I was at Store #3805 in Woodland Park Colorado today, September 21. My Dad was with me. I checked out just after him at 3:31 pm. An employee stopped us before we could leave and said she needed to see both of our reciepts and highlight all items that weren't in bags.
We'd already spent more time than we'd planned and this was not welcome news, especially since my policy on disposable bags is that they are bad for the environment.
This is what I don't put in bags: Things that have handles, like milk jugs. Things that are too big. Heavy things that would break a bag. Already bagged things like a bag of bread rolls. Things in their own containers such as cakes. And so forth.
I also brought a large reusable bag and a canvas market basket. A market basket is meant to be used as a large reusable bag. It is the same concept but the lady wanted to count every item in the basket. I finally convinced her it is basically a reusable bag. Nobody has ever complained about my basket before.in fact, I get compliments on it all the time.
Encouraging people to use bags is a bad idea. There are tons and tons in landfills. Yes, they can be recycled, but many just throw them away. And recycling uses up energy whereas not using the bag in the first place uses none.
Other stores in this area are pushing the idea of bringing your own reusable bags. Safeway and City Market are both strongly promoting the concept. Only the Walmart here seems completely indifferent.
Even so, not using a bag at all, especially if you forgot to bring your reusable bags or didn't bring as many as you ended up needing, means less bags are used. It's easy to load things directly from the cart to the car, so many of the bags being used aren't necessary.
I also resented the implication that if things aren't in bags, I might be shoplifting. I've been a Walmart customer since I was a kid and I've never stolen a thing. Of course the implication isn't that I have common sense, or I'm practical, or I care about the environment. No, it's that I must be trying to get away with something. And who honestly wants to stand there while someone looks at the abbreviations on your receipt and tries to match them with actual products? One of the products on my receipt, for instance, is "LF DC SUPER." I've got to stand there and help some store employee figure that out?
I certainly hope this practice is discontinued.
By the way, when I attempted to post this complaint on Wal Mart's website, the website refused to posted because it said we don't have a Wal Mart here. I live in this town, I should know if we have a Wal Mart or not.
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