I usually walk to Asda with my rucksac. Then I press the button on the till that says “I brought my own bag” and it says, put your bag in the bagging area. Then it says “You’ve put something in the bagging area that shouldn’t be there, remove it”. I assume they’ve only set it up to accept bags for life and my rucksac is too heavy. It would be useful if they could program the the till to accept proper reusable bags.

We use Sainsbury delivery and they use about 10 of the cheap bags putting various random things in a bag, mainly vacuum packed stuff which doesn’t need one. Completely unnecessary.

If you give them back to the driver they will get reused. I was told by a driver they have to separate out the different foodstuffs by law, just before he said Ill have them back to use.

I used to take the trolley to my car on the weekly food shop and basically empty it in to the boot.

Some places get arsey if you try that with basket. 😀 apparently people like to steal them!

I’ve seen lots of hijacked trolleys but don’t ever recall seeing a basket abandoned.

I used to leave the rucksack for similar reasons to Welshfarmer. Not a massive fan of supermarkets and in trolley, scan, back in trolley, car is the quickest simplest method I found. Sometimes I’d even tip the trolley in to the boot for maximum efficiency. Mrs F used to frown at this.

If virtue signaling was a currency, we’d be a rich country once again….

Sometimes I’d even tip the trolley in to the boot for maximum efficiency.

Do you own a low slung sports car or are you just hench, a fully loaded trolly has quite a lot of mass!

What is the answer then, to getting shopping from the shop to your house/car?

How do you get your stuff to and from school, university, work, the gym etc etc? I’ll bet it’s not in shitty plastic carrier bags (yes, I know some people do, but they’ll just have to make changes).

Costco do this. They’ve never offered bags.

Exactly. If the worlds 2nd, 3rd or whatever they are now largest retailer can do without plastic bags then they all can. There should be an immediate blanket ban against them brought in through legislation at the next available opportunity.

If you only have a baskets worth then bring in a backpack or tote. If you have a trolleys worth and have a car in the carpark, take trolley to car, empty shopping into easily managable totes in the boot.

Ikea blue bags are great and virtually indestructible in normal use. Everyone should have a few even if they don’t shop at Ikea.

On top of that SWMBO doesn’t keep bags for life in her car so, guess what, most trips she buys new bags for life. (Sometimes because there’s a cool design on sale!) SWMBO regards this as good for the environment because buying bags for life is good, yeah? They are too bulky to keep so they get thrown away in significant numbers.

I was having a conversation with my g/f about this earlier this evening. She’s on the tills at B&M, and people whine about the cost of the heavier bags for life, because they no longer do the 5p single use bags, but she frequently gets customers who are worse than SWMBO; they come to the till, complain about the price of the bags, then say ‘oh, we’ve got ten of them out in the car…’!
Bloody hell, you’re too ******* lazy to bring some of the bags that you already have in a car forty feet away, but bitch about the price of a new one? Sweet baby Jesus, what is the matter with people.
I’ve got a heavy duty plastic bag that I put my lunch stuff into, that goes into my rucksack, it keeps splitting, so I just stick it together with white duct tape, and I’ve had other thick plastic bags I put my lunch into that have literally lasted for years.

The average household is buying 54 bags for life a year.

I call balls on that.

Not surprised at all.

Every time I go in my Sainsbury’s Local I never see anyone else bring their own bag. They pick up a “bag for life” every time. Sure they’re not the heavy durable ones but are the 10p reusable type which seems the main ones these days. Seen this in many other shops, though less so in the big shops where people make more of an effort.

Often the shop try to hide the bags at the self scan but the public moan and ask for bags.

If I go to the “person” checkout they instantly reach for a bag and are shocked when I present mine.

Much of the public don’t see it as an environmental duty or feel guilty picking a bag. They just see it as an annoyance of being charged for bags. While initially they may have cut back objecting to the charge, they’ve just accepted the cost. Higher price will do the same, then they’ll accept the new price.

The bags get thrown in the normal bin too. Seen that at work. Stuffed with rubbish and just chucked in the waste. Perfectly good new reusable bag. Though the amount of recyclable stuff I see chucked in regular waste at work is shocking. I see it with neighbours too. Some attitudes are it’s too complicated or don’t have time to separate out (really is dead easy), some just don’t care or think it’s all a scam or why should they do the job they think the council should do instead.

I reuse a set of Italian supermarket bags we bought a few years ago. Take three. Fill two unload into third at the checkout.

Bags of this quality are still unavailable in the UK. The old blue Tesco bags were close, but they stopped those.

Ocado recycle the bags they deliver with.

I’m lost – this is an mtb forum? Surely all our cars are awash with Ikea bags? you only need about 3 for a trolley full of shopping.

[not sure if it’s been pointed out yet but] Waitrose don’t have any bags on display – so unless you go and ask for a bag you take your own or just carry stuff.
They don’t do the weighing of items on the self-scan tills either. This means that:
a) it’s way way quicker (best SS tills I’ve used)
b) you can use any bag you like – including a rucksack (I do sometimes)
c) I guess some stuff gets nicked but they’ve probably built this into their models.

If virtue signaling was a currency, we’d be a rich country once again….

I knew someone would be along to tell all of us who actually give a shit about anyone except ourselves not to spend our time discussing how we might make the world a tiny fraction better a place to live. Thanks for the tip.

Sorry Eco-Jesus, do carry on saving us all.

If virtue signaling was a currency, we’d be a rich country once again….

Blah. Blah. Blah.
#rollseyes

IMo the main reason for this is the stupid way it was introduced in England with all the exemptions. Unlike scotland where those exemptions do not exist. In scotland plastic bag usage is down massivly, its rare to see someone buying a plastic bag. Or Scots just are tighter

Every time I go in my Sainsbury’s Local I never see anyone else bring their own bag.

That’s weird as it’s the polar opposite for me a huge majority take they’re own bags but not just Sainsburys. I suggest you’re talking bollocks.

I’m lost – this is an mtb forum? Surely all our cars are awash with Ikea bags?

If you’re driving somewhere to ride a bike, the bags that you use for your shopping are pretty irrelevant. Which is the point of the article in the OP.

I tend to use the cloth bags that given out at conferences. And French supermarket bags4life which are heavy duty. When they start to become distressed after a couple of years they become dirty clothing sacs for post ride dry kit changes.
And a poignant cloth bag from spring 2016 that the Breton floor manager at my local Waitrose is very fond of.
But mostly I Brompton in to town and use the front bag and a lightweight rucksack. Which we’ll be doing in about an hour. Hello WholeWallet.

Bags of this quality are still unavailable in the UK.

Aldi and Lidl sell them. I’ve had the same set in the boot for years now which I use for shopping every week.

In scotland plastic bag usage is down massivly, its rare to see someone buying a plastic bag.

Sadly, I think this is very area dependent. My local Asda, almost everyone at the self checkout basket area takes a bag from the box of them under every self service till. If the boxes of bags run empty (as they do during busy times like holidays or paydays) people start to complain loudly. Contrast with another Asda I frequent about 30 miles away (and dare I add a much more affluent area) you rarely see anyone buying a bag – you would even need to ask for one as they dont have boxes of them at the checkout.

For the two being the same chain of supermarket to have widely different approaches is a bit strange, but I suspect the store managers let the customer base decide policy rather than trying to change attitudes.

That’s weird as it’s the polar opposite for me a huge majority take they’re own bags but not just Sainsburys. I suggest you’re talking bollocks.

Nope. Why should I make it up?

It’s anecdotal of course and I can only comment on when I’m in there, but it’s pretty much every day at various times and been shopping there for years since it opened.

Similar is Tesco Express near work office. In there daily to pick up lunch. Very rarely I see other people with their own bag. Even Little Waitrose. Though both those are combined with fuel and most are picking up odd items as well as fuel. If they have a bag it’s a new one the shop provides mostly when I’m there.

Maybe it’s a Surrey thing though 🤷‍♂️ . It’s different in the big shops though. More the reverse.