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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Made to pay for a bag in the supermarket

698 replies

christmasfoodshop · 07/12/2023 12:43

Just picked up a few bits for Xmas food shop.

Had baby with me and she was tired so getting a bit irritable.

Scanned all my shopping at self checkout, ended up with a quite a lot more than I needed (as you do).

Baby crying. Paid for my shopping.

Realised I needed a bag at this point so got one and put all my stuff in there.

Go to walk out.

The shop assistant said I needed to pay for a bag. Fair enough.

She said I had to rescan it.

Baby now screaming and wriggling out my arms. Heavy bag of shopping in the other hand.

She made me wait there until she'd scanned a bag, pressed 'check-out' , selected 'pay by card' and then I had to scan. All for bloody 30p.

In hindsight, I do understand I had to pay for the bag but I was so bloody frustrated and just wanted to get out of there that I paid 30p for the bag and stormed off. Left my giant trolley in the middle of self checkout. I was at my wits end. I felt like I was at school being held back by the teacher.

It's 30 bloody pence. Let me go!!

She acted like she was earning money out of making people pay for bags.

YABU - everyone ALWAYS must pay for bags no matter what

YANBU - in the circumstance, she should have just let me go all for the sake of 30p plastic bag.

OP posts:
AmyDudley · 07/12/2023 13:19

So you were caught trying to shoplift - yeah I can see how that would be annoying.

I think shops should charge £1 for bags, then people might make more effort to take a bag with them, and we could actually cut down on plastic waste and make the world a better place for everyone's children.

closingdownsale · 07/12/2023 13:19

YANBU. she was doing her job yes, but we all need to help each other out and show kindness.

People saying "you can't get away with 30p worth of carrier bag for free" probably don't get why the ghosts were preachy to Ebeneezer Scrooge who wasn't cruel, he was just "fair".

Peacheroo · 07/12/2023 13:20

These bags are a con anyway. Remember when they used to be free? Then the government wanted to stop single use and all the supermarkets upped their bag for life to 20 then 30p. Single use plastic has gone down 98% but now we use something that uses 40% more energy to produce and 4x more plastic. And their profits soar. They're far worse for the environment.

And all because I have the attention span of a gnat so forget to take a bag and have a cupboard worth £10 mil.

Mrsjayy · 07/12/2023 13:20

Unbego · 07/12/2023 13:15

No, I do use them again (always did even before supermarkets hit on this money making wheeze) and when they reach critical mass in the drawer I put them into the bag recycling crate. But if I'm out and don't have any/enough on me and I'm not driving I'll take any I need to get my stuff home. We pay enough for shopping in the UK. We pay enough for everything in the UK.

I'm not sure that the charge does incentivise re-use. Millions more of the stronger reusable bags have been sold since the bag charge came in - the number of single use bags has dropped but that's because most shops don't have them. They have the reusable ones instead and shops are selling way more of them than they did before. They're probably producing even more again because a lot of people, like me, don't pay for them.

Show quote history

this is the most ridiculous justification for nicking a carrier bag do you get a little thrill every time you pinch one😄

Mytattooisbiggerthanyours · 07/12/2023 13:20

You tried to steal a bag??

WonderingWanda · 07/12/2023 13:21

You could have just put your shopping back in the trolley and walked it out to your car if you couldn't be arsed with the faff of scanning a bag. She was just doing her job.

EvilElsa · 07/12/2023 13:21

From the GOV site:

From 21 May 2021 you must charge a minimum of 10 pence a bag (including VAT) for single-use carrier bags that are all of the following:

  • unused - it’s new and has not already been used for sold goods to be taken away or delivered
  • plastic and 70 microns thick or less
  • it has handles, an opening and is not sealed

Monitor self checkouts
You must do all you can to make sure that you charge for bags at self checkouts. For example, the checkouts ask shoppers how many bags they used and charges for them.

DottieMoon · 07/12/2023 13:21

YABU - everyone ALWAYS must pay for bags no matter what

Having a baby does not mean you don't have to pay for things. Ridiculous and more ridiculous to write a post complaining about it.

She acted like she was earning money out of making people pay for bags. - This is why I feel sorry for people working in retail, not getting paid much whilst having to put up with shite from people like you. You wanted to her to let you steal from her place of employment and not bat an eyelid just because you have a baby. Jeeez

JenniferJupiterVenusandMars · 07/12/2023 13:22

YABU, YABVU.
Baby crying. Paid for my shopping. Realised I needed a bag at this point so got one and put all my stuff in there. Go to walk out.. The shop assistant said I needed to pay for a bag
You obviously had absolutely no intention of paying so stop trying to make others feel sorry for you.
Completely in the wrong but so entitled 😵‍💫
As for She acted like she was earning money out of making people pay for bags… you sound pretty unpleasant and arrogant. I really don’t know who you think you are judging this poor assistant.

Cornettoninja · 07/12/2023 13:22

YABU.

but I well remember those baby screaming days and the flustering of trying to calm a baby and not get on anyone else’s tits.

Calm down, have a hot drink and I promise you you’ll look back on this and see very clearly why the assistant wasn’t in a position to let you carry on.

TheKnittedCharacter · 07/12/2023 13:22

You’re not supposed to nick the bags.

ButterCupPie · 07/12/2023 13:22

Unbego · 07/12/2023 13:05

Yanbu. I always take them if I need them and I never pay.

Take a couple extra next time to make up for it. 30p a bag is a pisstake and she didn't need to do that.

There always got to be one...

Peacheroo · 07/12/2023 13:22

I think what's unreasonable is that she waited to tell you as you were leaving. Would have made more sense to tell you as you were loading. She clearly knew.

CrazyTimes123 · 07/12/2023 13:23

No way is this real 😂

Epidote · 07/12/2023 13:23

Next time I go shopping I will be wanting to pee badly to see if they give me the bags or a couple of cheap items for free.

agent765 · 07/12/2023 13:23

YABU

Apart from any of the other valid points everyone else has mentioned, scanning the bag helps the supermarket with their stock control.

If everyone just stole a bag there'd be no bags re-ordered and no bags provided for other people to buy.

I feel for the shop assistant. She probably has to put up with numerous incidents of entitlement every day.

If she worked for a small business your 30p would have been taken out of her wages. I can say this with certainty as my friend's daughter has a weekend job in a small local store where shortages that could "reasonably have been prevented" are taken from her pay.

Unbego · 07/12/2023 13:23

Yeah exactly the bags are a ripoff. It's a revenue stream for supermarkets. As though charging a tenner for a tub of yellow coloured oil run-off isn't enough profit for them.

Lol at the idea they're doing this to heal the planet for all the little children. Have you seen how much plastic Tesco gets through every day?

Peacheroo · 07/12/2023 13:23

EvilElsa · 07/12/2023 13:21

From the GOV site:

From 21 May 2021 you must charge a minimum of 10 pence a bag (including VAT) for single-use carrier bags that are all of the following:

  • unused - it’s new and has not already been used for sold goods to be taken away or delivered
  • plastic and 70 microns thick or less
  • it has handles, an opening and is not sealed

Monitor self checkouts
You must do all you can to make sure that you charge for bags at self checkouts. For example, the checkouts ask shoppers how many bags they used and charges for them.

This is irrelevant for the multi use bags at supermarket check outs. None of that goes to the government because it's not a single use bag.

BalletBob · 07/12/2023 13:24

What a shame that the shop assistant had to deal with a bad tempered customer. I hope she's OK. It's really shit working in retail, especially this time of year, when people feel entitled to take out their bad moods on you without any thought about how that feels to be on the receiving end of all day.

ElevenSeven · 07/12/2023 13:24

Yabu

AmethystSparkles · 07/12/2023 13:25

I think any reasonable person would have let you have the bag. You weren’t sufficiently organised…so what?! That’s life with young children.

Almost everything in your trolley/basket is wrapped with more plastic than a carrier bag. When supermarkets do something about this I’ll be more bothered about a plastic carrier bag. Bags for life (that most people use once and forget about) contain more plastic than the old-style bags. It’s just generating money for the shop.

However, you’re unreasonable to ask about this on here. Most people in real life would have a bit more sympathy.

HideTheCroissants · 07/12/2023 13:26

christmasfoodshop · 07/12/2023 13:01

For those who keep saying I shoplifted, I paid for the bag

But you you only paid for it when stopped by the member of staff! You INTENDED and TRIED to walk out without paying for it. If you’d been successful then you would have been guilty of shoplifting.

Suppose I’d done my shopping today and after I’d paid I realised that I needed a birthday card (they have a little display of them by the checkout in my local Co-Op) so took one and walked out because I was in a hurry ….. is that stealing?

PianPianPiano · 07/12/2023 13:26

LondonLass91 · 07/12/2023 13:18

In Waitrose last week with a screaming toddler, the lady at the self checkout scanned all my things for me, gave me a bag for free (when I realised i had forgotten mine at the very end) and gave a lolly to my little girl. I bloody love Waitrose. Anyway OP, I'm mainly with you on this one, she could have turned a blind eye (but agree that she was just doing her job really).

The difference there is that you presumably didn't help yourself to the bag and attempt to walk out without paying for it, assuming you didn't need to because you had children..

Unbego · 07/12/2023 13:27

@EvilElsa exactly, they're charging for bags they don't need to. They have to charge for single use bag but shops don't have single use bags any more. They have the thicker ones and they're choosing what to charge for them because it's now become a source of revenue for them.

MaryMcCarthy · 07/12/2023 13:27

closingdownsale · 07/12/2023 13:19

YANBU. she was doing her job yes, but we all need to help each other out and show kindness.

People saying "you can't get away with 30p worth of carrier bag for free" probably don't get why the ghosts were preachy to Ebeneezer Scrooge who wasn't cruel, he was just "fair".

If she can get away with it then why can't I?

Once you start making excuses for people, systems collapse.