With the State of the Union address looming, it means we’re nearly a month into the new year, and nearly a month into paying the District’s new 5 cent disposable bag fee. Regardless of where you fall on the topic along the libertarian-outrage-to-environmental-nut scale, it’s been a confusing month for retailers and consumers alike. Even the Wall Street Journal highlighted the confusion.
Just as one example, last night, a market I went to informed me, incorrectly it seems, that even though those flimsy produce bags you find at grocery stores are not supposed to be subject to the fee, if I intended to carry the produce bag in my hand and out of the store as my primary bag, then I would be charged 5 cents. I could avoid the fee, however, if I put the produce bag inside my own reusable bag. This hardly makes sense.
I’ve also found that turning down a disposable bag hasn’t always meant that I avoid paying the fee. The two instances so far that I’ve found myself inadvertently paying the bag tax have been at small businesses. Both times, the employee at the register simply neglected to ask me if I wanted a bag or not. The first case was simple; they assumed I wanted one since it was a carryout restaurant, and packed up my food.
In the second case, I refused a bag when they gave me my food, but they had already charged me for the bag, and I didn’t get my nickel back. My instinct in that case was what probably most people would think: “It’s just five cents.” I don’t want to be the jerk who argues with a cashier over chump change. But assuming it happens again and again, those nickels could easily add up (though certainly not enough to drive to Maryland to get my lunch).
On the other side of the argument, we’ve run across retailers who kindly break the law when they forget to ask about our bag preference before the transaction is complete. “Just this once,” they’ve said, handing us a free bag, letting us know we’re one of their special, regular customers. But is that better or worse?
We know this bag fee is going to take some more getting used to for everybody, so we’ve decided not to identify the retailers we referred to in this column. But commentariat, we would like to hear from you on this subject as well. How many times have you paid the bag fee in the last month? Have you ever gotten a bag for free when you shouldn’t have? Have ever you been charged for a bag you ended up not using? How has your overall bag tax experience been so far?
