# Do you want your milk in a bag?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 8, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510 "2015-03-08T06:24:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/1 "2015-03-08T06:24:42Z")
Like all of you, I’ve been asked by grocery baggers if I want my milk in a bag more times than I can count. I’ve never in my life said yes when buying a half gallon or gallon container. Some people must say yes, though, or they wouldn’t ask.
So…
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/2 "2015-03-08T06:32:08Z")
If it’s in a bag or carton, yes. If it’s in a jug, no. (For a larger jug, anyway…for a liter or smaller, I’ll take it bagged unless it’s all I have.)
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/3 "2015-03-08T06:35:12Z")
Always
When I have several bags it is much easier to grab the handles of the bags than to grab one milk jug and try for the rest of the handles.
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### Author:  [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/4 "2015-03-08T08:29:42Z")
> [@Lanzy](#):
>
> Always
>
> When I have several bags it is much easier to grab the handles of the bags than to grab one milk jug and try for the rest of the handles.
I second that.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/5 "2015-03-08T08:43:52Z")
I use a cart and/or reusable bags, so everything gets packed in there. But, the milks I buy are usually in cartons anyway, so no handle if I get a half gallon.
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/6 "2015-03-08T12:00:52Z")
No, but I can imagine people might, because milk jug handles are cold
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/7 "2015-03-08T12:14:00Z")
I always tell the cashier to just leave it in the jug. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t.
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/8 "2015-03-08T12:47:16Z")
My parents taught me that every purchase needed to leave the store in a bag, even if it was small or had a handle.
I’d prefer not to have the milk in a bag, but sometimes the old habits win out.
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### Author:  [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/9 "2015-03-08T12:57:41Z")
Ah, I completely misunderstood this thread when I read the title. Here’s why: I was visiting South America a few years back, and I bought a beer in a corner shop. And the girl at the till asked me “Do you want it in a bag?” (in Spanish, naturally). And I said yes.
The next thing I knew, she’d opened my beer and poured it into a plastic bag, keeping the can for recycling. I took the bag and walked off, but as I was staying in a backpacker’s and had no glasses, I just had to throw the thing away!
But to answer the question in the OP: if I don’t have a bag of my own to put it in, or if I need a new rubbish bag, then yes. I do want my milk in a bag. As long as it stays in its original packaging.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/10 "2015-03-08T13:39:38Z")
Another vote for depends. If that was the single item purchased then no bag please. Usually though I am buying a bit more per shop than a jug of milk and milk in a bag with several other items and several other bags is easier to carry. Usually though at this point I’ve been trained to use my own bags.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/11 "2015-03-08T14:43:55Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#):
>
> My parents taught me that every purchase needed to leave the store in a bag, even if it was small or had a handle.
Even something pocket sized, like a candy bar or bottle of aspirin?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/12 "2015-03-08T14:54:36Z")
I just do whatever’s going to make it easiest to carry. I remember many years ago I was bagging someone’s groceries and put her gallon of milk in a bag (she had other stuff as well). She turned to grab her stuff and knocked the milk off the counter. It didn’t break, she just picked it up and yelled at me about it “Why would you do that, who puts milk in a bag, you made me knock it on the ground (because the bag made it slippery on the bottom)”. I was really tempted to say ‘you just didn’t see it, even if it wasn’t in a bag you still would have swatted it onto the floor’.
I always think it’s funny when people say ‘sure, actually, double bag it’. Sigh, it doesn’t need to be double bagged. I know it’s because I’ve been doing this my whole life…or maybe you had a bag rip, once, four years ago, but you can put the milk, your three oranges and the cheese all in one bag and it’ll be fine, promise. Heavy maybe, but you don’t need to double bag the milk.
Oh, and lady, if I double bag the milk and you just grab the handles on the outside bag, it’s not really double bagged.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/13 "2015-03-08T14:57:40Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#):
>
> My parents taught me that every purchase needed to leave the store in a bag, even if it was small or had a handle.
>
> I’d prefer not to have the milk in a bag, but sometimes the old habits win out.
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Even something pocket sized, like a candy bar or bottle of aspirin?
Some people worry they’re going to get accused of shoplifting if they don’t have a bag.
Ask any cashier how often a customer says, semi-jokingly “I don’t need a bag, hopefully I don’t get stopped at the door ha ha ha”
And, honestly, I wouldn’t want to be walking out of Target with just a bottle of Tylenol in my hand for exactly that reason.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/14 "2015-03-08T15:06:11Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Even something pocket sized, like a candy bar or bottle of aspirin?
Yes. Especially if you are not white, you worry about being stopped on suspicion of shoplifting. And I never, ever put anything in my pocket before leaving the store.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/15 "2015-03-08T15:08:23Z")
Anti-shoplifting? Isn’t that what keeping the receipt is for?
I generally put things in the bags I bring, or in my backpack. If I’m getting one or two small things at the local convenience store, I may just put them in my pocket.
Of course, if I’m buying 4 litres of milk (rare these days), it is often already packaged in bags…
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### Author:  [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/16 "2015-03-08T15:10:01Z")
Yeah, I thought this question was going to be about bags versus cartons or plastic jugs. I always go for the bags lately, they’re cheaper that cartons, and you can’t find many plastic jugs of milk around here.
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### Author:  [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/17 "2015-03-08T15:27:33Z")
Always in a bag. I have occasionally had milk leak or have milk on it from another container on the shelf. I usually check for that in the dairy section but I’ve been known to get distracted. Milk in carpet is unpleasant.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/18 "2015-03-08T15:36:40Z")
I don’t like a gallon jug in a bag - the plastic bag cuts into my hand most uncomfortably. And it helps that I park in the garage which opens into the kitchen, so carrying an unbagged jug isn’t a big deal.
I need to remember to take my own bags - I have waaaaaaay too many plastic bags crammed in my pantry. Well, fewer at the moment, since I did remember to recycle a big batch…
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### Author:  [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/19 "2015-03-08T15:38:35Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#):
>
> My parents taught me that every purchase needed to leave the store in a bag, even if it was small or had a handle.
>
> I’d prefer not to have the milk in a bag, but sometimes the old habits win out.
It’s been a while, but I’ve seen stores stick bright orange “PAID” stickers on unbagged items at checkout.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-want-your-milk-in-a-bag/714510/20 "2015-03-08T16:16:34Z")
FWIW,[milk in a bag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTJ8A0uUXVk).
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