It Pays to Bring Your Bags by Jeanne Blaisdell
Beyond environmental reasons to bring your bags to the grocery store or anywhere you shop, many retailers are now giving a small, but encouraging incentive for bringing your own bags.
EarthFare - offers a Choose or Reuse Program. Each time a shopper reuses a grocery bag, the company donates $.05 to a local 
organization dedicated to eliminating childhood obesity in their community. If you forget your bags, be prepared to make the donation yourself.
Whole Foods - Eliminated plastic bags altogether in April, 2008. For shoppers who bring in their reusable bags, the grocery store will offer a $.05 – .10 credit (depending on the store) at checkout.
Now for a few mainstream stores:
Target - In select stores, Target is offering a $.05 credit off your total purchase per reusable bag you bring and use at checkout. Though the Target program rolled out to all stores on November 1, it’s still wise to double check with the cashier to make sure you get the credit. And you don’t have to use a Target bag – they will accept any bag.
CVS -Offering a similar program but requires the purchase of a $.99 CVS bag. CVS will give participating CVS customers $1 cash bonuses on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don’t request plastic bags.
Toys & Company – With locations in Greensboro, Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, they have always offered a great reusable bag to take home your toy and gift purchases. Now they will give an additional 10% off future purchases when you bring their bag back to the store to use again when shopping.
It’s great to see a few major retailers really getting on-board to encourage the use of reusable bags. What other stores offer a similar program in your area? Also, did I miss a big one? Let me know.
Jeanne Blaisdell
Jeanne Blaisdell publishes TheGreenSamaritan.com, her personal blog highlighting green living tips and information in order to help herself and others on their journey towards greater environmental awareness. She has also launched EcoAvenueLtd.com, an online shopping site featuring the latest deals and promotions from a collection of earth-friendly merchants. Jeanne lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband Tom and two boys, Jack (10) and Ben (7). You can follow her @GreenSamaritan and @EcoAvenueltd.
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I only have 3 reusable bags. I'm thinking I need more for those days I make multiple shopping trips. I've found that even though I'm trying to reduce plastic bag consumption, I have to monitor the bagperson at the grocery store to make sure they don't give me any plastic bags. The reusable bags are plenty big enough, but I still have to stop them from giving me extra bags. What's this love affair with plastic grocery bags? Enough!
I'm impressed! You've managed the amlost impossible.
I have quite a few reusable bags too, but sometimes I forget to put them back in the car and then get upset that I get all the way to the grocery store without them!
Thanks for the insihgt. It brings light into the dark!
Sometimes I forget my bags, but I usually carry a big purse just in case. And even on days that I don't have that, I still have arms! I just load them up, sometimes precariously, and go! I understand that it may be different for you if you have time constraints or little ones to wrangle with as you are leaving the store, but it seems so wasteful to use store bags much of the time.
I can't even count the number of times I have been at my local co-op and heard the person behind me say, "oh I left my bags in the car; just give me paper ones" and I usually offer to go get their bags for them (which they don't always take me up on, but at least I gave it a try).
That's my rant!
Thanks for sahring. What a pleasure to read!
Good to see a taenlt at work. I cant match that.