Is it just me or is charging 50p for a paper bag at M&S food outrageous?

[sequin2000]

I know I should have brought a bag and I usually do. If the option was a plastic bag I would have struggled with the shopping in my arms to the car, but I thought as it was paper it wasn't so bad. What I didn't expect was to be charged 50p. M&S say the bag can be used 100 times. Is there anyone out there who has reused an M&S paper bag? AIBU in thinking most people don't realise they cost 50p, that the assistants should make this clear and that M&S are profiting from this government policy?

Seriously?

This is honestly the most pressing thing in your life that you feel minded to start a thread about? I'm envious of you.

There are so many negative threats about Waitrose and M&S that I think sometimes there's a full time Aldi/Lidl PR on the case.

Look I go into those shops sometimes and M&S and Waitrose are overwhelmingly a bettter experience with largely nicer products and more decent to their staff and suppliers. That's why they're more expensive. If you want cheap, go to Asda or Tesco and suck up the depressing, dispiriting experience.

I have several of these little nylon bags, I have one in every handbag!

I absolutely hate those M&S paper bags, so if the cost is meant to be a deterrent, it’s working with me.

I always have a couple of those scrunched up fabric bags - that are sold in charity shops - in my handbag. They take up virtually no room but are usually big enough for some unexpected emergency shopping.

Nonsense!

I was charged 50p for a crappy bag at WH Smith

I sometimes forget bags, it happens.

If I have bought too much to stagger to the car with a teetering tower of shopping in my arms, I usually prefer to pay the £4 or so for a totally indestructible bag that will last forever, it feels like much better value. Much more useful than a paper bag.
I ended up with a zip up Lidl cool bag the other month, and I’ve been using it for all my shopping trips since.

I totally agree with charging for any packaging. It has a £ cost and environmental cost to produce and recycle when it's useful life is done
Just bring your own. Keep one or more in the car, a tiny folding one in your bag, carry a tote bag or rucksack.

Tell that to my DH who has been using the same Sainsbury’s bag that he keeps in his back pocket for 2 years. They last ages

The only people buying Primark bags are the ones doing ‘hauls’ on TikTok 🙄

You won’t forget your bags again will you? Job done. Just keep some bags in the car.

YABU. Take a bag. If you forget, you pay for one, whatever the shop has decided they are worth. Can’t remember the last time I had to buy a bag.

Because it’s a business and it cost the shop to buy the bags in the first place.

Yes that's good if you're shopping by car.

But when you're walking or using public transport it's not so good.

I ran out of my own bags yesterday. I bought a huge reusable bag in Primark for £1. Very happy with that and will use it lots.

Tiny fold up bag in your pocket or handbag. You can even get ones that cliip on to your belt or keys.

I don't have a car and alwys have a small fold up bag stashed in my handbag.

TK Maxx do excellent bags (the ones by the till for 99p or 1.29p) - last for ever, and have shoulder straps. I often go there just to get a shopping bag.

I think they’re quite amazing really. I moaned to the cashier about one on a very rainy Christmas shopping trip , and she assured me they’re very waterproof. It really worked in the rain.
not like the primark paper bags, the m&s ones can be reused loads.

All these explanations as to why poor old M&S have simply no choice but to charge 50p for a paper bag, are red herrings.

its just a grift. Like absolutely everything else these days.

I have bought those but didn't realise they cost 50p!
I have only ever used them once. I can't imagine one would last 100 times. They aren't that strong and are also awkward to fold and put in a handbag.

Not everyone has a car!

not unreasonable at all. Maybe you'll remember to take a bag in future now?

I have the worlds tiniest handbag, and even that fits a folded up shopping bag in it.

Morrisons, Boots, M&S etc. are also making a significant profit out of this, too. A casual search will show you that these bags cost less than 10p when bought in bulk. So, a five-times mark up.

The stores are simply taking advantage of the fact that people do not know how much these bags 'should' be, and will be prepared to pay anything if they've forgotten to bring a bag.

https://www.carrierbagshop.co.uk/paper-bags-by-colour/brown-paper-bags/premium-flat-handle-brown-paper-bags.html

“paper is recyclable so ought to be free!”

This attitude of “it’s recyclable so it’s fine” is so common and so wrong. We should still be trying to avoid anything single-use, whether it can be recycled or not.
Recycling is not a perfect process and many things end up not being recycled.
Producing the (recyclable) things such as paper bags and then distributing them in the first place has a big carbon footprint.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order. So reducing the amount of stuff we use is the most important and recycling is the least preferable option.

“Bag maintenance (remembering to always have one) is such a fricking chore!”

No more of a chore than always remembering keys, purse and phone when you leave the house, if you decide to make it a priority.