27 February 2012

Online supermarket shopping and bags in Canberra?

| Felix the Cat
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I’m wanting to sign up to do my grocery shopping online and have it delivered and wondering what happens about bags?

Do I have to pay the supermarket the 50c per plastic bag each time (or $1ea for the polypropylene non-disposable bags)?

I can’t see any reference to bags on either Coles or Woolies websites.

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I cant see the point of this bag paying stuff. 15c for a bag is nothing if they where like $5 for a bag it might make me change just maybe. And the ones they give you now are thicker and less likely to degrade most places anyway.

Skidbladnir said :

p1 said :

The act says the shop retailer must not supply…

Whilst handily defining a retailer (so also what is not a retailer), and specifying that bags less than 35micron must not be provided by any one retailer to that same retailer’s own customers, so long as that customer would use it to ever carry goods from that retailer.

IE: If the unique bag used is of sub-35 micron polyethylene type, for that bag, no provider-recipient combination can match the retailer-customer on any item carried within it. Yes, I’m a hit at parties.

The simple way to break the spirit of the law without breaking the word of it is just to get shopping centres (instead of retailers) to provide unlimited sub-35 micron polyethylene bags, or for retailers to give away bags only for use at neighbouring or other stores.

p1 said :

It never mentions anything about charging…

And yet, customers willingly buy excess-35 micron bags at significant margin, and they still end up in Canberran landfill.
Those poster-urtles must be rolling in their graves.

I guess it depends what you think the spirit of the law actually is?

shadow boxer8:01 am 28 Feb 12

jayjay said :

Here in the UK, when we purchase a “green bag” its called a: ‘bag for life’. It costs 10p and if it ever breaks, tears etc, they replace it free of charge.
We still do have the option of those cheap plastic bags which were banned in canberra but most people go for the other option.

Seems a sensible approach. Here in Canberra the Grens prefer to roam the streets shooting between the eyes anyone who doesn’t comply.

We grudgingly comply for a while then find a way around it (exhibit a the tv dumps). The trouble is they never really win the hearts and minds so it fails eventually.

With the IGA’s now giving away heavy bags it’s only a matter of time before Woolies or Coles joins them. For the major supermarkets heavy bags will be faster, more popular with customers, reduce OH & S and compo concerns and generaly save them time and money through faster checkouts and standardised packing procedures.

They may need some other states to go dowen this loony path before buying the heavy bags becomes cheap enough for them but it will happen eventually.

MWF said:

My IGA has the same bags. They appear heavy duty. However, even though these bags appear tougher and thicker, for some reason they break down fairly fast when exposed to the elements. I think that’s a good thing – especially when one considers the dolphin population in the ACT…
————————————————————-
What about the poley bears and the penguins? You are sooo uncaring.

Depend on it, even as we type, some little weasel in the Greens is trying to draft an amendment to put a stop to this licentious and irresponsible behaviour. It can only lead to (non-interpretative) dancing.

Yay! Left Canberra, am now in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, don’t need to worry about plastic bags.

Here in the UK, when we purchase a “green bag” its called a: ‘bag for life’. It costs 10p and if it ever breaks, tears etc, they replace it free of charge.
We still do have the option of those cheap plastic bags which were banned in canberra but most people go for the other option.

p1 said :

The act says the shop retailer must not supply…

Whilst handily defining a retailer (so also what is not a retailer), and specifying that bags less than 35micron must not be provided by any one retailer to that same retailer’s own customers, so long as that customer would use it to ever carry goods from that retailer.

IE: If the unique bag used is of sub-35 micron polyethylene type, for that bag, no provider-recipient combination can match the retailer-customer on any item carried within it. Yes, I’m a hit at parties.

The simple way to break the spirit of the law without breaking the word of it is just to get shopping centres (instead of retailers) to provide unlimited sub-35 micron polyethylene bags, or for retailers to give away bags only for use at neighbouring or other stores.

p1 said :

It never mentions anything about charging…

And yet, customers willingly buy excess-35 micron bags at significant margin, and they still end up in Canberran landfill.
Those poster-urtles must be rolling in their graves.

breda said :

My IGA provides heavy duty placcy bags at no extra charge, bless their little cotton socks. The bags are way over-engineered for what they have to do though, thanks to the stupid law – another win for the environment by the gormless leading the gutless.

My IGA has the same bags. They appear heavy duty. However, even though these bags appear tougher and thicker, for some reason they break down fairly fast when exposed to the elements. I think that’s a good thing – especially when one considers the dolphin population in the ACT…

Mr Gillespie8:26 pm 27 Feb 12

breda said :

My IGA provides heavy duty placcy bags at no extra charge, bless their little cotton socks. The bags are way over-engineered for what they have to do though, thanks to the stupid law – another win for the environment by the gormless leading the gutless.

Here here!!

Although I am a random nut on the interwebz, so I could be wrong…

Skidbladnir said :

Source

6 What is a plastic shopping bag? In this Act:
plastic shopping bag— (a) means—
(i) a bag that is made (in whole or in part) of polyethylene with a thickness of less than 35 microns;

So long as the bags they are giving away are over 35 microns, it is perfectly legal. If they are under 35 microns they are illegal.

7 Retailer not to supply plastic shopping bags
(1) A retailer commits an offence if—
(a) the retailer supplies a plastic shopping bag to a customer of the retailer; and
(b) the plastic shopping bag is supplied for the customer to carry goods bought, or to be bought, from the retailer.

The act says the shop must not supply. It never mentions anything about charging or not for that supply. Otherwise he shops would just charge $0.00001 per bag and round down….

dtc said :

One of my regular Chinese take away shops is now charging for bags (10c or something). Despite the charge being bugger all of the total bill, it does annoy me. (although I actually dont care about the ban one way or the other usually).
.

Yeah, but the Monkey Magic Chicken makes up for it doesn’t it?

I believe the big green bags at Woolies cost 15c? Could be 25c… But that’s what my order was packed in when I last ordered online but I wasn’t charged extra for it.

I once had a chat with one of the delivery drivers who told me that orders get easily mixed up if not everything is packed in bags. And in my experience that is true.

And the reason why they are so unevenly packed – 1 item in one bag and 5 in another – appears to be because they are packed per aisle. They must have some system for filling the orders that explains that.

But even if they did make me pay for the bags and used more bags than necessary, I still would find it worth it.

DarkLadyWolfMother3:07 pm 27 Feb 12

I’ve been getting my groceries online from Woolies for a while. Until fairly recently I was getting them in the thinner plastic bags. However, they seem to have run out of those and I’m now getting the thicker grey bags. They haven’t charged me for either sort.

One of my regular Chinese take away shops is now charging for bags (10c or something). Despite the charge being bugger all of the total bill, it does annoy me. (although I actually dont care about the ban one way or the other usually).

Woolies/Coles should re-design their checkouts so that the customers have to pick up their bags (after being filled). It would probably only require the section of the counter where the bag holder is to be cut out and the holder (the posts) turned around.

p1 said :

That isn’t a crack in the bag ban, unless they are giving away the thin ones which are banned, in which case they are breaking the law.

Not quite.
If a shopkeeper gives away thin bags for use in their own store, then they break it.
(The law contains this provision, charging customers for bags is just a new revenue stream for shopkeepers, and customers let them do it)

shadow boxer2:11 pm 27 Feb 12

p1 said :

shadow boxer said :

The first cracks in the bag ban are appearing, I went to two smaller supermarkets on the weekend who both had signs up saying they were going to use bags and absorb the cost.

That isn’t a crack in the bag ban, unless they are giving away the thin ones which are banned, in which case they are breaking the law. If these bags are the ones that meet the standard, then the ban is working perfectly.

A recent internet order from Woolies was delivered to my house in grey plastic bags. Very similar to the old ones in appearance, by they seem slightly thicker, so I assume they meet the new standard. There were not separately charged for, but there is a fee for delivery which I assume covers this cost.

Like Breda said they are giving away the thick ones, the turtles must be pleased.

Felix the Cat2:01 pm 27 Feb 12

dpm said :

I’m not 100% sure, but I think you get them for ‘free’. However, if you can afford the extra cost of (convenient) online shopping, even if you did have to pay for bags, the few cents for them would be the least of your money worries!

It’s only $7 delivery for Coles, Woolies is free if you spend over $250, the money I save by not needing therapy after going shopping will pay for that many times over…

My IGA provides heavy duty placcy bags at no extra charge, bless their little cotton socks. The bags are way over-engineered for what they have to do though, thanks to the stupid law – another win for the environment by the gormless leading the gutless.

shadow boxer1:36 pm 27 Feb 12

p1 said :

shadow boxer said :

The first cracks in the bag ban are appearing, I went to two smaller supermarkets on the weekend who both had signs up saying they were going to use bags and absorb the cost.

That isn’t a crack in the bag ban, unless they are giving away the thin ones which are banned, in which case they are breaking the law. If these bags are the ones that meet the standard, then the ban is working perfectly.

A recent internet order from Woolies was delivered to my house in grey plastic bags. Very similar to the old ones in appearance, by they seem slightly thicker, so I assume they meet the new standard. There were not separately charged for, but there is a fee for delivery which I assume covers this cost.

It’s all a bit silly really isn’t it.

shadow boxer said :

The first cracks in the bag ban are appearing, I went to two smaller supermarkets on the weekend who both had signs up saying they were going to use bags and absorb the cost.

That isn’t a crack in the bag ban, unless they are giving away the thin ones which are banned, in which case they are breaking the law. If these bags are the ones that meet the standard, then the ban is working perfectly.

A recent internet order from Woolies was delivered to my house in grey plastic bags. Very similar to the old ones in appearance, by they seem slightly thicker, so I assume they meet the new standard. There were not separately charged for, but there is a fee for delivery which I assume covers this cost.

Gantz said :

The bags do not cost 50 cents. Don’t blow things out of proportion.

Wandered into go-lo at Weston recently. They had some good value tinned stuff so ended up with a basket full, so needed a bag. The ting cost me a dollar. I reckon we’re gettin touched a bit over these bag prices.

shadow boxer1:11 pm 27 Feb 12

The first cracks in the bag ban are appearing, I went to two smaller supermarkets on the weekend who both had signs up saying they were going to use bags and absorb the cost.

Also had a bit of a chat with the girl at the checkout at woolies and they are falling like flies, all the different size bags (including big ones that are really heavy like those green ones) is killing their backs.

lemon delicious said :

Woolies usually bring groceries in big boxes and unload onto counter (and have done for a long time). Some items such as freezer items do come in plastic but they do not charge for them. Haven’t had a delivery in a couple of months, so may have changed.

I stand corrected – seems like they have changed.

I used to shop online at Woolies. Don’t any longer as I got fed up with the amount of bags that used to come with every order – used to get one item in a bag a lot of the time. I asked not to have bags and they said that wasn’t possible even though they carry your goods safely in their roomy bag, in a crate to your door. The first delivery guy we had used to take them back the following week and put them in the recycling bin. Others refused. I do recall that they did say they would be moving to bag free shopping however I would hazard a guess that this has not eventuated.

lemon delicious10:13 am 27 Feb 12

Woolies usually bring groceries in big boxes and unload onto counter (and have done for a long time). Some items such as freezer items do come in plastic but they do not charge for them. Haven’t had a delivery in a couple of months, so may have changed.

When you order from Coles it is based in the Queanbeyan store so you can still get plastic bags from NSW!

I shop online with Coles and there hasn’t been any extra charge for the bags

I’m not 100% sure, but I think you get them for ‘free’. However, if you can afford the extra cost of (convenient) online shopping, even if you did have to pay for bags, the few cents for them would be the least of your money worries!

The bags do not cost 50 cents. Don’t blow things out of proportion.

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