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.

The obvious thing is for them to do what they always did and factor the cost of the bag into the retail prices

Paper bags are better for the environment than plastic ones, but they are still a disposable product that uses a lot of energy and water and materials to make, even when recycled and recyclable. So personally, I do think they should charge people for them. Take a cotton tote bag out with you if you're bothered.

It penalises people using public transport because we can't "put our shopping loose in the boot" or "keep a fabric tote in the car".

That is pretty stupid tbh, the point of the bag charge is to reduce plastic I thought? So irrelevant here.

If you can afford a £50 dress you can afford a 10p bag - but why should you if it’s not fit for purpose (ie holding up to British November weather).

Maybe M&S is trying to be ethical and look after the environment, unlike Primark? Who knows; I don’t know the details of their relative ethics.

Don't people see the hypocrisy in being smug about bringing reusable bags in your SUVs? I don't always have a bag with me but I'm not travelling in a hulking great polluting vehicle.

I don’t mind paying for a bag if I’ve forgotten to bring one but the M&S paper bags are useless.

In Northern Ireland all carrier bags are charged for, including paper (there are some exceptions for hot/unpackaged food etc)

We occasionally do a shop on the way home from a holiday and don’t have bags with us……

It's annoying that they don't cover clothes with something. I've got stains on new clothes before reusing bags that have had food in. And charging for paper bags is a pisstake. The whole point of the bag charge was to reduce plastic, apparently (although supermarkets seem to have plenty of plastic all over the place so who knows ?) - charging for paper bags doesn't reduce plastic.

Primark has the right idea - paper bags they don't charge for and clothes recycling points in store.

I nick plastic bags from self service tills when I can, just to even things out.

Yes totally.

If you generally travel in a sustainable way ie not driving, you get hit the hardest by these bloody bag charges. And it's not just 10p either - bloody Waitrose charges 50p. Drivers of course can avoid it.

The lady in M&S told me the paper bags are meant to last for 100 uses 😂😂 They barely make it back to the car. The cat does like playing with them though so a fairly cheap toy for her :)

It is law in Scotland at min 10p per bag for paper and plant basted materials too

I'm always on foot/public transport and this is has never been an issue. A fabric tote doesn't exactly take up a lot of space!

Single use plastic bags, yes. Notable how many companies have now switched to paper bags and yet continue to charge as if they were plastic

I think it's more that forgetting your smug wee tote isn't an issue when driving, whereas if you're on foot forgetting it will cost you money, even though using a carrier is way less environmentally damaging than driving a car.

It’s probably so that they can say that they donated £x to charity through the paper bag scheme.
Yanbu to be surprised but they aren’t alone in charging for a paper bag.

Are people who use public transport incapable of taking a reusable bag with them? I always put one in my bag when I'm going by bus (or car!). If I forget, it's my fault when I have to pay for one.

The only people who are penalised are those who forget to take a bag irrespective of how they got to the shop.

The waitrose ones are a quid.

No, they don’t.

Are people who use public transport incapable of taking a reusable bag with them?

Not that I'm aware of. Is there a capacity issue where you are?

The prices of bags has jumped in M&S recently as well. I think from 40p to 60p overnight. Or maybe 50p.

Wow. So they don't actually have to charge for 'bags for life' at all? Because that's all that most of them have now - they don't have single use ones available. What a bloody racket.

They always cost them money but they weren’t charged for for decades. Why would I want to pay for a branded paper bag that’s advertising the shop. Cheeky bastards. If Primark can afford to give them away so can everywhere else.

Any advice on how to wash a plastic bags? I only have a couple of fabric bags, which I wash but they have horrible long handles. Which make them really uncomfortable to carry.