Does it still seem like a culture shock to any of you? Or are you used to it yet?

Self checkouts are way more annoying now, grr lol

It's only 5 cents. It's worth it if you're not going to bring your own bags.

We've had it for ages, so no, it's not a shock. I've been using my own bags for about 15 years anyway, so it was no big deal.

A shop in the town where I live is advertising that its 5p bags will be stronger than the free ones they had before AND if/when your bags wear out they will replace them for free. I'm not sure if they're supposed to do that, but that's what they say they're going to do.

Are you in the UK? A few people are opting for the Bag for Life here, apparantly.

Hmm, I think an incentive like that nationwide could be a good idea.

If you use self-checkouts you can just take them. Nobody is watching.

Nah, there's always a shop assistant hovering over you to make sure you don't.

Not at my local Tesco Express there's not. It's also really easy to completely lie about how much fruit you're buying at a self-checkout.

Getting used to it.

The handle on my bag for life snapped, is this some kind of sign?

I think you could get a free bag if you hand in the old one... lol, great timing.

I always use my own bags.

No "culture shock" here, as I've bagged my booze and food in a backpack for years and diligently dump my 'empties' every time I step out of the door.

Self checkout are going to be a bitch now, not that they all that great anyway. I don't really give a shit about the price and it's for a good reason, it's just a minor inconveniance when the guy at HMV didn't have correct change because of 5p.

True. Btw, I thought only supermarkets did it. Weird.

Me too but apparently HMV are in on it.

It's always cost money in Sweden so I was just getting used to it not costing anything here...

It's like the equivalent to 10p to 20p in Sweden so it's cheaper regardless

Yes, in Scotland. It was introduced here a while back. About a year, I think.

I just take the metal baskets home with me. Fuck them and their shopping tax.

It was introduced a while back in Edinburgh. So yes I'm used to it.

My wife works at Hy-Vee (a predominantly Midwest, employee-owned company) and they encourage people to bring their own bags by giving them a $0.05 discount per bag. It's not much, of course, but it's at least something.

It saves the company money (less bags for them to use) and is good for the environment, but very few people take advantage. At a meeting a few months ago, they told the employees that a recent study showed less than 1% of their customers brought bags with them.

We usually do. We have about ten of them, and they're so much nicer to use. They can carry more and you don't have to worry about them ripping apart before you even get

Not only is Europe horribly racist and made up overwhelmingly of boring white people but they also charge you for grocery bags? What next? Taxes for owning a television?

>>22
In the UK there already is a tax for owning a television.

I'll be shocked if it ever happens where I live, people would throw fits. I always take my own bags but I would estimate that no more than 5% of customers at the three grocery stores I shop at regularly do so. And the baggers very often don't make any effort to cut down on bag use - I once saw a woman get 23 bags for her 40 or so items at one place - very thin, rip-after-one-use bags, which are typical at many stores around here.

I've been using the stronger "bag for life" bags for a while now, so it won't really affect me unless I forget to bring it with me. I also just bought a couple of lightweight canvas bags that fold up into a pocket or personal bag.

I think it's good that people should stop relying on endless plastic bags that wind up in landfills, not that I haven't done my fair share of that in the past.

We don't have it yet. I use my own bags..when I haven't forgotten them

I like self checkout when I only have a few things. There's always an associate there looking overs your shoulder though which gives me performance anxiety lol

The bag charge pays for new nuclear weapons.

Here in Ireland, the change has been wonderful cleansing and seamless and very widely accepted. I use paper bags and take reusable ones when doing a more extensive shop. Whereas fifteen years ago it was common to see plastic bags littered on pavements and floating around as an eye-sore. I think it is one of the best things achieved here in recent decades. There is absolutely no reason that a scheme like this should not be pursued everywhere.

I've been using my own bags for years, so it's fine. I remember when it was standard for supermarkets to charge for carrier bags, around 3p....and I'm not that old, lol.

Since Scotland are the guinea pig for most UK trials, aye. Used to it. As someone already said, it's been in place here for a year.. but whenever anything is put into place in England and Wales (like the pub smoking ban of yesteryear) we have to endure all the whining and moaning on the UK national news when it was just taken for granted that we'd shut up and get on with it, and did.

You'll all get over it soon enough.

It's only 5p for fuck sake.

I'm all for it. If someone hasn't bought bags for life yet then they might as well just fuck off out of the kitchen because life is gonna come down on them HARD and I'll be there to drink the tears.

Sorry about the harsh language.