So that's when you take the bag, take the tights out, leave the bag on the counter and leave.

If the cashier is being stubborn, don't even deal with them, go around them.

Take the tights in the bag, remove the tights from the bag, throw the bag back in her face. What are they going to do, chase you out of the store.

@FromThisSoil: You beat me to it.

Consumerism in general is a bigger environmental pain than a bag or two, the resources needed to make all of the crap then ship it 3000 miles overseas in a 50,000 horsepower container ship that gets 20 gallons to the mile and the resources needed to run the factories, extract the materials and keep the lights in in the store that uses thousands of watts of electricity per hours, 14 hours a day...and most of this energy and effort for stuff that people just pick up during recreational shopping or stuff that they THINK they need....I would not worry about a bag or two...

About bags, I work at target and I'm the one who every or so has to restock the 18 registers with 25 boxes of bags, each box has 1000 bags and weighs 20 pounds. so 500 pounds, 25,000 non biodegradable high density polyethylene bags per week heading from Indonesia to new jersey to the dump!

Ha, you will now face the 7th level of Consumerist Hell-- Showing your Receipt at the Door.

@Inspiron: Did you just watch the video at www.storyofstuff.com ?? :-)

If anyone has seen how much crap is used to ship the merchandise to stores, they'd never worry about just wasting a single plastic bag to stores.

The worst offender I've seen is some underwear and bra companies who sometimes will havea one or two pieces in a big box with lots plastic and styrafoam...but they all do it. I helped unload a truck at the store I work a few months ago, and it really was amazing how much stuff they waste.

@xl22k: While there is definitely a lot of waste in the entire chain of production, every little bit of waste reduction helps. So, I would say that people should worry about a single bag, and hopefully that'll get them on the path to worry about all of it.

The issue is that if loss prevention or employees or other consumers see you walking for the door with items in your hand, and not in a bag, their first impression is that you are shoplifting. For loss prevention this means they have to waste attention or energy on you to make sure you are not shoplifting, same goes for other employees and if some consumers are suspicious enough they may even go warn an employee about it.

I wonder if you would have had this hassle if you had brought your own "earth friendly" cloth shopping bag.

@mysticone:

Every little bit DOES help!

But agian at target a loose bag that has already been taken off the dispenser is hard to recuse, and since cashers at target are being timed at how fast they check guests out they willusually throw out any unused bag that a person did not want and take from the dispenser.

Oh and I had work today I brought back a flat cart with several boxes of "Red charge back" which is merchandise that is returned, found to be unsalvageable and to be thrown in the compactor and sent to the dump, more waste!

@inspiron: Yeah, we do have such a wasteful society. :( My wife and I started saving our cardboard boxes and plastic bags for recycling (about the only thing we CAN recycle here), and it's *amazing* how much of that stuff you go through. We're just two people buying an average number of groceries and a few other assorted things. I don't even want to think about it on a massive scale.

Maybe they use to bags as free advertising? Macy's doesn't care about the one bag they're giving you because its free advertising for them when you walk around as their billboard.

Walmart doesn't care if you don't want the bag. We should all shop at walmart.

@xl22k: But if everyone just threw their hands up and said "what's the point? X, Y, and Z is WAY worse than the plastic bag I take/the ATM receipts I throw away/the electricity I waste/the SUV I drive/etc." then nobody would do ANYTHING about these problems and we'd all be a LOT worse off than we are now.

They must be taking lessons from Barnes & Noble which forces you to take a bag to buy ONE BOOK.

@chili_dog: It's only hell if you actually submit that crap. Just keep walking. They can't legally do a damn thing to you.

@guroth:
I carry a fairly chic, non-branded reusable bag (i.e. not a ratty duffel bag) for purchases, and I still get forced to take a plastic bag at Sears, JC Penney's and such. Everything, from socks to cast-iron pans, has to go out in a bag.

I love the mentality which some posters have demonstrated here which seems to say, "there's already a lot of waste in the process so don't make a fuss about wasting a little more." It's the same thinking behind deriding people for buying a burger and fries with a diet soda. Just as every calorie counts (and what is the logic behind adding 200 more sugar calories as long as you're ingesting 800 fat and carb calories? It doesn't hurt to avoid that 200 calories and it can help), every little bit of effort you make to reduce waste counts.

@Buran: I knew I'd get a bite with the receipt at the door comment. But I must admit, I now go out of my way to show a receipt anytime I can (Especially at Walmart) just to know that other consumerist readers are shuddering for no apparent reason.

I like when stores give me plastic bags. Now I have a place to put my cat's poop.

plastic bag = not a big deal

that goes for the clerk and the customer

I always have a bag with me, from reusablebags.com, and recently went to Macy's at the Beverly Center, bought underwear, declined a bag, and had the salesclerk put the underwear in my bag. No problem.

My mom has saved up all her plastic bags, and we finally found a use for all of them: holding my medical waste twice a day when she changes my surgical dressings. We've gone through tons of bags in the last two weeks.

Spider Jerusalem lets his mom change his surgical dressings? So much for the badass of investigative journalism. Did you quit smoking too?

@mrestko: Exactly. If it bothered her so much she felt she had to write in, why didn't she just say:

"Very well then, I get these tights elsewhere. Please reverse the charge / give me back my cash and I'll be on my way."

It sounds like a "rather curse the darkness than light a candle" situation.

I do it a little differently-my husband thinks I'm nuts, but I say if it's stupid but it works, it's not so stupid. I get the whole loss prevention thing. 8 times out of 10 someone walking to the door with merchandise and no bag is a thief. Fine. I keep a bag of plastic bags from different stores in the trunk of my car. It takes up little to no room, and if I need something at a store I frequent, I grab the bag for the appropriate store, fold it into my purse or coat pocket and I haven't had a salesperson not understand my "I'm saving the planet one plastic bag at a time" idea yet.

Conversely, I will take those pretty paper bags with the handles every time.

"Wouldn't be allowed out of the store?" Uh, what? Isn't that kidnapping?

@GinaLouise:

Take your money elsewhere. Tell them you're not buying anything if you have to have a bag. If you've already paid, demand a refund. If they refuse, tell them you're never shopping there again. Then, if you have to, follow through.

@Buran: Really? Cuz at mine they always ask, and usually I turn em down and stick the book in my backpack..it's where it's going anyway, bag or no bag.

Actually I do that with most purchases that won't be easily harmed by being shoved in my backpack.

Bags are wasteful and we should avoid them, but at the same time, many stores ban people from carrying backpacks.

I have no criminal record and consider it an insult to be asked to hand over my pack. I've even asked a manager, "How do I know you won't steal something out of my bag when it's behind your counter?" They don't seem to like me asking the thing they are accusing me of.

And yes, some places offer coin op lockers for bags, but think on this.

1) You put your pack in a locker.

2) You pick up items and put them in your cart or basket.

3) You pay for your items, but refuse a bag and (I won't pay for bags).

4) You attempt to take the items to the locker and get your bag AND THEY WON'T LET YOU. Their arguments are idiotic:
- "You have to leave the basket/cart at the till!"
- "The lockers are near the entrance, you might steal something!"
- "You can't go to the entrance, only the exit!" (Then why the hell is the locker INSIDE the store?)

The stupidity of such people is amazing.

And as a side note, am I the only person annoyed by the trend of giving change AND the receipt into the hand at the same time? Who puts a receipt in their wallet? I want the receipt in the bag, *plus* I only have two hands, so I can only deal with the money and the wallet at one time. Aren't these idiots smart enough to realize this?

@KJones: Plenty of people put their receipts in their wallet- working retail for a year and a half taught me this. Now, granted, they should ask you if you want the receipt in the bag or with you, but not everyone wants it in the bag.

[www.onyabagsusa.com]

These people make reusable bags that pack down really tight into an attached pouch.

Handing someone their change and receipt together is now considered idiotic? You just can't please some people.

oh lord.

What's wasteful is shopping at Macy's.

Also, Doesn't Macy's usually use paper bags?

Why not just throw the bag in your recycling bin when you get home?

Why not just leave the bag on the counter and leave?

@ShariC: This is off topic, but with the burger and fries example, that's just a common sense thing. Yea every calorie counts. But if you're already scarfing down a burger and fries and think that drink is gunna save you or somehow makes the meal "healthier"....

@spenc938: Great idea, except most cashiers would just throw the bag out rather than give it to another customer.

and you still did business with them?! yeah you sure showed them who was boss.

I believe I read that people who do not use the plastic bags stores give don't have any positive impact on the environment. Any change has to come large scale.

Its like the federal budget. People say taking away pork barrel spending is what is needed to correct the budget imbalance. However almost all economists believe that you must cut large sections or programs within the budget. That is entitlement spending by either raising the min. age or cutting benefits (Social Security). Or cutting defense. And, probably most importantly, not adding more programs and entitlement spending to the budget. So war funding and universal healthcare would be out.

If I were running Macy's, I'd have the same policy. When you start letting people bring in their own bags, the shoplifters would have a field day with that one.

Plastic bags are not the anti-christ, people. They can be re-used and/or recycled. They make great trash-can liners for little bathroom-sized garbage cans. You can use them for packing material. You can take your lunch to work in them. I have 4 dogs and a cat, and they are a poop-creating empire. Plastic bags come in pretty handy for bagging that stuff up.

But, since plastic bags are so evil, maybe the next time I'm out walking one of my dogs and she shits on a neighbor's lawn, I'll just smile and tell him that it's "better for the environment" if I leave the shit on his lawn instead of putting it in a plastic bag. I'm sure he'll be thrilled and applaud my staunch environmentalism.

Here's a simple solution taht appeases environmental activists and loss prevention concerns alike:

Note - this policy should only apply to those stores with loss prevention people at the door.

1) Require that the cashier provides a store bag for every purchase.

2) Have the loss prevention employee examine the bag's contents and sign off.

3) Between the loss prevention checkpoint and a door, have a recycle bin that says, "Be kind to the environment. Recycle your shopping bag here."

4) Have a store employee collect the recycled bags periodically and redistribute them to the cashiers.

This doesn't waste, and people who might not normally think of recycling their bags may pick up the habit by example.

Environmentally-conscious consumers can make their purchases with a little less guilt, and Target can add one notch to its image about being concerned about the environment.

Now, if they would just stop stocking their shelves with everything made from China (and other cheap emerging markets)...

Just take the damn bag and reuse it. Surely you have need of a trash bag for your bathroom or something. I save all the plastic bags I get because I know I'm going to find something to use them for eventually.

@Hawk07: Except, most Macy's stores are located near other stores, most likely in a mall. At which point you cannot expect your customers to NOT carry in their own bags...from other stores. Bringing in your own bag for Macy's purchases shouldn't have any impact on loss prevention AT ALL.

Is anybody else annoyed by the cashier handing you a reciept with another reciept hanging off the orginal with instructions on taking a survey, etc? Oh, and HEB handing me a coupon for money off gas when the only station I use is ExxonMobil (hubby works there). I try to hand it back but they look at me like I am stupid.

@kogeliz: Not all municipal recycling programs accept plastic bags, even ones clearly marked "recyclable." I'm in one of the 8 wards of Chicago doing expanded recycling, and even we can't do plastic bags.
@evslin: I have never found a use for those stupid 6-inch by 6-inch bags you get at stores for small purchases.
Like others, I also use reusable bags for shopping, and keep a small one in my purse at all times. I've never been told I could not use my own bag, or go without a bag, but I've never tried at the department stores. Target's been pretty cool with it, as are my supermarkets, so that's all that really matters.

Actually, Kerry, There's a great use for the small bags. When I'm prepping vegetables, meats, etc for dinner, I use them in an old flour container to keep the scraps in. When I'm done, I tie the handles together, or make a knot in the top, and throw the whole thing away. I realize that I'm still throwing them away, but at least I'm using them one more time.