Re: [GreenYes] Re: grocery stores that charge for bags

["Duncan Wilson" <wastenot@xtra.co.nz>]

Here in NZ, the budget supermarket chain "Pak'n Save" charges for 10c each
for plastic bags.  It is a cost cutting exercise for them rather than an
environmental one.  As the name suggests customers pack their own groceries
and, so it is up to individuals what they pack them in.  Because it is so
cheap the supermarket is (as far as I can tell) the most popular, so
charging for bags doesn't seem to affect their sales at all.

Duncan Wilson
Waste Not
PO Box 33 1410
Takapuna
Auckland

ph 09 486 3635
fax 09 486 5764
web: www.wastenot.co.nz
----- Original Message -----
From: "TomT" <TomT@mwes.com>
To: <greenyes@grrn.org>
Sent: Friday, 24 May 2002 02:48
Subject: [GreenYes] Re: grocery stores that charge for bags


> I think it UNFORTUNATELY goes without saying that this would never fly in
> America.  If people aren't going to move their hand 2 inches to the right
to
> toss their aluminum can into a recycling bin instead of the garbage....
>
> Unless there is some law (let's see that one go through Congress), the
best
> we cans start with is what some of the local stores I attend do.  They
give
> you a stamp book and each time you bring your own bag, you get a stamp.
>
> Of course most of the people who will do this would do so regardless of
> getting something back.  But perhaps it would habit forming?
>
> Even one is a victory?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lori & Jerry Stole [mailto:stole@hevanet.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 1:51 AM
> To: Jim Jensen; greenyes@grrn.org
> Subject: Re: [GreenYes] Re: grocery stores that charge for bags
>
>
> I lived for several years in Germany, and grocers in my little town did
> charge for bags. That didn't slow some folks down from simply buying bags
> everytime, but many brought their own containers. It was all heavy plastic
> bags; American-style paper bags were non-existent.
>
> Lori Stole
> Portland, OR
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jim Jensen <jimzhook@yahoo.com>
> To: <greenyes@grrn.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 4:40 PM
> Subject: [GreenYes] Re: grocery stores that charge for bags
>
>
> >
> >
> > Hi Eric:
> > I proposed this idea to a grocery chain in Washington as
> > part of the Wastebuster business waste reduction
> > demonstration project in 1992. They couldn't believe their
> > ears. They wouldn't even consider making the suggestion to
> > customers, so that we could test customer feedback. I had
> > heard that charging for bags is common in Europe (don't
> > know if that's true?), but as long as the competitor down
> > the street was giving bags away, they saw free bags as just
> > a cost of doing business.
> >
> > It makes sense to me that in a business with such small
> > margins that they wouldn't give away bags. Maybe they
> > wouldn't charge full price, but a penny or so, with a
> > give-back for people who bring their own to encourage
> > reuse. But competition and convention are powerful inertia.
> >
> >
> > Every once in a while, I would bring the idea up again in
> > conversation with other grocery managers, but they proved
> > quite stubborn on the issue.
> >
> > Good luck if you are getting some consideration of the idea
> > where you are.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Jim Jensen
> > Seattle, WA
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
> > http://launch.yahoo.com
> > ******************************************
> > To post to the greenyes list,
> > email to: greenyes@grrn.org
> >
> > Subscription information for
> > this list is available here:
> > http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
> > ******************************************
> >
> >
>
>
> ******************************************
> To post to the greenyes list,
> email to: greenyes@grrn.org
>
> Subscription information for
> this list is available here:
> http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
> ******************************************
> ******************************************
> To post to the greenyes list,
> email to: greenyes@grrn.org
>
> Subscription information for
> this list is available here:
> http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
> ******************************************

******************************************
To post to the greenyes list,
email to: greenyes@grrn.org

Subscription information for
this list is available here:
http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
******************************************