Do I win the prize for the worst freebie ever on sparks card?

[OchonAgusOchonOh]

Just opened the M&S app and saw the little 1 beside Sparks.

Oh goodie. Will it be free chocolate or percy pigs? Or even 20% off women's clothes?

Nope. It was:

Drum roll.

A free paper bag!!!! Be still my beating heart, I can't contain my excitement.

So, aibu in thinking I have just received the worst ever freebie or can you beat that?

Also, the plastic bag levy by the government is 10p so charging 40p for a paper bag feels particularly excessive!

Plastic bag levy (on the cheaper flimsy type bag) is 22c in Rep of Ireland:
https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/plastic-bag-environmental-levy/index.aspx

Retailers can charge more for the heavier duty bags but Revenue should get 22c of every single plastic bag that is sold.

But presumably nothing from paper bags which is why 40p (in the UK) is so cheeky

The reason why flimsy plastic bags were ubiquitous before the law change and sturdy paper bags weren't was that paper bags are significantly more expensive to make and transport than plastic ones, especially ones which can carry the weight of food shopping rather than clothes. Paper bags really do cost money - though 40p does seem steep.

Agree 100%.

I had a new one. Free entry in to the Kingdom of Winter event at the Excel centre in London.

Would be pretty good, if I hadn't just bought tickets two days earlier!

That's annoying.

Can you get a refund and use the offer instead?

I have a loaf of bread! Don't know what to put it in though.

If only there was some way to get a free bag.

I have collected my free pears but was really looking for the Advent calendar and they did not gave any. Sobs😥

But surely the pears are a massive consolation to you?

Now let me think about that.....

No not the slightest consolation, especially as I did not have a bag to put them in😂

🤣🤣

My main M&S is in the middle of town with no parking close by.

What do they think will happen on wet days, when the paper bags disintegrate in the rain and the M&S food falls through the bottom?

This is not just food, it’s M&S bruised-and-filthy-from-bouncing-on-the-pavement food.

When I asked why I’d had a 1p refund for a “produce bag” I was told the scales assume you’ve put your loose veg in one of their bags before you weighed them, so they refund you for the weight of the bag.

@SamW98 I am failing to think of any jokes about your loose courgettes.

Those midwife pumpkins are brilliantly scary!

Aren't they just?

Midwife pumpkins???

@LookItsMeAgain - the pumpkins in the link above

Yikes!

Visited M&S today, flashed my Sparks app, got nothing at all off my shopping. But at least I saw the paper carrier bags. I feel blessed.

Oh wow. I bet you were on a high all day after that.

@OchonAgusOchonOh It was certainly a special moment. I saw a pile of them on an abandoned checkout, & I felt at one with the great sisterhood of Mumsnet. That's an experience money can't buy.

Thank you Marks for giving me 15% off knitwear the day my new jumper was delivered 🤬