On behalf of those who fit the shoe
You don’t know me.
If your argument depends on your assumptions about people you’ve never met, there’s a significant probability that your argument is poorly founded.
A better argument would be to demonstrate exactly how much of a monetary impact this fee has on someone.
From what I can tell it’s largest impact is on someone who has poor planning skills and who is poor enough to receive public assistance but who is not receiving public assistance.
But even there, I’m not sure of how much of an impact this largest impact is.
But we should try to compensate for everyone who has problems planning everyday activities.
And I’m on both ends. I now sack groceries for a living and I’m so poor I can’t afford to pay attention. And you know what? I’d welcome this in my state because I believe it’s better in the long run on multiple fronts. I think is poor folks would benefit from having more reusable bags around (which you can get for free here at the resale I volunteer at), the environment would be better off, my store’s bottom line would improve (helping the economy) and, although they are indeed a bitch to load (takes longer and are more bulky / problematic ), plastic sacks ain’t no walk in the park either.
And now that I constantly encounter people on WIC, SNAP and other forms of robbing Peter to pay Paul, I can assure you that a .10¢ bag fee won’t be the issue. Not by a long shot.
Ouch! Now you suggest stupid people like me be taxed more? What’s next a tax break for geniuses? Where does it end? What about those of average intelligence?
If a store really wants to get around the ban, it can.
The law says that some plastic bags can still be supplied for free - for example, to keep meat in so it doesn’t leak onto anything else, and to keep produce in (you’re not expected to buy, say, green beans or Brussels sprouts and carry them loose). What stops them from using the old-style carryout plastic bags for this purpose?
I’ve always wondered why bags were free in the first place. When I lived in Budapest, you had to either buy them or bring your own and bag your own groceries. It wasn’t a matter of being poor or rich, and I doubt it was done for environmental reasons-- it simply a matter of them not being free. Fucking packets of ketchup and mayo at McDonald’s weren’t even free. It didn’t take long to figure out how to reuse a bag. And the bags there cost more than ten cents (I remember the equivalent of about 50 cents) in a city where the average monthly salary was $400-500 a month. People figured out to bring their own bags.
Right? But you know Americans. We like to bitch (and bitch and bitch) about anything, especially if it’s something we feel entitled to. It’s just our way.
The BigTard lecture series continues. Fuck off, you mouthbreathing, basement dwelling sanctimonious piece of shit. Go back in the cellar and yell at mommy for bringing home the wrong kind of cheese.
My city banned them a year ago or so. I’ve been bringing my own bags in for over ten years. I just hate waste. It’s one of my quirks. Originally I would get their bags and then reuse them until they tore and then get new ones. I eventually got sturdy ones that I have now been using for years. They stay in the trunk of my car.
Gyres and whale stomachs make for good clickbait. But the U.S. is responsible for less than 1% of global mismanaged plastic waste. (DOI: 10.1126/science.1260352)
That doesn’t mean don’t do anything, otherwise we’re like the anti-AGW folks who point at china (also the main culprit here) and their coal plants. But I don’t think the positive impact is what people expect. Which makes negative impacts, if any, stick out more.
I think the ban is a great thing and I am very glad I voted for it. Sure, I’ve had to go back to the car to get my bags a few times, but it is rapidly becoming reflex to grab a couple out of the stash in the trunk every time I go into a store. We must have a dozen or so bags there, ranging from small, plastic totes with Iron Man and Yoda on them to huge canvas bags supporting breast cancer research and Office Depot feeling good about themselves. The baggers and checkers get a kick out of the variety, and if I really need a disposable bag for some reason, I buy some produce. No hu-hu.
They did this in Ontario (Canada). People complained and got on with their lives. Supposedly it does help the environment, though probably not much. It is regressive on the very poor, and led to a moderate increase in sales of more durable plastic and fabric bags. But businesses themselves are often ambivalent about it and often give bags away for free, and probably would if you cared to whine loudly enough.
I also wonder if some people here have just never shopped at Aldi. I don’t think they’ve ever given away free bags, bag bans or not. You either buy a sturdy bag, or bring your own. I’ve never much heard of people complaining about that (and it also tends to draw shoppers on tighter budgets than your average supermarket.)
Someone up-thread (forgot to quote) said 2500 bags for $50, so that makes bags about 2 cents.
Stand outside the store and sell your bags for 7 cents, undercutting the “tax/fee”, and PROFIT!
(Until some punk comes along and only wants 5 cents for his! :mad: )
You are a genius! I’ll never pay for anything in California again! If challenged at the door on the way out, I’ll claim that my receipt was emailed to me.
That’s really a good plan. Seriously. I use Wal-Mart Pay and don’t get a paper receipt. It’s sent to my phone. I could see a shoplifter using that excuse.
I hate the bag ban, one supermarket I regularly go it has that system in effect, many times I didn’t shop there because I had no bag and don’t want to buy reusable bags as I have enough of them.
There just gotta be a better way, perhaps each bag has a return stamp on it os I can get them next time. Perhaps I should be able to bring my reusable bags back in bulk for a refund or just store them there.
