400% Profit from sale of grocery bags – NO savings passed to Customer

Many grocery stores in Ontario have started charging a five-cent fee for single-use plastic bags.  The City of Toronto has mandated a five-cent fee for plastic bags at retail stores in an effort to cut down landfill volumes. The city has said it wants to reduce plastic bag use by 70 per cent by 2012. The retailers get to keep the nickel under the Toronto law.  However, there is no Ontario law and the retailers are charging because they make 400% return!  Actually its 500% because it was an expense with no direct revenue.

Metro, Loblaws and Sobeys  have instituted a five-cent charge for all of Ontario (some national).

Loblaws has reported that 75 per cent fewer plastic bags than normal have been used since it started charging fees nationwide on April 22.

Many regions in Ontario recycled stretchable plastic, including grocery bags.  Many of the “single-use” bags are used multiple times for all kinds of household uses including;

1 ) Re-Use as a grocery bag
2 ) Sorting recyclables
3 ) Re-Use as packing material. Wad the bags up and pack around the materials to be packed.
4 ) Re-Use them as trash bags.
5 ) Storage bags. Simply store and hang items you need to put away.
6 ) Shoe Liners for those wet days
7 ) Emergency Rain hats.
8 ) Emergency Diaper (nappy) cover. In a pinch a plastic grocery or bread bag makes a nice emergency disposable cover!
9 ) Dog poop picker uppers

This is a classic case of big business gouging the consumer disguised as a corporate good citizen.  If they truely wanted to help, they would offer paper bags for free.  The same ones they changed from when they found plastic bags for a fraction of the price.