To ask you to remember your bags!

[Irritatedcashier]

At work. The same people every single day buy a plastic bag for their 3 items, moan about the cost of bags, never bring one with them. Always "hehehe I've got loads in the car"
fucking use one then? Obviously can't say that 😂
Each and every time they moan about the price I tell them it's to discourage plastic waste but they just carry on.
Same conversation every day.

AIBU to expect people to bring a bag when they know they're going to a shop?

Probably am, I'm just grouchy cause I just finished a late 🙈

Well that's it isn't it? There is a consequence when you forget your phone or coat. There isn't one when you forget a bag (except spending a couple of pence)

I'm surprised supermarkets haven't set up a little bag exchange, looks good, is good, great for people who forget their bags

Yet the only thing in my recycling is packaging from the shops that don't trust me with a plastic bag
This! I remember my bags usually but it annoys me that the loose fruit and veg costs more than the plastic wrapped ones.

@hereiamagainn that's a good tip, and thank you it does help.

@BlackeyedSusan that's exactly what I do when I'm at the supermarket! Put it all in the trolley, put it all in the boot then deal with it when I get home. I was meaning when I go maybe clothes shopping or somewhere like that where I don't have the option of a trolley, like if I'm in the city centre kinda thing and left my car at the train station. But I do agree, it works when there's a trolley available.

If I forget my bag, I just carry my stuff as a reminder not to forget my bag next time.

I would never purchase a plastic bag as they just end up in landfill.

In France, they haven't had plastic bags in supermarkets for decades! If you forgot your bags, you had to go and find some empty boxes to put your shopping in.

I still think our attitude in the UK towards single use plastic is disgraceful!

Perhaps consider reading The Big Plastic Count:

https://thebigplasticcount.com/

Nope. You should still provide them for free.

A reusable bag is of no use to me. I don’t want them cluttering up my house, I don’t want to have to take them with me everywhere and I do not like the attempt to force me into it “for the environment”.

It’s much easier to buy a plastic bag and chuck it after.

Well that just shows how often I go shopping not at a supermarket!

You don't charge for your bags because they're not plastic? Seriously? Wondering where you live because where I am all single use bags are chargeable other than the little tiny flat paper ones you might get in a card shop/sweet shop (not sure if I've described that very well lol)
Certainly in Scotland we pay for all single use bags whether paper or plastic. I know cos my old work did paper bags only and the amount of verbal abuse we got when the bag charge started was awful 🙈

And I shall blame it on lack of coffee and sleep.

It’s not to discourage plastic waste. It’s to make money. If they wanted to discourage plastic waste they wouldn’t be selling so many items in plastic wrapping and the carrier bags wouldn’t be plastic 🤷‍♀️ I don’t know anyone that actually pays for carrier bags either so it’s a lose lose situation

I have 8 or 10 reusable plastic bags from years ago. If you learn how to fold them up they hardly take any space. I keep one in my rucksack for emergencies and we always pick some up before shopping. DP and I are lucky enough to have 2 supermarkets in walking distance so never buy more than we can carry home.

Asda went through a period where they made their bags for life so very thin (didn't reduce the price, mind), that they were effectively single-use bags again, as you would be lucky if they survived the journey home
We had to get new one already in the shop 4x!!! They were terrible and we got new ones free. Maybe that's why they stopped doing the thin bastards. Even the small ones before were stronger

The inventor of the plastic bag thought they'd be an environmental alternative to one use paper bags.
Irony.
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/plastic-bags-pollution-paper-cotton-tote-bags-environment-a9159731.html

But yes, my multiple neurodiverse conditions mean I always forget bags despite having several strategies to try and remember them. I also can't just pop back for them now as with children under three I'm on a bit of a time limit and going back is an absolute mission.
I would like to be a person who remembers things like that but a lifetime of trying shows its in vein.

That's another thing, why are they referred to as "single use"? That's just branding to justify the lack of trust in the public. Mine are far from single use. Someone earlier said their DH is the one who forgets and buys new ones, so does mine, it drives me mad. They need to target male shoppers!

The inventor of the plastic bag thought they'd be an environmental alternative to one use paper bags.

And they worked for a great many people who understood this and instinctively re-used them lots of times.

They may have stuffed them in their bag or pocket for when they next went shopping, used them for charity shop donations, put their muddy boots in them after a country walk (and thus eliminated the need for more planet-harming chemicals to clean the car) or instead of buying bin liners for non-kitchen bins. Yes, they ended up binned, but not before they'd been fully used for various purposes.

The problem is that the tiny minority of bags that selfish idiots just dropped on the floor, and which then blew around car parks and into rivers, were glaringly plain to notice, whereas the sensibly-used and disposed-of majority were not seen out in the wild.

I find it ironic when the government/councils lecture us on waste and environmental littering when you see these undercover exposes of them shipping off thousands of tons of waste (including separated recycling) to massive great rubbish dumps in poor countries without bothering to ask questions as to where it ends up or its long-term impact.

Meanwhile my husband would say they need to be targeting the wives like me since he always remembers the bags and it's me who always forgets them 😂 So targeting everyone is probably simplest lol

That's another thing, why are they referred to as "single use"? That's just branding to justify the lack of trust in the public.

Very good point - it's deliberately defeatist.

I have a pile of bags everywhere. Some in my desk at work, some in the car, some in the house and I'll still occasionally discover I don't have enough with me and have to buy more.

We went to America last year and out of habit in Walmart I got out my bags and started packing my shopping. You'd have thought I'd grown two heads or something the looks I was getting from the cashier and other customers!

Yes, there's lots of people that could do better in this country, but really the whole world needs to get a grip.

Packaging from the supermarkets is annoying though. I bought some bread rolls the other week and they came separated with a cardboard insert. Yes, fine it's recyclable, but is it really necessary?!

I wish our council recycling would take the plastic off of packaging and bags, not just plastic bottles, etc. Hopefully this is something that will change in the future.

I rarely forget my bags but live in Wales who were the first to start charging for plastic bags. The only exception to this might be when we are on the way back from a holiday or break and need to do a shop and then we pay for bags (which will get reused).

That annoys me too mainsfed, people do that here too.
The worst issue I have is that the council won't collect our recycling unless it's in a plastic sack that they've provided. We used to use re-usable boxes but the bin men keep removing them. So counter-productive!

Agree. I work in a small supermarket and the same people complain about plastic and waste, but then buy plastic bags instead of reusing.

The worst offender is a colleague who points out excess plastic etc then buys a bag, every time.

I agree there is a lot of plastic, but in retail it is a necessity. We recycle soft plastic (always have done) and encourage customers to bring their soft plastic in to recycle. I just take the big recycling bin bags home with me!

The other day it was my fault their card got declined.

I've been blamed because a customer didn't know their PIN number!

I keep this rolled up in my bag, plus bigger ones in the car:

88AMZ Reusable Mesh Cotton Net Turtle Bag Durable Handbag Natural Organic Cotton Mesh Produce Shopping Bag for Grocery Shopping & Outdoor Packing, Storage, Fruit, Vegetable (Blue) amzn.eu/d/5LEp8Kn

I'm really bad for this.

I only remember when I'm parking the car,.but dont keep them in the car.

But I just use the trolley back to the car and dont bother with a bag if I've forgotten.

I always have one in my handbag, and changing bag. No car so always have those with me. I can be quite forgetful but I begrudge paying for them so I always remember!

pikd fair enough but you need a telling off from "the man" like the rest of us