Loook for retailers to support this measure. Those bags are expensive!
Not that we don't pay an arm and a leg for food as it is. If I lived in Seattle I would just do my shopping in the suburbs.
IIRC, the cost of a paper bag is somewhere around 12 to 15 cents. And I believe that is the double handled one.
I like Trader Joe’s idea:
They make up brightly colored, strong, reusable bags with their logo. They charge .99 cents for each bag. When you come back and use the bag again they give you a ticket to fill out your name and phone. You go into a weekly raffle for $25.00 free groceries.
The twenty cents will go to the city -- just like a sales tax -- after the store deducts a small commission for cost and handling, probably no more than one or two cents per bag.
It won't be the retailers, it will be the city, who cleans up on yet one more tax.
Retailers aren't getting squat from this idea. Are you aware that many retailers get FREE bags from advertisers who put their message on those bags?
Many of those ads generate sales.
Those sales contribute to the economy.
If they are more than .01cent a piece, I'll eat them.
.20cent bags will result in a ten fold litter problem. Even with the recycling mentality in Seattle, few people are going to be willing to run around with a pocket full of wrinkley bags to put their purchase in....except dog owners.
I own a grocery store. The typical plastic bag (T-Shirt style, 1/6 Barrel) costs me $0.02 per. $15 for 1000 bags.
I also gross just under a $MIL per year. According to their plan, I get to keep the entire $0.20. I go through a box of bags (1000 CT) per week. That means I make $185.00 per week on bag fees. Annualized, that’s $9,620.00. Makes my profit margin 92%. $9,620.00 - $780.00 / $9,620.00 = 92%.
Hell, I’m moving to Seattle!!!