16 December, 2003

Bags o'bags

I'm not going to rant about extraneous packaging of groceries (not right now, anyway...)  but it does irritate me when checkout staff put my purchases into a bag without asking whether I want one.  I tend to visit Sainsburys (supermarket) by bike, carrying everything in a 40-litre rucksack.  Is it really that likely that I'd want a carrier bag too?  If there's doubt, why not ask?
I tend to buy meat 'off-the-shelf' i.e. vacuum packed, not over the meat/fish counter.  The meat is hence sealed in plastic, on a polystyrene tray.  Why, then, do the checkout staff attempt to place it in a second plastic bag, itself to go in the rucksack (or carrier bag)?
Just now, I popped out to the shop on campus, for some late lunch.  I bought a sandwich, in a rigid plastic pack, and a bag of crisps, in a, er, bag.  Yet the checkout person automatically dropped these two small, sealed items into a carrier bag.  Why?