So I was standing in line at a local store, today, eyeballing the dollar reusable shopping bags and sure enough when I go to checkout the lady behind the counter gives me her typical marketing ploy to try to get me to buy one of these “eco-friendly” bags to try to “give back” to good ol’ mother earth. I looked at the lady and said “So what will you give ME?” She couldn’t answer me naturally but it got me to thinking. Why should I buy and use an eco-friendly reusable shopping bag if I get nothing in return. I’m talking discounts people. Why should I go out of my comfort zone, pay the normal price as everyone else, struggle to take goo-gobs of bags into the store, when I get absolutely zip in return. This whole eco-friendly, I wanna save the planet trip everyone is on is great but it is only great if it is going to save me money. Know what I’m saying?
This is what I propose to companies that are looking to push the whole eco-friendly use your own bags gig, give us discounts! We all know that the price of plastic bags are factored into the price of the items that we buy in stores. So why should I pay for something I am not using? Do you see where I am going here. If we don’t use plastic bags and opt to use our own reusable shopping bags then we should be getting a discounts for the plastic bags we are not using.
I’m just saying, I will go all eco-greener than your thumb, wanna hug a tree but you gotta give me some sort of incentive to do so. If I am going to go out of my comfort zone and away from convenience it will only be at the price of a discount. Until stores start noticing and start giving the consumers discounts for not using plastic bags, I strongly doubt this whole use your own reusable bag mess will ever take off.
Kara Said:
We get 10 cents a bag we bring ourselves…it ALWAYS makes me remember to pack two extra bags just in case.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Wendy Said:
We shop at a store called Hannaford and they offer a discount each bag you use!
April 26th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The Domestic Diva Said:
@Kara…what store are you referring to?
@Wendy…wow! we don’t have a Hannaford, in fact I’ve never heard of it before. I think there might be a move in my future if there are stores out there already stepping out their game. I guess the south is a little slow on the uptake, which is typically the case in all aspects of life anyhow.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Holly Said:
I agree, a lot more stores should be giving people something back in return for going all eco-friendly because for most people, being eco-friendly is simply not enough.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Myra Said:
I 100% agree with you. I mean, why would I want to lug all those bags to and from the grocery store? Plus, I use the plastic bags for picking up things in the yard or mini trash bags. I would end up spending more money if I went eco-friendly.
April 27th, 2008 at 12:51 am
audra Said:
I agree! most of our stores out here will give you 10-15 cents off for every bag you bring with you, whether you reuse a plastic bag, or one of the canvas ones.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am
The Domestic Diva Said:
@Holly…nope being eco-friendly isn’t enough, at least for me it isn’t, I gotta save money if I am going to save the environment. The only reason why I invested in converting the house to all “swirly lightbulbs” is because it saves me a butt load of money each month
@Myra….It is too much of a hassle to take your own bags into the store especially when you have two kids to worry about as well. I need more incentive. Really, we all do!
@audra….seriously? I need to move near a store that does that because there are no stores around here that I know of offering any sort of discount for using our own shopping bags.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Kara Said:
I go to our local organic store. Roots. I wish Whole Foods did the 10 cents back as well as I would lug my kids all the way over there if they did…but the prices at Roots are the same as Whole Foods so I save the gas and my 10 cents a bag and head to Roots.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:28 am
drea Said:
I think its pretty selfish and I know ill get slammed for even commenting. a friend of mine emailed me this post.
i bring my own bags every trip and even use organic cotton produce bags. I feel better when I do this and dont feel its extra or a bother to me to do it.
it saves me trash in my own home, less trash in our oceans and rivers.. and its a lot easier to tote 4 eco bags than 15 plastic bags full of 2 or 3 items.
i dont use the walmart ones tho. i love my envirosax very much! and I never thought once “they should give me a discount”
to me thats just silly…
Just my opinion tho, ur entitled to your own.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
hubby Said:
Well Well, touchy issue…the bags are for us to cut down on landfill usage i think. the average person does not recycle their plastic so that crap goes to the landfill and makes the landfill a little more crowded, which makes the environment a little more messy, which makes us all a little more grumpy.
now about the reusable bags, publix WAS giving away the reuseable bags. what’s odd about the reuseables is, they are about 2/3’s the size of a plastic bag. so when i bring in my bags, i would have to bring to get the same amount of crap.
now if i bring my own bags, i do think i deserve a discount of some sort. of the administrative and operating cost that went into ordering, purchasing, and stocking the plastic bags, i think anyone that brings their own bags, the grocery store should be kissing those customer’s asses. this is lowering their cost, in turn, giving them higher profits and bigger bonus checks.
if there is anyone who should be a little pissed, it should be the plastic bag makers. the more people switch to reuseable, then the less the stores will be ordering. I don’t think they have to worry though…most people aren’t that ecofriendly or even give a damn.
as far as the selfish remark from our resident idea thief…the before mention of the real economics of these sacks is something that these stores would never mention to the average customer because they want you to keep bringing your bags so they can get more money.
I would be curious to know if you also have a hybrid vehicle or are you contributing to global warming with each trip to use your environmentally friendly bags? do you use squirt bottle for hair spray and insect repellent or are you killing the ozone with your airosol cans? and make sure that your solar panels or wind turbines are running efficiently to be able to post another smart-ass post or are you using the nuclear or coal backed electricity that is destroying our planet like the rest of us?
cliche’ time…”when you point at someone, there are 4 more pointing right back at you”…
“don’t throw rocks and your living in a glass house”…
“let’s him who is without sin cast the first stone”…
and my personal favorite…”just shut up.”
April 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
jen Said:
I agree with drea.
’nuff said!
Kinda ridiculous that you need to “get something” in order to “do something” for the earth.
jen
April 27th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Stacey Said:
Wow! Some hateful stuff going on here. Where I live there are whole cities that are BANNING plastic bags. That means No plastic anywhere, unless you bring your own. How would you deal with that?
I encourage you to think before you post something so hateful to someone else. That’s all I have to say.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Melinda Said:
I know that stores want us to use the reusable bags, and eco-nuts say it will “save the earth” and so on… but I totally agree with you, unless they give me some incentive to use those bags, I see no reason why I should do so. Obviously Drea and many many others think this is selfish. I think it is among the most reasonable decisions I’ve ever made.
I almost majored in science when I was in college… physics and chemistry. Admittedly, I changed my major. But from the time I studied science and the lessons I learned, I just quite frankly cannot jump on the “eco-friendly” bandwagon, because I cannot agree with them. I’m not saying the earth is not getting warmer, because there is some evidence that it is, though not nearly as much as the media claims. But there is very little evidence that this warming trend is OUR fault, the result of OUR actions. There is, however, some evidence that this is a natural thing, that the earth has cycles like this, and that we are NOT going to die from it (as the media wants us to believe. In fact, there is also evidence that plastic bags are NOT the evil cause of all environmental destruction that most people think. I could go on… but I think you get the idea.
Kudos to Al Gore, though, for a great propaganda campaign to scare us all into agreeing with him.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Jenn Said:
I don’t think it’s selfish at all. I would be more willing to shop at a store using my canvas totes if the store rewarded me for doing so.
I agree with hubby…it’s saving the store on ordering costs, and most of the stores SELL the eco-friendly type bags, so they’re profiting even more. Are they really caring about the environment, or are they out for more profit from pushing the bags onto you?
I do try to always carry my canvas bags with me, but there are times when I forget to bring them along. Giving me a discount, no matter how small it is, would be a bigger incentive to help me remember to bring my own bags!
Then again I’m waiting for the new Aldi to be built here. You’re required to bring your own bags or boxes there, but it is a discount grocery store, too. It’s a win/win. I used to shop there all the time in college, but right now the closest store is 45 minutes away from me. You don’t know how happy it made me when I found out they were building one here.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Jessica Said:
We have about 30 of the reusable bags, but the majority of them have come from our friends/family that have purchased them for us. Stores should offer incentives for their customers using their own bags. I worked at Save-A-Lot in high school and the reason their groceries were so cheap was the bag issue. You had to pay for your bags if you needed one, otherwise bring your own or use the cardboard boxes that were set up at the front of the store for you. *shrug*
April 28th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Nash Said:
They need to give discounts to people who use the self check out too! I should get something for dealing with that stupid machine that never gets the code right and standing there while the teenager on duty tries to figure it out. Not to mention having to bag my own groceries!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:47 am
crunchy domestic goddess Said:
while i will happily use reusable bags because i know the impact i’m having on the future of our earth, i know that the vast majority of people need more incentive than that. i think discounts for using reusable bags are a good incentive, but even better than that, i think the stores should start charging people if they don’t bring their own bags. it might sound harsh, but i think it is what’s needed to inspire people really quickly to start packing their own bags with them.
in fact, i just wrote about that today.
if we’re going to clean up this mess, we all need to do our part.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” - Native American Proverb
April 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Melinda Said:
I can tell everyone has strong feelings on this. I posted some related information over on my blog that I hope you will all check out.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
The Domestic Diva Said:
Thank you so much everyone that has contributed their comments and opinions thus far. If anyone else has anything to add feel free to leave your comment here.
I also wanted to suggest to everyone to head over to Melinda’s corner of the web and leave their thoughts on what she had to say about the whole topic. This is a topic we should all be evaluating in our minds and thinking about a daily basis.
I just love a good ol’ adult conversation, don’t you? It is so good for the soul.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Donna Said:
I sometime use reusable bags, but frankly sometime I forget or in too much of a hurry to remember and like some people said, with kids, they are usually pretty ready to leave by the time we get to checkout, so one less thing I want to deal with.
How about if you use plastic make an effort to recycle them. Most cities have recycling at the curb or dumpster specifically fro recycling around the city.
But with each of us doing little things, we can have a huge impact on the earth.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am
miss mindy Said:
I have so far one reusable bag that is ‘cute’ I take it with me to whole foods and get 10 cents deducted of my total, I found my eco-friendly bag at steinmart on sale for 3.75… Usually I only buy a few items at Whole Foods, so i can get by w/ my one bag, when i shop for groceries at Target i usually end up w/ tons of bags… which are best to recycle…. i do use them as trash bags however… ( even though this is reusing too!)
April 29th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Noreen Said:
fred meyer gives a discount per bag
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:16 am