Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Ethical living

Discover eco friendly brands and sustainable fashion on our Ethical Living forum.

Flip

Original poster

My bagless Tesco Delivery just left me with 35 carrier bags

21 replies

callmeoverchristmas · 13/12/2007 11:16

I had ordered 2 boxes of wine for Christmas but instead of 2 boxes I got individual bottles each wrapped in 2 or 3 bags Plus the meat I ordered was all individually wrapped in bags as well.

I know this has been done before but I am so cross I had to vent.

OP posts:

itcameuponamidnightclayre · 13/12/2007 11:19

thats quite bad! mine is due soon and its bagless but there will be at least 10 bags!

NineUnlovelyTinselDecorations · 13/12/2007 11:22

Complain. It's just crazy isn't it

Original poster

callmeoverchristmas · 13/12/2007 11:24

I chucked most of them back in a box but I regret that now as he will probably just bin them. At least I could have recycled them!

I have spent the last 2 years trying hard not to use the flipping things and they send me more than I have used in one go

OP posts:

PaulaYatesbiggestfan · 13/12/2007 11:25

you should have given them to the driver they re use them

contentiouscat · 13/12/2007 11:30

Im surprised they are still doing the bagless deliveries to be honest...it takes longer to offload the goods and therefore will cost the supermarket more in delivery man hours. Not saying it isnt important to use less bags but realistically they are not going to keep doing it if it hits profits.

Really they should offer a service where the customer puts a deposit on collapsible crates and and they are returned each week. Full crate comes off, empty crate goes on and you dont have to get in a panic rushing to unload 3 crates whilst he waits impatiently.

sophy · 13/12/2007 12:49

CC we just ask the driver to leave the crates so we can unpack in our own time, and he picks them up again on the next delivery. No problem.

moljam · 13/12/2007 12:51

cc whys it take longer?i have huge tub i keep ready for tescos man.i unload everything from crates into tub then put away later.takes no time at all.

contentiouscat · 13/12/2007 12:59

Yes but I bet a lot of people arent that organized...look at how long it takes some people just to open their purse and just pay at the till

littlefrog · 13/12/2007 18:18

I sympathise, I hate it when DH comes back from the supermarket with new bags!

However there's an interesting piece in the Guardian today about 'eco-myths', one of which is that plastic bags are a serious problem. Writer says that actually if you're worried about carbon then the thing to focus on is never wasting any food - the big carbon cost is in food production, not packaging. Will see if I can find the article online.

littlefrog · 13/12/2007 18:23

Here it is

Rubbish formatting online though, it's hard to read - each paragraph is meant to have one of his 'eco-myth' headings (which just appear at the bottom:

Myth 1 Eco lightbulbs are the best way to save electricity at home
Myth 2 Flying is responsible for only 2% of carbon dioxide emissions
Myth 3 All packaging is wicked
Myth 4 Hybrid cars are the way forward
Myth 5 Avoid food miles
Myth 6 Microgeneration is a good way for Britain to cut emissions

food for thought, i felt.

moljam · 13/12/2007 19:06

thats interesting but i still think recycle,reuse,refuse musthelp a bit!

Innat · 14/12/2007 12:23

also it depends if you only care about carbon emissions. what about all the litter caused by bags and packaging.
articles ;like this make me despair as they just give fuel to people that can't be bothered to do anything

Bouncingturtle · 14/12/2007 12:34

I've always had bagless deliveries from Tesco - and unpacked very quickly. Only time they have put things in bags is where there's been a substitute delivery.
Asda deliveries drive me mad though - don't have a bagless option and they put 2-3 items in one bag so you end up with about 30 bags! But I empty them quick and return them to driver or I stash them and put them in their recycle bin next time I'm in store for a small shop.

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 14/12/2007 12:37

I had my tesco delivery this morning. It came with three bags, two of fridge stuff, one of frozen. Everything else was in crates.

TBH it doesn't really take much longer than a bagged delivery, I just took the crates into the kitchen, shoved everything on the floor and then gave the crates back. I sorted it all once she had gone.

If I do get bags however, I take them to the shop at the end of the road, we live in a little village and everyone does it. That way the shop always has bags, they don't need to charge and they don't buy anymore. It's continuously recycled.

melpomene · 14/12/2007 12:42

I emailed Tesco a while ago to ask why they don't supply paper bags instead of plastic. Paper bags are used for groceries in the US, so why not here?

They sent me a fob-off standard reply.

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 14/12/2007 12:46

melpomene. I used to work at a bakery where I got extremely fed up with people asking for a carrier bag for a roll and a packet of crisps.

I would happily put them in paper bags and hand them over, only to be asked if they could have a carrier bag. We were the kind of business that had mainly regular day-to-day customers so we knew each other by name etc and they knew my little buggear, so weren't bothered when I started to refuse carrier bags for less than three items or put all the items for one office/shop etc that had come in for their lunch in one bag.

However, at the time I did research on the bags issue, and it seems that paper bags V plastic bags is not as cut and dried as it seems. Plastic bags being constantly reused is better for the environment than paper bags being recycled or thrown away.

TheIceQueen · 14/12/2007 12:57

But do plastic bags actually take that long to decompose??

I mean - I put some Christmas decorations in a Tesco bag 2yrs ago and put them in the decoration box in the loft....last year I opened the box....and the bag had completely disintergrated.....it was like sodding snow.

TTLVS - why refuse everyone that asks for a bag for 2/3 items?? I've just come back from town....been to about 6/7 different shops - and bought something in each of them. None of my purchases were "large" enough to really bother with a bag.......but I did eventually because there are only so many things that can be carried without the need for a bag of some description.

How do you know that none of those customers asking for a bag are soon going to be carrying several more items??

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 14/12/2007 13:03

TheIceQueen, these wer customers I saw everyday, builders that were buying their lunch, the estate agents next door etc. I didn't refuse people who had a need! We often had elderly people coming in and I would give them a plastic bag with one little cake and hang it on their walking frames for them.
It was only the people that I knew were going straight to their office/work etc that didn't need them.
And tbh, if they went over to the co-op across the road, then what's the problme with carrying their roll over there and putting it all int he bag they were going to get there??
BTW depending on what type of carrier bag it is, most now take around 3/5years to decompose. It's the making of them because people don't reuse them that causes problems really, which is why so many shops try tro encourage bags for life.

TheIceQueen · 14/12/2007 13:07

fair enough - I just had visions of me having come into your shop at the start of my shopping expedition today and being refused a bag - even though I'd have needed one .

Having said that - I was offered bags for the following items (all bought as single items as all brought from different shops)

A small ball of string
A small packet of razors
A tiny packet of filters
A small packet of tobacco
A small pair of child's gloves........despite telling them that he was going to be putting them straight on!!!!

TinyTimLivesinVictorianSqualor · 14/12/2007 13:16

I know, I used to go into the garage next to my house and buy a pint of milk, to have it put straight in a bag

Some companies train their staff to pack for the customer without askng, as a kind of courtesy, which itself causes more unnecessary use of carriers. My hadnbag is normally big enough for anything I need to buy when out and if it's only one item that I can carry as easily as a carrier bag then I will.

I just try to make sure I reuse my bags or send them off somewhere they will be reused.

Some of my bakery customers used to keep the carrier bags I gave them in their desk and bring them back to me as a joke 'let's give the mad woman her bags back'.

littlefrog · 14/12/2007 14:45

innat, i know what you mean about eco-myth articles seeming to 'allow' people to do nothing at all. and of course, what the article is saying is - fine, do these little things, but there are some other, less talked-about but even more significant ones, so remember them too!

take your point about litter though (though actually I don't seem to see carrier bags floating around all that much - food wrappings are everywhere though...)

Flip