Paying for carrier bags.

I will just not shop on the high street, if you shop online they will have to wrap the garments and put an address label on.
Next gripe, " why are high street sales falling " ?

I suppose I could go up the town and buy a coat to find out. But I had one for my birthday.

Right! So tell me marmight. What do Marks and Sparks do about big bulky items of clothing? (I want it from the horse's mouth)

Oh dear! [yawn]
You will soon get used to it - we have

Just got back from Spain and my holiday souvineers were 3 splendid reusable supermarket bags. E 1.50 each. Much stronger and capacious than anything I've seen here.

x

Just been in the local big sports shop. The girl told me that not having bags is a nightmare as they already have major problems with shop lifting and now they 'can't tell' who is shop lifting and who is not.

My next stop was MandS where I bought two pairs of jeggings and two tops. The girl there asked if I had my own bag and said they had already had lots of complaints. She looked amazed when I said I had no bag but I did have a car outside. It's a weird feeling walking out of a shop carrying unwrapped purchases under your arm - does make you feel like a shop lifter.

Incidentally, Waitrose cannot be giving all their bag money to charity as there is VAT on the charge for a bag and that goes to the government.

M&S charging for bags, whether you buy cashmere jumper or a pair of socks, and apparently people are already complaining (maybe justifiably) because if using an old bag you need to be sure it's clean inside. The assistant suggested carrying a clean bin bag around for possible clothing purchases.

Boots charging 5p small bag, 7p big bag all for Children in Need.

Asda in nearby town insisting on sticking 'sold' labels on purchases to avoid being accused of shoplifting - that's going down a storm at the checkout not !

riverwalk I made 50p on mine because the driver guessed.

There's far more to it than that! Don't you enjoy a thorough discussion?!

Well. It's not rocket science is it. If going shopping, put a bag in your bag or take a larger one for extra shopping. Simple!. Or pay the 5p charge.

There is a modern type of string bags made....I've always got mine in my handbag. The name is 'Turtle bags'.

If you online grocery shop at Tesco it is worth going into your account and looking at your delivery preferences. If you previously got food delivered in bags you will continue to do so and they make a 40p charge, if you don't want this you need to change your preferences to no bags.

Waitrose tell me they are donating all the 5ps they collect to charity. However their bags have become so thin, my shopping invariably falls out, so I've been using my own bags for a while. Trouble is they hold far more and then I can't carry them!! Wish I still had my mum's string bags.

After my last Ocado delivery a couple of days ago I received 35p online refund for the seven bags that I'd returned to the driver for recycling.

As for the cashmere coat - surely the shop will somehow charge for an appropriate bag, to keep within the law, then immediately refund.

Does this mean that in order to show off with a Harrods bag (or other swanky posh shop) we shall have to PAY for the privilege of advertising that's where you've been?? Shock! Horror!

Without wishing to go off-post (though I know I am - sorry) please granjura can you explain how the disposable-nappy-waste-problem has been reduced in your area? I know it's a nightmare here in the UK. Not sure where you are based - I may have missed this somewhere.
Thanks

Re the cashmere jumper and the carrier bag thing. It must go against "good" stores principals to just hand over a garment unwrapped. And what if it was a bulky winter coat and your nylon bag wasn't big enough.

I'm sorry, but this really bothers me! I can see a huge dropping off of customer relations. it's not good.

#firsttheystoppedcallingusmadam......

we have been paying for bags for years here, although the daily/weekly markets still use the thin plastic bags, most clothes and non food shops ask if you want a bag and usually give you a nice paper one.
Children here can go to Maternalle(pre-school) from age 2.5years, start primary at 6, they are not admitted in nappies at all, unless for health reasons.
Child care from 2.5 is free here so there is a good incentive if parents want to work to toilet train.

Received a Sainsburys Grocery Delivery this morning with NO BAGS!
Was surprised to see single items in full size orange bags for "health and safety reasons" - boxed pizza, plastic wrapped meat etc. Delivery man explained that I had not been charged for them.

I am selling them on the black market for 4p - any takers?

Very suspicious about the figures for school children in nappies. This is one of those cases where you take a small number of replies to a survey and then use these figures to scale up to the results for larger numbers- not very scientific because of course the replies you have tend to be from those who have experience of the problem. Those who don't, don't respond.
I have loads of cloth bags now all with some sort of logo on them. I just wonder will we in 5 years time be moaning about all the cloth bags we have around us?

Is thatbags going to have to change her name now to that5pbags or thatreusablebags?

versavisa - lovely to hear someone mention Morsbags - and yes I have made loads of them and our Townswomens Guild formed a pod and gave loads away at our coffee mornings to the people in our village. They have an active Facebook page and are still going strong. If anyone wants to make their own cloth bags out of old clothes, curtains, tea towels, duvet covers etc, then check out the Morsbag site for a really simple pattern. They are so easy to make (which can become addictive), are machine washable - you can even make waterproof ones out of old shower curtains …… but not the mucky bit at the bottom!! It's a great way of recycling material.

BTW is England the only country in W Europe still faffing around about this issue of plastic bags?

I am gobsmacked to hear children start school wearing nappies! Or are we talking about the nappy pants things? Are teachers expected to change the nappies?

It was a bit strange the first time I bought clothing and had to pay for a bag or use my own. Fortunately I had one of those folding bags that comes in a pouch with my name on it and a description of that name (Romantic and Decisive ). It was a Christmas present that I considered naff at the time, but is now well used.

For big shops at the supermarket we use the big blue IKEA bags which sit nicely in trolleys. The main problem I have is remembering to take a bag into the shop, but putting it on the passenger seat usually works - if I can remember to do that!

We reuse carrier bags as rubbish bags too, so I'm not sure what we'll do when we've used up our collection. Our black bin gets emptied every fortnight and washed out once a month. I don't like the idea of not bagging up rubbish before putting it in the black bin, but we might give it a try and see how smelly it gets.

JBF If you pay good money for a cashmere jumper in M&S, you do what most people do here: place it carefully in the nice foldable bag you keep in your handbag for just that eventuality!!