September 14, 2009 · 9:40 am

Bag It!

What is this love affair American merchants have with putting things into bags? In much of the world people have to bring their own bags, or something else, to carry their purchases home in. But not here! I’ve gone to pick up my prescriptions at the pharmacy where each pill bottle is in its own separate bag and the bags are stapled together. Then the counter person wants to put them in another bag. Buy a single pack of gum and they want to bag it for you. Paper or plastic? Doesn’t matter. Most of the time I don’t want either – period. Occasionally when I purchase a couple of items at a store, other than at the grocer’s, a sales clerk will if I want it in a bag. I almost always demure telling them “No, thanks, they just make a mess of the landscape when I toss them out of the window of my car.”

3 Comments

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3 responses to “Bag It!”

  1. shoreacres
    September 15, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    The only Texas item that absolutely requires its own bag is the single malt liquor or beer puchased from an exceedingly upscale establishment. It can be 4:03 p.m. or 4:03 a.m. – no matter. Slide that purchase into its bag and you’re ready to… ummm… carry it home. 😉

  2. richard
    September 26, 2009 at 1:35 am

    15 years ago I became an expat in Thailand and Cambodia. The rural folks all had a woven bag.
    Now thanks tto USA plastic bags are anywhere.
    Only bagpackers have bags.

    • oldsalt1942
      September 26, 2009 at 3:39 pm

      Plastic Bags are everywhere. There’s a lady in Honduras whose blog I read (http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/). She collects plastic bags and crochets them into other bags as totes as you can see if you go here on her blog http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/search/label/crafts. One small contribution to the problem.

      Back in the mid 80s a friend of mine came back from Germany after a tour there with the tank corps. (Beat a tour in ‘Nam) He said the Germans all carried woven bags when they went grocery shopping. He called them “Rad Bags” for the German word Kamerad (Comrade).