Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Did They Miss the Point Or What? [Part 2]

Yesterday, when I was at Macy’s to buy an organic shirt, I asked if I could put my purchase in my cloth bag without using a plastic Macy’s bag.

“I’m sorry, I have to use a Macy’s bag, it’s our policy,” the clerk said.

“But I don’t use plastic bags,” I answered.

“I’ll use the smallest plastic bags we have,” she said, flapping the bag open.

“I really don’t use plastic.”

She huffed (literally, huffed) and said, “Well, you can throw it out when you get out the door.”

Ouch. And . . . are you kidding me?

“If I have to use a plastic bag, I won’t buy this shirt,” I said.

In this case, the (green) customer was right and I walked out with my organic tee and without a plastic Macy’s bag.

It’s Macy's policy to force a petroleum-based product on their customers? Now I remember why I haven’t shopped at Macy’s in years.

Question of the blog: Why do you think plastic bags are almost taboo in grocery stores but are still perfectly acceptable in department stores?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's insane but yay you for standing your ground. I made like 12 cloth grocery type bags last month and have been using them everywhere since then. So far I've gotten a lot of questions as how to make the bags and only one very annoyed guy. You'd think more stores would love the idea of customers bringing their own bags since it drives their costs down from not having to buy as many plastic bags. I say use cloth everywhere you go!

Crafty Green Poet said...

I've had similar experiences and have puzzled over it though the few department stores I shop in have become better over the years and I usually am allowed to put things in my cloth bag. I buy almost all my clothes etc second hand and charity shops are usually effusive with thanks that I have my own bag