Posted on 01/23/2005 5:35:05 PM PST by John Jorsett
SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco may become the first city in the nation to charge shoppers for grocery bags. The city's environmental commission is expected to ask the mayor and board of supervisors Tuesday to consider a 17-cent-per-bag charge on paper and plastic grocery bags.
Their goal is to reduce plastic bag pollution. Environmentalists say plastic bags jam machinery, pollute waterways and often end up in trees.
Officials believe that the city spends five-point-two cents per bag annually for street litter pickup and one-point-four cents per bag for extra recycling costs.
But grocers and bag manufacturers argue that many people already reuse their plastic bags.
Other opponents call the plan an unfair and regressive tax on shoppers.
I misread the post. I'm truly sorry. I though it said San Francisco might charge for grocery fags. I'm so embarrassed.
I know! Instead of hiring someone to pick up the bag, let's hire three people at fifteen times the cost to determine how much it costs to pick up a bag!
Your tax dollars at work!
I can't say I disagree with this. I've been a lot of places where they charge for grocery bags. As a result I have a lot of nice souvenir shopping bags from all over the world. It just became a habit of carrying them in the boot (trunk) of the car and quite honestly I found it very sensible. I now carry my shooting supplies in some of those bags when I go to the range. They're tough and serve many purposes.
http://usa.aldi.com/ They have been charging for Grocery Bags for awhile. (AND they are a great place to buy Groceries)!
Will the city start charging for them?
Better yet ... How much does the city spend cleaning up the poop the homeless deposit on the side walks ... maybe the city should have a tax on poop!
Very interesting and totally meaningless figures. The 5.2 cents; Is that per bag picked up, or averaged per bag issued in San Franscico, or for one bag total? Am I to believe that San Francisco has a separate "Bag Patrol" dedicated to only picking up plastic bags and therefore with measurable dedicated expenses? And as far as the 1.4 cents per bag for recycling, the answer is simple: Don't recycle.
Liberal government and partisan press at it again; Manufacture a fake crises as an excuse to raise taxes.
put a bounty on 'em and let the homeless pick 'em up and cash 'em in
Stores already charge for bags. Only a politician would think they are free. As an example, those "free" plastic bags the store furnishes for fresh fruit and veggies cost as much per pound as those fruits and veggies.
I know of one supermarket that does -- Shop-Rite on Route 46, either in Dover or Rockaway, NJ, open 24-hours a day, 25 cents for the use of a cart, which is refundable upon return. I don't know of any other supermarket that does the same nor why they charge.
I don't know about any state except for Virginia, since that's where I lived when I was in high school and working as a supermarket cashier, but there it is illegal to charge for the weight of the bag (or any other container). You have to tell the computer how much of the weight is actually the container so that the customer does not get charged for it.
Although the cost of the bags are part of the operating costs of the store, and are thus figured into the store's prices.
How much would a product have to cost, per pound, before the weight of a bag would add a cent to the cost?
Honestly, I don't know, because the bag weighs so little. But the weight still needs to be "tared" off, because otherwise you are charging the customer for something that's not your product.
If I read this right then this is basically a city tax on grocery bags , not the store charging you for bags.
One way to resolve this is to bring your own bags. Just hand them to the bagger at check out and smile.
You could probably use some good cloth bags as well and never have one of those plastic bags break on you again. This could be a good thing. The city gets no money from you and you don`t break your jar of pickles all over your driveway ever again. : )
You may very well be right. I just figured that someone like Wally bought those bags at a buck-a-bale and sold them for whatever the contents cost per pound.
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