...to think that shops should start charging for coathangers (like plastic bags)?

[SleeplessInGarforth]

Every time I buy clothes (for me or DC) I mean to tell them to remove the coathangers before they give me the clothes... But a lot of the time I forget (blame the 4 month sleep regression). I get home, unpack and find myself staring at coathangers from things such as pyjamas, underwear etc and wondering what the hell to do with them. They can't be recycled in our area and I have no use for a weird shaped coathanger that once housed a bra. I hate to send loads of plastic to landfill after a short lifespan.

So, yeah, AIBU to think they shouldn't give you them...and perhaps charge you 5p (or whatever) if you do want them?

They normally ask if you want them in most shops. I always give them back either way. I use wooden hangers, hate plastic; if I end up with them by accident, they just takes up room in my very small, rarely emptied wheelie bin!

Obviously, YANBU! But try to get into the habit of giving them back at the counter.

You think the price of hangers are not already figured into the clothing?...

I always ask for the coat hangers. Many shops won't give them to you anyway even if you ask.

I'm the opposite. Most shops I go to try & remove the hangers & I ask to keep them.

I read somewhere that coat hangers are all chucked in to the landfill.

The cost of getting the labels steamed off, loading up palettes on shipping containers and sending the hangers back to factories, then getting hangers sorted and labels reapplied is much greater than just reproducing them. So they chuck them.

I am pretty sure that's what happens!

I buy Ikea wooden hangers, much better for clothes than wire ones. YNBU.

I don't keep every item of clothes I own so I generally only ask for hangers if we are running low, they have a shelf life in our house.
As I say I hate the small hangers with a passion for socks, undies, bras and pjs all pointless and not reusable.

I agree op you can't know how everyone manages these things and it does all come at a financial cost (you pay for that hanger when you purchase the item). We even reuse takeaway containers to justify the cost they have on the environment, but I draw the line at not having takeaway.

Oh and whilst we are on the subject have they managed to build another mill to process all the tetrapaks that used to end up in landfills? I think the waste from unrecyable coffee cups, juice cartons etc may have a bigger impact than hangers tbh.

Yanbu.

In m&Co I asked to leave the hangers and was told I could but that they went straight in the bin as all clothes come in already on hangers!

Having said that, the dc's pjs I bought there had a hole in the leg seam, which I sewed up, and the print washed off the tshirt on the first wash, which was unsalvageable, so perhaps that's less environmentally friendly than the hanger issue?

If I'm buying clothes, I usually stand in the queue or at the counter and just take them out myself and leave them on the bench. Most places take them off anyway as they reuse them.

I always take them off at the checkout unless I know I need one but think a 5p charge may help reduce the waste in the same way it has for bags. Pre bag charge, many shops asked if you needed one but the charge was more effective in reducing the amount used.

Argh, we always say no to hangers & still we must have about 60 surplus to requirements. Even with DD's crazy clothes horse habits. I can't find anyone who wants them. All sizes, charity shops & Freecyclers don't want them either.

I tried to give a big bag of hangers to my local charity shop but they said they had to use their own matching hangers!

YANBU.

We have an excess of hangers here too. Although shops seem to be getting better at removing them, or at least asking if you want to keep them. Most big supermarkets sell hangers if you really want more anyway.

Re. hangers for underwear - I was in the queue at Marks and Spencer the other day. The lady in front of me was buying a bra. She said that she didn't want the hanger, but the shop assistant told her that they had to give her the hanger, as you can't return bras unless they're on the hanger.

Yanbu i hate this obsession with plastic we have and really wish people would take more care of this world we live in

People are capable of not taking the hangers if they don't want them.
Hangers get broken so sometimes I do want to keep them, other times I have loads of hangers at home so I say I don't want the hangers when making my purchase. Skirt hangers are the ones that I always seem to be short of as the little grip things break off.

You could take them to a charity shop, they might be able to use them?

Please don't! I volunteer in a large charity shop chain and we have all of out own hangers. We can't use ones which are donated, and can't sell them. They just go to landfill, which costs us money.

From a checkout operator - if you don't want the hangers when you are buying around 20 garments it would be nice if you could help us removing them? Especially when the queues are knee deep on a Saturday - thanks!

NO! We should be charging them for the bastard things!!!

I usually get asked if I want the hangers and always say no, I thought that was standard in shops now. If anything does come home with a hanger it goes straight in the recycling.

Yabu- I dry my washing by hanging it on hangers on the line and often find I don't have enough. If I don't need a particular hanger it gets left in the shop and many shops don't give them to you anyway.

I think reusing them loads is better for the environment that a tumble dryer.

Not my experience at all OP. Most shops either ask me if I would like to keep the hangers or they simply remove them.

I rarely come home with a hanger. They are usually cheap and of poor quality anyway, I prefer to buy my own for home use.

YABU. they ask if I want to keep the coat hanger or I say I don't need them. No reason to charge for them.

I don't think they need to charge for them. I routinely say, "No, thanks", when they ask if I want the hangers. I really don't, they're poor quality and I have beautiful pink satin ones for my stuff at home.

The shops can re-use them all so I don't know why they don't just keep them back as a matter of course? People who want hangers must surely have enough by now?