The folks at Wal*Mart lied to me, and I'm not happy.
As I posted here, Wal*Mart replied to an email of mine and said that their "experiment" to eliminate shopping bags in three Northern California stores would last only 30 days.
I didn't go to Wal*Mart during the month of January, and decided to go a couple days ago. There were no bags! I spoke to a manager's minion who said that the entire company is going "bagless" in April, and this local store will just continue being bagless. The 30 day "experiment" was a lie.
I'll probably eventually go back to Wal*Mart, but right now I'm not pleased. It's bad enough that I have to take my own bags when I go shopping, but I do not like being lied to.
And if any commenter wants to tell me why this bagless business is a good thing, etc. etc. etc., don't even waste your keystrokes. I've already shot down every argument you're going to make at either the link above or in this post.
15 comments:
don't blame you one bit.
In fact, I expect CA to pass some crazy tax sooner rather than later on any kind of bag you use in the store. I know they are constantly talking about it. It's just a matter of time.
Back in the mid ninties, I shopped for my family at a warehouse style grocery called Kingsaver. They also tried to do without bags. But so many people came without any way of carrying things home that they eventually implemented a bag for pay policy. But what Walmart is forgetting is that they make millions of dollars off of the displays at the wrap stands and impulse purchases. Failing to have bags will severely limit these types of purchases and people start to realize they don't have a way to bring such things homes. While it may make for a better ecosystem, it will devastate the Walmart economy. Sorry, but the carrying around of cloth bags went away for a reason. Plus, if we don't recycle other plastics into plastic bags, then what will be the market for plastic on the recycling market? Many towns rely on the price of recycling to help pay for the service. And before people say to use glass, which has always been recyclable, everyone needs to think back to why we stopped using glass bottles and milk jugs-and it has to do with weight, fuel and economy.
So this is a company-wide policy - in all the stores in the U.S., or just CA? I'm surprised we haven't heard about this. Those things are handy to re-use for used kitty litter. I know that's not very "green" of me, but scooping kitty litter does turn me green every once in a while. ;)
Darren,
Given the number of keystrokes you've spent calling out government and union bureaucrats for lying or distorting the truth, I'm disappointed that you'd express surprise at corporate bureaucrats doing the same thing.
I thought you were a realist.
I'm with you on the bagless thing, tho - need the waste-basket liners!
Not surprise. Disappointment.
If I didn't have a negative emotion that would mean I've come to *accept* the behavior, which I certainly do not.
Bringing your own bags is not that big of a deal. And it helps the enviornment. I'm glad you're expressing your capitalistic right to boycott and complain but there are more important things. And besides, you should be thankful a private company is making this decision and not the government mandating it for all.
Didn't they say that they were trying it out for 30 days, after which they would make a decision? If so, they didn't lie, necessarily -- they just chose to keep doing it. For what it's worth, no mention of said policy has been made at my Wal-Mart.
Darren,
I am not trying to "spin" this, but I think a fairer interpretation of this is not that the 30 day limit to experiment was a lie, but that the experiment was a success (for Wal*Mart). The experiment is now over and what they learned from the experiment is now being implemented company wide. Namely, that you can save a few bucks and look green by eliminating bags (probably one of the few ways that you can look green and save money).
As I pointed out in a previous post, from my perspective this isn't good for the environment at all. I'm still going to need bags to line my garbage can and to pick up dog poop with--only now, instead of using very thin, reasonably biodegradable grocery bags, I'll have to purchase larger, thicker, not-as-biodegradable bags for the purpose. This is nothing more than raping Gaia, as well as my wallet.
Darren,
I know I'm probably wasting my keystrokes (your words :)), but I just want to point out that not everyone has a dog and not everyone has garbage cans that accommodate smaller, Wal-Mart bags. Many of us (me included) don't have much need for these bags, and they either pile up or get thrown away. I recognize your need, but many others out there, I imagine, will eventually waste these bags.
Also, I agree that it is a hassle to bring bags, and often, I forget to do so. However, it does become something of a "half-formed" habit, and it's not as bad as you might think.
The intentional "misleading," however, on Wal-Mart's part, is rather annoying. . .
The Ukiah Wal-Mart is one of the notorious three stores with the bag policy.
Can't say I like the policy either, but it is much more accepted up here. It is pure corporate social responsibility image creation, simple as that. Throw in the possibility to make an extra buck (like many in the "green" or "organic" industries do), and you have a new profit system.
AJ, for people like you there's the big box just inside the entrance of Wal*Mart--where you can return your used shopping bags for recycling.
Why have you not approved my comment the past two times?
I am wondering what it says that you're still shopping at Walmart.
I will shop probably go back there because the prices are cheap for what I want to buy.
If I stopped shopping somewhere *every* time a store/restaurant did something I didn't like, my choices would be limited indeed.
First, I believe this is a PR stunt designed to ramp up around Earth Day. I am sure soon we will see Earth Day sales just as we are starting to see MLK Day specials.
Second, I do reuse my bags. Dog poop, packing for moving or shipping, covering clay in class, separating Christmas lights, and on and on. People who say they can't find other uses are not using their heads.
Third, as I stated before, plastic bags are the product result of plastic recycling programs. If bags go away, what will be the market for plastic recycling?
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