Plastic bags

Those paper sacks are fine if your car's just outside in the carpark, but not very convenient for taking home on the bus or carrying for any distance!

It doesn't matter how many 'shoppers' I buy I never have one when I need it! I try to leave them in the boot of the car but they inevitably end up back in the cupboard with the weekly shopping bags. I do agree that paying for bags must mean less pollution to the environment but also believe it's ridiculous to buy clothing and not have a bag to put it in. I usually end up buying one and putting everything else in it. When we were in NZ last year we went food shopping with my son and it all went into paper sacks as they do in the US. Primark are the only shop I know of here who do this - surely it can't cost any more to produce these than plastic ones but they may be more difficult to store. I don't do online shopping for food but did have a delivery from Ocado a few weeks ago and the driver informed me that if I placed another order and told them how many bags I'd recycled to give back they'd deduct it. He did offer to bring it in as well but I had my boss here in a meeting so didn't accept.

I am off into town after lunch for a mooch and have put a couple of plastic bags that have only been previously used for clothes into my shopper in case I see anything I like, I don't see a problem. If I was paying a lot of money for something then a few extra pence for a bag wouldn't worry me.

Waitrose will always bring the shopping trays into the kitchen and unpack but DH being the capable strong soul he is does it for them and its all done in a matter of minutes (we don't have a long hallway to the kitchen).

Monsoon and White Stuff have paper bags so I tend to go there for my clothes although I have to say I buy most of my things on-line these days.

It seems to depend on the individual Tesco driver whether they carry the order into your kitchen or not. If they don't, I'd say that you should ask them to. Answer the door leaning on a stick if you think that would influence them, but it should not be necessary. The whole point of the delivery service is to be helpful!

The ones who have brought mine have always asked where to take it, carried it into the kitchen, unpacked the trays there, and put everything onto the work surface. They tell you what has been substituted and return it if you don't want it, along with anything that is not up to standard.

Also, one of the reasons I can't hold heavy stuff is why it gets delivered!! *

I think the issue of returnable plastic crates is a health and safety one. They don't want to leave returnable crates at somone's house between visits because who knows what people would use them for!

Ah, I should have guessed NaG - of course that would be possible in this electronic age!

Indinana the drivers already deal with returns. Anything you have changed your mind about, or don't like, or is damaged, or has a sell by date that you don't like can be returned to the driver .

He taps it into his machine and I get an email within 24 hours confirming the credit and the money is immediately refunded. Its all electronic so no cash need be involved .

So I think they could - whether they would want to is another matter

I don't do online shopping, but if I did I certainly wouldn't walk up and down the hall from the front door to the kitchen to carry whatever goods I could hold in my bare hands. Surely more sensible to take two or three strong shoppers to the door and transfer the goods to them, and then carry them to the kitchen. Or buy a couple of these collapsible plastic crates.

The thing is, as good as the returnable plastic trays idea is, the stores wouldn't want the delivery drivers dealing with taking and returning deposits, and all the admin involved having to account for them all - particularly with the occasional online shopper who may not return the trays for several weeks.

Its funny but Ocado bring it in as a matter of course and unpack it onto the work surfaces - Sainsbury's always ask and I gratefully accept but mostly the Tesco's man doesn't ask and so I really should say - they can see my stick etc. so they must realise its a faff for me .

hey ho - in the big picture of things I shouldn't complain

I now order online and pick up in store in places like M&S and Debenhams. The items are then in a free bag. They are happy for you to unpack, inspect and even try on and then return if not happy either in store or at home.
My Sainsburys delivery drivers are always happy to bring the boxes into the kitchen and unpack for me. If it is a wet day and I am worried about muddy feet I ask them to unpack onto the hallway floor and I transfer from there.
Do you remember when Sainsburys had plastic boxes that you bought to place self scanned shopping in? I would still need someone to carry the boxes in for me though.

One item per carrier bag drives me crazy as does 6 litres of semi skimmed milk in one carrier bag which is not strong enough to hold it. I do on line shopping with Morrisons (at present) and if I do not use the bags up during the week as rubbish bags, Morrisons take them back at the next delivery and refund the money.

I ask the delivery man to dump everything in my hall and I sort it at my leisure. My kitchen is too small to cope with a multitude of bags.

Nana I think that's a brilliant idea! I pay 40p for carrier bags but get loads, sometimes only 1 item in a bag....they are recycled by myself and daughter in law as rubbish bags though. I couldn't be doing with unloading crates while delivery man waited , I like to take my time unpacking. He always offers to take my shop through to the kitchen though. I will pass your suggestion on to him : )

I totally agree with paying for bags but there is one time when it drives me nuts.

Home delivery of groceries. Tesco is the worst for this.

My groceries arrive and the man stands at the door whilst I make a 102 trips to the door to the work surface to unpack my goods. Instead of - as it used to be- picking up 1/2 a dozen carriers and bringing them in.

I can have bags if I pay but I don't understand why they haven't come up with a recyclable tray idea. You pay say £1 a tray and once you return them that gets refunded. They do it easily for food. I'd get the trays with my delivery and then return them the following week when my next delivery arrives.

Too complicated for the men at the top to work out I guess. Bet they never had to deal with the grocery shopping !!!

I completely agree with you nansypansy. The whole idea was to cut down on the toxic waste of plastic bags, so I really think clothes shops could and should supply paper bags. Also, given that we must now pay for plastic bags, shops really do have a bit of a nerve still having them printed with their name, so that we are paying to advertise them .

It depends, Next didn't charge DH for a suit carrier, but an independent tailor did!

x

In the past when I've purchased a man's suit or an expensive item for myself, M&S have put it in a plastic 'suit bag'.
Do they still do that or do we now have to provide our own ?

I quite agree Nansypansy. I remember the 1960's, when your clothes purchases were wrapped in tissue paper and placed into a brown paper carrier bag. They should go back to using them. Why don't supermarkets use paper grocery bags as they do in the United States?