Drop Dead and Go To Hell, Oregon!

[Ben]

Ben's rant of the week:

I haven't done any shopping in OR since the first of the year. Went today and got charged for my freakin' bags! Apparently OR has gone full CA on the "no bags" thing. I think they even one-upped them (unless CA law recently changed) as I also had to pay for a bag at D&B Supply (farm supply store).

In CA the "charge for a bag' thing was in grocery stores, Walmarts, etc., but you could go to Home Depot and use all the bags you wanted. Seems OR made it universal. At Albertson's when the checker charged me (paper bags only*) and told me about the law, I said, "Gall dang commie-pinko hippies! Can we not just drop a low-yield tactical nuke on Portland and be done with it?!?", which at least in Eastern OR, got a few chuckles and one "Right on!" from people in line with me. Had I said that in CA, I would have been carted off to re-education.

FTR, I don't mind bringing my own reusable bag at all - I even find it better than crappy biodegradeable plastic bags. I just can't stand arrogant commies shoving it down my throat because they know better than me. Jackasses.

/rant


* Interestingly, the whole reason I stopped at Albertsons was to also pick up some fried chicken with my groceries. The chicken came in a free paper bag.

[Angel Eyes]

At least you didn't pay sales tax.  Or has that changed too?

[charby]

I'm tired of cleaning plastic bags out my landscaping and pond, I'd be fine with them being banned. I still remember the days before plastic bags. Paper bags were reused for everything too.

[cordex]

I'm tired of cleaning plastic bags out my landscaping and pond, I'd be fine with them being banned. I still remember the days before plastic bags. Paper bags were reused for everything too.

I don't think I can get on board with your threshold for stuff to ban.

I do like paper bags for some things, but they absolutely suck for others.

[Ben]

At least you didn't pay sales tax.  Or has that changed too?

No, still no sales tax. :)


I rarely see plastic bags floating around the countryside here, and my local podunk grocery practically does a "one bag per item" thing. As we have discussed here before, plastic bags are incredibly reusable for all kinds of stuff. Of course as they've been going to thinner and thinner, with more biodegradeabilty, it has become harder to reuse them.

The first thing I did with the paper bag I got for my groceries today is pick it up and watch it rip. They don't make those like they used to either. Plus I guess the checker didn't want to charge me for two bags, so stuffed the one bag full.

[Fly320s]

I can't stand grocery store-quality plastic bags.  They are only good for light-duty trash can use.  When I go to the store, I bring my own strong, canvas bags so I only need two large bags instead of 12 plastic ones.

Still, I would never support a ban or tax or fee on plastic bags.

[Nick1911]

I do not want the government imposing more regulations then they already do on my or the private transactions I conduct with businesses.

That said, even from my not-large household, we bag up and get rid of an impressive amount of polymer trash every week.  Lots of packaging and containers, the odd product that's failed, scrap from home projects, etc.

I don't really like sending all of it to a landfill.  We do not have recycling services here.

[BobR]

If you lived in the panhandle and went shopping in a neighboring state you wouldn't have that problem...yet.


bob

[MechAg94]

I do not want the government imposing more regulations then they already do on my or the private transactions I conduct with businesses.

That said, even from my not-large household, we bag up and get rid of an impressive amount of polymer trash every week.  Lots of packaging and containers, the odd product that's failed, scrap from home projects, etc.

I don't really like sending all of it to a landfill.  We do not have recycling services here.

All the anti-theft packaging on everything makes for a lot of volume in trash.  However, we aren't running out of room for landfills.  I would still love to see us burn it for power rather than bury it.  Besides, recycling isn't all that cheap.  I hear California is having trouble figuring out where to send its recycled materials.

I like the plastic bags to some extent.  I save them (the ones that don't get wet from holding cold stuff) and reuse them.  Mostly I reuse them for taking drinks to work or using them as trash bags in the little bathroom trash cans.

[230RN]

Well, good for all you noble, robust, physically fit folks who don't mind carrying paper sacks around.

I have to have handles so I can use the handrails on the stairs and I have to ask the sackers not to pack the bags too heavy.

So poor little old me, snif, snif.  

There've been noises here in Commierado about eliminating plastic sacks so I expect to see it here soon, too, since we have a utopian bandwagon-jumping communist legislature now.  Oh, wait, no, that's "liberal" or "progressive," since there haven't been any communists in this country since the 1950s.

Well, I didn't get this old by not being able to solve problems, but please don't make this yet another problem for me to solve.

Faint hope, huh?

Terry

[Ben]

That said, even from my not-large household, we bag up and get rid of an impressive amount of polymer trash every week.  Lots of packaging and containers, the odd product that's failed, scrap from home projects, etc.

I would not at all mind getting rid of all that plastic clamshell crap that's ten times larger than the item it's holding. Not just from the waste, but from always nearly or actually slicing my hand open getting crap out.

Even Amazon does that frustration free stuff, but I always still get items that are practically lost in the too large box and bubble wrap.

I no longer have recycling either - everything goes in the trash, or I burn a lot of stuff now.

That Panhandle crack will go unanswered.  

[HeroHog]

Plastic bags for me! I loop them over my scooter's handles to bring them from the car to the house rather than make 100 trips then, we then use them for the cat poop we scoop twice a day (we put multiple scoopings in each bag so the bags aren't wasted on a "small load").

[Declaration Day]

Besides, recycling isn't all that cheap.  I hear California is having trouble figuring out where to send its recycled materials.

Yep.  Recycling isn't always as "green" as some people think.  Once the materials are sorted, processed and bundled, they become essentially a raw material.  Then, somebody has to buy it.  Often there is a surplus, or virgin raw material prices are cheaper, so it ends up in a landfill anyway.

[MillCreek]

In regards to the Panhandle, more and more cities in western Washington are banning single-use plastic bags in the grocery stores. You either bring your own, or are charged per paper bag.  I wish the stores that followed it would post this policy on the front door.  I would then have a fighting chance to remember to bring in the reusable bag from the truck.

[BobR]

In regards to the Panhandle, more and more cities in western Washington are banning single-use plastic bags in the grocery stores. You either bring your own, or are charged per paper bag.  I wish the stores that followed it would post this policy on the front door.  I would then have a fighting chance to remember to bring in the reusable bag from the truck.

Oh, you mean Washifornia?   

bob

[Chester32141]

When they outlaw them here I'll just buy my own … About $20 for a near lifetime supply … 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Members-Mark-Black-T-Shirt-Carryout-Bags-1-000-ct-Best-Plastic-Quality/352552845005?epid=17034146429&hash=item5215c97ecd:g:AEEAAOSwLnRcO6e5

[230RN]

When they outlaw them here I'll just buy my own … About $20 for a near lifetime supply …  

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Members-Mark-Black-T-Shirt-Carryout-Bags-1-000-ct-Best-Plastic-Quality/352552845005?epid=17034146429&hash=item5215c97ecd:g:AEEAAOSwLnRcO6e5

Thank you.  $18.56 for 1000 of them with handles.  Have you tried them?  Are they strong enough to carry a gallon of milk, do you know?

I'm wondering:  if grocery stores can eliminate the expense of the plastic bags, will they reduce their general prices commensurately?

Note to self (1):  Find out where King Soopers (Kroger, City Market) currently buys its plastic bags and buy a crapload for myself.

Note to self (2): Legislatures used to be established for the health, benefit, and welfare of the citizens.  Nowadays they're just a pain in the ass.

Seems like we elect these people as "lawmakers" and sure as *expletive deleted*it, they get to the capitols and make laws, godammit.

Terry, 230RN

[cordex]

Probably the biggest advantage of paper bags is that you can cut them in half, then separate the folds and you have two rough torso/head targets.  My shooting mentor called it range origami.

[slugcatcher]

You're probably one of those people that thinks he's capable of pumping his own gas too.  

[MechAg94]

When they outlaw them here I'll just buy my own … About $20 for a near lifetime supply … 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Members-Mark-Black-T-Shirt-Carryout-Bags-1-000-ct-Best-Plastic-Quality/352552845005?epid=17034146429&hash=item5215c97ecd:g:AEEAAOSwLnRcO6e5

Which is why stores like them.  They are very very cheap. 

I also think they are not nearly as bad as leftists claim.  These little plastic bags are not filling up your landfills. 

[Ron]

Plastic bags for groceries have to go.

I used to be po'd at "people" for seeing them littered around the roads and stuck in trees.

Then in dawned on me where they come from.

Garbage trucks. 

Can't tell you how many times Ive seen debris blowing out of a truck transporting garbage.

[Angel Eyes]

You're probably one of those people that thinks he's capable of pumping his own gas too.  

Now Ben will start a new thread bitching about Oregon gas-pumpers ...

[Ben]

Now Ben will start a new thread bitching about Oregon gas-pumpers ...

Naw, I'm cool - if  I did want to overpay for gas in OR instead of buying it in ID, everybody in Eastern OR already pumps their own gas. 

[Pb]

I'm tired of cleaning plastic bags out my landscaping and pond, I'd be fine with them being banned. I still remember the days before plastic bags. Paper bags were reused for everything too.

Disposable bags for food are safest.  Re-usable bags for groceries increase risk of food poisoning.  This is one reason I am opposed to plastic bag bans of any sort.  The other reason is that I despise the government micromanaging every detail of our lives.

[Ron]

Disposable bags for food are safest.  Re-usable bags for groceries increase risk of food poisoning.  This is one reason I am opposed to plastic bag bans of any sort.  The other reason is that I despise the government micromanaging every detail of our lives.

The plastic grocery/trash bags littering the whole country and filling up landfills are a classic example of the "tragedy of the commons".

Nobody wants to give up their convenience so the roadsides etc are littered with trash.

I use paper almost exclusively, it's biodegradable and is a renewable resource.