N.J. Shopkeeps Resist Any Step Forward Whatsoever
Latest in the long list of Jersey’s crimes against humanity? Some of the state’s retailers are calling bullshit on in-the-works legislation that’d ban plastic bags, the first such state law in all the land. This is kinda the same feeling as when Wireless Philadelphia was first announced — an image makeover that’s at once unexpected, an uncomfortable fit, and well, easier said than done. Because seriously, plastic bags are the sad, hopeless currency of life pretty much everywhere in America except the West Coast and maybe New England. When Wawa tries to give you a bag for a 25-cent pack of gum and non-Whole Foods grocers try to triple-bag your orange juice, saying you don’t need a bag typically yields the same look of disgust as saying you just ate babies for breakfast.
And duh, it’d be bad for business to give up on plastic, or so New Jersey Retail Merchants Association Prez John Holub wants us to believe:
“Specifically because right now retailers are voluntarily doing a lot
of initiatives, everything from giving people a few pennies back when
they return bags. There’s another major retailer that actually engages
schoolchildren to collect bags and return them to the store and then
the retailer gives grants to those schools.”
That’s right: Put the kids to work on this. After all, they’re the ones who’ll be left holding the bag (yeah, it’s a pun) once we’re dead and sharing soil with all that pesky plastic.
KYW: Born Plastic, Died Heavy Metal
Previously: Plastic Bags To Suffocate Small Children No More
November 26th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Packaging needs to be more modular across the board so you can charge for it.
Wanna bag?
5 cents.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Wow, I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s experienced the shock and horror about saying I don’t need a bag. You have to time it JUST right to prevent offense. My favorite is when I tell them not to double bag and they tell me, “No, I really need to.”
November 26th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
New England? Ya fuck kidding me. Maybe Vermont but the rest of them eat that plastic shit up.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:20 am
The Missus was once accused of shoplifting for bringing her own canvas bag to the grocery once.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:47 am
I get more alarm in the aisles from patrons at the Superfresh on 10th and South than I do from the staff. At the register the trick is to throw down your bags on the other side of the scanner and say, I got my own bags, thanks. Iovine Bros. or however you spell it at Reading Terminal is cool with byo too, as are all Whole Foods. Only place slinging your own bag is futile is the Italian Market. For every bag I save at a Philly grocer, I bring home 3-4 from the stands.