Grocery Bagging

In my old neighborhood there was a grocery that had a valet-type loading area. You wheeled your groceries out a little door and went to get your car, then you drove to the loading area, gave the person your receipt and they loaded your grocering into the car. All for free and no tipping allowed.

I thought it was brilliant. In soggy Oregon it even sometimes saved the day.

Paid more and was more desirable than working at a fast food place. Not to mention there were tons of girls...went to three proms out of that place.

Children in some African countries do not get enough to eat and die slowly from malnutrition.

In Ivory Coast children are bought and sold to manufacture coco powder that supplies 70% of the worlds chocolate manufacturers. Some are chained to work benches.

So, you support Slappy's career choice, then?

BBB
I hate to use plastic bags because they exist forever in the landfills. But I have to use them because they are safer for me to lift and carry into my home than paper bags.

Buying cloth bags won't work for me because I have to have the baggers bag light in many bags for me so I don't fall down and go boom.

I wish I could train my Dolly and Madison doggies to carry the bags into my home.

BBB

I can't stand it when they put one item in each bag! Seriously, I bought like 10 items the other day and walked out with 5 bags. I know they don't want to make them too heavy but come on.

I know there is a balance in there somewhere.

Bella, I think a lot of baggers are told not to mix certain items together..
much as Edgarblythe's earlier comment mentioned.

I had all food items. No cleaning, no pet. It was just your basics. I'd have needed one bag for the chips and bread. One bag for the dairy stuff. And one bag for everything else.

I like things bagged heavy, so that I don't have to go back and forth from my car too many times. I will tell the bagger to bag heavy.

I'm amazed that people still shop regularly where other people do the bagging (or use anything other than reusable bags).

Here in Germany, there are no baggers, never have been. We pay for plastic or paper or cloth bags. We bag ourselves, we bring bags or crates or whatever you prefer to use.

urs- (Hi! ) In warehouse stores, like Sam's Club or Costco, there are people who put your stuff into your cart, but there are no bags. Sometimes, if you want, they will stick your stuff into a used carton.

There is a low end grocery near me. You either bring your own bags, or pay for each bag.

I don't know why more people don't use the canvas bags.

My store sells them for 75 cents. You get a nickle back, per bag, each time you use them. I don't know where else you can get a nice canvas tote for 75 cents. I keep the bags in my car and use them for all kinds of things beyond groceries.

At most of the stores here the checker bags your groceries but there are still a few that use seperate baggers or no baggers.

I can't figure out why i had no problem using the cloth bags during my years in Germany, but when i am in America I don't do it. I like the German way that you have to put a coin into a shopping cart to take it, and then get it back when you return the cart. I HATE HATE HATE shopping carts being all over the parking lot.

There ain't no such a nother in Tomball. I suppose I could buy those little bags they sell at the counter, but they don't look like they hold much.

I have a question -- what do you guys use for kitchen garbage?

We always get paper bags for groceries. I've been reading lately about how they're not actually so great either, environmentally (if better than plastic disposables). I mentioned to E.G. that I was thinking of getting one of those reusable totes -- Trader Joes has some really nice ones that are a dollar or something. He pointed out that we use the paper bags for garbage (a liner to the plastic garbage bin in the kitchen; and then we dump all other garbage, which tends to be dry, from plastic garbage bins around the house to paper bags and then take them out to our big plastic garbage cans outside). If we switch, we'll need to get something for the kitchen -- like plastic bags -- which would be a net environmental no-no.

So, what do you do?

I use just regular garbage bags for the trash.

I do like the paper bags once in a while for recycling my newspapers, cardboard, etc. I have 4 of the reusable bags and I will usually end up with one paper bag which is all I need for a week.

I try really hard not to have a lot of trash but right now I have neither a composter or a garbage disposal so I end up with more than I care to have.

But yeah, really, it all kind of equals out if you don't use plastic garbage bags for your trash. I like the reusable kind because they're sturdy, multi-purpose and they have handles.

A lot of my garbage goes to compost. Some paper, etc., has gone in a plastic bag to the trash bin in my time in ABQ, leagues behind LA and north north on recycling, but apparently they are working up to it here, at least in D & D's neighborhood, which isn't far away. Plus, one of these days, I may be able to bag my giant tumbleweed, once I don a space suit.

ehBeth, you are astonished again? Need to get out more.

I guess I should admit I've been involved in Dump Do-over. Not every place has sharp planners, or even purview over Dump (Waste Transport) companies. We are not... every one of us in a not up to speed area, benighted. I'll admit to a trend.
You live in a relatively progressive place, ehBeth.

I use plastic bags for my kitchen garbage. I don't have anything else to hold a lot of that stuff.