Acme has become Screw me

Big surprise at Acme Thursday morning — the supermarket is charging for paper bags, which have been free since Methuselah was a teenager.

I was surprised only because a couple of weeks ago, after it had banned single-use plastic bags, Acme had nothing but the usual brown paper bags, two of which broke when I transferred them from car to cart at home.

I called the store to complain, saying they needed better quality paper bags, with handles built in, like you get at Mom’s and Trader Joe’s, which happily double bag for you.

The Acme phone answerer said they expected to get such bags in about two weeks.

It’s two weeks later and the better bags have not arrived, and they want to charge you for the shixxy ones. With virtually no advance notice, a lot of people did not bring bags with them.

Acme is happy to sell you paper or reusable plastic bags, but — get this — cash only.

Cash? How very retrograde. Who carries cash any more, other than poor people, and they are the last people who should be charged extra.

When did Acme become Screw me?

I should not have been surprised.

A couple of weeks ago, I needed some supplies at Staples, which had no free bags. I bitched about it on Facebook, and here I go again.

I said then, and say now, this is goddamn gouging, under the pretense of helping the environment.

Free bags, which are an American tradition, have been ditched and turned into a profit point for retailers. 

For me, it isn’t the money — it’s the principle of the thing.

One of my neighbors saw me with a cart full of loose grocery items and I explained what happened.

Whole Foods doesn’t charge for bags, he said.

So, guess what? FU Acme.

It won’t be as convenient, but principle has a price. 

I wonder how long it will take for other supermarkets to follow suit. Monkey-see, monkey-do. When one airline got the bright idea to charge for baggage, most of the others quickly followed suit.

Target, which had been handing out a sort of cloth carrying bag — the best investment it ever made because they are free advertising all over town — had curtailed that, the last time I was in there. On the other hand, I was in Macy’s Wednesday and got a paper bag — with handles — for my purchase, at no charge. 

How about your supermarket? Does it charge for bags? Let us know.

When City Council got the bright idea to ban plastic bags, couldn’t they have seen this coming?

Maybe they could have, if they had any business sense. Only Allan Domb runs a business and signs a paycheck.

As long as Council is telling retailers what they can’t do — hand out plastic bags — how about telling them what they must do — provide some means of carrying purchases.

Retailers ought to be smart enough to do it on their own, but if they’re not, let’s help them.