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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To have not noticed about the 5p carrier bag charge?

400 replies

Snoozebox · 15/09/2015 19:30

I feel it was sprung upon us! When was it officially agreed by government?

I was in Tesco today and saw the signs that from sometime next month it will be enforced.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the charge and have heard about it being discussed for years, but I didn't know it had been made mandatory! The cashier looked at me pityingly when I queried it and said it has been all over This Morning the media for weeks. Have I been too distracted by Jeremy Corbyn's lovely visage to notice this?

OP posts:

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TaintedAngel · 06/10/2015 23:36

So much hate! It really is not a big deal!

The point everyone is missing is that this is for the environment. Thats why this has been brought in. People are quick to moan about the state of the environment but as soon as we are asked to proactivly help then it becomes an issue. Think of the long term benefits in return for the occasional 5p donation when you forget a bag.

I'm in scotland and it's mildly annoying when you forget your bags and need to buy more. Not because I need to part with an extra 5p but because I have a cupboard in my hallway with about 100 bags for life and having to buy more because I forgot, again, bugs me. But even then I still don't view it as a big deal. I just feel like an idiot for forgetting my bags.

JohnCusacksWife · 06/10/2015 23:53

This is really not a big deal. You'll get used to it. Can this thread be over now please?

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 07/10/2015 00:05

I live in Wales :- it's easy take bags with you.

I refused to pay for bags, so I shave money by not sticking to my list:

sashh · 07/10/2015 07:14

There have been thefts of entire stacks of plastic bags.

I'm a bit torn, I don't put veg in individual bags at the veg counter unless it is something like grapes or cherry tomatoes so I think I should get a free carrier.

MadeMan · 07/10/2015 18:14

I like the way that governments put the price up on supposed bad things rather than simply stop making them.

Smoking is bad = put the price up.
Plastic bags are bad for environment = put the price up.
Other bad things that are probably bad = put the price up.

cdtaylornats · 07/10/2015 21:55

Governments cant stop making things they can just ban them and the last time that happened with something popular (alcohol) that government invented organised crime - so not a great solution.

DontStopBelievin · 08/10/2015 00:49

I find this whole outrage about charging for plastic bags utterly baffling. It really isn't worth getting worked up over.
As someone said upthread, it's what people had to do all the time - take their own bags. Have we all become that pathetic and lazy that we just can't be bothered and expect everything free all the time?!
I'm the world's most disorganised person. Seriously. Even I'm managing to stick a bag for life in my coat pocket or hand bag and then on getting home and unpacking, sticking the bag back in said coat/bag for future shopping trips. cos I'm too tight to spend the cash every time, it's a great incentive to remember
Quit whining, get used to it and either cough up or take your own. It's not rocket science.

dotladotla · 08/10/2015 11:10

I live in Scotland and we've been doing it for a while. It definitely encourages people to take their own bags, thus why we pay and not the supermarket. I forget if I'm just nipping in after work but keep bags in the car and always take them when leaving the house.
All in all, I think it's been pretty successful up here to reduce the amount of bags used.

ThereGoesaTenner · 08/10/2015 14:56

I do my shopping online most of the time and completely forgot about the carrier bag charge. When it was delivered I was charged for the bags. I don't mind, but a bag of veg was in a bag on its own and so were a couple other things. I could have got all the shopping into about 4 bags myself! I don't care about the cupboard, frozen and chilled being bloody separated!
-_-

cdtaylornats · 08/10/2015 20:14

Tescos charge 40p for a delivery with bags, however if you get it without bags you don't get charged regardless of the number of bags they use. I always get bagless deliveries and to date my least number of bags is 2. They use different colours to show substitution, short date and don't let it touch food.

ThereGoesaTenner · 08/10/2015 22:36

Oh I always get bags because I'm too lazy to carry it all.
My charge was 40p as well with Morrisons, so maybe it's just a blanket charge. But rather than all these charges, why not make paper carrier bags the norm instead like America? Are they going to charge for rubbish bags next? (or are they different?)

DontHaveAUsername · 08/10/2015 23:47

Juju you don't need to pay the bag charge at all, just take your own bags with you. That's what the charge is trying to encourage.

dotladotla · 09/10/2015 03:42

It's a blanket charge for online shops, it is in Scotland anyway. It asks you at the end of the order if you want bags or not so I always click not & they take it into my kitchen in crates that I just empty straight onto the worktop. Cuts out the middle man really!

aBrightNewDay · 09/10/2015 05:38

So now the shops aren't packing for plastic bags any more, are we going to see some price cuts?

No? Didn't think so...

TheStripyGruffalo · 09/10/2015 22:52

My friend works in Tesco, she said that nobody is buying bags and they are all taking their own. When I was in town shopping today I only saw one person with a plastic carrier bag, the rest had cloth bags.

80schild · 11/10/2015 22:10

I hate the charge for plastic bags. It is the principle of the matter that really grates me - the principle being that farmers are ripped off by supermarkets and struggling to keep their livelihood going so only huge farms can really survive and on top of this food the food they provide to the supermarket at a really low price the supermarkets overcharge for. Who benefits? the supermarket. Whose detriment? The consumer and the farmer

Who is benefitting from the plastic bag situation? Most likely supermarkets and definitely not the consumer.

Until such time as supermarkets and governments want to deal with more important issues that affect the consumer and farmers, than the number of plastic bags people get through I shan't be taking it seriously (on this note just before the charge came in I took a small stash from Waitrose which I have been slowly working my way through).

LittleBearPad · 12/10/2015 08:54

80schild. The 5p charge is going to charity.

The supermarkets fought the charge; they didn't want it.

The government brought it in for environmental purposes.

I agree that farm milk gate prices are too low at certain supermarkets and meat prices as well - it shouldn't be possible to buy a chicken for a few quid - but it's easy to rectify this by not shopping at certain supermarkets.

The environment will benefit hugely. The evidence from other parts of the U.K. is overwhelming.

cdtaylornats · 12/10/2015 12:26

Next time you walk around, look and see how many bags are hanging in trees and bushes, then a month later look again, it does make a difference.

MadeMan · 12/10/2015 21:01

"Who is benefitting from the plastic bag situation? "

Apparently the Treasury stands to make a few bob from the 0.83p VAT slapped on every 5p bag.

www.theguardian.com/money/2015/oct/02/how-will-the-pastic-bag-charge-affect-me

Spectre8 · 12/10/2015 21:48

well not all shops are charging - popped into John Lewis (last minute decision) didn't have bag with me but they didn't even ask they just gave me one of their paper ones free of charge.

dementedpixie · 12/10/2015 21:52

In england they aren't charging for paper bags

Dowser · 12/10/2015 22:15

Bought a bra on Saturday from m and s

Would you like to buy a bag the Assisstant said .

No thanks, I replied

I was quite happy to walk out of the shop with it dangling from its hanger.

Not sure if the Assisstant was.

She said I'll wrap it up for you and wrapped it in paper.

I wasn't bothered. Husband was somewhere outside the shop with the shopping bag.

Did they not like me walking out with it unwrapped. Did they want to spare my blushes?

I don't know. I wasn't bothered. The thought passed through my mind was that if everyone walks outside with their garment slung over their arm will shoplifters have a field day.

Maybe someone in retail could answer.

MadeMan · 13/10/2015 22:10

"I was quite happy to walk out of the shop with it dangling from its hanger."

As I read that, I expected for a second you were going to write that you walked out of the shop wearing it over your coat. "Would you like a bag?" "No thanks mate, I'll wear it home!"

reni2 · 14/10/2015 09:59

I saw the first "WHAT? I HAVE TO PAY" moron today. I really felt for the shop assistant having to have this tedious argument for the umpteenth time. She was pretty well rehearsed though and kept a sense of humour. Customer was apoplectic but did have to part with 5p, held up the queue for ages arguing then angrily packing.

MadeMan · 15/10/2015 16:59

"Customer was apoplectic but did have to part with 5p"

I've seen people throw more than 5p in copper change onto the street.

MadeMan's Tip: Scout about at the bus stop outside the supermarkets and you can probably recoup the cost of your bags bought.

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