Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying nothing is certain except death and taxes.
(He was talking about the viability of the new Constitution.)
He overlooked the government’s ability to give loyal citizens a not-so-royal hemorrhoid.
It was not so long ago our august City Council — along with other governmental bodies — put plastic bags in their sights (because that’s a much softer target than, say, homelessness). To protect the environment, single-use plastic bags had to go.
In fact, plastic bags are a problem, and we had a solution: Returning to the brown paper bags we had used for generations.
To repeat, we used brown paper bags for generations and they were free to consumers. Unlike plastic, paper is recyclable, and biodegradable.
We went along with City Council with hardly a whimper because banning plastic was a good cause and the cost and inconvenience was slight.
Guess what?
City Council has just authorized a 15-cent charge on every paper bag anyone gives you — supermarket, corner grocery, drug store, pet store, restaurant take-home bag. Call it chaos Christmas.
You were a good citizen, you went along with environmental protection, and now you are being punished for it.
Ben Franklin, can you hear me?
As a quick aside, I will not cover here City Council’s well-intended, but nevertheless stupid (and quasi-racist) ban on face or ski masks in most public settings. This passed just as cold weather arrived.
I also won’t deal with the state legislature making porch piracy a crime, when the D.A. in the state’s largest city (hint: Philadelphia) refuses to prosecute retail theft of items with less value than a Honda.)
Back to the charge for paper bags.
Who benefits from this? (Hint: not you, the consumer.)
The vendor who provides the paper bag, that’s who benefits.
The bill’s sponsor, Councilman Mark Squilla, can’t deny that, but he has a slightly different take on the issue, and he provided me with a long, detailed reply to my questions.
The goal, he tells me, is to force incentivize you into bringing your own bag. (Hint: Like in Europe, and other backward regions.)
While paper is better than plastic, he says, it has “a negative environmental impact. Paper production includes deforestation, the use of enormous amounts of energy and water as well as air pollution and waste products.”
Name a product that does not use energy and create some kind of pollution. We’re even worried about cow farts.
“Paper accounts for about 26% of total waste in landfills. Paper bags are imminently recyclable as long as we have a reliable recycling program (which is a different issue),” Squilla concludes.
Quite a mouthful. Let me deconstruct.
Deforestation is easily cured by planting more trees, which is beneficial to the environment because trees suck up carbon dioxide and replace it with oxygen. Trees are a renewable, sustainable resource.
Since paper bags are recyclable, why are so many in landfills? Because we don’t have efficient recycling programs, which Squilla admits in an off-hand way. How about fixing that?
Since about Covid, and coincidental(?) with the plastic bag ban, a large number of retailers — on their own — started charging for the paper bags that had been traditionally free.
Acme did it, followed by Giant, and some others. Staples started charging, as did Macy’s, but not CVS.
To me, charging for what had always been free is theft.
And City Council — representing the poorest major U.S. city — has institutionalized the theft. It’s worse than bad. It is silly.
Squilla says the paper bags aren’t “free” anyway, they are built into the store’s overhead. True, but do you believe for an instant store prices will go down because the bags are no longer free? Of course you don’t. Because they won’t.
The charge, he admits, is a disincentive for consumers, poking them to bring their own bags.
He said imagine the disincentive if the charge were $1 a bag. (He is not planning that, don’t worry. I think highly of Squilla. We just disagree on this issue.)
How about an incentive — take 15 cents off the bill for each bag the customer brings from home. Wouldn’t that go over better in America’s poorest big city?
This charge will slow things at cash registers and be really hard to enforce on customers who bag their own purchases at the supermarket.
Speaking of enforcement, who gets to do that — cops? The paper bag police? The Keebler elves?
No, Licenses & Inspections.
As if they don’t have enough to do.
Center City alone has 2,800 retail businesses. Who’s going to stand near the register watching bags? It’s just silly.
Can you imagine a top quality restaurant charging you 15 cents for a doggie bag after you paid $300 for dinner?
What happens if the retailer says F U to the 15-cent charge?
They face a $150 fine, but Squilla admits there will be little enforcement.
He’s counting on “go along to get along,” and good citizenship for the fee to be levied.
Me? I think consumers will feel they were conned on plastic bags, and are tired of being nickeled and dimed to death by the Nanny State.
In my 53 years on this ball of dirt, I’ve never seen a more obvious money grab. The sugar tax, the plastic bag ban, now this and that has only been the last few years. They say it is for the good of all, and I never see what they see as “good for all”. the older I get the more I shake my head and sigh.
Don’t forget the tobacco tex and the drink-by-the-glass tax.
Everytime that I come back to Philly, I forget about this. I go into WAWA get the stuff that I need, and they ask, ( here it comes) do you want a bag? No dummy I’m going to take it out one by one to my car, of course I want a bag. 15 cents each please. Now mind you it’s not the 15cents so much, it’s th Fuck You factor that get’s me. It’s like don’t buy a bag , fuck you get out of the way and pick up your stuff that you need. So 1 Hour to being in Philly and I’m pissed off again. Paper ruins trees, Plastic fills landfills, so what’s with trash can liners? Milk cartons, plasticc wrap on meats, Everything has plastic! Even lunchmeat is wrapped in paper then put in plastic! This is a money Grab AGAIN! Sugar Tax is a money Grab AGAIN! I’m living in a new State, none of these problems exist. ( Not Florida) Maybe these dummies should look at other states and say ahhh, thats the way government works. Instead of constantly pissing off the people.
I agree that it is the FU factor, not the sum.
Democrats want to control everything you buy and do in life. They want to take away all your freedom and do the opposite of what is right.
I could list SO many things that Republicans are doing right now before your very eyes to REALLY take away your freedoms that it would make your head spin. But it wouldn’t matter to you. You’d simply tell me I was making stuff up or come up with some other lame excuse. So I won’t bother. Just keep on living with your eyes closed.
Freeze, do you realize that in Danny boy this site has its own village idiot?
Agreed Daniel, 100%.
Daniel/this and a token will get you in the subway but you always make perfect sense to me
ahhh……don’t let them Wear you/us down but certainly agree….. .so much to be upset about for sure… certain things make us angry, certain things break our heart (take a ride down Kensington Ave.)…which can lead back to anger…..Pax Vobiscum …. tis the season to be jolly!
HAPPY FRIDAY !!!
Back in the ’90s, Jersey had some bag issues. Murphy’s paid you to bring your own paper bags. 2 c2nts each, I believe.
Today, out here in Chester county, Wegman’s charges 5 cents each for paper bags.
We have many issues here in the 21st century. There is little income for the cities, yet costs keep going up. The government is not our friend. They want more and continue to give less. Wait to you see/FEEL the sting for the cost of these illegals !
On the plus side. Stu will here from God v e r y soon.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all. Health and Happiness
Tony
Wow! So suggesting consumers be paid was not so crazy? Thanks for the reminder for my conversation with God.
Stu,
The difference is that Wegman’s is doing it voluntarily for its own business reasons. Kind of like some restaurants are now charging for “bread service” that used to be free. If I don’t like it, I can shop or eat somewhere else.
Charge for bread is new to me. I have noticed many less-expensive restaurants no longer put bread out.
Charging what has always been free is theft:like NewJersey beaches.
I heard a comedian say, “I buy a loaf of bread wrapped in plastic, razor blades in a plastic case, orange juice in a plastic bottle, a head of lettuce wrapped in plastic… and you’re telling me you want to cut down on MY use of plastic?”
It’s interesting to me that with all of the retail theft in Philadelphia, City Council members think it makes sense to encourage people to bring their own bags( any size including huge) into CVS, Macy’s and every other retailer to make it more convenient for the thieves to carry the merchandise they steal!
😄
I stopped shopping in Philly when the soda tax took effect. I live in the northeast so Woodhaven mall Acme is very close by. An added benefit to shopping here is they still have all the free plastic bags you want. You’re allowed to double or triple bag to your hearts delight. This mall also has a Home Depot, a movie theater, a TJ max, and a few other stores. No reason to shop Philly stores at all. Not making any statement but enjoy the convenience of plastic bags with handles to carry my stuff into the house in one trip. Not possible with the paper bags that they charge for.
Also outside our thieving democratic city the sales tax is lower.
Correct again!
And Philly has the nerve to call NJ the Land of Taxes! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
BTW, those cow farts (methane) you mentioned above? We have about 75% less cattle around the US than we did decades ago, and they still complain that they are adding too much to our global warming quota. But I realize that’s a different topic for another time.
What do you get for these high taxes? Crime, filth. Lousy schools etc.
That’s the trifacta, Daniel! Three posts; three facts.
Rather obvious that Council members have no idea how business works.
(A requirement to run for Council could be to have worked in private business for ten years first, like Allen Domb. He knew what was what.)
Please consider the overhead costs businesses calculate into the cost of the things we buy. Paper bags is one of those costs, as well as, are you ready…. deliver trucks that run on gas!! ( And the “holy catfish plastic bag righteousness” is silly, too, since 99% of everything we buy in stores is packaged in plastic, like those rolls of plastic bags for fruit and veg, for heaven’s sake.)
And just wait for the economy-killing, city-killing, competition-killing, private creativity-killing delusional fantasies of the Worker’s Family Party, clearly misnamed!!, take over of City Council. Hello Portland, SF, NYC and Chicago.
We can do and should be much smarter and better.
Stu, one result of these laws is that we’re wasting even more plastic. I made an unplanned stop at the Reading Terminal Market a while back. Since it was unplanned, I had no bag. The grateful vendor I purchased from asked if I needed a bag and provided me a plastic bag at no charge. When I got home, I noticed the text on the bag informing me that it was reusable so I shouldn’t throw it away. It was much thicker than the standard pre-prohibition bags we’re all used to.
Not having any need for it, I either threw it away or used it for cleaning the cats’ litter box.
My experience is that retailers charge for the reusable plastic bags. I carry my own, in the pocket I used to carry my wallet. I pay cash now for practically nothing. (I have a $20 tucked away for emergencies.)
Used it for cleaning the cats’ litter box? Why not use The Philadelphia Inquirer? Any section would suffice, the Opinion Page in particular. However, the cat poop deserves better.
Spot on as usual
Another Democratic Inflationary Measure !
I find it disheartening that the cost of essential items, like paper bags, continues to rise. This nickel-and-diming approach seems to disproportionately affect those who are already facing financial challenges. It’s crucial for policymakers to consider the broader impact on consumers, especially those with limited means. I completely agree with your sentiment. The seemingly small charges, when added up, can significantly impact households, and it’s essential for policymakers to strike a balance between environmental considerations and the economic well-being of citizens. This calls for transparent communication and perhaps exploring alternative solutions to minimize the burden on consumers. What do you think could be viable alternatives to address both environmental concerns and affordability? https://nearestlandfill.com/org/dale-county-transfer-station/
In a word, moderation. No outright bans. Incentives.