Pet Peeve or Market Failure?

Reason writers around town: At The American Spectator, Brian Doherty punches his way out of a wet plastic bag, and wonders if he has discovered the worst consumer product of our time.

Comments

[Pavel]

And what's with these corn-nuts? I mean is it a corn? Or is it a nut?

Thank you Brian Seinfeld. Thank you so very much.

[Matt Welch]

Paper and plastic. The magic combo. Then, if you are not over-encumbered by waste-disposal aesthetics, you don't have to buy trash bags any more.

[joe]

Not understanding why people consider their packaging an issue? Not understanding the environmental arguments against plastic bags? I guess a little playing dumb is cost of getting published.

I bought tarp bags with wooded handles at my grocery store, and bring them with me on every trip. The hold 2X as much as even the large paper bags, and are easier to carry than plastic bags.

An entire shopping cart's worth of groceries can be carried inside in one trip. But careful, environmentalists might approve.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Paper bags with glued-on handles? Hoodathunkit, eh? Except for Ralph's. Plus, if you go there instead of Trader's Joe, you get to piss off union thugs for free.

I use plastic bags for storage and carrying non-groceries all the time, and I don't seem to have all of these problems. I frequently carry 13.2 lbs. in double-plastic bags, and I haven't had a failure yet. They have failed when single, and the handles occasionally break, and they occasionally get dirty and need to be thrown out.

Put about 5lbs. in one and they make a great sling too.

[Ayatollah Usoe]

Like Brian, I too have learned to accept the plastic bag. I recall a cartoon with a guillotine, where the executioner asks the soon to be beheaded, "Paper or plastic?" One advantage of plastic bags: they're actually more convenient when disposing of one's neighbors' pets.

[Warren]

can anyone speak to the rumor that plastic bags fail in So. Cal. because of smog?

[joe]

I'll have a word with it...

[Highway]

Haven't most grocery plastic bags changed over in the past years from polyethelene to those other 'degradable' plastics? I know that the ones used now really aren't polyethelene like the old ones used to be (stretchy, didn't rip, but would stretch and tear). The new bags just open up if you put the corner of a box to them. But I still rather like the plastic bags. I don't trust the paper glued-handle Trader Joes bags, as they have a disturbing tendency to just come off.

Joe has the right idea if you make regular trips to the grocery store, and no trips elsewhere. But it's those other trips that really get you.

I think Brian's a little harsh on the plastic grocery bag, tho. I think it's superior to the paper bag, even with handles.

[Larry]

The market problem illustrated in this story and blog is that every one of us cussed independent folks have a different opinion on them.

Me? I'm a firearms instructor looking for cheap targets. Staple a plastic shopping bag to a backboard, if you can get it to stop squirming, and you have an irregular blob which is difficult to shoot at. Plus, for beginning students I want a blank target without an aiming point. The translucency of plastic makes that almost impossible.

Paper bags, however, staple easily, are a neat rectangle, and depending on which side is out are either blank or display a store logo. Very versatile and the recycled cost is zero. I've even found that people who actually go grocery shopping regularly gain some satisfaction from drilling the logos.

So I vote for paper.

[joe]

Plastic bags, on the other hand, are useful receptacles for cat poop.

[J]

I sometimes take my little cloth Nature Conservancy bag to the grocery store so I don't have to use their paper _or_ plastic bags. But for some incomprehensible reason, more often than not when I tell them I brought my own bag they try to put my groceries in a plastic bag and put that bag in my Nature Conservancy bag. And sometime when I tell them I want a paper bag, they again put the groceries in a plastic bag and put that in the paper bag. Kind of defeats the purpose, but they're generally not too interested in that discussion....

[John Kerry]

I'm for plastic bags and against them.

[Eric]

That article rules.

Trader Joe's likewise rules.

[Eric]

That article rules.

Trader Joe's likewise rules.

[Eric]

That article rules.

Trader Joe's likewise rules.

[Only Ed and The Almost]

Paper or plastic?
Coffee or tea?
Beatles or Bartok?
Table or tree?
What would Jesus do?

[Jean Bart]

joe,

We have an machine which takes care of the cat mess; it automatically scoops the mess into a recepticle, and the recepticle comes out of the machine (closed) when full. You simply pick up the plastic recepticle and throw it away.

[Jason Ligon]

joe:

Somehow I knew you were a cat person ... 🙂

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Hey Jean, we've got something even better. Aren't cats cute!

On a lighter note, if you want to read about Tuh-RAY-Zuh + Ken Lay, click here.

[Mark Fox]

Did ya ever wonder...was it Brian Seinfeld or Andy Doherty who brought this up first?

[Angry Milkman]

All you bag-toting blue-bloods have put me and my delivery brethren out of work. I wish I could afford enough groceries to fill my belly, let alone a plastic bag.

All you overfed consumerist whiners can go right to the landfill.

[Josh]

Canvas bags are way better than paper or plastic. (And Trader Joe's sells 'em too, with their logo on the side, which makes them even more fun to take to e.g. Ralphs.)

[jon]

I like both. Plastic is good to hold diapers and their powerful aroma. Paper makes a good trash bag when I don't want to take out the trash (the squared bottom lets it sit nicely on the trash can). We live in a wonderful world where two recyclable products are offered to us for free with each and every grocery trip, so what's to complain about? I usually ask for some of each, and never get odd looks.

[tomhynes]

What is the difference between plastic grocery bags and Michael Jackson?

One is white, made of plastic, and not safe for children to play with. The other is used for carrying groceries.

[Alan Greenspan]

Paper bags are for old women.

[Mark S.]

My cat loves paper bags. He loves to hide in the bag a pounce on our brittany, Katie, as she passes or when she pokes her nose inside to see what the kitty is doing.

[Sam Gamgee]

Kinda reminds me of when I used to work at Radioshack. We used to have great sturdy little bags. Then, a few years back they decided to save a few pennies a bag by going with a cheeper bag. After that, fully half of the bags were DOA. You'd pull a bag off of the stand, and it would shred. The next bag would come of OK, but then rip as the customer was leaving the store. Quite annoying, and unproffessional, if you ask me.

I have to agree that cloth bags are the way to go... if only I could remember to bring them with me into the store.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Earlier today, I shouted a story idea into Judy Woodruff's ear at a Teresa Heinz-Kerry speech. No, really.

[Jack]

I find plastic bags far superior to paper ones myself. I can probably carry literally three to four times as much by using plastic bags.

[MALAK]

The prick grocery stores up here have an even sneakier idea. If you want to stack your food in the leftover boxes the produce came in, no problem. You even get to do the store's recycling for them after you unload at home. But if you want (plastic) bags, they ding you a nickel apiece.

[Russ]

C'mon Brian, why don't you find a grocery store that delivers?

[KJ]

"A grocery store that delivers"

One can still find them?

[paper]

Just ask for paper bags. Not so difficult.

[Critic]

Plastic bags are good for suicide.
Hint, hint.

[joe]

I'm sorry I turned Hit & Run into a cat blog.

[Kevin Carson]

What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a grocery bag? One's white, made of plastic, and dangerous to children. The other's for carrying your groceries in.