Drabble by Kevin Fagan for January 23, 2017

They were never free. The bags were no additional charge. We always paid for them through the cost of purchases…

It’s been over a year since the laws changed re: plastic shopping bags, and I still forget to bring them when I go shopping.

A week after Proposition 67 passed, my mom and I went to Ralphs. We found out that the prop passed and that the store started charging for the plastic bags at the checkout lane. It was a good thing we only bought two items.

I’m glad we don’t have that law here! As DBSW said, the bags are not really free, since we pay for them with the cost of our purchases. I’m just glad we don’t have to pay an extra “bag fee” for bags we use. I actually have several canvas shopping bags but I usually don’t remember to take them when I go shopping.

I’ve gotten better when I do my usual weekly shopping, but the rest of the time not so good. On the other hand, our church gives bags of food to school children on Fridays to get them thru the weekend & needs lots of plastic bags to do this, so I don’t feel guilty any more. Not sure what they’ll do if we can’t get the plastic bags.

Charging for bags is an insult to customers who already cover that charge in outrageous prices. I am all for capitalism and competition, but I think it has gotten out of hand. There is obvious greed on a level that is unprecedented; for example: does anyone else notice that the cereal boxes are waaayyyy smaller yet advertise the same amount of product? Can goods, bottles, all packaging is shrinking while the prices soar. There is an old adage that says “You can’t take it with you”.

I think the fee is to get people to use less plastic bags. But then some of us reuse the bags to deal with poop, cat, dog, baby. So we still end up using plastic bags.

Wait’ll he finds out that they’re selling cargo sweats.

carry a batch of recycle bags in the trunk of my car. Then, I only take as many bags into the store as I think I will need. Can’t tell you how many times I have wheeled a cart of overfilled bags to the car and re-bagged the groceries so I can lift them myself.

Sounds like it’s in the states the way it has been here in Canada for a long time. It was one of the things I had to get used when we moved here. I was used to the store just bagging your groceries. But eventually we learned to bring our own bags, we bought or were given the keeper bags to use over and over and now we’re used to it.

Here in Phoenix it is so hot that I carry insulated shopping bags with me so the food won’t melt before I can get it home. In half an hour in the sun, my car is like an oven in the summer. I also like the big IKEA blue bags. I can put all my shopping in one of those and sling it over my shoulder to carry it in. My arthritis makes it hard to carry bags with my hands.

In Hawaii, if you don’t have a bag, tough luck. As ALL the tourists in WalMart find out. I’ve seen people carry an entire cart worth in their arms back to the rental car. LOL

Good thing my Daughter lived there at the time and warned us! Our rental condo had a stack in the pantry!

Time to bring out your cargo pants Ralph.

Only the really Naive believe that a for Profit business actually gives anything away for Free!

Drabble is in California?

It should be noted that if you buy a bag it is paper (10 cents, if it isn’t “permanent” bag) . And the money goes to the state.The store can’t sell plastic bags, and can’t give away paper.The idea of trying to get people off of plastic bags is a good idea. They are so thin that they can’t be recycled, and the take a very long (as in never) to decompose, and when the city is near an ocean, a lot of them end up there, which is really bad.Paper on the other hand is recyclable, and decomposes, and isn’t the same kind of problem in the ocean. So that part of the law is a pure money grab by the state.

Drabble must live in California.

That is one heck of a drawstring.