I was a little bit surprised last Saturday morning when the cashier at the supermarket asked me if I had my ‘green’ bags, failing which I would have to pay five cents for each plastic bag required to carry the stuff I was about to purchase.
Perhaps it was because of the routine I had established at the check out counter, whereby I would start packing the groceries already checked out into the plastic bags while the cashier was scanning the other items. I always felt that this was a great time saver for everybody, especially myself.
This time was different however. As I reflexively reached for the rack of plastic bags, I noticed that they weren’t there. It was then that I was informed of my choices.
I should have expected this. It had been reported on in the news some time ago, that certain supermarket chains would begin charging the nickel in the Montreal area, in order to protect the environment, but in my neighbourhood the local supermarket still values my business enough to give me an option, so I had forgotten about this until recently, when I visited one of those big grocers for the first time since the change.
To the credit of the cashier, she seemed genuinely embarrassed as she informed me, as I was for her. I have worked in similar jobs in the past, and it is never easy informing a customer of some unexpected charge, however small. There is no guarantee that the reaction will be reasonable.
I find this policy totally ridiculous. It does happen from time to time, that busy people stop to shop on their way from work or other activities, and therefore are not in possession of their precious cloth bags. Charging for a bag is, in my view, mean spirited, and ultimately disrespectful towards the customer. Besides, why do they assume I will be ditching the bag in a landfill?
What I find really offensive about this whole exercise is not the 15 cents it cost me to have bags in order to carry the things I just purchased. That is likely just a money grab, and from the number of bags I saw purchased, surely a lucrative one. I, after all, was not going to buy my cloth shopping bags from this particular establishment, no matter how hard they tried to shame me into it. I don’t like being coerced into any kind of purchase, and certainly don’t appreciate being a captive customer of some corporation, whose ultimate motive is always profit, no matter what they tell you.
Were plastic bags not available for purchase I would probably have placed all of my groceries back into the cart and replaced them on the shelves before leaving the store, if only to make my point, the seemingly forgotten but important point that I am a customer who is about to drop 100 dollars at their place of business. I am also skeptical as to whether these companies are that worried about the environment, as I will illustrate a few paragraphs down.
That having been said, I have no doubt that the employees enforcing this policy are doing so with the best of intentions.
I despise this policy on so many levels. Yes I acknowledge that the environment merits our respect, and I do live my lifestyle in such a way that I do not consider myself a threat to the earth. My existence is quite minimalist in many aspects, and I confidently submit that it is way more so than that of the powers that decided to charge me a nickel for a plastic bag.
I guess it’s the element of hypocrisy that gets to me the most. I find it hard to swallow that these big box grocers care about the environment at all, other than as a marketing tool, a campaign to convince the environmentally conscious (coincidentally, everybody!) that they also are conscious.
If these places really were worried about such things, they would make their stores accessible by foot. Instead, the typical large scale grocery store chooses to be situated at driving distance from where people live. Look at the size of the parking lots serving these establishments! I’m sure it would take several thousand plastic bags to equal the destruction wrought (in theory) on the atmosphere that the multitude of cars headed to and from shopping at these places would cause. I do realize that many of these establishments were built years ago, before global warming became an issue, but if you think about it, the plastic bags also were in existence before they became ‘bad’, so the ‘already exists’ defense does not serve as a good excuse in my opinion.
And don’t even get me started on the packaging of most individual items for sale at these places. Apparently that’s a-okay though, since the packaging qualifies as ‘marketing’, as was so astutely noted by someone I work with, and of course companies have the right to ‘advertise’. It is only lowly I who should not have the right to use plastic for my individual carrying pleasure.
I submit the charge for plastic bags is the most cynical ‘marketing’ effort yet.
If I were any more paranoid (is this even possible?) I would feel that this policy of charging for bags may even serve a more sinister purpose, which is to demonize anyone who may not be so enamoured with the eco-conformity so many wish to impose upon society. They succeed in doing this via the demonization of the bag itself, which naturally extrapolates to those seen carrying them. This will eventually pave the way for more egregious money (or power) grabs (under the guise of saving the earth) in the years to come, although what exact form these will take remains to be seen.
As such, I have decided, when possible, to forego shopping at all stores that charge me for bags, until such time as everybody charges for them, which I predict will be in the not too distant future, anyway. I realize this decision will be met with derision by many who just can’t be reasonable when it comes to environmental matters, but to me it boils down to a simple matter of personal choice, which is an adjunct to personal liberty, an issue of which I am a strong proponent.
I did not voice the reasons for my decision to try and convince anyone else to do the same, so to those about to express outrage in the comments section, please spare me the venom of your wrath. As with any topic, this issue needs to be discussed with civility, not shouted down. That alone would reduce much of the hot air currently in the atmosphere, and it wouldn’t even cost a nickel.
I just question why you would refuse to use a reusable bag? I’ve been using them long before the city started charging for plastic partly because of my environmental beliefs, and partly bacause they are far easier to carry.
I do use reusable bags when I leave home to go shopping, about half of the time. I just don’t carry them with me when I’m on the move.
I agree they are easier to carry. Nothing against them. I really despise being mistreated as a consumer, however. This rant is directed towards the supermarkets, in reality.
If they cared about the environment and had that old-fashioned appreciation for the customer, they would go back to the paper bags of my youth. Biodegradable and smelled lovely.
Cloth bags are not safe due to bacterial and viral contamination of raw meat and vegetables one carries in their reusables! It like reusing a disposable diaper for chrissakes!