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

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.

You failed to bring adequate resources to complete the tasks you were doing and so needed the shop to help you out by supplying the resources. It’s more than reasonable to expect to pay for that, ergo YABU.

Choices are remember enough bags, buy bags or manage without bags. If the bags are too expensive, don't buy them. Same principle as for anything that may be going inside the bag.

We always bring our own bags.Also a med size plastic bag fits in my handbag ,for when out with DD or on my own .You should not need to buy one unless only rarely.Paper or plastic is still not great for the planet .

Heaven forbid it won't all fit in one bag. What happens then, do you buy another bag or leave some of your shopping and make another journey to get the rest of it.

I reuse my Sainsbury's bags many times. I can't see a problem with them.. I rarely buy a new one as I take bags with me so I couldn't even guess how often I've reused them.

I thought everyone has a shelf, basket or whatever near the front door where ‘essentials I must not forget to take with me when I go out’ are kept…

The only way to actually motivate people to bring a bag is to have a high cost to purchase one imo. When they started at 5p it was totally pointless.

I usually take my fabric bags which fold up very small, but if I had to pay 50p for a paper bag I'd be annoyed, particularly if it had the store's name on it! Now they charge for bags they should not expect people to walk about advertising for them ,the grabbing bastards!

YANBU, but remember the metal basket things are free still.

You know what the point of running a business is, right?

"simp"? piffle

I have been aware of environmental issues about over consumption, depletion of resources and the coming water crisis since i was a young teenager in the 70s.

Luckily for me i live in a country where it has been normal practice for DECADES to bring your own bags, collapsible boxes etc to the supermarket for your shopping. It is fine to think "stuff the planet I WANT A FREE BAG" but, in the words of the ads, then you're part of the problem.

If more of us wanted to be part of the solution, "reduce, reuse and recycle" needs to be more of A Thing.

You can grow your own shopping bags if you don't want to buy them.

I agree with the high price of paper bags. 50p is annoying enough to make you remember to take your reusable bags with you when you go shopping! Instead of sticking to single-use products and thinking it's fine because they're recyclable, we should be using reusable products wherever possible.

Yeah you’re right. If there’s one thing the likes of Tesco and M&S are short on, it’s profits.

I know right? How dare businesses try to make a profit.

Me too. I think some are older than my DC!

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

It's a con. Even the 5p charge acted as a deterrent; usage dropped hugely after it came in. And I'd like the old style 5p bags back; they folded up tiny to reuse and were excellent bin liners. Modern bags for life just aren't as flexible.

And I say this as someone who was refusing bags and carrying around her own long before the ban.

That's how shops work. There wouldn't be shops if they didn't make profit. If people want to pay what they "should" cost, they can buy their own bag factory.

I agree.
Charging for a paper bag will increase profits. Not hugely, but every little helps.

If I give my custom to a shop the least they can do is give me a paper bag to carry my purchases.

The stores are simply taking advantage of the fact that people do not know how much these bags 'should' be, and will be prepared to pay anything if they've forgotten to bring a bag.

nope. The first law of economics is that the price of something is that which people are prepared to pay. (not really, but mostly true)

Paper bags are expensive to produce, use a LOT of resources and, depending on how they are printed/treated/coatings, can be a faff to recycle. Paper can generally be recycled 8-9 times (the fibres break up too much after that and fall through the filters)

Most of us here are parents. How did you teach your children things? repetition. And then eventually the lesson sits. Once you realise that over a year you have forked out 25 quid (around a bag a week - this is the internet, YMMV) you may remember to put bags in all pockets, handbags, glovecompartments.

Shop charges for product. Shock-horror!

“Who brings their bag for life bags when clothes shopping?”

I always take a couple of the fold up bags in my handbag when I go clothes shopping, so yes people do take their own bags.

It is a very simple equation. They charge, fewer people use the bags, they produce fewer bags (and potentially charge more?), fewer people use the bags...

in what way is that not a win for the environment?