How do you have your groceries bagged? (CostCo, bj's, prices)

[John From Scranton]

Seeing as we all do alot of food shopping.. I was thinking about how we get all that good food to our homes?? I myself like paper, it's good to use to start my fireplace.. How about everyone else..

[plaidmom]

canvas

[lolagranola]

I have 3 re-usable bags, and they hold A TON.

Whatever doesn't fit (or if I forget them) goes in plastic.

BUT, I get as few as possible. I ask the cashier to stuff them, and I put larger items directly into my cart.

[mommytotwo]

Most often plastic unless I bring my bags in with me.

At BJ's and Costco, the items come out in the cart loose, and when I get to my car I pack the stuff in reusable bags.

[7G9C4J2]

We've been using canvas bags for about 15 years now, and it's been interesting watching the evolution in the responses we get from checkers and baggers in the stores.

A decade and a half ago, they were totally baffled by the fact that a customer brought in their own bags. I remember one bagger carefully loading up the canvas bags, then stuffing each one into a plastic bag for us. The poor kid was quite puzzled that we asked him to remove the plastic and let us carry our groceries out in our canvas sacks.

For a long time, I'd see the baggers loading those canvas sacks as if they were the flimsy plastic bags. A great huge heavy-duty canvas bag would be loaded with a couple of cans and a loaf of bread, and after they'd use up all the canvas bags, they'd try to put the rest in paper or plastic. Interestingly enough, it seemed to us as though the baggers who were not natives to the US had the best grasp of how to properly load up a canvas bag, although in recent years we've seen better bag-loading from more baggers.

Nowadays, probably half of the shoppers I see at our local grocery have their own canvas bags with them, and others bring in and re-use paper bags from previous shopping trips. The store itself has actually begun selling canvas bags as well, having figured out that it makes more business sense to sell customers bags and earn a bit of revenue than it does to keep taking the hit in the expenses for all those cases and cases of plastic and paper bags.

[sgresident]

I could not really vote since I use all of the above! when I shop at jewel, I get plastic and paper. we re-use our plastic bags for our small kitchen garbage can. thus, we don't buy extra garbage bags. I get paper bags to place all of our paper recycling in..newspapers, junk mail and magazines. when I shop at Aldi, I take my re-usable tote bags.

[Fontucky]

When I have a choice, paper. Now that Winco and their amazing low prices have come to town, I use what they offer (plastic) and bag my own.

[jlawrence01]

I prefer plastics as I can reuse the bags over and over and use them in lieu of trash bags.

I do not like the old paper bags as they are "roach coaches."

I would probably use the reusable bags but I am protesting the "feel good" trend. If plastics are *THAT* bad, why nor go back to reusable soft drink and beer bottles, reusable milk jugs, etc. Don't hold your breath waiting on the supermarkets to volunteer for REAL environmental reform.

[Rach1966]

plastic bags here also, then I use them to line my kitchen and bathroom trash cans

[Kathleen1971]

Canvas bags only for me. I have three for every supermarket, box store and drug store I shop at. Sometimes I mix them up accidentely since Publix and Sweetbay have one of the same colors but they don't seem to mind.