Supermarket carrier bags

[parrot of doom]

Anyone ever gone back to the supermarket and claimed for stuff thats fallen out of a ripped bag?

I got home today with 4 bags, one of the lightest bags looks like its been torn by the corner of a packet of bacon, when I lifted it up to put the food away a couple of things fell out, including 2 cartons of whipping cream which of course broke open!

I'm bloody fuming, its not the first time its happened. I have the receipt, photos of the mess on my phone, and the offending bag.

Anyone ever done this before?

[PatHeald]

parrot of doom said:

Anyone ever gone back to the supermarket and claimed for stuff thats fallen out of a ripped bag? I got home today with 4 bags, one of the lightest bags looks like its been torn by the corner of a packet of bacon, when I lifted it up to put the food away a couple of things fell out, including 2 cartons of whipping cream which of course broke open! I'm bloody fuming, its not the first time its happened. I have the receipt, photos of the mess on my phone, and the offending bag. Anyone ever done this before?

No.

[simpo two]

Nope, but try Morrisons - their carrier bags are reallytough!

[-DeaDLocK-]

Happened a couple of times, but I never once thought to blame the supermarket. Sharp corners on lots of packaging will pierce through any plastic carrier bag - the alternatives are to either pay extra for really high quality bags (the sort you find in high street clothing stores) and increase already unnecessary plastic production, or simply don't use carrier bags. Most supermarkets sell high quality nylon bags these days that will not tear - good both in quality and environmental terms.

I certainly wouldn't be the least bit angry about a pierced bag, but that's just me...

[m.c]

this kinda sounds like a sketch from faulty towers. you can imagine it happening

[simpo two]

-DeaDLocK- said:

Sharp corners on lots of packaging will pierce through any plastic carrier bag

You must work for the Carrier Bag Advisory Council

[x1m]

As students, we just go shopping with 80ltr rucksacks :P

[glocko]

Can't go wrong!!!

[polarbert]

i feel for you parrot, i have noticed that asda bags used to be really good quality, nice and thick, but a few months ago they changed to these pathetic thin crappy pieces of rubbish, i thought about letting them know, but couldnt be bothered


and also they put the price of an all day brekfast sandwich up from £1.28 to £1.48 for no apparent reason

>> Edited by polarbert on Saturday 9th July 22:57

[glocko]

polarbert in the pub with his mates said:

Yeah I go on this web forum for fast living people with fast moving cars, it's all about the finer things in life...but enough about that, have you seen the price of cat food these days!!!

[dxg999]

glocko said:

Can't go wrong!!!

*Much* kinder to the environment too.

I hate to sound a bit of a greenie on this, but we have to keep our petrolchemical stocks for more important things. I'm sure you can work out what they are...

If the EU do eventually get round to their tax on carrier bags, I'll actually support it. You can do your bit now, though. Have a look around the checkout next time you're there. You should find stronger, reusable bags for sale for a nominal sum.

/Soapbox off, back to the fun stuff.../

[Witchfinder]

dxg999 said:

*Much* kinder to the environment too.

I tend to keep carrier bags for re-use, but my cupboards are rapidly filling up with the bloody things. I think I might buy some tough re-usable ones.

dxg999 said:

I hate to sound a bit of a greenie on this, but we have to keep our petrolchemical stocks for more important things. I'm sure you can work out what they are...

Doesn't the process of fractional distillation mean that plastics extracted from oil are the bits that cannot be used as a fuel? So using plastic bags doesn't reduce the supply of petrol.

[srebbe64]

The question which I want answered is;

What were you planning to do with two tins of whipped cream?

[Pigeon]

Witchfinder said:

Doesn't the process of fractional distillation mean that plastics extracted from oil are the bits that cannot be used as a fuel? So using plastic bags doesn't reduce the supply of petrol.

It isn't just fractional distillation - the stuff is catalytically "cracked" as well, which breaks big molecules up into little ones. This also increases the percentage of unsaturated hydrocarbons which are useful for making plastics. The process can be tweaked in various ways so that the proportions of the different chemicals you get out of it can be adjusted to suit the different demand for each bit (though the adjustment isn't perfect).

It seems to me that the ripping problem was less severe when the bags were made out of straightforward polythene, which takes a fair bit of energy to tear. The hard crackly stuff they use now - I think it's polypropylene, it's certainly some polyolefin - propagates tears much more readily. I suspect they've worked out that if the bag tears and spills stuff on the floor people come back and buy more stuff.

If we're talking about claiming for stuff damaged because of ripped bags, perhaps I could try claiming for stuff damaged because of packed bags. If (as is usually the case) the previous customer is fannying around and getting in the way so I can't get down to the bags before the checkout operator starts putting my stuff through, the operator starts packing the bloody bags for me. This means I have to arse around outside the store, balancing the bags on the motorbike while trying to repack them in a manner that suits the carrier. This has been known to result in the untimely demise of a jar of coffee. (I wouldn't mind so much if it was a jar of something pigeons eat, at least it wouldn't be wasted )

What makes it even more annoying is that if I am packing the bags correctly and all they have to do is scan things, it's faster than them scanning the stuff and packing it incorrectly...

Edited because it didn't make sense


>> Edited by Pigeon on Sunday 10th July 01:41

[parrot of doom]

srebbe64 said:

The question which I want answered is; What were you planning to do with two tins of whipped cream?

Make cheesecake.

[imperialism2024]

How about just double-bagging with paper bags? Easily recyclable, and it's very hard to tear both...

[Pigeon]

UK supermarkets don't have paper bags.

[imperialism2024]

Those bastards!

[rooster]

parrot of doom said:

Anyone ever gone back to the supermarket and claimed for stuff thats fallen out of a ripped bag? I got home today with 4 bags, one of the lightest bags looks like its been torn by the corner of a packet of bacon, when I lifted it up to put the food away a couple of things fell out, including 2 cartons of whipping cream which of course broke open! I'm bloody fuming, its not the first time its happened. I have the receipt, photos of the mess on my phone, and the offending bag. Anyone ever done this before?

Oi POD its about time you stopped using plastic bags. Not very environmentally sound y'know, and obviously not good for your shopping.

[mxdi]

Theres something very american about carrying your shopping home in a brown paper bag, a lot cooler than thin plastic bags with tesco plastered over the side