I love my Trader Joe's Bags. I have the insulated velcro topped ones. Seeing as TJ's isn't all that close to my house, I like them, as they keep my perishables nice and chilly.

We can buy milk in bags.
You get three bags like this ...
http://gamesnet.vo.llnwd.net/o1/game...01265_main.jpg
... in a bigger bag. It's 4 litres I think.

Lots of folks wash the smaller bags because they are a heavier plastic suitable for food storage, even freezing.

I never ever take bags because I cycle everywhere and thus can only bring groceries that will fit in my backpack. Worst case scenario, I've walked home with a handful of groceries before, including an unpackaged head of lettuce.

They're making a profit off you no matter what you buy there, aren't they? They're not giving you the groceries out of the goodness of their heart

Thanks for the explanation and visual, Susan. Now I understand it.

Another the profits that the stores make are not what you think that they are. Time you take all of the cost involved into each item the profits are very very small. And now with more and more vendors charging delivery charges the prices have to go up. The funny thing is that while fuel went down, the delivery charges that some added on never lowered. Also there are times when some stores sales items are being sold to the customers at cost. I know that it may be hard for some to understand that but it is something that is common place. So no the stores are not always making a profit on what they sale.

I think the point is that grocery stores aren't there for the kindness of their heart, they are there to make money. Sometimes they do drop prices on certain things, especially hoping to draw people in and spend money on other things. I think if having people pay for bags reduces the amount of bags used, then that is a good thing.

Our church sold them with their logo as a service to the members. I LOVE these bags because they are not "store specific". We bought enough to keep some in every vehicle (including the trunk on the electric scooters).

I am fanatical about haning them on a hook on the back of the door so I see them every time I go out to my car - that way I get them BACK in the car.

Thus, I am batting 1000 on using them every time I shop.

I have been making an attempt to use them so that I reduce my waste, but I seem to forget a lot of the time too - I need to move them out to my car.....

Thanks for explaining Susan. LOL I forget our products are not always the same State side.

If using bags from stores with logos is an issue. You could always make youre own out of canvas or old blue jeans! There are lots of patterns on the crafting web sites for them. Reusing material you already have is a great way to help the enviroment too.

Sample web site http://www.allfreecrafts.com/sewing/shopping-bag.shtml

Hey I just wanted to say that I use my own bags when I grocery shop. I love them, they handle so MUCH more than plastic or paper. I personally have worked at a grocery store for about 6 years now. I live in Indiana and reusable bags have just now started taking off. I love when customers have their own bags, it helps so much. The only thing that annoys a cashier is when the customer waits until after the cashier has started bagging their groceries into plastic bags. Then you have to take all of the items out of the plastic and then put them into their bags. Just remember to hand the bags to the cashier FIRST THING. Me personally I HATE bagging paper bags, do you have any ideas how many paper cuts i get from those things and they rip just as easy. When you do use plastic bags and the cashier uses a hundred different bags, its because the customer in front of them probably bit*hed them out for putting their bread with their eggs, or they put a boxed item in with produce. You have certain guidelines that you have to follow when you are bagging groceries. EVERYTHING is suppose to be separate. At my store if we get caught putting items that don't go together in the same bag we get a write up, three write ups and your gone. We also have mystery shoppers that pretty much score you, so cashiers are usually scared into bagging the way they do.

On another note, their is a new grocery store in town called Aldi's and they charge 10 cents for every plastic bag and 6 cents for every paper bag.

And to address the issue about grocery stores making a profit, at the chain of stores i work at the profit that the owners make is one cent of every dollar sold. If you factor in ALL of the different things that go with grocery stores, you would see that there isnt a lot of profit in that business. The company that I work for actually filed bankruptcy a few years back, because they were in the hole with everything. There is so much competition with most stores fighting to stay above and keep their store open, but Walmart seems to be shutting the doors on most stores. So stores lower the prices on certain items at certain times to try to bring the business. For example at Thanksgiving time our store paid 89 cents a pound for turkeys. we sold them for 37 cents a pound i believe. so we were taking a HUGE loss on every turkey we sold. It doesnt help when you have "cherry pickers," so we call them, people that ONLY buy ad items. Doesnt help business. Okay just putting my two cents in. Hope I didn't offend anyone just telling you what i have experienced.

fatgirl nomore, thanks for the inside information!

I agree - interesting insights from fatgirl nomore. The poor baggers - they'll upset one customer for using too many bags, another customer for not using enough bags, how are they to know?

I, too, use my excess plastic bags for garbage-pail liners and recycling bags. I heard recently that the problematic bags aren't the ones filled with things and thrown in the trash, but the ones blowing around town and getting stuck in trees and bushes. I have no idea if this is accurate, but something to think about.

Dork that I am, I walk around my neighborhood and pick up garbage, most of which are ... you guessed it, plastic bags.

I have never ever seen milk sold in bags! That's got to be better for the environment than the heavy plastic containers that they sell in the US.

I love this thread. Eliminating excess waste is a priority of mine and I'm interested to hear where it's taking off and where it hasn't.

I was thinking about this thread after work today. I went shopping and went to a bookshop, shoe shop, department store and the supermarket. At the bookshop and department store I was asked whether I really needed a bag - the bookshop actually charges 10c per bag for plastic bags, with the money going to a locat charity which is a fantastic idea. Perhaps more shops should look at doing something like that...