M and S charging for carriers

[Sausagenbacon]

AIBU to find it cheeky of m&s to charge 10p for a paper carrier bag when I've just spent £50 on a dress? Especially as I got caught in the rain and it disintegrated.
I can understand why you would charge for a plastic bag, but this is ridiculous.

So your reasoning is "I don't want to" then? Since the stores don't want to give you a carrier bag and you don't want to either pay or come prepared with your own bag you're stuck then aren't you?

I have the big reusable hessian bags for shopping but I also keep a couple of the small foldaway ones that come in their own little pouch (much like the one someone posted a pic of earlier) in the bottom of my bag and in my coat pocket. I have a couple that fold up into a tiny pouch that fits in my palm but unfolds into a decently large bag that can comfortably fit a few items of clothes without having to fold them up to the point of leaving creases and lives in the fabric.

I rarely ever use them for groceries, they're either only for milk and bread after work or on the very rare occasion I pop into town when I'm buying stuff that is not going to leak/stain etc. Any bag that has been used for anything that might have leaked/spilt/left crumbs etc will be wiped out and/or chucked in the wash before it's put back into circulation. It's not a hard habit to get into, and means I dont think I've paid for a bag for about 10 years, except for the odd occasion I haven't had enough bags with me.

people say this stuff but have absolutely no idea how hard it might be for some people to actually remember their keys and a means to pay every time they leave the house.

It’s not about ‘consequences’ as a ‘motivating factor’.

I’m guessing you’ve never had to call a locksmith to gain access to your own house. Never mind had to do it multiple times.

Nor have you regularly realised you’ve forgotten your phone/purse/card (or even just forgotten your bloody pin) and had to abandon an attempt at shopping.

You might think it’s just a little bag and it’s so easy to make sure you’ve always got one on you. But that doesn’t hold true for everyone. Lots of the people who do find this kind of consistent organisation difficult are covered by the equalities act - and are disproportionately affected by charges for things like carrier bags.

Frankly, all you perpetual bag carriers come across as smug and sanctimonious.
Plus all this bag stuff is disproportionate when the fashion industry is so incredibly wasteful. And it's nothing to do with carrier bags .
M and s (and everywhere else) is full of sequined stuff. People won't be wearing it next year, and it'll all end up in landfill, like all our cheap clothes. A paper bag, which recycled itself while I was still carrying it, is neither here nor there.

What is the environmental reason for discouraging use of recyclable paper bags?

My local Sainsburys takes plastic packaging back for recycling.

If you can afford a £50 dress then why are you whining about a 10p/20p/50p bag. 🤷‍♀️

Because it's not just about the money?🤷‍♀️

@Sausagenbacon I completely agree. I said upthread that I'm happy to pay for a decent bag that doesn't disintegrate in the rain. If all the well organised people want to take bags out with them, and can predict when they're going to need them, then that's great. But for those of us who can't, there needs to be an alternative. Nobody's quibbling about paying for the alternative - but they are quibbling about paying for a sodding alternative that falls apart after 5 minutes in light rain.

If I randomly buy a dress in M&S for £99 because I have 15 free minutes and am passing M&S, I expect the bag that I also pay for to go with it to keep it dry until I get it home, rather than dump it on a wet pavement along with a load of yoghurt.

However, this thread has at least convinced me to ring M&S and moan at them about their stupid useless bags.

I don't have a phone, and I don't always remember my purse (which is also annoying, but at least it means there's no risk of me spontaneously going shopping and having to buy a shit paper bag which falls apart).

You're making all kinds of assumptions here about what people do and don't do.

And presumably you have to use petrol and take time out of your day to return it.

None of the retailers give a flying fuck about the environment. It’s all about profit. And equally @Mademetoxic, if I’ve just spent £50 or £100 on a dress, M&S or JL can afford to give me a sodding paper carrier - Primark manages it when you spend a fiver.

And presumably you have to use petrol and take time out of your day to return it.

Surely you take it when you are doing your usual shop? I couldn't do my weekly shop without driving there.

Lol I didn’t realise they were charging for those bags, I went shopping earlier and just took one. I usually take my own bag and agree with the charge for plastic but fucked if I’m going to pay 40p for a paper bag when having spent loads already given their inflated prices.

It’s not the bags that have annoyed me in M&S, it’s the self service checkouts! I was asked if I wanted to use one at the weekend and as I was spending £110 on a pair of boots I actually expected a bit of service so declined their offer and waited for a till point with a person! It’s put me right off going in there to be honest.

Bit off topic, but how on earth do you know what you're going to feel like eating until you get to the point when evening is looming and you haven't yet bought any supper?

I'm mystified by the "weekly shop". How can anyone shop for an entire week? Doesn't stuff get forgotten about and wasted? What if you don't feel like eating anything at all on one particular day?

@PeachBlossom1234 I agree with you about the self-service tills, too. I don't want to argue with a self-service till which doesn't do what I want it to do and is all imperious and impersonal. I want to see and have chit-chat with a human being.

I noticed the other day that my local M&S had a queue for the 'human' tills in the clothes dept (including me), and six self-service tills standing empty. One poor assistant was trying to lure people over to them, but nobody wanted to know.

So far as I'm concerned, my time is more valuable than having some M&S minion serving me.

@Anisette I'd say my time was more valuable than failing to work a self-service machine and then having to wait around for an M&S person to come to put codes and things into it.

Self-service machines take me miles longer than paying at an ordinary till.

I'm mystified by the "weekly shop". How can anyone shop for an entire week? Doesn't stuff get forgotten about and wasted? What if you don't feel like eating anything at all on one particular day?

Well if you have time to shop daily for what you feel like eating on that day then that's fine. Busy lives tend to prevent that. We meal plan (with flexibility) and hardly ever throw anything away precisely because it doesn't get forgotten about and wasted.Whatever suits your lifestyle and eating habits I guess

Well, yes, OMGitsnotgood. I suppose I find that busy lives mean that your plans change all the time so things would go to waste, because you'd say yes to an impromptu suggestion after work, or you'd have had a big lunch so you wouldn't fancy your planned spag bol that evening or whatever. But I did mostly manage to rustle something up for my children every night when they were at home, albeit sometimes very makeshift.

Same. And if I wanted to work for a shop I’d apply for a job and expect to be paid.

I find they're inevitably quicker when you take queueing time into account. But I can't remember ever having problems working self-service machines in M&S.

In effect you are paid for this by virtue of buying goods at cheaper prices than you would otherwise.

Slightly off-topic, but I've started to see a lot of people using self-service tills who scan every item, put them individually on the scales, pay and then slowly pack the items into bags.

You see somebody's payment going through and assume that means they'll be gone in a few seconds, leaving the till free for another person, but they're several more minutes after that, methodically still packing their bags.

Why is this now a trend - does anybody know?

Because the till doesn't recognise your bags so if you put them on the scale you have to wait for assistance before you even start scanning which can take forever.

You know, the bags that we all have to take in to shops now in order that we don't personally burn down the planet.

If you wait to the end to pack you can put what you like on the scale and at least you're doing things at your own pace.

And I’ve got a bridge to sell you. As an added bonus you get Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny thrown in.

This post is literally the bat signal to summon moany middle-class people.

How the other half live 🤣🤣🤣

You think 10p I’d bad? Don’t go to Morrisons 🙄😂