the us largely does not charge for bags directly, they are a consumable that is part of the store’s customer overhead. At cost each bag is around 3 cents, and probably holds 15 to 50 dollars of merchandise that is being sold at around 2% net profit generally.
people often keep the bags and use them for other stuff, like trash bags or plastic linings or makeshift gloves. not everyone does. it’s wasteful, yes, though on net carbon impact it’s probably lower than plastic reusable bags and many plant fabric ones given a plastic industry exists anyway.
the us largely does not charge for bags directly, they are a consumable that is part of the store’s customer overhead. At cost each bag is around 3 cents, and probably holds 15 to 50 dollars of merchandise that is being sold at around 2% net profit generally.
people often keep the bags and use them for other stuff, like trash bags or plastic linings or makeshift gloves. not everyone does. it’s wasteful, yes, though on net carbon impact it’s probably lower than plastic reusable bags and many plant fabric ones given a plastic industry exists anyway.