The re-usable bag thing

I definitely have a favorite reusable bag. I have used the same set for several years and have given them away as gifts many times over. I keep one in my purse, two in the car, and a couple in my desk at work at all times. It's helped me 'remember the bag'.  We are pretty good (not perfect) at remembering to bring them along for grocery store shopping trips, but as apart of our #zerowastechallenge, we are trying to 'remember the bag' for all of our consuming. No matter the store. They've been getting pulled out more and more for department store and pharmacy shopping, basically anywhere that has the possibility of bagging up our purchases.

As we pull them out more regularly, what I'm realizing is that checkout counters are set up to automatically give you the disposable bag. Think about Walgreens or Target, they scan the item and right next to the scanner is a stack of bags with hooks and they immediately place the items in the bag in one swoop action. It happens in a blink of the eye and is so, so automatic. At Walgreen's they are so fast that I've started telling them I have my own bag BEFORE they even start ringing! It's the only way to stop them. The 'automatic bag' part doesn't surprise me, but what has surprised me is how often we've been getting comments from cashiers about it. "oh how nice you have your own bag", "I like your bag" and "that's smart to bring your own bag". The other day at Target, I literally threw off this cashier's whole world when I said I had my own bags and could help bag the goods. She literally didn't know where to put stuff. We had to have a conversation about Do we hand off items? Or does she just set it over here? Kind of amusing. But what these comments reinforce, is how unusual it is to reject the disposable bags in these spaces. To be clear, I don't point this out to say MY actions are radical or pioneering. I am not. They are not. Instead I point it out to say it is so common place, it is so automatic in our consumption and the very process at the check out line, that when I deviate from the script people are surprised by it and caught off-guard. They notice and they comment. It's worth considering why that is and how it came to be that way.

Today I thought... what about take out? I have a bag in my purse at all time, when they give me sandwiches to go, why not have them bag it up in my own bag?

PS we're also talking about how to live through the embarrassment of bringing our own containers for left overs at restaurants... I'll report on that once we actually muster enough courage to do it :)

PPS oh yeah, you want to know what my favorite reusable bags are? They are EnviroSax, spacious, lightweight and strong: https://www.amazon.com/Envirosax-Tropics-Pouch-Bag-Multicolor/dp/B00IFB2ORS/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_79_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D9WG6RKGKMABKJCQMKP7