New plastic bags.

[legendaryone]

Sainsburys are bringing out a new carrier bag

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5384026.stm

[Stonehead]

I get a bit tired of all this - it's just a marketing gimmick. Big corporations don't give a stuff for the environment - unless it saves them money, improves their image or makes a profit.

It's like the T***o "green points" scheme for re-using carrier bags. Supermarkets price their stock with overheads like carrier bags in mind, so that a proportion of the price pays for the bags.

If you re-use the bag because it's good for the environment, T***o makes more money because it's still charged you for the price of a new bag even if you didn't take one.

It's the same with the paid-for bags for life that some supermarkets have. This is even better for them as you pay for a bag directly and also for the bags you don't use.

It's the same with the bio-degradeable bags. As oil prices go higher, prices for petroleum-based plastic feedstock prices also rise and so starch-based plastics become cheaper. (Sainsbury's discontinued its biodegreadeable bags in 2003 because tapioca feedstock was too expensive compared to petroleum feedstock.)

Did the BBC mention that the new recycled bags are still 57% new plastic and 10% chalk? So, oil will still be used and more of the country will be dug up.

The net effect is win-win for the supermarkets. They look good to the green consumer and they make more money.

And knowing a fair bit about corporate PR and marketing, I can say it's even more cynical than that and total rules the day.

If 28% of the UK's "consumers" feel strongly about global warming and will base their buying decisions on a company's perceived actions on climate change (market research by Lippincott Mercer), then the supermarkets are going to run campaigns to convince that group of consumers that they are green and have the best interests of the planet at heart.

You'll get company spokesmen coming out with lines about how the company has "very real concerns about environmental issues like carrier bags and we want to help consumers do their bit for the environment".

Behind the scenes, different strategies will have been researched, focus grouped, trialled and modelled. Companies will opt for rewards for good behaviour (eg use less bags or green bags, and you'll get points - which you have to spend in their store).

And how useful is that for the supermarket - you can still feel good about shopping there. In fact, you may even feel better about shopping there than you used too and so be more likely to return - especially if your bonus points have to be spent in that store.

Anyway, enough ranting I have to feed the pigs.

[legendaryone]

And here's me thinking it was a good idea

[red]

charging for bags is prolly the best thing supermarkets could do. Thats when people suddenly stop taking the bags all the time...

[Shirley]

The points don't have to be spent instore actually - certainly for Sainsbury's it's nectar points and they can be spent at other places, and T***o's is the same...

[Stonehead]

The points don't have to be spent instore actually - certainly for Sainsbury's it's nectar points and they can be spent at other places, and T***o's is the same...

T***o clubcard:

"Your Clubcard card and Key Fobs can only be used at T***o stores and other promotional partners who may from time to time be part of the scheme. Your Clubcard card cannot be used as a credit card or a guarantee card."

Also Green Club Card points.

I was bemused to be in the checkout queue th other night, behind another family of four with children the same age as ours. The Mum bought half a dozen "bags for life", then stuffed them all in a carrier bag and continued putting the rest of their shopping in carrier bags.

Mind you, it was also interesting to see that they spent £98.50 for a week's groceries with lots of ready meals, brand-name items, snack foods, etc. We spent £30.20 (oops, over budget!). When we got outside, they were parked next to us and driving an X-reg Toyota estate so clearly not that affluent.

I'm not saying we're better or anything, it was just interesting to see the differences between two families of the same size shopping for a week.

The OH also commented that she has a student in one of her classes who'd been talking about how his Mum spends £100 a week on their groceries - but there are 10 people in his family.

So, we have three families:

One spends £24.63 per person a week
One spends £10 per person per week
One spends £7.55 per person per week

Obviously, we have our pork, lamb, eggs, vegetables etc but their costs are break even.

Still, it's interesting to look at the differences and consider how much profit the supermarkets must be making out of the big spenders. No wonder the own-brand and budget food lines are always minimally stocked!

[dibnah]

I know what you mean we are a family of 5 our kids are 13,9 and 3 we spend between 30 and 50 pounds a week including meat, we live in a council house and grow a bit but not a large percentage of our diet. I can't understand why people think 80-100 per week on shopping is reasonable. Me and my wife only work part time go on holiday and live I think well. What annoys me is when people make comments like ''how can they afford that'' and ''where do they get all there money from''. Even when I try and explain it they still don't get it.

The worst plastic bag crime in the supermarket is when they put a pack of toilet roll with a handel in a bag, I must repeat don't give up don't give up.

I think boxes would be a better idea in the supermarket, a box fits inside the trolley and when you get to the car you just put the box in the boot

[Shirley]

http://www.T***o.com/clubcard/deals/ - ways to spend your points at places other than T***o. I bet T***o get some kind of deal out of it too though.

[legendaryone]

I think boxes would be a better idea in the supermarket, a box fits inside the trolley and when you get to the car you just put the box in the boot

A good way to control how much you spend is to do what i do and that is to walk or ride my bike to the supermarket, this will force to really think about what you buy as you have to carry it home.

[Stonehead]

I think boxes would be a better idea in the supermarket, a box fits inside the trolley and when you get to the car you just put the box in the boot

A good way to control how much you spend is to do what i do and that is to walk or ride my bike to the supermarket, this will force to really think about what you buy as you have to carry it home.

We do that for the local shop (two miles there, two back) and used to do it when we lived in towns and cities. But if we were to go to, say, Huntly we'd be walking 10 miles there and 10 back, over hilly terrain.

Mind you, I think people would find it funny to see me walk my pigs to slaughter and then carry the carcase home on my shoulder...

[Shirley]

Mind you, I think people would find it funny to see me walk my pigs to slaughter and then carry the carcase home on my shoulder...

Just let me know when and I'll come and take photos

[red]

I think boxes would be a better idea in the supermarket, a box fits inside the trolley and when you get to the car you just put the box in the boot

I've used a box for yeas - have one of those fold away boxes I keep in the car. Lately have been using veg cardboard boxes, as have moved house so needed all the boxes I could find. T***o would amuse me as staff would peer into my box and then say, thats one plastic bag point then? box about 4 times bigger.. i have used it before this scheme, then i have to walk out by the sign that tells me how many bags were saved this week. kinda.. made up figure.

now we have moved into a community, with a local co-op - shoppinh habits are down to nipping out for something.. so totally different. but when you live in the sticks.. you do have to stock up a lot more.

[Ranter]

I live in the middle(ish) of a large city, but next to a great little parade of shops & still have to drive to get to a decent sized grocer for tins & dried food. I buy what I can from the local shops & go once a month(ish) to a big co-op to stock up on everything else.

And, to stick to the thread, I use my own bags for all shopping & none of them came from a supermarket. The only plastic one is woven out the plastic straps which surround boxes eg of paper. A friend, visiting from Malawi, gave it to me.

[Wombat]

We live walking distance (5 min) from our major grocery supplier and have converted an old pram obtained from the Sallies to carry a couple of large plastic boxes. That is how we get our groceries home, and yes we get some weird looks, but what the hell, it works for us!

Nev

[Andy Hamilton]

We live walking distance (5 min) from our major grocery supplier and have converted an old pram obtained from the Sallies to carry a couple of large plastic boxes. That is how we get our groceries home, and yes we get some weird looks, but what the hell, it works for us!

Nev

I really do appluad you doing this mate, I think it is a great idea. I wonder if it will ever catch on? I can see it now prams taking up all the isles of a supermarket. Fantastic.