Unintended Consequences: Plastic Bag Bans Lead To Increase In Theft

[angelatc]

Apparently food-borne disease isn't the only problem with those reusable cloth grocery bags - people fill them up and then don't pay for the stuff in them.


“Across the United States we have seen these bag bans, and the shoplifting has always had a substantial leap,” Jan Gee, president of the Washington Food Industry Association, said to KBOI, “and so it was not a surprise to us.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/01/businesses-environmentalists-plastic-bag-bans-fuel-shoplifting/#ixzz2Mbp7PTHT

[BAllen]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.

[Brian4Liberty]

If you fill the reusable bag as you shop, you know when you have reached capacity.

[Natural Citizen]

You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.


We do this as it is. We just take boxes and push everything out in the cart then transfer.

[jbauer]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.

I've been doing that for years. I go to Aldi's (no bags) and Sams (no bags). Interesting shoplifting goes up. Maybe they tuck crap in them but they still look empty? I would think you could walk out the store just the same holding an item as you could holding an item in a bag.

[aGameOfThrones]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.

Costco!

[angelatc]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.

Or you could have the cashier put them in bags after they've been rung up.

[BAllen]

Or you could have the cashier put them in bags after they've been rung up.

No,no. Bags increase the landfill.

[juleswin]

No,no. Bags increase the landfill.

Are you saying they do not fill landfills?

[angelatc]

No,no. Bags increase the landfill.

Who gives a crap? That's what landfills are for.

Oh I know!!!! We can burn them!!!!!

Or make them paper bags if you must sob liberal sad stories.

[juleswin]

Who gives a crap? That's what landfills are for.

Or make them paper bags if you must sob liberal sad stories.

And even better use plastic bags and drop it off in the recycle bin when you are done with it. I have a soft spot for mother earth :)

[RickyJ]

What is wrong with paper bags? Not one thing. It is time to go back to paper bags.

[heavenlyboy34]

Who gives a crap? That's what landfills are for.

Or make them paper bags if you must sob liberal sad stories.
I personally like my giant reusable bag. I can fit 2 bags' worth of food into it and it's easier to hold on to. I don't use it at every store, though. Mostly at Trader Joe's because they have a weekly lottery I enter for free when I bring my resusable bag. If I'm only getting a few items, I just use paper or plastic. They're both good as trash bin liners. :)

[tod evans]

Melt them down and pour molten plastic on the new domestic non-tanks they're using to serve warrants..

[Natural Citizen]

And even better use plastic bags and drop it off in the recycle bin when you are done with it. I have a soft spot for mother earth :)

Hm. So this is why I have the things blowing all through my lawn and getting caught in the bushes. This is one of those pet peeves that really bug the crap out of me. Every time the recycle truck comes these bags are all over the place.

[heavenlyboy34]

And even better use plastic bags and drop it off in the recycle bin when you are done with it. I have a soft spot for mother earth :)
Earth doesn't mind you using plastic. Humans were invented so someone could make plastic the Earth could horde.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7RzsRfYNFg

[anaconda]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.

The plastic ban went into effect here in Alameda County (mid to upper East San Francisco Bay Area). They are not banned completely. But they don't provide them for you at the grocery store anymore. I also use them for garbage at home. My solution was very free market (save for externalities) and probably an unintended consequence for the government. I went to the Costco Business Center in Hayward and bought a box of 1000 of the "banned" bags for about $13. Now I just wad up a handful and stuff them into my pocket when I shop. So I continue to use the very same bags that have been banned. And continued unfettered with my household kitchen garbage protocol. I believe a free market would eliminate plastic sooner by incorporating the cost of externalities that would be charged by owners of landfills and recycling operations.

[Luciconsort]

hemp bags ftw

[BAllen]

Who gives a crap? That's what landfills are for.

Oh I know!!!! We can burn them!!!!!

Or make them paper bags if you must sob liberal sad stories.

lol!
Reported.
To Al Gore. He'll fly in with his environmental nuts to inspect your household garbage.

[BAllen]

Earth doesn't mind you using plastic. Humans were invented so someone could make plastic the Earth could horde.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7RzsRfYNFg

I buy styrofoam whenever possible. It decomposes quickly.

[brooks009]

I could never go back to plastic bags the reuseable ones are so much better at holding groceries(hold more and don't tear).

Also, bags don't steal stuff people steal stuff.

[Carson]

I think they've know this would happen and was happening in the places that switched to plastic before you.

I think we all know who will be picking up the tab.

[FunkBuddha]

Duh. Just ban stealing!?!?!? Oh. Wait...

[BAllen]

Duh. Just ban stealing!?!?!? Oh. Wait...

Who would run the government?

[DamianTV]

No,no. Bags increase the landfill.

Plastic Bags yes.

But what about Hemp Paper Bags? You know they will all go *ahem* "up in smoke" before the next trip to the store...

[Pericles]

Melt them down and pour molten plastic on the new domestic non-tanks they're using to serve warrants..

That's my way or recycling.

[LibertyEagle]

What is wrong with paper bags? Not one thing. It is time to go back to paper bags.

^^ this. And they degrade much faster than plastic.

[LibertyEagle]

But what about Hemp Paper Bags? You know they will all go *ahem* "up in smoke" before the next trip to the store...

Do you honestly want to push the disinformation that people can get high from hemp?

[pcosmar]

Do you honestly want to push the disinformation that people can get high from hemp?

Who said anything about getting high.?

Though I always preferred Hemp rolling papers. (When Grass was cheap enough to roll).

No one ever got High from burning Rope.. though some like the scent.

[Zippyjuan]

Need to ban all bags next. You'll have to carry your groceries out to your car in the shopping cart.
Then some take the shopping carts home loaded up (I have seen it happen). Believe it or not the carts cost the store about $200 a piece.

[angelatc]

Then some take the shopping carts home loaded up (I have seen it happen). Believe it or not the carts cost the store about $200 a piece.


My MIL used to live in subsidized housing. Lots of people didn't have cars. The common area of the apartments used to get tons of carts abandoned. People would just walk their groceries home from the store in them, and leave them sit.

Once every couple of weeks the store would send some bag boys over to fetch them.

[AFPVet]

What is wrong with paper bags? Not one thing. It is time to go back to paper bags.

Yep... both paper and plastic are recyclable... paper may be cheaper to recycle though.

[juleswin]

My MIL used to live in subsidized housing. Lots of people didn't have cars. The common area of the apartments used to get tons of carts abandoned. People would just walk their groceries home from the store in them, and leave them sit.

Once every couple of weeks the store would send some bag boys over to fetch them.

I doubt there is any hope for anyone stupid enough to ride a shopping cart home because he/she didn't get a free plastic bag. You cant fix stupid

[angelatc]

I doubt there is any hope for anyone stupid enough to ride a shopping cart home because he/she didn't get a free plastic bag. You cant fix stupid

No, they got bags too. They just had too many to carry, so they'd take the whole cart.