Should this be under 'Chat'?

I agree Maizie don't think it is any different to picking up any item which might be handled by others and if you really are so worried take wipes with you, they don't weigh much.

I assume we can no longer get refills for the soap pump because there is no demand.

Does anyone else remember blocks of salt? We used to carve them for fun.

I remember the blue bags very well, they usually contained sugar and if the bag was left anywhere damp, the bottom inch or two of sugar would go rock hard.

My Mum had a toffee hammer and used to bash the hard sugar inside a clean tea-towel.

And talking about tea-towels, the other thing Mum did was wrap one around newly washed lettuce (from the allotment gardens up the road).
Then she'd go out into the back yard and whirl the towel round and round to force the water out with centrifugal force.

Later this became my job for a while but I was an unfocussed sort of wretch and frequently flung lettuce leaves all over the yard and into next-door's garden.

Exactly Maisie, there is an old saying,

"A man has to eat a peck of dirt before he dies".

I'm just old enough to remember weighing out goods for customers. My first job was in a grocery store.

OMG!! The bacteria on the buttons

People do realise, surely, that if you strive for a bacteria free existence you get felled by the first one that sneaks through your guard..

For heaven's sake, let's keep a sense of proportion in this discussion...

I use a hair treatment that has three different applicators, only one of which I use, so each month I waste two plastic applicators [well, even more in that I could reuse the one I do use]. Plus the fact it comes in a large shrink wrapped box. And an atrophy treatment; again I can wash and reuse the applicator over and over again. I bought a soap bar recently but am not very impressed with it. Liquid soap in plastic containers annoys me, too.

I wonder why toothpaste is sold in boxes. Also most sprays (hair spray, deodorant etc) come with lids when there doesn't seem to be a reason why.
We live in an over packaged world it seems.

us is

There could be buttons to press for certain weights, 250g/500g etc and a price sticker dispensed that customers stick on the container, however imagine the bacteria on the buttons
There us also a problem for people who nip in after work. Do they have to cart huge containers around besides their handbag and what about customers who don't use or have a car or older people who can't lug rigid containers around?
It's a non-starter IMO.

It wouldn't kill us, but climate change will!

I do wonder how it would impact on the time taken to shop.
It only takes a second to pick up a box of cereal, it will take a bit longer to weigh and fill a container.

I well remember the purplish/ blue tough paper packets, expertly folded by the grocer after measuring out currants, rice, sugar etc with a metal scoop...and bulk butter expertly shaped with wooden paddles kept in a stone jar of cold water.
There was always a bentwood chair to sit on and you were asked what thickness you wanted your bacon cut
Those were the days of Coopers in Church Street Liverpool and Whites Creamery in the covered arcades off Lord Street Southport.
Refined shopping experiences, sadly missed.

Waitrose are trialing "borrow a box" scheme which seems good to me. Presumably you pay a deposit and return to refill? Much more Eco than using paper bags which use more energy than plastic to manufacture.

I think this has been happening for a while.

my.morrisons.com/blog/community/bring-your-own-container/

The weighing problem puzzles me. If the supermarket has standard bags, paper or compostable plastic then it works like for fruit and veg.

I have a whole collection of mismatched glass containers containing all the items of food you would find in such a asystem - rice, dried fruit, rice etc. DoI take a clanking bag of jars into the shop, or do I have to get some other containers, equally bulky but less noisy, or do I use bags supplied by Waitrose?

Pre and post fill weighing?

But how does the shop know how much you've put in your container?

I have to agree about that, too. Plus a concern that some evil people might add toxic substances to the food. Which is a pity because, other than that it's a great idea and one that I would love to support.

Yes I agree with the hygiene concerns too Day6. I cringe when I see folk dipping in to the self serv deli at one particular supermarket. I am minded of the time when they analysed nibbles in dishes on bars and found all sorts of faecal bacteria......A hopper if hygienically managed would be OK. Paper bags do takea lot of energy to produce however, so perhaps reusable containers is the way to go.

Yes, hoppers could work, (as long as no pesky toddler/little person interferes with the mechanism at the bottom. )

I agree that food packaging and waste is a huge problem we should be tackling.

I actually filled sugar bags when my mum and dad had a shop. Sugar came in huge bags and we weighed it out. I was taught how to fold the top as well so it held tight.
But it took me ages to realise that the sugar paper we had in school was the same stuff as the bags!!!

Sounds a good system MOnica

The picture I saw of the Waitrose system shows hoppers, as MOnica describes.

What I don't 'get' is how goods are to be weighed for pricing.

The way it works in France the germ problem is obviated. The different goods are in hoppers, you put your bag under the hopper, press or pull something and a little chute opens that puts the goods directly in your bag/container, once you have enough, you stop pressing or pulling and it shuts again.

It isn't the case of open containers or customers able to touch or play with the contents of the container.

I heard that they would supply reusable containers but you could bring your own. Whatever happens it is sending out a good message to make people think.

While we are being nostalgic: big tins of biscuits, not forgetting the one with the broken biscuits which were cheaper. Of course butter was weighed out too. Our grocer put the money in a container which whizzed across the ceiling to the office where the money was taken and change put back them whizzed back to the counter. Oh I must be really old!

I don’t remember the blue bags at all which makes me very happy. Do remember tins of broken biscuits ready for sale. Also big pop bottles (cherry Corona anyone?) to return for a deposit,