People still buying bags when shopping

[Auburngal]

It's 8.5 years since the bag charges were introduced in England (Oct 4 2015) and longer for other parts of the UK. My friend's DS was born on that day and she has pointed out he was born on the same day bag charges were introduced in England and people are shocked.

Why do people still not come shopping without bags? See the same faces most days at work buying bags. "Left the bags in the car" - pack at the car then!

If people buy on average 10 bags at 30p each per week at supermarkets, shops like B&M, Poundland - that's £156 a year. People don't look at the price as a whole they think "its only 30p".

Then see people down my road using brand new carrier bags for rubbish. Bin bags are cheaper (per unit), bigger and able to tie them up properly.

Then my work is opposite a few other shops - see customers buy two items and buy a bag from us when they have room in another shop's bag they just purchased from. What's that about?

The number of times I have bought bags is in single figures. For example - buying a coat - none of the bags I had were big enough. Brought 2 bags with me and one broke - it wasn't the retailer's bag in question. So couldn't get the replacement free.

Please stop buying bags. Fold one up inside your handbag. I am ok with those who bought more than they intend and don't have room in their own bags they have brought with them.

Taking your own bags is a simple way to help with CoL.

No. I won't stop buying bags!

Average of 10 bags? How much shopping are people getting in one go?

You’ve just made this up though - “If people buy on average 10 bags at 30p each per week at supermarkets”

I often leave them at home and have to buy more when shopping. No big deal.

I don't bother with a 'handbag' either....COL isn't that bad for us

You're ok with certain situations though, are we now reporting to you??

I am ok with those who bought more than they intend and don't have room in their own bags they have brought with them.

As long as you're 'ok' with it!!

You're ok....op says she's ok with that situation. Don't worry, you aren't in trouble

I can only assume you have no real problems in your life right now.

I don't need help with the cost of living, thank you.

Bags are available to buy so people will buy them.

I once was behind a young ish couple with a baby that brought 5 bags and then went on to say how they needed the cashier to stop at £40 as that is all they had ( which is fine in itself) but i couldn’t believe that in this circumstance they wasted over a £1 on bags! Seemed mental and really stupid to me.

I sometimes forget, sometimes I shop without planning to, sometimes I buy more than I thought….
I use reusable bags 90% of the time but occasionally I don’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I doubt I’m unusual.

For a lot of people £156 isn't a lot of money and they don't want to carry bags around with them. Especially men who don't carry handbags.

I bought one this morning actually.

I was passing a shop and I hardly ever carry a handbag.

I forget, every time. Bringing bags just doesn’t occur to me.

Pack at the car then - in the rain? No thanks.

Sometimes the bags are in my husband'scsr not mine.

I'm more interested in people who don't carry handbags than your bag for life rules OP.

Do all just use your phone and not carry anything else? I'm intrigued and wonder if I can stop having a handbag.

I buy them all the time and use them as bin bags for upstairs bins 😂

I haven't got room in my handbag and tbh sometimes I just don't plan on stopping at a shop until I'm there! Also a classic is leaving them in the garage and forgetting to put them in the car. Tbh 30p each doesn't harm my pocket so no harm no foul?

Op you might be happier if you judge people less.

i buy 1 or 2 bags a week because I’m decluttering my house and I then put stuff in them for a charity shop. I’m constantly running out of them. Perhaps you’d judge me less if I put them in my black bin bag for landfill.

If they brought bags with them, then they didn't waste any money in the way through OP is describing.

I like to keep one or two bags in the house if guests are leaving with stuff. I once in a while leave home without a tote bag and decide to go shopping and buy a bag. No big drama.
Don't have a car.

Not long after the charge was brought in, a friend crocheted a string bag for me as a birthday present. It's still going strong and I've bought two more string bags to join it. They're brilliant - can be scrunched up really small in whatever bag I'm using and expand to take a lot of shopping.

They didn’t. They paid for 5 bags … sorry if that was unclear!

I am ok with those who bought more than they intend and don't have room in their own bags they have brought with them.

well as long as you’re ok with it then 😂 I’m constantly forgetting bags, I buy them at every shop.

Yeah pretty much. And pockets

Id say I’m all for reducing plastic but this is not the issue you are making it out to be op:

from a government report in 2023:

”A 5p charge was first introduced in supermarkets in 2015. Since then, usage at the main retailers – Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose – has dropped by more than 98%.
The average person in England now buys just two single-use carrier bags a year from these businesses, compared with around 140 in 2014 before the charge was introduced.
The number of single-use carrier bags reported as sold by the main retailers was 133 million in 2022/23, down from 197 million in 2021/2022, representing a reduction of 33%. This is a huge drop from the 7.6 billion used in 2014.”

133 million compared to 7.6 billion! Wow.

I just can’t be arsed! So, no, I won’t stop buying bags. My money, my choice