Taking your own bags in same store -embarrassing incident

[annoyed663]

Not really sure where to put this and can’t really talk about in RL as it’s a non-issue so will look crazy but on here I’m wondering what others would do. I have anxiety so I do worry about everything! Went to B and M yesterday with the kids just to pick up cheap halloween stuff. I had my own bags with me (for the same store). Started packing and woman said it’s x for the bags (can’t remember amount) I said no they’re my bags I brought from home, she sounded unsure then to top it off my 8 year old says “mummy you picked the bags from here!” She probably saw they were the same. I got flustered and told the cashier “look you can see my bags are crumpled so they’re from home”. Lol! Next time I’ll take different bags in, not had that before and yes I know it’s a non issue before anyone likes on just wanted to share my embarrassing moment 🙈

My dm’s catchphrase when we were young was “never[hissed through clenched teeth] contradict me in public”

The fact that I remember her saying it quite a lot suggests it wasn’t terribly effective though.

The idea is to reuse the bag, hence the name ‘bag for life’, not to keep buying/ stealing new ones on every shop visit.
Charging shoppers has reduced consumption and in turn production, which is better for the environment. Hth.

Clearing out my dm's house there is an old wicker basket she used for shopping when only buying a few things. Years ago before supermarkets shopping was done on a more daily basis. Some shops also delivered your shoppiing for you if getting more than you could carry or you gave them your list and they made it up and then delivered it. The original precursor to online shopping in the seventies. She used to say she was going up the street to do some messages. Think I will take it to use for a bit of nostalgia. Also remember the string bags.

Maybe tell 8 yo not to get involved in grown up conversations next time as what she said probably made things worse.

bags for life are made from thicker plastic than a regular bin bag, therefore you are using more plastic then necessary.

😂
I was also struggling to see how this wasn't obvious wesurecouldstandgladioli

I doubt any supermarket is going to waste
any of their time investigating bag theft anyway. It costs them pennies. They used to give them away free and are only charging now because the government has told them they have to.

No, they probably wouldn't, but it's reassuring to know you can say with confidence that CCTV will show the bags are not stolen, in the event of a challenge.

Same tbh!

My Mother gave me a new vinyl/pvc type tote bag from Harrods, with the logo and everything! in the vain hope that I'd waft around with her and her matching one when we went shopping together
I've since gone NC and it's in the boot of my car along with an M&S bag for life and 2 Sainsburys bags to be used for the weekly Aldi shop

This is why you need several bags from several stores. When I go shopping I have 2x morrisons, 1x asda, 2x aldi, 1x tesco, 1x lidl, 2x sainsburys. After this thread I might store/carry them around in my wilko (rip!) bag.

I hated those string bags growing up. The corners of items used to go through the gaps and rake my bare legs, always looked as if I had been attacked by a cat horde 🙁

It's not embarrassing.
The cashier thought the bags were new. You said that your bags were from home and they were crumpled so obviously not new.
That's all you have to do in the future if you are asked again. No need to make sure you have different bags for different shops.
It is really obvious when the bags have been used. Just make sure you take the tags off.

I was asked in Aldi once because the tag was still on but once the casher looked inside the bag she could see it had been used and she took the tag off for me.

I've got two fabric bags with Fortnum and Mason logos which I take to Aldi and Iceland!

It is embarrassing if the cashier (and possibly those around you) still think you're lying. I've been in that situation before. How committed do thieving some flimsy bags do people think someone can be? Very, apparently.

Committed to, not committed do

I bought a collapsible picnic basket, I keep it in the boot of my car. Take it in store, use it as an actual basket as I'm walking around and then repack it at the till. It's a cool bag type material as well so keeps my chilled stuff cool. As long as I remember to put it back in the boot it's brilliant.

I was in a big Sainsbury’s and they had run out of bags because their automated reordering system told them they still had thousands but they’d all been stolen by people like a PP.
it was chaos. People with big shops and no bags. Those of us who’d gone prepared were handing out spares.

Not hurting the environment if they get reused for bin bags.

Right?!

she needed to pipe down! Did she want you to get in trouble?!

Do they magically become less damaging if they’re used as bin bags then? Because that seems to deny the laws of physics.

I'm normally quite good now, after years of failure, at taking my own strong bags into supermarkets with me. On the odd occasion when I've had to buy a plastic carrier bag, I turn it inside out. I'm not paying Tesco to do their advertising for them 😁plus it means that they can't easily see what store it was bought it, when re-using it.

Then when I get home, I fold them into samosa shapes, which (a) makes them neater to store and carry, and (b) has the fold lines in them, which wouldn't be there in a freshly purchased one.

So, take Lidl bags to aldi, and Homebase bags to B&M! Problem sorted!

And if you have time to go through them it will clearly document the COL increases. 😂

I'm pretty sure that no-one looks at your bags and judges you!

They’re meant to be used more than twice, clues in the name ‘bags for life’.