# Lame rant....grocery bags, WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937 "2003-09-16T13:36:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/41 "2003-09-18T06:36:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jadis \* > \*\*Paper bags are superior to plastic bags in all ways. I hate I’m not going to even go into how my head wants to explode when I ask for paper and get the person fitting the paper bag into a plastic bag, supposedly with the assumption that I’m incapable of carrying a bag unless it has handles. What is this about?? \*\* I think the kids that bag groceries are completely incapable of understanding the english language (and no, I’m not talking of the kids for whom english actually IS a second language, I’m talking about our own plain old “mercan” kids). I don’t mind plastic because I reuse it. But occasionally I get a small paper bag to use for ripening certain fruit (it ripens faster if you put it into a paper bag, I have no idea why). So, I go to Carrs, our local chain grocery, and as I’m checking out, I ask the girl who is bagging my groceries if she can throw one paper bag in with my groceries. Here are my exact words “would you put one paper bag in with the groceries, I’m going to be using it to ripen fruit, you can just toss it in on top, without unfolding it”? Somehow, this translated into idiot teenspeak as “abandon bagging groceries in the plastic bags, unpack them and start placing them in paper bags”. So I tried again “um, no I want the plastic bags, just please add in ONE paper bag in with the groceries, you don’t have to unfold it, just drop it in the the plastic bag” This resulted in her trying to unfold the paper bag WITHIN the plastic bag and then trying to put the groceries in it. I tried again, “um, could you just leave it unfolded? I don’t really need for the groceries to be put in the paper bag, I’m only using it for ripening fruit once I get home”. So, this time she folds it back up, but insists upon somehow making sure that it stands up perfectly on one side of the plastic bag like some sort of “shield” or something. I gave up at that point. I mean, was I NOT speaking english? How hard is “just add a paper bag in with the groceries”? ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/42 "2003-09-18T07:02:34Z")
Another use is to drop off your bags at a local food pantry. My step-grandmother volunteers her time on occasion at a local food panty and they are always needing plastic grocery bags. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/43 "2003-09-18T16:12:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > \*\*Somehow, this translated into idiot teenspeak as “abandon bagging groceries in the plastic bags, unpack them and start placing them in paper bags”. > > \*\* I’ve had similar problems with Mr/Miss Bagging Roboto. I usually just let them do what they want, then kinda semi- politely do what I wanted by myself when they are finished. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/44 "2003-09-18T17:37:54Z")
**Magayuk** > [@](#): > > Great Canadian Bagel right? RIght ! 😉 but they never told me about the chocolate chip cream cheese … gotta go ! ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/45 "2003-09-18T17:45:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by techchick68 \* > \*\*Another use is to drop off your bags at a local food pantry. > > My step-grandmother volunteers her time on occasion at a local food panty and they are always needing plastic grocery bags. \*\* That’s a good idea. I used to donate them to my daughter’s preschool way back when. Unfortunately, my only pets are fish, so I still don’t know what to do with the the newspaper bags. I could try telling my husband that we need to get a cat…I’m afraid he’d just say “Why don’t you just cancel the paper?” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/46 "2003-11-03T12:07:22Z")
It happened again. I wazs Stater Brothers, and I said very clearly to the bagger “As few bags as possible, please”. And the bitch started _double bagging everything!!!_ And, AND, she wasn’t even filling them up to the top. I stood there, flabbergasted and toungue tied. What do I have to do? Use a gun??? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/47 "2003-11-03T12:54:09Z")
**spooje** : Well, at least you’re supporting the strike. Maybe you should try Food4Less. You get to bag your own crap. **Mr. B** : Excuse me, miss. How many cans will this bag support? **F4L Chick** : :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/48 "2003-11-03T13:08:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DeadlyAccurate \* > **I’ve found I can somewhat reduce bag usage by stacking like items together on the conveyor belt (meats together, cold and/or dairy items together, boxes together, etc).** I try to do this because it makes unpacking easier when I get the stuff home (I only have the fridge or freezer open while I’m unpacking the appropriate cold bag, I only have the tin cupboard open while I’m unpacking the tins etc…) Bagging as a service still seems alien to me (self-bagging has long been the norm here, although the supermarkets are starting to offer to bag it for the customer (I decline)). ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/49 "2003-11-03T15:06:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamex \* > \*\*That’s a good idea. > > I used to donate them to my daughter’s preschool way back when. Unfortunately, my only pets are fish, so I still don’t know what to do with the the newspaper bags. I could try telling my husband that we need to get a cat…I’m afraid he’d just say “Why don’t you just cancel the paper?” :rolleyes: \*\* Uses for those long narrow newspaper bags: Store rolled-up table runners, scarves, leftover wrapping paper (rolled around empty paper towel tubes, of course), skeins of yarn, holiday decorations (especially good for garlands that shed glittery shit all over everything else in the box). I also use them as packing material for storage and shipping, and to fill in spaces in silk flower arrangements (around the foam and under the excelsior.) Plastic grocery bags: all of the above, and they have the added benefit of handles which can be threaded onto shower curtain rings on the closet rod - I do this with large-ish craft supplies like mini baskets and styrofoam balls - or slung over the “neck” of a hanger to make a handy-dandy accessory bag (the winter scarf, hat and gloves that match one particular coat, for instance.) And of course the aforementioned lining of the bathroom wastebasket and picking up doggy doo (I have a mastiff - we’re talking some spectacular doody here.) I also have this trick: I place the cat litter pan inside the bag (the bag is now on its side, sorta) and push the tall side down into the pan, then pour litter on top. When it’s litter changing time, I pull the bag off, turning it inside-out with the litter in it, tie up the handles and carry it out to the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/50 "2003-11-03T17:40:33Z")
My mother made an extremely sturdy and durable shopping bag that has at least double the practical volume of regular platic shopping bags. She made it from about nine dozen plastic shopping bags cut into little strips, then crocheted for HOURS on end into a huge shopping bag. I put about six “cream of” soup family cans, and the bag wasn’t anywhere near full, and there was very little strain on it. She made grocery bags into . . . a grocery bag! ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ray\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Walker)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/51 "2003-11-04T03:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > \*\* > Seriously, though, get yourself your own shopping bags, they don’t break as easily and the look on the bagger’s face is priceless. \*\* Speaking as someone who bagged groceries when he was 16, I’ll just add in here that cloth or canvas bags are **extremely** annoying to baggers because there’s nothing holding them up an open as with plastic or paper bags. So essentially they have to hold it open with one hand and put things in with the other (up to a certain point). When you have to do that with 6+ bags it get very tedious. So now you have one more reason to use them! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/52 "2003-11-04T03:24:57Z")
I dislike them, but they did make handy diaper bags back when the kids were young, and I had two in diapers at once. Now, they’re useless and just get tossed. I miss paper something bad. Wal-Mart doesn’t handle paper, so I get stuck with dozens when I get back from there. And all the crap slides out when they’re in the van… ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/53 "2003-11-04T03:47:57Z")
It’s difficult to please everyone. Some people are absolutely anal about having no meat touching no fruit which cannot be anywhere near frozen which can’t possible touch cans, etc. Other people loathe bags and could give a crap if I put their grapes on top of the (plastic wrapped) meat. I’ve been at a small town supermarket for a yr and I still cannot remember every single persons preference. Ok time to start that thread bitching about customers who leave their carts at the till!! Customer: don’t put my bags in my cart (after I’ve done just that). I’ll just take them out of it and leave the cart here anyway. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/54 "2003-11-04T06:34:44Z")
I’d just be happy if the darn baggers at Carr’s would NOT put the cold stuff in with the freshly packaged HOT deli food. Is this rocket science? The customer comes up to the counter AT LUNCHTIME with a cold soda, hot food from the deli and a few other items. why, Why, WHY Do they put the COLD soda in the same bag as the HOT deli food? The stupid Pepsi and Coke stockers are lazy and stock warm sodas in front as it is. So half the time you half to go pawing through 15 sodas to get a decently cold one. Then the bagger wants to put it in on top of your hot deli food. Cooling your lunch down and warming up your soda with one efficient move. ARRRRGGGGGGH. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/55 "2003-11-04T06:36:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > So half the time you **half** to go pawing through 15 sodas … Have to… HAVE!! arggh. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/56 "2003-11-04T11:35:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > \*\* > The stupid Pepsi and Coke stockers are lazy and stock warm sodas in front as it is. So half the time you half to go pawing through 15 sodas to get a decently cold one. Then the bagger wants to put it in on top of your hot deli food. Cooling your lunch down and warming up your soda with one efficient move. > > ARRRRGGGGGGH. \*\* Oh, don’t get me started…too late… Why is every time I go these stores, I have to ask for the stockers to go into the back room for the Diet Pepsi 24 oz bottle six-packs??? There are never enough on the shelves. Then they fill the empty space with _regular_ Pepsi. Like THAT will serve as an acceptable replacement. Yeah, my blood sugar won’t be able to tell the difference!:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I’ve talked to the managers. I’ve told them that they obviously are not ordering enough, evidenced by the fact that they are _consistantly_ selling out of it… And the next time I come back, their out of it AGAIN!!! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/57 "2003-11-04T22:34:39Z")
My store does the same thing with the Diet Pepsi 6 bottle packs! I have to so searching all over the store to see if they’re hiding out on an endcap or something. My other pet peeve is they always put the store brand 2-liter seltzer on the top shelf, so people can only take the front four bottles. At some stores (even in the same chain!) they stock the mixers in vertical rows instead of horizontal so each type is equally available. But no, mine is conspicuously absent of seltzer on the shelf, even when none of the other mixers are even touched. It’s obviously the most popular! What is up? Re: the canvas bags being hard to bag – at the stores I’ve been to they just hook them over the same device that holds the plastic bags open. (The SMART cashiers do anyway, lol.) ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/58 "2003-11-05T00:00:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > \*\*Oh, don’t get me started…too late… > > Why is every time I go these stores, I have to ask for the stockers to go into the back room for the Diet Pepsi 24 oz bottle six-packs??? > > There are never enough on the shelves. Then they fill the empty space with _regular_ Pepsi. Like THAT will serve as an acceptable replacement. Yeah, my blood sugar won’t be able to tell the difference!:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: > > I’ve talked to the managers. I’ve told them that they obviously are not ordering enough, evidenced by the fact that they are _consistantly_ selling out of it… And the next time I come back, their out of it AGAIN!!! > > :smack: \*\* NOW you’ve done it!!! And what about the FIFTEEEN freaking rows of regular mountain dew? And not a Diet Mountain Dew in sight??? And I know what you’re talking about regarding the asking and asking, shoot, I’ve even filled out the little store comment forms. ARRRGGGhhh, but remember, it’s not the grocery store’s fault, (at least not up here in AK), the soda is ordered and stocked, not by store people, but by the union coke and pepsi people. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937/59 "2003-11-05T12:12:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanvasShoes \* > \*\* ARRRGGGhhh, but remember, it’s not the grocery store’s fault, (at least not up here in AK), the soda is ordered and stocked, not by store people, but by the union coke and pepsi people. \*\* But they know that if they were to put more out there, they’d _sell_ a lot more, right? Right??? I can’t figure it out. They obviously know that their stock on hand is less than the demand. And possibly that the stock of regular Pepsi and that heinous Mountain Dew substance is considerably MORE than the demand. What gives? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-rant-grocery-bags-wtf/201937.md?page=2)