by Ashleigh
The Cost of Bags
December 30, 2008 in Ballard by Ashleigh
Like many other Ballard residents I frequent the Ballard Market, it’s conveniently close and I’ve yet to be disappointed in their products or service. On my trip yesterday I noticed at the checkout that I had been credited 5 cents for bringing my cloth bag – and I commented on it to the checker. She smiled and told me something fascinating – every paper Ballard Market bag costs them 11 cents. So I started to calculate in my head – what does that add up to? How many customers pass through the store on any given day? Hundreds? Thousands? In the time I checked out, I would say about a half dozen people checked out as well, several of them carrying paper bags. From my estimation it would be reasonable to say one thousand bags leave the store daily, about ten bags every fifteen minutes. If they were all paper – that’s 11 cents per bag – the store is spending $110 daily on paper bags, or $40,150 annually – they could employ another full time employee at that amount! Of course all the bags leaving are probably not paper, there are also plastic bags – 3 cents per bag – but plastic is being phased out due to its negative impact on the environment. Still supposing some of the bags are plastic the Market is still looking to spend tens of thousands of dollars annually on bags. No wonder Costo does not supply bags to customers.
I enjoy carrying my cloth bag – it’s more comfortable in my hands or on my shoulder and it’s not wasteful. However, I will be working doubly hard to remember it from now on. I like the Market, they do a good job and supply me with most of my food, any savings they can make are likely to translate into continued and better service, which can only be a good thing.
I love Ballard Market too! Expensive but so charming, and they have great produce and my fav greek yogurt!
Can you recommend a good place to buy canvas or any cloth bags? I have bought the cheap ones in the stores themselves but they are made of recycled paper and can’t hold much weight etc.
Thanks!
But don’t forget – that what a store spends on bag is always wrapped into their overall overhead costs. They don’t buy the bags and give them away.
About 12 years ago, in my most frugal existence, I learned that I could save at least a nickle per trip by bringing my own bags, some stores rebated per bag, others had just a standard return.
Another frugal hint – talk to produce managers about discounts on fruit and vegetables that are no longer attractive to the average buyers, it never hurts to ask. We are talking about saving pennies per pound, but when you are scrapping to make ends meet – pennies can mean alot.