To think the Body Shop shouldn't be charging 5p for paper bags?

[FatherReboolaConundrum]

Went in to the Body Shop at the weekend and the tills had a sign saying that from today bags would cost 5p. Since they only use recycled paper bags, not the plastic bags that are covered by the new law, AIBU to think the Body Shop is being very cheeky indeed?

Yabu. It's not hard to take your own bag everywhere.

Are people in England really so confused/upset about the bag thing? In wales we have done it for ages. Though I do remember seeing a woman in TK Max throw her shopping on the counter in disgust and refuse to buy a bag saying 'well you have just lost a customer' - what an arse.

Seems you have a quite watered down version of bag charges over there in England, and you're all still moaning!

In Wales even paper bags for Avon have a 5p charge attached. We've survived

i have a problem with the deception not the action iyswim

Why are people getting so frothy about a few 5ps? Take your own reusable bags shopping - job done, no 5p charge.

When did we become a nation of such whiners? It's embarrassing.

You are taking it in good part Father Maybe go and scream "The Body Shop are fucking lying bastards" into a pillow, have quick swig of gin and then your mind will be cleansed. I might do the same, it's nearly lunchtime.

Very tempting

In the Republic of ireland (where plastic bags have been charged 15c tax for at least ten years) most big shops switched to paper to avoid the tax. Not much good in the rain though!

Ah yes the sudden increase in pace when it starts to lash rain and you've a paper bag full from Dunnes or Penneys/Primark! It could be an Olympic event here

People still go to the body shop? Yuck. Yabu you deserve it

I am baffled by the gigantic fuss England is making about this, the bags are 5p not £500. It's no big deal.
I also don't understand why they can bring in the charge for all bags in all shops rather than some bags in some shops.

I didn't get charged for a paper bag in primark this morning, I did get charged in m&s though. In next I put the items in the M7s and primark bags, the assistant looked quite peeved that I had done that though, insisting it was only a few pence for the bag.

I did buy a couple of the foldable pack away shopping bags in primark to keep in my handbags. The assistant in there didn't even ask me if I wanted a bag just packed it in one as he unloaded my basket, it was lots of tiny bits as stocking fillers and a few bits for parties dd is going to this week.

yanbu about bodyshop misleading why they are charging when its not a legal requirement for them to charge yet.

I just popped into sainsburys in my lunch break and saw a few confused looking people at the self checkout looking for bags and asking for the free ones!

YABU. The Body Shop has always been eco and discouraged you from using bags. Didn't it usually say "Do you really need a bag" or something? If they want to charge 5p and decide it will co-incide with the roll out of bag charges then they can.

In Wales plastic bag usage has dropped 90% since bag charges were introduced. Big sums are being donated to environmental and conservationist charities. The personal inconvenience to me has been minimal but the bigger benefits have been fantastic for the environment.

The fact is if you just take your own foldy uppy bag everywhere, you will save moaning time and come home less grumpy. I have an array of foldy uppy bags that last years and it's just habit to carry one when you go out.

It's 5p, it isn't like it us £50
I'll PayPal you the 5p myself if you're that bothered.
There are so many more important things to get your knickers in a twist over

Taking a bag with you is always a good idea, MissB, I've been doing for years. But that doesn't have much to do with what I was annoyed about. Whether deliberate or not, the effect of saying 'from 5 October we will be charging for bags' is to mislead people into thinking this is something they have to do, rather than what it is: an opportunity to make more money. Making more money is obviously a reasonable thing to want to do but not if they are doing it my misleading people. It's like when they introduced the Euro and lots of prices in Eurozone countries mysteriously went up overnight because businesses thought they could sneak in price rises while people were still trying to work out the cost of things in the new currency.

I've had the same experience with clothes shops Woodley. They really want you to take their bags don't they in order to advertise their shop.

And your shop assistant clearly doesn't get it. It may only be 5 pence, but we're supposed to be wasting fewer bags you dimwit.

As Iv'e said upthread, while I've always been very good at reusing my food shopping bags, I am much worse at reusing clothes shopping bags as to me they aren't very practical.

I am treating the new charge as a bit of a wake up call and am going to really try in future.

Yanbu I'm not bothered about a 5p charge but the body shop shouldn't say they're charging it because of new laws or government guidance or whatever, they should say they're charging it because they care about the environment and will donate it all to environmental causes or whatever it is they're charging the 5p for and where it's going.

It's not misleading .... You've gone out of your way to find it misleading tho

They can charge from whatever date they wish. Coincides with plastic bags charges becoming law, big deal, they've obviously reviewed the bag situation in light of the new laws and decided on this charge on the same date. Not their fault if customers are going out looking to be offended/annoyed/whatever

I love how people are assuming they're taking advantage of the new law to steal 5p from customers and laugh all the way to the bank. The money goes to charity!

The only annoying thing about it here in Wales is when you forget your bags. McDonalds is weird because if you say no to a bag they still have to put fries or hash browns in a bag because they're unwrapped. So you get given a paper bag with your fries in, then your burger separately. But obviously they're using a smaller bag than if the whole meal was bagged.

I am baffled by the gigantic fuss England is making about this, the bags are 5p not £500. It's no big deal

Indeed. As usual, the Daily Mash has got it spot on grin.

The law only covers plastic bags. I haven't shopped at the Body Shop since L'Oreal bought them but I'm not surprised they are charging for them - it's all big business and sod the consumer now.

I invite all those worried about the 5p to bring their own sodding ones and stop complaining go to Ireland where bags are 22c each!

Even the current exchange rate doesn't make that close to 5p!

Songbird - the big supermarkets have announced they will give the money to charity, but they don't have to and as this isn't part of the bag law, there's no reason to presume Body Shop are planning to give it to charity if they haven't felt the need to announce that now (although public pressure might make them change that).

They clearly are taking the piss, pretending it's part of the new legislation when it's not. Cheeky feckers!

Will a lot of clothing stores revert to paper bags do you think if customers don't pay for plastic, they will want to get their advertising in somehow and if you are using a competitors carrier bag or a non branded bag, then it may have an effect on their profits?

Office and Zara already use paper and I've been told today that neither are charging for bags. M&S apparently have paper bags free for those spending over £100, that wasn't the case today though, I got charged for the bags I used and spent more than £100.

Oh and I wouldn't mind spending 5p on a bag, including a paper one, I do support the new law, (and normally take bags/put shopping under the buggy rather than use '1 use' plastic bags) but I take umbridge with large companies taking the piss like this.

The Body Shop have been charging 5p for their paper bags for quite a while AFAIK. At least here in London they have.