MiniYoda wrote:
So I went to the store today, and I got to check myself out with my groceries. The I realized a few things are gone.
Yea, there are still some folks who will check you out, but now, they have to scan your stuff. Imagine if the computer got confused and didn't know the bar code
You can actually ring up and buy your own stuff...Cool. What about the employee being there to take care of you as you checked out?
And the biggest one of all. Remember Paper Bags? don't tell me how many things you could put in a brown paper bag. Just tell me that they HAD paper bags, which for you liberals out there can be recycled.
YODA, where have you been...? Grocery stores have had "self-checkout" for at least 20 years, but I won't take you to task about that.
I'm going to agree with you that you will never again be asked "paper or plastic" after you've paid for your groceries, before they bag them. I cannot remember the last time I saw a paper bag at any grocery store I've gone to for a very long time.
Grocery stores would like you to believe that they have done away with paper bags to save the forests, and this will save the planet from deforestration. This is total bullshit. Weyerhaeuser, Georgia-Pacific, and the rest have already replanted new trees to replace the ones they are harvesting long before they cut the ones down that will go to the paper mill to make paper bags. Trees are a renewable resource, and the companies that harvest them have a vested interest to see that we never run out of trees.
The real reason why your only choice at checkout is a plastic bag, is because plastic bags are cheaper.
p.s. I'll grant plastic bags this... They are easier to carry to the car and into the house.
p.p.s. Though it does give people jobs, recyling paper bags (all paper) is a waste of time, money, and energy. It is best to send them to a landfill, where they can naturally decompose, and return to the earth, as the cycle of life intended.