That’s really great for you.
Here’s the thing: it isn’t just about you.
That’s right; it’s not just about you or me. It’s also about the environmental impact of those lightweight plastic t-shirt bags.
Again, mark my words: poor people, especially those with hectic and stressful lives, untreated physical and mental illnesses, etc. (which is a whole lot of poor people living in the US/California), are just not going to bring them much of the time, for whatever reason. Even if the reason is “they’re just stupid”, that doesn’t make it right to fuck them over for it. And that is more important and more urgent to the current circumstances than some long-term ideal of environmental whatever (honestly, it doesn’t look like the planet will be sustainable for human life for all that much longer regardless of what we do).
How much extra does this work out to per a shopping trip—percentage-wise?
$100 worth of groceries requires how many 10¢ bags?
Oh, I thought we were blaming liberals for this, or something.
So, people who lack basic healthcare are being forced to pay 10c for plastic bags and the part of that picture you are choosing to rant about is… the plastic bags?
There are some major problems in the US that should urgently be addressed, among them:
Lack of basic healthcare for the poor.
Regressive taxation (I mean major taxation - income, cap gains etc)
Reckless disregard for the environment.
I realize that if you are poor every little helps, but seriously - get a grip here.
Another group this charge disproportionately affects: Tourists. Because when I go on holiday somewhere, I’m not carting a bunch of reusable bags with me out when I head to the shops. Yes, I appreciate everyone else on the SDMB probably does do that, because of course you do.
It’s bad enough California doesn’t have all-inclusive pricing, so what’s on the price tag and what you pay at the register are two totally different and seemingly unrelated amounts, but then adding another 10c a bag on top of that isn’t helping the perception you’re being shafted somehow, either.
Yeah, yeah, I know, if you can afford to travel to California, you can afford 10c/bag. It’s an inconvenience more than a huge issue, but it’s still mildly annoying.
Certainly, because whenever I go on holiday somewhere, the first thing I do when I arrive is go out grocery shopping, preferably to an authentic farmer’s market where I can get a couple of live chickens, and then I bring it all back to … wait, where do you stay when you’re on holiday?
It’s also annoying when such bans include department stores. I usually don’t bring reusable bags with me when I go into Macy’s or Nordstrom (not that I’m shopping at either store very often). So when I bought two packages of underwear from Macy’s, I walked out of the store carrying the unbagged packs in my hand.
One might even be tempted to buy, perhaps, a box of (generic) plastic bags off the shelf.
In your world view poor people are quite helpless and pathetic. I grew up poor. People respond to incentives. So what if the “tax” is regressive. It’s not even a tax. It’s a fee. And it’s optional. If only all taxes were so regressive.
One thing I’ve noticed in L.A. since the 2014 ban is a slight increase in reusable bags as promotional gifts. Realtors and local political candidates come through our neighborhood and leave them on our doorsteps. Any street fair, 5K run or similar gathering with vendors will inevitably have someone giving away their bags as a promotion. One time a local church left a nice reusable bag on every doorstep around here, asking that residents fill it with nonperishable foods for their food bank to be picked up on a certain morning - I’m sure I’m not the only one who kept the reusable bag and left a paper bag full of donations for them. When I worked in a law firm, our various vendors (copy services, translators, court reporters) started including shopping bags in their promotional giveaways. I estimate that of all the reusable bags I own, I paid for less than half of them.
la county had a ban? … The antelope valley must of missed it. although I thought it wasn’t taking effect until next year … and personally you get more bags that way for the trash than you do buying trash bags at dollar tree …
Tho I thought department stores were exempt … guess not
I was told there would be no math in this thread!!
We’ve had this where I live for a few years. Applies to paper bags, too. Every now and then I get one of the old-timers checking me out at the grocery store. He knows I never bring my own bags-- I actually like getting the paper bags and use them at home to collect recyclables. Anyway, he’ll look at me and say: I’m not going to charge you for the damn bags, and winks.
Who gives a fuck? It’s, at worst, MILDLY INCONVENIENT for you to carry two plastic-wrapped packages instead of one.
The first R, the most important, is REDUCE.
I can’t believe the entitled assholes who, oh horrors, might be mildly inconvenienced. Because the health of the fucking planet is LESS IMPORTANT than you having to have your brand new undies on display.
Actually the video game stand I worked for bought bags from a company it was 2500 for 49.99 took us 5 years to use them all
I’ve been living under the US poverty line for a household of my size for nearly 10 years now.
Oddly enough, I don’t have a problem remembering to take my re-usable bags with me. In fact, I’ve got a nice collection now and keep some in each vehicle for unexpected shopping trips.
I don’t feel hurt by this at all, nor do I feel it’s “holding me down”.
Then again, I was a weirdo using my own bags at Aldi’s 30 years ago - even when I was solidly middle class as well.
To me, this moaning over the paper bag ban is much as if I was whining because with the dearth of newspapers these days I have nothing left to line the bottom of the bird cage wah-wah-wah (actually, these days I’m using junk mail for that purpose. We’re getting less of it, now, I suppose if that goes entirely I will have to find a substitute). Us poor folks have MUCH more pressing things to worry about, like today when I found out our insurance would rather spend thousands and thousands of dollars to admit my spouse to the hospital for IV antibiotics than pay less than $30 for a course of medication that may entirely prevent that hospital stay. And you think I’m worrying about reusable vs. plastic? Nope.
Plenty of poor folks - people paying with food stamps or receiving WIC - are already coming to my store with reusable bags and we don’t even have a ban on them here, so obviously some are doing this by choice. Like me and mine. Sorry, “it might hurt the poor!” isn’t really a good argument for this one.
And it’s working on me, but reeeeally slowly. My wife will stop by the store with a dozen (repurposed) bags in tow, but I’m always that guy at the checkout shoving avocados in his pockets because “bring a bag” seems to be too much for his coffee-addled brain to remember.
So, yeah, I need a ban and a tax and a clerk aiming the Thousand-Watt Kleig Light of Shame on me …
… Come to think of it, I’m going to go and put a half-dozen old bags in my panniers right now.
I do blame the elite, well-to-do, ivory tower liberals who live in rich liberal bubbles that they never really venture out of. Which is what this board is predominantly plagued by. The same ones who were so blind and so fucking out of touch with the reality of so many Americans that they thought Trump didn’t have a chance in hell of winning the election. Their arrogant blindness knows no bounds.
That said I’m a populist liberal who places far more importance on economic issues and the state of current lives and current struggles of the people, over the theoretical long- to very-long-term. But let me be clear: climate change is important. Environmental issues are important. Sustainability is very fucking important. But this regressive tax shit on individual consumers is the worst possible way to go about dealing with those kinds of issues.
Just wait till the 1st re-usable grocery bag epidemic takes hold.