Whole Foods - mandatory bags?
A food-shopping question...
We've heard of Whole Foods banning plastic and embracing recycled/paper bags. However, last night I was at the store and told the cashier that I didn't need a bag for my purchase (one easily portable item), I could just carry it. She insisted that I had to carry it out in a bag, that it was store policy. Anyone else have this experience? I've heard of it at retail stores like Best Buy (no good reason there either), but it was a little odd coming from a store that just got so much press for being environmentally friendly.
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16 Comments:
maybe they insist on a bag so it doesn't look like you're stealing it?
Southern_bella at 7:22PM on 05/22/08
Funky - might just be the store you visited. I wonder if they have a high theft problem. The Best Buy near where I live asks me if I even want a bag when I buy 3-4 DVDs. I just walk out with the DVDs in my hand. The IKEA I've been to either has me buy a bag or walk out juggling my stuff.
Cassaendra at 7:25PM on 05/22/08
the whole foods in new york don't make you take a bag, that's weird. and the best buy here doesn't make you take one either. were you buying booze? sometimes stores make you take a bag if you're buying booze.
billyburgwife at 7:33PM on 05/22/08
I'm at our Whole Foods several times a week and almost always walk out without a bag if my purchases aren't too large...no problem. Must be your area store.
bessfour at 7:34PM on 05/22/08
That's weird. The Whole Foods I shop at actually has signs encouraging people to take away small orders without a bag.
buffyholic at 9:05PM on 05/22/08
Weird; I've never had that happen at the Whole Foods I've shopped at before.
jenilowrance at 9:16PM on 05/22/08
At some indeterminate point in the Future, perhaps as early as tomorrow, the Sun will explode if it hasn't burnt itself out beforehand, and in either case, all life as we know it will be extinguished, regardless of what kind of bags we used at Whole Foods.
srhcb at 9:58PM on 05/22/08
I never worked at Whole Foods, but I did work in retail- we had a bag policy for two reasons. Bags with our store name on it were good advertisments for other people shopping in the mall. The other was to make sure that it was known that you hadn't stolen the item.
Depending on the manager (and other stuff, I worked there for 10 years) we were sometimes allowed to let people put stuff into their other bags. Oh and to prevent somebody who returned something in one of our bags from keeping it and using it to shoplift more stuff we'd ask for their bag or if they handed the bag to us with the return, we'd just not give it back.
cmtigger at 10:06PM on 05/22/08
I was at a Best Buy where they had a manager standing at the door and checking people's receipts before letting them out. Even though he could clearly see the register from the exit door. I guess they had a pretty bad theft problem. Hasn't happened at any other Best Buys.
I don't really shop at Whole Foods (yes, blasphemy, apparently), so I don't have any experience with that.
wunami at 1:57AM on 05/23/08
I haven't expereinced that. I either bring my own bag or carry out the goods without a bag at both the Bowery and Union Square Whole Foods in NYC without incident. They actually encourage it.
souldawg at 9:57AM on 05/23/08
They should stop selling bottled water first and then worry about the bags.
bobbob at 10:10AM on 05/23/08
Never heard of such a thing. I shop at Whole Foods and have never been unable to take things out of their doors without a bag.
@bobbob -- I totally agree about the bottled water!
Brownie at 12:17PM on 05/23/08
I've checked out small amounts of items and never was forced to carry them out in a bag. That's very odd!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 12:34PM on 05/23/08
That's never happened to me before. Though no matter where I buy food, the cashier always seems surprised that I don't need a bag, even Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, farmer's markets, and other places that encourage re-usable bags.
butterface at 9:15PM on 05/23/08
Just the opposite at the Whole Foods/Columbus Circle/NYC yesterday: I was asked whether or not I wanted a bag for my 5 or 6 items.
Dee at 8:50AM on 05/24/08
The key phrase is "store policy." Not "company policy."
ccbweb at 2:54PM on 05/24/08