To thinks wandering from one shop to another using your own shopping bag will be problematic.

[Sunnymeg]

I was thinking about when the new carrier bag tax come in in England. We have so many shops who actively discourage you from taking bags with you as they are concerned about people slipping things into them.What are these shops going to do when people start using their own bags for shopping. No one worried about it back in the 1960's, but times have changed. I hope this doesn't mean shops are going to start checking people's bags as they leave the shop.

I do this all the time. It's not an issue.

I often go into shops with carrier bags from somewhere else. And if I'm buying something small that will slot into an existing bag I don't take a new one with the new purchase, just pop it in. Never been a problem, never been challenged about it.

I suppose if there are shops/areas with a big shoplifting problem they'd have to consider how to deal with it, but I've never seen shops where you had to put your bags into a locker, or where they were sealed to make it difficult.

NEVER go to Trago Mills then!!

It's not a problem. It's been like this in Wales for a few years now and once in M&S I was asked about items under my buggy, I had been through the till once but forgotten something so went back. The cashier very politely asked me if I wanted to pay for the items under the pram as well. I explained about them and was going to show the receipt but she said it was ok.

You do see lots of people wandering round with armfuls of stuff and a receipt between their teeth as they have forgotten bags. DH is a prime example of this.

I do it literally every day. Ireland (where I'm from originally) has had a plastic bag tax for almost ten years. Its worked very well.

When is this happening in England?

Where it will be interesting is with self-service checkouts - they can't deal with people bringing their own bags IME.

Really? I've been doing this for years without encountering a single problem. (In UK, Italy, Canada, the US and France.)

Those shops will just have to not do that anymore. Having lockers for your stuff also won't work because then your bags will be in the locker and you'll need one to put your new stuff in. Any shop that makes it too difficult for me to shop in it will lose my custom.

I'm more concerned what on-line shopping providers will do. I'm not paying per bag for the mountain Ocado deliver, or will I get a refund if I return them the following week?

I already do this, and refuse bags when given the chance.

Who wants to shop with 1/2 dozen different plastic bags hanging off their arms?

What do you do with them when you get home?
Never had a problem with self service checkouts either - you put the bag on to be weighed before you start scanning.

I'm in Wales too .
Never been a problem

But why don't you just scan your shopping, place it in the bagging area and then fill your rucksack when you're finished? No need for the plastic bag.

I do this now. Self checkout is easy- just put the stuff on the bag platform thing then transfer it to your own bag when you've finished.

NI here and we already have a bag tax. No-one checks your bags on the way out. Lived in an EU country before and in some places they security taped bags you brought in but I've never seen it here.

Self-service I don't put the bag on the scale thingy. Put items on it, transfer to bag once finished.

Only problem is now I have a mountain of cloth reusable bags as I'm forever nipping into the shops unexpectedly and forgetting to bring a bag with me.

Only takes a moment- you're never buying much at a self checkout.

I haven't been in the UK for years but went a few months ago. I used a self scan in Asda and thought how marvelous it was until I got home and realised I had inadvertently stolen a suit. I put the money in a charity box but still feel embarrassed. It didn't have a tag on or I would have realised.

I'm always looked at like some sort of criminal whenever i shop in morrissons. the sercurity guard follows 5 steps behind the entire time im in there and will only return to his perch by the door once i am at the check out. this is when im in a vest top and jeans, no big coat no bags etc so where he expected me to stash stuff i have no idea.

i actually played a little game with him last time. we followed me as usual to the checkout then returned to the door. just as he got there i left DP at the checkout and returned to the isles partly out of curiosity to see if he followed, partly because i forot to get some cucumber and my god he practically ran towards me!! so i just smile cucumber in hand and asked where it was he expected me to hide it. he just blushed and walked off.

im assuming its because im 22 so quite young. its a shame that i can't do my weekly shop without staff thinking im going to be stealing goods and i can only imagine it would be much worse if i walked in there with numeorus different bags.

Self service checkouts do whinge when you bring your own bag. But then those things were invented by the devil himself to be a plague upon modern society; the last time I approached one it started squealing for an adult a shop assistant before I'd even touched it so I think the fact that they can't deal with bags is neither here nor there. They're just unequivocally shit.

In Wales, the online grocery delivery places all seem to deal with the bag charge issue differently. Tesco gives you an option to have your shopping delivered without bags (and thus without charge), or with bags and then charges you for them. Sainsbury's sticks a 40p charge onto the order, no option for without bags which is a bit annoying.

In general, it's just fine, though. I don't drive and I have back problems that make shoulder bags tricky so I usually have a rucksack for my stuff, anyway, I have been taking it into shops for years (well before the bag charge even in Wales) and I've never had a problem.

Could someone please tell me if the proposed tax is just on supermarket carrier bags or on bags in other shops (e.g. clothes shops etc) as well?

Mary When I do my Mum's on-line Tesco shopping (she lives in Wales) you have the option to pay a 35p fixed charge for carrier bags (regardless of the number used) or have it delivered just in trays. I paid for the bags for the 1st couple of months and Mum whinged about the charge as I thought it would be easier for her to just lift the bags out of the trays and unpack at her leisure rather than having to empty the trays quickly so the delivery person could take them back. Last delivery I opted not to have the bags. The delivery chap (who takes the stuff through to her kitchen as she is old and infirm) lifted each item out of the trays individually and put it on her worktop for her. Hate to see him doing that for a family of 6 - Mum lives alone so doesn't have that much shopping.