Plastic bag tax.

bobjustbob

Proud member of FreeOnes Hall Of Fame. Retired to
Welcome to NYC. If you want to take your shit home or have it delivered in a plastic bag, add ten cents a bag. Paper or plactic? Come on folks, defend this shit.
 

Rattrap

Doesn't feed trolls and would appreciate it if you
:dunno:

Plastic bags are horribly pollutive. The government has really two options to encourage better behavior in this case; outlaw plastic bags or provide economic incentive not to use them. In many places in Europe you pay for the plastic bags - and you'll see many people using reusable bags. You see a lot less 'plastic tumbleweeds' (putting it another way: you're virtually taxing people who reuse bags to pay for the bags of those who don't by including the price of the bags in all the merchandise instead of paying for them direct).

Fucking over the environment to save ourselves a quick buck (or just a modicum of effort) truly is short-sighted.

It's much the same as the styrofoam issue a while back. The shit's horrible. Good riddance.
 

Petra

Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
:dunno:

Plastic bags are horribly pollutive. The government has really two options to encourage better behavior in this case; outlaw plastic bags or provide economic incentive not to use them. In many places in Europe you pay for the plastic bags - and you'll see many people using reusable bags. You see a lot less 'plastic tumbleweeds' (putting it another way: you're virtually taxing people who reuse bags to pay for the bags of those who don't by including the price of the bags in all the merchandise instead of paying for them direct).

Fucking over the environment to save ourselves a quick buck (or just a modicum of effort) truly is short-sighted.

It's much the same as the styrofoam issue a while back. The shit's horrible. Good riddance.

When I moved to the Netherlands, the biggest cultural adjustment I had was a.) nobody standing at the end of the conveyor belt bagging my groceries b.) no free plastic bags to put my groceries in. As an American used to having someone only put a few items in a bag so I have to walk to my car with a gazillion plastic bags, I actually had a pretty hard time adjusting to having to bring my own bags.

I mean, what the fuck do you use to put your kitty litter in or in those small impractical bathroom trashcans?

To be completely honest...it only took a few times to realize that not have a gazillion plastic baggies left all over the place was a good thing. If you forgot your own bags/containers or bought more than you thought you needed, you can pick up a fairly heavy and sturdy plastic bag for .20 euro cents. Or you can buy a heavy duty canvas bag for .75 euro cents? Maybe it's slightly more...just have to put the bags back in the car when you're done unloading the shopping and boom, you're ready for next week.

Funny enough, when I was shopping at Walmart this spring for the MissFO party, I found all the plastic bags a huge annoyance. This is one tax I 100% support.
 

bobjustbob

Proud member of FreeOnes Hall Of Fame. Retired to
I like conserving and keeping the planet clean just like the next guy. But this about allowing the government to get into your pockets again. They already collect taxes from those that make and sell the bags. They are also collecting from us with their taxes on the stuff we buy to put into these bags. Now they want to tax the fucking bag? This should come to a vote by the people. And where does this money go? They don't say. Let's do some math.

5.2 billion bags gets cut by 95%=260 million bags to tax. Where does that $26 million go? That may not be enough to run the Bureau of Bags. We have to keep this astonishingly bag free environment up and running. Add another nickle tax to the bag. Go ahead and ban all bags. You know why no politicians wants to do that. It's the same reason that tobacco products or gambling will never get a ban, money.
 

FreeOnes_Anders

Closed Account

FreeOnes_Anders

Closed Account
Not quite the solution. Besides the fact that they'll fall apart from a few washes, they charge tax on the reusable bags when you buy them.

Shoddy quality then.... but what do you expect from a third world country like the US...

I´ve got a bag that we´ve been using for our weekly grocery run for about 4 years now. €0.15 was the grand total of that bag.
 

larss

I'm watching some specialist videos
In the UK, the larger supermarkets all sell "Bags for Life".
They are 10p per bag - sturdy plastic - and if they wear out, they are replaced free of charge. Worn bags are then recycled.

The thinner bags are free and can be recycled.
 

Petra

Cult Mother and Simpering Cunt
In the UK, the larger supermarkets all sell "Bags for Life".
They are 10p per bag - sturdy plastic - and if they wear out, they are replaced free of charge. Worn bags are then recycled.

The thinner bags are free and can be recycled.

I've got several of the blue bags with ladybugs on them from Tesco since I keep forgetting to take bags with me when we go over to the UK in January. The first one I bought was 4 years ago now and it gets used a lot. Pretty damned sturdy.
 

Mayhem

Banned
Look on the bright side Bob, if I had my way every plastic drinking straw would come with a 50 cent price tag too.
 

larss

I'm watching some specialist videos
I've got several of the blue bags with ladybugs on them from Tesco since I keep forgetting to take bags with me when we go over to the UK in January. The first one I bought was 4 years ago now and it gets used a lot. Pretty damned sturdy.

I've got a couple of those - sturdier than the normal plastic bags and cost a little more at 50p, but they carry more and are much stronger.
 

Red XXX

Official Checked Star Member
In the UK, the larger supermarkets all sell "Bags for Life".
They are 10p per bag - sturdy plastic - and if they wear out, they are replaced free of charge. Worn bags are then recycled.

The thinner bags are free and can be recycled.
Not in Wales ..... it's a bag free zone!
 

bobjustbob

Proud member of FreeOnes Hall Of Fame. Retired to
In the UK, the larger supermarkets all sell "Bags for Life".
They are 10p per bag - sturdy plastic - and if they wear out, they are replaced free of charge. Worn bags are then recycled.

The thinner bags are free and can be recycled.

Remember when I told you to go back to the political boards? I've changed my mind. Get of my fucking thread Mayhem.


If a chain here were to dump a pile of those at the end of checkout lines at that price then the program works. Yea, it's a bag tax but at least I'm going to get a decent bag.
 

Elwood70

Torn & Frayed.
The tax wouldn't bother me so much if people would either pony up for the fuckin' bag, or buy a good reusable one. Now, we have a new problem: People checking out a shit-ton of merchandise, and loading it back into the cart to take it to their car. Suddenly, a five-minute wait to buy cigarettes turns into a goddamn half-hour.

...and while I'm at it, who fucking goes grocery shopping at the fuckin' drugstore, anyway? I could see it if there wasn't a grocery store anywhere close, but there's one - a supermarket, no less - less than 1/4 mile away.
 
I cannot believe a thread has been started about plastic bags. It's a receptacle for putting items in it. Fuck the price, in the grand scheme of things I reckon 'tax' on a bag costs me £1.30 a year. I can live with that.
 

bobjustbob

Proud member of FreeOnes Hall Of Fame. Retired to
We all have the same complaint here. There is too much of this cheap shit flying around in trees. Someplace to store that shit for those of us that use them for other things. I have way more stored than I use and it goes into the recycle. on a regular basis. Where do they all come from? Supermarkets. One reason is because they take up less space and the other is because they are way cheaper than those nice old brown paper sacks. We all loved them. No shitty handles that break on the way to the car or dig into your hands when you walk. Believe you me, I hate that shit as much as you do.

Here's the thing. I don't want to have to pay for that shit, the supermarkets should. Don't tax me, make them provide a better bag based on their volume of their bag purchases. I don't to waste time monitoring delis. The more bags they buy the more they have to pay per bag. Realize as I said before, Why are my eggs put onto a separate bag? How many shitty bags that get thrown out at the registers? The bottoms fall out and you start double bagging. That's not my fault. Don't charge me for your shitty bags. Supermarket are very profitable despite the ads. Their labor is cheap. They buy in massive volume.

And here's another thing about retail, cashiers are monitored for scan rate. The quicker they hand the customer their stuff the more they are scanning. Throw 4 things in a bag and push it into their basket. "Don't worry about the bags, it's an endless supply." It comes up on their review too.

Last lines. If you hand me something of better quality, I will not need more or want more either. How much extra are they paying for their loge and thank you for shopping with us? That's how they pay for their better bag. Is this such a big fucking deal for these guys to figure out? Shop for better bags. Minimum cost per bag at a sliding up for volume. Are they going to pass the extra costs to me? Let the better supermarket win my business.
 

Rattrap

Doesn't feed trolls and would appreciate it if you
Here's the thing. I don't want to have to pay for that shit, the supermarkets should. Don't tax me, make them provide a better bag based on their volume of their bag purchases.
I don't know why you'd like that any better; this is still government oversight, isn't it?

I don't to waste time monitoring delis. The more bags they buy the more they have to pay per bag. Realize as I said before, Why are my eggs put onto a separate bag?
I'm willing to bet this is because too many eggs got crushed on the way to the car and returned - likely due to inept bagging and also today's complete lack of responsibility by the average American.

The problem here is that the free market doesn't include the environment, except to exploit it for money. I mean, how much does it cost us when the neighborhood park is covered in plastic bags? Monetarily it costs us nothing. The park can be a dumping ground for all anybody's bottom line is concerned, at least until the point people start getting sick. Of course, it costs something when you want that park to be clean, but who's going to do that? The state. So it's in the state's best interests to discourage behaviors that trash the park.

This is not very related, but I think it's a good insight to how people consume all the same: I've read that new technology or new efficiencies concerning energy usage (be it gas, electricity, whatever) never decrease energy usage; cars get twice the gas mileage, people simply drive twice as far. The only consistent factor in decreasing energy usage has been price increase. I'd imagine you'd find this same strong correlation with many goods and behaviors, from driving to smoking to plastic bag usage (hell, this is basic price and demand, after all).
 
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