Great Carrier Bag Heist

[Kite159]

Assuming they don't catch fire, you'd also find that people up north would end up stuck with them for years, while brand new shiny bags were introduced in London.

Edit: Beaten to it!

I could also imagine that failing to produce a bag when in a shop could also land you in hot water. It wouldn't be acceptable to say you didn't need one as it was only a short journey home.

Wouldn't they cost £3.19 in the north west?

 

[AM9]

Wouldn't they cost £3.19 in the north west?

That would be the unsold stock from the south. The replacement item would be £7.00. They look better on the outside with a larger capacity but we have to make up rumours about how bad they are because nobody has used them yet.

 

[Domh245]

Lets not forget that there would also be people complaining that these new-fangled bags carry too many things in the same volume, and are less comfortable to use than old bags, and we should go back to using paper bags

 

[Bletchleyite]

That would be the unsold stock from the south. The replacement item would be £7.00. They look better on the outside with a larger capacity but we have to make up rumours about how bad they are because nobody has used them yet.

Then there are the £800 ones (no pence) which look quite nice (in my view), but were perhaps a little unduly expensive due to the complicated public-led procurement programme.

It's said that another supermarket is looking at obtaining the same ones to sell for £8.01, though.

 

[ExRes]

With regards to the charges for Carrier Bags, just be glad there isn't a Rail UK Supermarket, the bags would cost £4.42!

I'm hoping that these could be hauled all over the shop by trolley ........

 

[jon0844]

That would be the unsold stock from the south. The replacement item would be £7.00. They look better on the outside with a larger capacity but we have to make up rumours about how bad they are because nobody has used them yet.

They may cost £7.00 but many will argue that they look far cheaper than the ones they replaced. Like the £3.87 ones, they're also quite thin even if they offer more storage space.

Steer clear of the £3.79 ones. They might be that bit cheaper still, but many come with bits missing.

 

[Techniquest]

Either that, or they need to get a bag for life...

I'm nicking that to share at work tomorrow! Best bad joke I've heard lately, and I know at least one person who'll find it funny

As for the rest of the thread, I'll join in the fun:

The Merseyside bags at the outrageous sum of £5.07 or £5.08 (depending when you turn up) are rumoured to be scrapped in the coming years.

Meanwhile Londoners have grown sick of their £3.15 bags and are suggested the Welsh capital get landed with them, after all Cardiff only have to pay up to £1.58 for their bags!

 

[krus_aragon]

I'm nicking that to share at work tomorrow! Best bad joke I've heard lately, and I know at least one person who'll find it funny

I'm glad to hear that I'm maintaining my (low) standards in the comedy department.

Meanwhile Londoners have grown sick of their £3.15 bags and are suggested the Welsh capital get landed with them, after all Cardiff only have to pay up to £1.58 for their bags!

Unless they're using the Alstom Finest*, at £1.75 each. Or, for those shopping on expenses, there's the M&S Premier Class £67 bag, with free three course meal and bottle of wine.

 

[northwichcat]

And just think how much the price would have gone up on the Oldham Loop when 142s were replaced with M5000 trams.

 

[Techniquest]

I'm glad to hear that I'm maintaining my (low) standards in the comedy department.

Oh you haven't heard our terrible humour last week at work! Here's some examples:

I found a box of Black Magic chocolates, and I was instantly inspired. So I find two of my colleagues to tell them the joke, which was "It's not just magic *moves my hand from the front of the box* it's Black Magic"

Later that night, I walked past the Malteasers crackers on the Frothmas aisle. "This aisle's driving me crackers!" I declare with one of the crackers in my hand

Sometime a while ago we're going past a ton of Branston that's been well shopped, and this time I'm on the receiving end of a bad joke. "I'd better tidy this up, it's in a right pickle" she tells me. Oh my days I couldn't help but laugh hard!

Oh the things we do to get through December...

Unless they're using the Alstom Finest*, at £1.75 each. Or, for those shopping on expenses, there's the M&S Premier Class £67 bag, with free three course meal and bottle of wine.

Ah yes I did forget about the limited number of £1.75 bags available at Cardiff Central, WHSmith specialise in those don't they? I walked out of M&S when I saw how much their bags were!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I recently had a dream where I heard a scurrilous rumour that a vast stock of old and many-times used plastic carrier bags that had been stored in secret London underground bunkers would soon be heading to the area of the Northern Rail franchise when the new TfL high quality carriers bags receive the nod of approval from Boris.....

 

[DaleCooper]

I get the impression that this thread is being surreptitiously diverted in favour of trains at the expense of my main interest which is carrier bags in all their varied and delightful forms.

 

[Jonny]

Indeed, and back on the plot what bugs me is that bin bags with handles are more than 5p per bag (price over number of bags per unit). Otherwise, they would be a good substitute and could be put to their original use afterwards.

 

[DaleCooper]

Indeed, and back on the plot what bugs me is that bin bags with handles are more than 5p per bag (price over number of bags per unit). Otherwise, they would be a good substitute and could be put to their original use afterwards.

I confess I've never found it necessary nor worthwhile to do that calculation.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Am I the only person to abandon my kitchen bin, with it's environmentally unsound habit of consuming 3 plastic carrier bags as liners per week, instead using (one per day) the free bags, with handles, available from the fruit and veg section of the supermarket. One banana - one bag, one apple - a second bag, two carrots - a third bag etc. Got quite a stockpile of them already.

 

[Jonny]

I confess I've never found it necessary nor worthwhile to do that calculation.

Tesco puts it on the shelf label.

 

[DaleCooper]

Tesco puts it on the shelf label.

I wouldn't know that being a carrier bag enthusiast rather than a bin liner spotter, anyway I can't read.

 

[IanXC]

With regards to the charges for Carrier Bags, just be glad there isn't a Rail UK Supermarket, the bags would cost £4.42!

Just to clarify that the Forum has no plans for such an expansion, even if we have had to spend many hours ignoring a certain member of staffs request for such a supply to escape the £9.94 charge levied close to him.

Back on topic, I must admit to being rather chuffed at discovering a bag full of hoarded bags this afternoon...

 

[ExRes]

Back on topic, I must admit to being rather chuffed at discovering a bag full of hoarded bags this afternoon...

Just in case your hoard has got a little dogeared, I found a company based in Nottinghamshire that will carry out a major refresh for you, these SuperCarriers can then attain a value of at least 60p on the open market

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Either that, or they need to get a bag for life...

I'm already married...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Am I the only person to abandon my kitchen bin, with it's environmentally unsound habit of consuming 3 plastic carrier bags as liners per week, instead using (one per day) the free bags, with handles, available from the fruit and veg section of the supermarket. One banana - one bag, one apple - a second bag, two carrots - a third bag etc. Got quite a stockpile of them already.

The only use that we ever put the free plastic bags to was as a liner in the container of the Rexel home shredding machine, as they fitted in very easily in to the upright paper container and the handles made extraction very easy and a most useful method of securely closing them off when tied.

 

[hassaanhc]

It's random though. The point people you scanned three items, but perhaps missed a fourth?

When you sign up, you'll be automatically set for a number of checks in your first ten transactions. The random bit being you won't know which ones.

Waitrose will rescan every item, while Tesco scans a few random items (I guess staff go for high value items or ones it knows people might think they can slip through easily). The problem is that Tesco employs too few staff so once you're asked for a scan, it can mean being in the store ages.

One member of staff can't deal with all self scan checkouts (both handheld scanner and people scanning items at tills) but that's what they employ at our local superstore. Mad, and more worthy of complaint than a 5p bag charge (see how I got back on topic there?!)

My local Tesco store does the same thing. Only one person looking after 10-12 self-service checkouts, which love having "unexpected item" issues at the slightest thing. I've stopped going there after an issue caused by one item took me over 5 minutes to sort out. And not many of the manned checkouts open either.

 

[me123]

Agree, it's complete nonsense. I used to work on self-checkouts in Morrisons, and I was 1:4. I could have handled 1:6 quite easily (which seems to be the current setup in Morrisons). But the ratio that's being seen in Tesco and Asda (as the two worst in my experience) is dire. Although, in my experience, the staff could also be working more efficiently and proactively. It's very common to see staff on the self-checkouts having personal conversations with colleagues and random members of the public. I was always either at the head of the queue, greeting customers and directing them to the next available checkout. Or helping the customers. Or thanking the customers as they left and preparing the checkout for the next customer if needed. Even with only four tills, I could always keep myself busy. So I fail to see how someone looking after 16 has time for a chat.

If done properly, you can get 2 self scan facilities in the space taken by a regular checkout. This means that a 1:2 ratio should be "break even" for the supermarkets. Sadly, tesco seem to have a habit of replacing x number of tills with the same number of self scanning machines, and then stretching their workforce even further to cover 14-20 in one go.

 

[WestCoast]

Agree, it's complete nonsense. I used to work on self-checkouts in Morrisons, and I was 1:4. I could have handled 1:6 quite easily (which seems to be the current setup in Morrisons). But the ratio that's being seen in Tesco and Asda (as the two worst in my experience) is dire. Although, in my experience, the staff could also be working more efficiently and proactively. It's very common to see staff on the self-checkouts having personal conversations with colleagues and random members of the public. I was always either at the head of the queue, greeting customers and directing them to the next available checkout. Or helping the customers. Or thanking the customers as they left and preparing the checkout for the next customer if needed. Even with only four tills, I could always keep myself busy. So I fail to see how someone looking after 16 has time for a chat.

When I worked at quite a busy branch of the green store, 8am-8pm it was supposed to be 2 colleagues on the 12 basket self-scans and 1 colleague on the 5 "hybrid" self-scans with belts for larger shops (which were supposed to be fully manned at peak hours but only were around Christmas). With 3 you could give a decent level of service, keeping the area neat and tidy and responding to problems quickly. However, it would regularly go down to 2 colleagues or just 1 colleague. This happened when there was no cover at break times and because the supervisors on the manned tills wouldn't do price checks or go onto the shop floor for any issues that came up at the self-scan side. I've noticed at the blue store the staff wear headsets on self-scan for any issues, we had to leave the area regularly to check things.

Also I seemed to be forever sorting out problems with non-food items (DVDs, clothing with missing price labels, large electrical items and cookware (!) that would drive the machines crazy etc etc) that I suppose is not such an issue at the yellow and orange stores. Only time for a chat was on the quiet morning shift, Saturday afternoons were a nightmare.

 

[Trog]

Am I the only person to abandon my kitchen bin, with it's environmentally unsound habit of consuming 3 plastic carrier bags as liners per week, instead using (one per day) the free bags, with handles, available from the fruit and veg section of the supermarket. One banana - one bag, one apple - a second bag, two carrots - a third bag etc. Got quite a stockpile of them already.

Surely there are various charities devoted to providing free kitchen bin liners? I generally get at least one a week put through my front door.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Surely there are various charities devoted to providing free kitchen bin liners? I generally get at least one a week put through my front door.

My kitchen bin isn't that big!

By the sound of it, it is around the same size as Paul's home shredding machine bin. I could push the carrier bag into the bin and fold the top (and handles) over the edges. Once full, I just pulled it out by the handles, twist to seal and tie. Saved ever having to wash the wheelie bin out.

I have a supply of charity bags in addition to my collection of fruit and veg bags, old style carrier bags, new bags for life and the hessian type. Perhaps I should open a 'heritage shop' to display them. People could pay to use them like they did in the old days!

My favourite bag is the Booths 'four counties' long handled cloth bag which you can put over your shoulder. Feels like I am off to the beach with my towel and trunks rather than carrying boring old groceries.

 

[miami]

The only use that we ever put the free plastic bags to was as a liner in the container of the Rexel home shredding machine, as they fitted in very easily in to the upright paper container and the handles made extraction very easy and a most useful method of securely closing them off when tied.

Does your recycling firm take paper in plastic bags then? To be honest I'm surprised you even change the bag in the shredder - don't you have a butler for that?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Does your recycling firm take paper in plastic bags then? To be honest I'm surprised you even change the bag in the shredder - don't you have a butler for that?

The shredded paper that is put into these former store carrier bags is not, as you suppose, put in the refuse bin to be collected. I am amazed that you seem to feel that we accumulate a considerable amount of such shredded paper waste. We are not like those embassies under severe duress who attempt to shred everything to save it falling into enemy hands.

It is stored and collected by one of my sons who lives in Poynton and added to his compost heap every quarter.

 

[Clip]

I'm already married...

chuckle