, like soda/pop cans in some states. I haven’t run across that yet.

@jerv

For both the gas and meal local surcharges you cite, there really is no choice to opt out. It’s a package deal.

But how difficult would it be for stores to train their staff to ask “Would you like this bagged or not? County law requires us to charge 5 cents per bag.”

I get Josie’s point. It isn’t the small amount that’s the problem. He was given no choice to opt out.

That would irk me as well. And how does it do the environment any good if the total responsibility is placed upon the traveling consumer to know that there is a per bag charge?

If the local businesses give a damn about THEIR environment then the more people that they make aware of this increases the number of opt outs and bags not cluttering up the landfill.

Isn’t that the goal of this 5 cent fee to begin with? If it is, then businesses could easily train their staff to ask that one crucial question.

We just went through this where I live, a city ordinance did away with single use bags at retailers about 6 months ago.

I now own probably a hundred reusable bags, no joke. The pile is huge. I’ve got the grocery store pretty much down, I have a ton in my car, but it’s the random stops when you’re out, or when I walk somewhere nearby that are still adding to the huge stack. I’m sure there’s a net positive overall, but I share @josie‘s unhappiness occasionally when you just need a single bag and don’t have one handy.

“Sure, I’ll buy one, I love bags, you should see my collection”

Collect all the bags and take them back in bulk. Have an invoice ready. Make sure to profit a storage and return transport fee.

@Buttonstc Two things there.

1) You actually can opt-out on some of them. For instance, many Seattlites bring their own damn bag(s). Problem solved

2) It may be easy for a local business to retrain their staff, but some large chains tend to frown upon individual stores breaking from the corporate mold to stray off-script. Uniformity is important; at times, moreso than the safety of the employees.
In practical terms, what that means is that your mom-and-pops and local chains will change the way they operate and ask, but the big chains might not unless/until corporate HQ becomes aware of the situation and cares enough to act. Hence, around here, the QFC stores will ask while Safeway often doesn’t.

”(H)ow does it do the environment any good if the total responsibility is placed upon the traveling consumer to know that there is a per bag charge?”

Those nickels add up. Environmental programs are not free, so revenue is required. And with the locals bringing their own bags, those nickels have to come from somewhere.

“If the local businesses give a damn about THEIR environment then the more people that they make aware of this increases the number of opt outs and bags not cluttering up the landfill.”

Local businesses? See #2 above. Also note how many places (even those without bag fees) offer canvas totes for sale. It’s almost like the Secret Masters are trying to indoctrinate us….

I see how it’s irksome, but I find many things irksome when I travel yet manage to deal with them.

@funkdaddy You get used to it after a while, just as I got used to buying car insurance after I moved from NH (where it’s optional) to WA (where it’s not). Every place has their own things.

Plastic bags are illegal here and they charge 5 cents for paper ones. I actually just got home from grocery shopping. I just brought my own canvas bags. Even if I didn’t have my own bags it would have cost 10 cents to carry 50 dollars worth of groceries. I can’t really get outraged about this.

@jerv “2) It may be easy for a local business to retrain their staff, but some large chains tend to frown upon individual stores breaking from the corporate mold to stray off-script. Uniformity is important; at times, moreso than the safety of the employees. In practical terms, what that means is that your mom-and-pops and local chains will change the way they operate and ask, but the big chains might not unless/until corporate HQ becomes aware of the situation and cares enough to act. Hence, around here, the QFC stores will ask while Safeway often doesn’t.”

Yes, this has been my observation as well. At stores owned by Loblaws, you’ll be asked almost 100% of the time (I haven’t seen anyone say yet that sometimes people simply forget to ask. It happens.). However, at an Intermarché shop, you’ll be lucky to have someone make eye contact, let alone ask if you want a bag. You have to tell them up front that you don’t want one, or put your own bags on the conveyor belt.

When I shop at Macy’s, I prefer the little shopping bags (paper) for small purchases like jewelry or perfume, and the larger shopping bags (paper for larger purchases such as handbags.

relevant (Portlandia)

@tom_g It’s only funny because it’s true.

It would be nice if @josie (The OP) came back to talk more about his opinions on this matter, after hearing the various other opinions given on this thread.

Lol in Austria you have to pay for your bag in every shop, I can’t imagine it any other way…

Take your canvas bags, take your canvas bags…

New level of fun on this one. Went to a takeout restaurant and had to pay $1.50 for the bag to get the food home.

“It’s a really nice bag”, the sheepish employee told me.

Sweet…