Talk:990: Plastic Bags

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 15:48, 13 June 2014 by Mumiemonstret (talk | contribs) (What are you doing "over there"?)
Jump to: navigation, search

This time the lesson I learned came mostly from alt-text. The high we can experience from helping the world can last for days indeed, way better and healthier then drugs, want to try it? - e-inspired 98.211.199.84 15:45, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

You make it sound like it's an either/or choice. 69.207.73.11 08:02, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

As a former service cashier/bag filler I can confirm that there is a counterpoint, customers with reusable bags who will absolutely refuse to use any plastic bags whatsoever, no matter how ridiculously overful their bags become, and no matter how much of a bad idea it might be ("Yes, sure, lets put your hot chicken in with the ice cream, along with the crusty laundry powder box on top of the soft fruit! I can't see how this could possibly go wrong!").Pennpenn (talk) 04:11, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

The comic, and to even greater degree its explanation, is really confusing for a non-American like myself. Some "stupid" questions about shopping groceries in the U.S.:

  • Don't customers bag their own groceries?
  • Are plastic bags for free (for the customer)?
  • In that case, what is the incentive for the practice in the comic?
  • Do you get a rebate if you bring your own bag(s) instead?
  • If so, why don't simply charge for the bags provided by the store?

To put this in perspective: In Sweden, and I think most of the EU, plastic bags are the single most profitable commodity in a store. They sell for around 25 cents and are bought by the store for maybe 5 cents so the margin would be around 400%. The customer gets no help packing them (all cash desks have two compartments so you pack while the next customer's items fill the other compartment). Thus, the salesman wants to sell bags and often asks "Do you need a bag?" (but are polite enough not to try to sell more bags than necessary). The customer, on the other hand, wants to fill the bags maximally, and often brings their own bags.

Could someone with global insights on packing customs improve the explanation, to make it work internationally? Mumiemonstret (talk) 15:48, 13 June 2014 (UTC)