Dollar Stores charging for bags May 2018

[HermanH]

Mom was at the Ancaster Superstore and she said there was a sign about the bag change. Meanwhile, nothing was printed in the flyer about this change.

Noticed a recent change at RCSS regarding those green bags. They used to be self-serve at the self-checkout counters, but have now been removed and replaced with a sign telling customers to tell the attendant if bags are required. The attendant then comes over and gives you the bags and manually enters the number. I asked why the change and was told that most folks were simply taking bags without paying for them, so they are trying this new method.

Sigh, leave it to RCSS for their petty measures to protect shopping bag theft. I never use them (stolen or otherwise), but I love to laugh at their eternally childish behavior.

[Ciel21]

I remember when it was possible to use empty boxes from Food Basics at the front of the store. One had to be careful with banana boxes-random glue trails on exterior were mighty sticky.

Most store's reusable bags are not sturdy-one good heavy item or gravity checking your common sense of groceries in flimsy bag will inform you to include a cardboard bottom tote (small or large) into your supply of bags for store use. Not that I expect grocery packing will be done by staff unless its in their own bags. Expect delays at checkout if BYOBag--not all shoppers want to wait 2m from you as you bag your purchase.

[Ciel21]

The Meadowlands Dollarama this week charged my Bro 8cents for a plastic bag. Has the chain raised prices or is this store going rogue (or cashier made error in bag price)? Thought it was still 5 cents per bag (I sometimes ask at cash how much a bag is when cashier asks if I need a bag).

[HermanH]

My local RCSS no longer leaves bags for customers to help themselves, in the self-checkout aisle. They tell me that customers were grabbing too many and not paying for them. So, they now have the attendant walk around with bags and entering the number sold for each customer. What a totally moronic waste of time. All that time and effort spent protecting their bags.

[Ciel21]

The corporate HQ is likely tracking bag use and bag fees-part of being "green." I need to read their last few annual reports when I'm really bored and want to look at the screen for a long time. Curious how much consumers contributed to the environment fund via paying for bags.

Fortinos does not charge for bags yet. We still have to queue up. Saw the same queue protocol at Main St W store on Friday.

[Ciel21]

Giant Tiger ended its 3 cents bag refund to customers who brought their own bags for use at checkout just this past Monday February 28. I was asking employee twice if she applied the refund when she pointed out the notice on the acrylic panel that I had not read.

[Ciel21]

Longos has resumed charging 5 cents per plastic bag (as of this month). New flyer indicates the store chain is going bag free (November 2022) so customers need to BYOBags then.

I don't know if the Longos online grocery service is doing the same thing or will continue to charge the Eco fee to cover a set number of bags per order.

Updates:

Nov.7-Longos will cease use of single-use plastic bags.

Nov. 28-Food Basics/Metro stores are going plastic-bag free. Flyers recently have been showing their reusable bags.
Walmart is also going bag-free but I'm puzzled by their over one year long giveaway of the so-called reusable blue bags (not a fan). My local store was part of a trial in Apr 2021 that went bag free before the chain made this change system-wide. Guess everyone will be grabbing those cardboard trays in the pantry supplies aisle to tote food items...

[Ciel21]

Sobeys and Value Village charge at least $1 or more for the paper bag options at checkout. BYOBags.

[mulock]

Sobeys and Value Village charge at least $1 or more for the paper bag options at checkout. BYOBags.

The Atlantic Superstore near me does not charge for paper bags if you go through a checkout with a cashier.

I honestly do not miss the plastic bags....I have grown accustomed to using reusable bags. I just wish I would learn to wash them once in a while.

[Ciel21]

Winners is still giving plastic bags to customers. I declined one tonight as I brought a couple of bags for my other stops after Walmart.

[Midnightly]

The Atlantic Superstore near me does not charge for paper bags if you go through a checkout with a cashier.

I honestly do not miss the plastic bags....I have grown accustomed to using reusable bags. I just wish I would learn to wash them once in a while.

as a cashier i very much appreciate when people wash their reusable bags... there are times when i have packed bags and the inside has been sticky (thank goodness for hand sanitizer at the till)

[Ciel21]

The single-use plastics ban on most kinds of plastic takes effect soon!
National ban on single-use plastic items starts next month (chch.com)

[Lynn49]

The single-use plastics ban on most kinds of plastic takes effect soon!
National ban on single-use plastic items starts next month (chch.com)

@Ciel21, bet that doesn't apply to the boxes of Glad Kitchen Catchers etc, plastic bags they sell for trash bags...good gimmick removing them from grocery purchases...now they can sell them to us! Great marketing.

I just looked at the price of those boxed bags and most come to about 5 cents each, same price that some stores charge...might as well keep going to those $stores and buying theirs.

[Ciel21]

@Lynn49 Dollarama has been charging 8 cents per bag as of summer? 2022. No longer 5 cents bags. I sometimes accept buying the bag if I got more than I intended to buy and have insufficient tote capacity left for the "merchandise," though that flimsy plastic can tear so readily.

If I drove, paper bags from grocery store would be ok. But as a pedestrian, one good tear or enough moisture to cause a tear would basically be a MacGyver scenario: what to ditch, what to put into pockets, what to wrangle into another bag if possible or find a cardboard box. A D-ring on long tote bag handles can be used to secure long items at the top of a tote so it's handy to have one every time. Saved me from some Shoppers impulse buying that had to be carried home and was heavy...

One local store does not seem to have the smaller 18L kitchen bags (issue since Sept) while other store does. Both have the larger 31L bags as well. I notice I have to shelf check both above and below usual locations for the sizes as sometimes staff rehomes the bags onto different shelves. That's why when I think to buy kitchen bags at the location near Value Village, I usually get two boxes to make up for the effort of finding the right sizes.

[Ciel21]

Feb1 -Winners is stopping its free bag policy. It'll cost 99 cents to buy a bag if you don't bring your own. Plan ahead for those large decor items!

Think this policy also applies to Homesense & Marshalls, affliated stores.

Jan 31-Loblaws plans to stop with plastic bags too. Be prepared at its grocery banner stores and Shoppers Drug Mart!