Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

Charging for carrier bags - is this unreasonable?

24 replies

cwtch4967 · 03/11/2011 14:46

I live in Wales and we have to pay 5p for every carrier bag which is fine. I have no problem with taking along my bags and think it is a really good idea. However, I took the kids to the drive through McDonalds (I know that may be unreasonable in it's self!) and was a bit taken aback to have to pay for a paper take away bag - what sort of bag would you take with you to hold greasy fries and burgers?
Is this a case of a rule too far?

OP posts:

Psammead · 03/11/2011 14:48

Really? A regular brown MacDonalds' bag? Or an extra one?

Kytti · 03/11/2011 14:48

YANBU - Yep, that's a bit much.

And go sit on the naughty step for going to MacDonald's. Give yourself 40 lashes for feeding it to your children.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 03/11/2011 14:48

No, it's not unreasonable. The bags don't degrade in the landfills and are produced solely as a disposable item unless they're bags for life. Eat in the restaurant bit then you won't have to pay for a bag.

MintAero · 03/11/2011 14:49

the paper maccy d one would degrade though. a bloody cheek imo

DontGoCurly · 03/11/2011 14:50

I think it definitely is.

Plastic bags are 22 cents here in Ireland and it makes people think twice about buying them and every hedgerow in the country is no longer festooned with the things.

But paper bags? That's stupid. Paper bags are biodegradable and you can hardly carry your McDonalds home in a bag for life!

Original poster

cwtch4967 · 03/11/2011 14:50

yes regular brown bag

OP posts:

AFuckingKnackeredWoman · 03/11/2011 14:51

Paper bags should be free. yanbu

Gemjar · 03/11/2011 14:52

erm, isn't paper biodegradable anyway? I think this is a case of using environmental issues as an excuse to make extra money. I think McDonald's do this A LOT. I eat their food occasionally and I know exactly what I am getting when I do, I know that it is never going to be good for me so why do they insist on selling their product as healthy responsibly sourced wholesome family food when we all know that it isn't, grrr

Psammead · 03/11/2011 14:54

So your option was to either pay, or be holding burger boxes and chip boxes in your hands?

This is stupid!

I am a big fan of bringing my own bags to the supermarket. I generally refuse bags in other shops, too, especially if I have the pushchair with me.

But a brown paper bag for take away food? What are you supposed to do? Stick it in your handbag?

mumeeee · 03/11/2011 14:54

Companies have to charge for all bags wether paper or plastic. This comes from the Welsh Assembly and if shops etc don't do this they will be fined. The 5p goes to charity

happyinherts · 03/11/2011 14:54

Charging for any bag - paper or plastic - is unreasonable. Cost of bag has been factored into establishment's running costs / profit on goods. It's just another way of jumping on bandwagon of being 'green' and finding a way to rip people off.

If you're spending money in a shop, I think the least they can do is provide a receptacle for you to carry your purchases home in.

We don't all drive and have somewhere to put our purchases, and sometimes we impulse shop or spot a bargain. Are we supposed to be carrying armfuls of items from a shop hoping not to drop them because we didn't bring our own bag. Charging for them is unnecessary. And it's not about the environment, because we use plastic bags over and over for packed lunches, football boots, bin liners etc. Think of the environmental damage an aircraft does and then charge 5p for a bag - madness

OrmIrian · 03/11/2011 14:56

We noticed that when we stopped off on our way to Pembroke this summer.

I was a bit taken aback as it was a normal brown paper bag. According to the posters it's a legal requirement or some such! But TBH it was so manically busy in there that I wouldn't have dreamed of arguing with the poor lad behind the counter - he was so stressed already.

But, yes, a bit wierd.

Psammead · 03/11/2011 14:59

How stupid. Better would be to have an incentive for using bio-degradable bags, not clobbering everyone with the same charges whether or not they use plastic or paper.

helenthemadex · 03/11/2011 15:08

personally I dont think its unreasonable at all to charge for carrier bags anything to encourage people to reuse them

I live in France and you always have to pay for them here, you quickly build up a pile of bags when you are first here and constantly forget to take them with you, but you learn to keep them in the car, but guess what you do not see carrier bags stuck in bushes etc everywhere you go

however the paper bag thing for Macdonalds sounds a bit of a money maker, I was in the uk recently and never heard of this, as others have said what the hell else can you use? I might be tempted to email macdonalds and ask if this is normal in all stores, you might get a gift voucher

FredFredGeorge · 03/11/2011 15:10

It is not just the biodegradeability which is behind the charge, but also the raw materials used to create, so all single use are charged. It is not McDonalds or any one profitting from it (indeed the reasonable expenses they're allowed to incur may well not pay for all the extra recording of how many they sell)

If you disagree, move to wales and elect a government that repeals the law, or stay out of wales (or elect a government of the UK that takes the power back from wales and then repeals it)

AnotherEmptyNest · 03/11/2011 15:15

Bags provided by shops should be free. Why should I walk about carrying a free advertisement for a company? I should be paid for the advertyising I am doing!

As for the McDonald's trip, If I were to go intentionally, I would, in future, take a suitable plastic container even if it's only a bucket. But I will never have to use a pail beause I will never go to McDonald's to eat thank you very much.

MabliD · 03/11/2011 15:21

The paper bag charge is a bit odd I will grant you, but do you know what really is unreasonable?

Threatening to shove the plastic bag up the sales assistant's arse because you don't want to pay for one, or, even better, demanding that they give you a bag for free despite having being informed of the illegality of such a thing with the words "I don't care about your job, I want a bag!"

What's it like to want, you raging nutjob?

And breathe. My hippy principles are being battered by this charge, just because I can't bear the abuse!

cat64 · 03/11/2011 15:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

fuzzynavel · 03/11/2011 15:28

Think its a ruddy cheek.

They should give a free bag and pay 5p to charity due to us advertising for them!

StealthPenguin · 03/11/2011 15:34

I realize this may sound stupid, but it's the way it works.

You would be charged for a paper bag in McDonalds if you purchased a Big Mac meal.
You would NOT be charged for a paper bag if you were just buying chips.

It's because the burgers are already self-contained in their own wrappers, to have another wrapper for it would be wasteful. Hence the charge. However, because the chips are open to the air and it's unhygienic then you'd be given a bag for free.

It's like buying slices of Ham from a deli - you aren't charged for the plastic wrapping that they wrap it in because otherwise it would be against H&S regulations, but if you want to put the self-contained food into another bag, you'll be charged for it.

Kytti · 03/11/2011 15:42

stealthpenguin if that's true, then surely if you buy chips and a burger you can get a bag for free? Still think it's bonkers. I too, carry bags with me everywhere, but you can't really pack take-away food in them.

And like another poster said, the company has already factored the cost of the bag into its pricing structure.

Then again, you should all be flogged for even thinking about MacDonald's.

StealthPenguin · 03/11/2011 15:48

Nope, because you've bought the burger AND the chips, they'll charge you for the bag as a precaution because otherwise people would be carrying the burger out, and then putting it into the bag that they've received for free.

It's complicated, ridiculous and completely pointless.

MackerelOfFact · 03/11/2011 16:10

So, StealthPenguin, if you buy the burger and chips in two seperate transactions, they would have to give you a free bag for the chips? (Although that's probably self-defeating as it probably costs more to buy them seperately as opposed to as a 'meal').

I don't understand why they don't have to provide a free bag for everyone purchasing chips though, as presumably if you decline the 5p bag, they have sold them to you illegally?

But YANBU, OP. It is actually mad.

FredFredGeorge · 03/11/2011 17:16

Yes if you order the chips and the burger as seperate transactions you will get a bag for the chips - however the bag will not actually be big enough to add the burger too anyway so it would be pretty pointless.

MackerelOfFact No you don't have to have the chips wrapped, so it's not illegal to be sold without a bag, however because they're uncovered they fall into the exceptions for which bags don't have to charged for.

Flip