Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I hate Walmart

I hate Walmart. Most of all, their unavoidable plastic bags are getting on my nerves. Since I (have to) buy the bulk of our purchases there, I get a lot of them.
Yes, they do have their "good conscience" recycling containers. And boy, do I use them. They get every single plastic bag back that they force upon me.
I have tried to bring my own bags. But I usually don't have enough of them. Also, Walmarts cash registers are designed in a way that makes using your own bag fairly impractical for both you and the cashier, resulting in more time being spent and angry people behind you in line. Walmart used to have a big "tub" at the end of the cash register, where your goods would accumulate and where you yourself could start packing, if you - like me - didn't mind doing that. Now they have their little plastic bag carousels, where the cashier dumps every purchase directly into a bag.
In most European countries I lived, it works like this: The conveyor belt pretty much stops right after the cash register and the cashier dumps your purchase back into another shopping cart. Once you pay, you take your cart either to your car, where you can put your stuff in your own bags or laundry basket or whatever, or you take your cart to a table, often opposite the cash registers, where you can pack you purchases into your own bags. (That is the option for people who walk or bike to the store and who only purchased as much as they actually can carry home.)
And no, it is not really all that bothersome.
I do believe that Walmart doesn't want you to bring back your shopping bags for recycling. They want you to use them as trash bags. I first had this impression, when they changed the bag color from noxious blue to white. Would you rather use a blue shopping bag as a trash bag - thereby outing yourself to the world that you shop at Walmart - or a neutral,white one? Seeeeee...
And lately, I made another discovery. They perfume their bags. I am fairly chemically sensitive. (And yeah, I also thought that that was ridiculous, before I started suffering from it.) One day I drove home after my hated trip to WM, and I was feeling slightly nauseated/lightheaded. I also noticed a strange, fake-fresh flowery smell in the car. First I couldn't figure out, what it was. But after unpacking at home, it hit me: The bags stank! And they stank exactly the same way that those perfumed trash bags smell. (And just for your info, I once bought them by mistake and we had to give them away because they gave me headaches. So I know!)
That absolutely convinced me that they are trying to make people use them instead of returning them.
I read somewhere though that WM is going to try to encourage people to bring and use their own bags. I am just curious how they intend to do that, since the cash register layout is so problematic.

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