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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is it just me or is charging 50p for a paper bag at M&S food outrageous?

206 replies

sequin2000 · 17/06/2025 21:03

I know I should have brought a bag and I usually do. If the option was a plastic bag I would have struggled with the shopping in my arms to the car, but I thought as it was paper it wasn't so bad. What I didn't expect was to be charged 50p. M&S say the bag can be used 100 times. Is there anyone out there who has reused an M&S paper bag? AIBU in thinking most people don't realise they cost 50p, that the assistants should make this clear and that M&S are profiting from this government policy?

OP posts:
Bjorkdidit · 18/06/2025 15:43

sequin2000 · 18/06/2025 13:24

The point of the thread has been lost on many here and 'just take a bag' is great advice so thanks for that Hmm I am human and had forgotten a bag, I don't carry a handbag. I'm 100% in favour of the deterrent and saving the planet. The thread was about the shops who are sneakily making large profits and don't tell shoppers the price. I'd have absolutely no issue if i'd been told the price and/or the money was donated to an environmental charity. And no, it isn't the biggest issue in my life, but I thought Mumsnet was about discussing issues big and small. I stand corrected.

But 99+% of people can likely remember to take keys, phone and means of payment when they go out so they just need to take a bag or two too. Or deal with the consequences.

Runningoutofpatiencefucksandmoney · 18/06/2025 14:58

Primark bags are awful. I think they're 20p now. Only for it to disintegrate the minute it starts raining

Ddakji · 18/06/2025 14:56

Does anyone else remember back in the 70s and 80s where, instead of charging for bags, supermarkets gave you money if you brought your own? I definitely remember this as a child. There was also a choice of plastic bags with handles or paper “sacks”.

MadisonAvenue · 18/06/2025 14:56

MoominUnderWater · 18/06/2025 12:55

Do Primark still do free paper bags?

They started charging very recently, I think they’re 15p but I find Primark bags are pretty useless. It’s a rarity that I get home and it’ll all be intact, and they’re hopeless on a rainy day.

ExpressCheckout · 18/06/2025 14:14

Digdongdoo · 18/06/2025 10:36

It's not profiteering because a shopping bag isn't a scarce or perishable resource. It isn't like milk, where it is needs to be replaced regularly and most of us can't have a dairy cow of our own. One simply needs to bring their own bag, or use their hands (or indeed pay the small fee for a bag). Don't like the price, don't buy. Simple.

Show quote history

I think we'll have to agree to disagree! It's not helped that many of the retailers have removed truly long-lasting bags (at a slightly higher price) from their shelves.

RowsOfFlowers · 18/06/2025 14:09

YANBU - it is profiteering

nomas · 18/06/2025 14:03

Is there anyone out there who has reused an M&S paper bag?

Yes, the M&S paperbag lasts ages, to be fair. Though I haven't taken them out in torrential downpours.

I only ever bought them once, I usually have my bags with me and usually shop at Tesco and always have bags in my car.

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 18/06/2025 14:00

Lmnop22 · 18/06/2025 13:45

Yes but you don’t pay for the privilege of reusing a bag, you pay as a deterrent from using single use plastics.

If a bag is paper and recyclable it ought to be free and also reused - they’re not mutually exclusive!

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You pay as a deterrent from taking a new bag (of whatever material) which is therefore an incentive to bring your own.
If paper bags were free people would be less inclined to remember to bring their own and you can bet most would be immediately put in the recycling (or worse, the rubbish bin) and only a small portion would be reused. They’re also less hardy and less reusable than plastic bags for life.
Again, REDUCE should be the first choice.

Lmnop22 · 18/06/2025 13:45

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 18/06/2025 08:31

“paper is recyclable so ought to be free!”

This attitude of “it’s recyclable so it’s fine” is so common and so wrong. We should still be trying to avoid anything single-use, whether it can be recycled or not.
Recycling is not a perfect process and many things end up not being recycled.
Producing the (recyclable) things such as paper bags and then distributing them in the first place has a big carbon footprint.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order. So reducing the amount of stuff we use is the most important and recycling is the least preferable option.

Show quote history

Yes but you don’t pay for the privilege of reusing a bag, you pay as a deterrent from using single use plastics.

If a bag is paper and recyclable it ought to be free and also reused - they’re not mutually exclusive!

Original poster
sequin2000 · 18/06/2025 13:24

The point of the thread has been lost on many here and 'just take a bag' is great advice so thanks for that Hmm I am human and had forgotten a bag, I don't carry a handbag. I'm 100% in favour of the deterrent and saving the planet. The thread was about the shops who are sneakily making large profits and don't tell shoppers the price. I'd have absolutely no issue if i'd been told the price and/or the money was donated to an environmental charity. And no, it isn't the biggest issue in my life, but I thought Mumsnet was about discussing issues big and small. I stand corrected.

OP posts:
Sofiewoo · 18/06/2025 12:58

MoominUnderWater · 18/06/2025 12:55

Do Primark still do free paper bags?

No.

MoominUnderWater · 18/06/2025 12:55

Do Primark still do free paper bags?

TheOmbudsmansComingtoGetYou · 18/06/2025 11:17

peachgreen · 18/06/2025 11:13

Just because something's recyclable doesn't mean it doesn't take any resources to make and recycle it. The bag charge is designed to discourage people from using single-use bags, no matter what they're made of.

Yeah and to be honest I don’t disagree with this as a concept but it used to go to charity. What happened to that?

peachgreen · 18/06/2025 11:13

Just because something's recyclable doesn't mean it doesn't take any resources to make and recycle it. The bag charge is designed to discourage people from using single-use bags, no matter what they're made of.

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 18/06/2025 11:06

I use my M&S paper bags at home to hold my recycling bits and pieces in the kitchen until I’m ready to decant everything into the wheelie recycling bin. They last for ages and I’m happy to pay 50p for it.

i always thought the charge was to discourage you from buying one. But if you do forget to bring your reusable bag with you at least it’s a paper bag.

Christmasbear1 · 18/06/2025 10:55

Lmnop22 · 17/06/2025 21:05

I agree with you. The surcharge was because it isn’t recyclable and to minimise use of single use plastics not because you could use it again - paper is recyclable so ought to be free!

Although paper is recyclable it's still not the solution. We should be trying to reduce waste and most things don't actually get recycled.

Although I'm sure M&S are just doing it to make money rather than caring for the environment.

luckylavender · 18/06/2025 10:51

Lmnop22 · 17/06/2025 21:05

I agree with you. The surcharge was because it isn’t recyclable and to minimise use of single use plastics not because you could use it again - paper is recyclable so ought to be free!

Paper costs more to produce than plastic.

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 18/06/2025 10:50

TheOmbudsmansComingtoGetYou · 18/06/2025 09:06

All these simps siding with the big businesses. “Ooh I always remember my bag 🤓”

Or maybe we just are trying to do our bit for the planet, imagine that.

pizzaHeart · 18/06/2025 10:49

justasmalltownmum · 17/06/2025 21:30

Why do they charge for paper bags?? The whole point was to charge for plastic bags to reduce plastic.

This^
also however reusable are paper bags they are not so durable as plastic ones. Paper bags are ok to move shopping into a car boot but if you need to walk with them around town, visit cafe or toilet, put them on the floor here and there, they can easily get wet or torn.

snoopyfanaccountant · 18/06/2025 10:42

Here in Scotland we have always had to pay for paper bags since the bag charge began.

Funnywonder · 18/06/2025 10:41

Greenjack · 18/06/2025 07:50

Seriously?

This is honestly the most pressing thing in your life that you feel minded to start a thread about? I'm envious of you.

There are so many negative threats about Waitrose and M&S that I think sometimes there's a full time Aldi/Lidl PR on the case.

Look I go into those shops sometimes and M&S and Waitrose are overwhelmingly a bettter experience with largely nicer products and more decent to their staff and suppliers. That's why they're more expensive. If you want cheap, go to Asda or Tesco and suck up the depressing, dispiriting experience.

Not sure the OP said this was the most pressing thing in their life😅 There are threads about everything. I mean - wait for it - the SAME PERSON can have two simultaneous threads running about wildly different topics. One about the breakdown of their marriage. And another one about the terrible quality of children’s shoes these days. I know … mad innit?

Gowlett · 18/06/2025 10:39

I just took them the first few times, as I didn’t realise there was a charge! Paying for paper bags is regular occurrence here (Republic of Ireland) now. I bring my own canvas bag.

Digdongdoo · 18/06/2025 10:36

ExpressCheckout · 18/06/2025 10:24

Indeed, a well-known retail pricing concept are 'KVIs', or 'known-value items'. Retailers know that some product prices are always known by shoppers, e.g. pint of milk, etc., but others are not, e.g. shoe laces.

This allows cross-subsidy of price-sensitive items, like milk, bread, etc. But there is also a line that can be crossed, as this thread illustrates. A mark-up of 4-5 times is simply profiteering, in my opinion.

Show quote history

It's not profiteering because a shopping bag isn't a scarce or perishable resource. It isn't like milk, where it is needs to be replaced regularly and most of us can't have a dairy cow of our own. One simply needs to bring their own bag, or use their hands (or indeed pay the small fee for a bag). Don't like the price, don't buy. Simple.

tammienorrie · 18/06/2025 10:31

TheOmbudsmansComingtoGetYou · 18/06/2025 09:06

All these simps siding with the big businesses. “Ooh I always remember my bag 🤓”

Hardly. I just don’t want umpteen bags in my house.

Rememberwhatthedoorknobsaid · 18/06/2025 10:25

80 years ago plastic bags didn’t even exist - it was the norm to bring your own basket or woven bag to put YOUR shopping into. As someone else said the bag tax isn’t new and if shops sold plastic bags for 5p everyone would continue to buy them willy-nilly and we would continue to destroy the planet for future generations. Get yourself a bag, keep it in your car or handbag. Be an adult about it or pay 50p and take your punishment on the chin.