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Tricks of the Trade

Friday, June 17th, 2011

I recently read an article that purported to reveal the “secrets supermarkets don’t want you to know”.  It listed various nefarious acts grocery retailers commit in order to sell their customers higher profit “junk food”.  The article linked to another similar article which claimed grocers were conspiring to make customers fat since fat customers will buy more food at higher profit margins.

Let’s take a look at some of these odious “tricks”:

Why do stores place milk in the back? Milk is called a “loss leader”.  The stores generally take a loss on this product, but it is a dietary staple so people will seek it out.  Therefore, placing it in the rear of the store will “lead” people passed other grocery items, and hopefully this will entice them to buy other products beside milk.  However, this isn’t the only reason.  Milk has a high turn-over rate; the cartons typically have a one-week expiration date.  This means there will be a truck delivering milk at least once per week, which has to be unloaded and stocked in the cooler cases.  This activity increases labor, which adds even more cost to the grocery who is already losing money on the product.  Placing the dairy all the way in the front of the store would mean lugging all that product farther from the dock, increasing the labor margin even more.  The article I read made the claim, “no store in America will place dairy up front”, which is patently false.  Wegman’s stores, headquartered in Rochester, New York, repeatedly places a convenience case for milk and other dairy products up front near the checkouts as a customer service.

Stores place Bakeries in back so the aroma of baked bread will entice customers through the store, therefore tricking them to pass by impulse items.  I have designed well over 100 stores, and the majority of them had the Bakeries up front or near the front.  Think about the last time you went grocery shopping; did you smell bread baking?  I seriously doubt it.  Baking is typically done from about 4:am to 8:am, much too early for most shoppers.  Some stores do “bake off” cookies or regularly make coffee in order to create aromas, but rarely does a store bake bread, cakes or pastries throughout the day.  By placing a Bakery up front, any aromas that may be present will create a nice, homey, warm feeling for the customers as they enter the store.

Why are most stores cold? Scientists say that people will buy more fatty food when cold as a primitive urge sets in.  Believe it or not, this last sentence, about the Scientists has been used as evidence in government policy hearings regarding America’s unhealthy eating habits.  However, this is an urban myth, like the ‘Casinos pump extra oxygen into the air to keep gambler’s alert’ myth.  Stores are typically cold due to one, very simple truth: food keeps fresher longer when it is cold.  Stores are filled with refrigeration, and in less-green stores the cases are open (called air-screen cases). Cold air is being constantly circulated in the store due to all this refrigeration.  Stores like Texas’ HEB even house their entire produce departments inside a giant cooler; as customers walk in they probably don’t even realize they are walking through a huge refrigerator.  This isn’t some evil plot created by grocers to keep people fat; it’s simply a way to preserve the food.

Stores put candy at the checkout so kids will want it.  Okay, I’ll give you this one, stores do indeed place candy, small toys, gum, baseball cards, etc. at the checkout in order to generate last minute impulse sales.  They will also place popular gossip magazines, nail files, soda pop, breath mints, Twinkies (TM), batteries, screw driver sets, and anything that someone may have forgotten to buy but just might need.  However, in most stores’ defense, the display racks these items have been placed on are many times provided by an outside company who may even take care of the labor to keep it stocked and simply pass on a percentage of the profit to the store.  In most of these cases the outside company is the one who determines what is put on the racks, not the store.  Getting free fixtures, free merchandising, and free stocking labor is usually irresistible to store owners, however I have designed many stores where the fixture needed to be a bit more “upscale” and/or the store owner wanted different merchandise up by the register.  Store owners and operators who don’t take the bait and go for the easy impulse-buy-rack can benefit from extra wine sales, or items which are made right in the store.

Stores place more expensive items at eye level.  Yep, I’ll give you this one too, but only partially.  It’s not that the items at eye level are more expensive, it’s usually because the items have a higher profit margin.  In the case of WalMart, companies who want their product placed at eye level pay a much higher “slotting fee”.  In the case of Nature’s Fresh NW (now owned and operated by Wild Oats/Whole Foods) local items, organic and natural items were placed in this prime location regardless of profit margin or price.  Many stores with in-house brands will place their branded items at this level while their competitors are placed lower or higher.  Another thing that may determine shelf placement is the SKU, the Shelf Keeping Unit.  The SKU lists how many of each item from one brand may be placed in a row.  If the item is in a container too big to fit on the shelf at eye level, the store may move it to another shelf.

Stores keep lower light levels around the perimeter to create a false “homey” feel. This is only part of the possible story.   Light levels are high in the aisles so customers don’t trip on anything that may have spilled, and so box and can labels are more easily read.  The light levels around the wide-aisled perimeter don’t have to be this bright.  Most of the glass cases are located along the perimeter and they are internally illuminated.  Keeping the lighting a bit lower around the cases will make them seem brighter and will highlight the product inside.  The same thing is especially true at the Produce Department where true-color spot lights can really make the vegetables and fruit “pop” when the overall ambient light is kept slightly lower.

I’m not saying grocers don’t play a few “tricks” to get customers to buy more.  This is a capitalist society and merchants have every right to make a dollar.  However, not everything they do is an insidious act to dupe the consumer.

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Lighting, Color and Sound

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Form is always supposed to follow function; that’s the maxim.  When design gets in the way of the actual function of the space, then the design is poor.

We were once at a restaurant that was so dark at the tables, the waiter actually carried a small pen light so we could actually read the menus.  Here, the owner/operator or designer wanted the restaurant to be extremely moody, dramatic, or maybe romantic, but forgot the maxim.  The function of a restaurant is to have customers choose their food, then eat it.  We couldn’t see the menus, and I’m pretty sure we had trouble discerning what our food looked like. Perhaps that was really the goal of the restaurant – we couldn’t see what we were eating.

The same goes for any retail establishment; they are trying to sell stuff.  If a customer can’t see the stuff they’re supposed to buy, what good is the store?  Of course lighting levels can create a mood, which can support the brand name.  Abercrombie & Fitch makes sure the stores have warm, lower levels of lighting, but there are always spot lights or down lights where the product needs it.  Conversely, most drug stores will have high levels of lighting which help give a more “medical”, clean feel as well as making every product highly visible.

Lighting is one of the most important and expensive factors in the design of a retail space or restaurant.  It is important to get it just right.  In a retail store, the lighting serves to light the product but it also lights the floor so customers won’t trip, or so they can find their way around better.  The lighting should also highlight signage around the store, making sure its readable.  One important factor which impacts lighting levels is color.  If the space has dark, matte paint colors or materials, then the light will be absorbed, possibly requiring more light fixtures to get the same affect.  Conversely if the space has bright, shiny colors or materials, the light will bounce around and fewer fixtures may be required.  Using the least number of fixtures to obtain the desired effect is the least expensive way of designing lighting.  I have had many client’s jaws drop when they see how much the lighting package for their store costs.  They rarely have budgeted enough.  This usually means we have to remove something else in the design to make up the balance.

When it comes to restaurants in particular, the trend in the nineties was to have extremely loud spaces.  Some restaurants were a cacophony of human voices interlaced with flatware against porcelain.  The louder a space got, the more people had to raise their voices to be heard.  My hearing is excellent, however when I have a lot of background noise I have trouble making out what the person right next to me is saying.  It’s sometimes called “nerve deafness” and is extremely common.  These loud restaurants were not places I liked to go.  When I go out to dine, I also go for conversation.

Looking at some of these restaurants it is easy to see how they became so loud.  The floors were polished wood, concrete, or ceramic tile.  The ceilings were hard painted gypsum board, or exposed decking.  The walls were either just painted, smooth walls, or had ceramic tile.  Every surface was designed to bounce, echo, reverberate and drown the space in sound.  The floors could have been carpeted, but that can be a maintenance challenge.  The walls could have cloth, tapestry or some drapery but it may not have matched the look and feel the restaurant was going for and again, can collect dust or food particles from sticky fingers or splashes.  The only real option was the ceiling where small cloth baffles could have been hung to absorb some of the sound.  If there’s not enough room for baffles, there are a variety of materials including beautiful wood panels which are designed for their acoustic properties, usually with small slots or holes and a blanket backer.

Just keep in mind what the function of the space is and then make sure the lighting, color and sound all work to fulfill that goal.

Amplify

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Grocery Store Restrooms

Friday, November 19th, 2010

excerpt from my book “Grocery Store Design”:  (this information also applies to restaurants and other establishments)

Public restrooms can be costly with regards to labor for cleaning & maintenance. However, the importance of public restrooms for customers should not be overlooked; they are more than mere conveniences. For parents with young children in tow, restrooms can be a necessity. Customers may choose a store with available restrooms rather than a store without.

If public restrooms are going to be provided, they must be more than simply available; they must be easily accessible. Customers do not want to wind their way through a stock room in order to reach a restroom, nor do they want to use the same restrooms that the employees use. Separate restrooms directly off the sales floor are best.

Public restrooms are notorious areas for theft, as they are typically out of view. Stores post signs stating it is forbidden for customers to take merchandise into the restrooms, but this does not deter a determined thief. A good designer will place the restroom access in clear view of a service department. A better designer will place the restrooms in the front of the store near customer service.

Not only do restrooms provide a much needed service to customers, they can also be great marketing tools. Advertisements can be placed on the restroom wall for customer reading. Also, a clean and well-designed restroom will implant a subliminal message in the customer’s mind that the store is well kept and therefore the product is fresh and clean. A dirty or unkempt restroom sends the message: “if a store doesn’t care enough about its restrooms, does it care about its produce?”

If a restroom is located in or near the stockroom/back of house, then the employee lounge or break room should be kept away from the line of sight of customers and out of earshot. Employees should be allowed to vent frustrations, tell jokes, or discuss topics without worrying about customers. As well, a customer who sees into break rooms may get the impression the store is unkempt (as break rooms are notoriously messy). Notices to employees should also be kept from customers. Customers should not be able to read a sign meant only for employees saying, “Remember to smile!” This kind of sign will give the impression that the smiles are forced and not genuine, destroying an essential portion of customer service.

It’s all about impressions. A friend of mine recently shopped at a Wegman’s store in Pennsylvania. I asked her about her shopping experience and the first thing she said was, “they’re restrooms are incredible!”

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Meijer stores adding electric vehicle charging stations

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Meijer grocery stores is installing electric vehicle charging stations at three of its Michigan stores (its headquarters is in Grand Rapids).  It will cost them close to $100,000 to install the three stations, but it plans to install between ten and twenty additional ones throughout its Midwest stores.  The three Michigan stores in Warren, Allen Park and Holland will get two stations which will be free to Meijer customers.

Julie Croll, Senior Vice President of Properties and Real Estate for Meijer said: “Whether we are providing our customers with reusable bags, placing rooftop wind turbines on stores or offering charging stations for the electric vehicles, we are committed to searching for innovative ways to be green”.

The charging stations are purchased from Shocking Solutions of Roseville, Michigan, and are made by Coulomb Technologies of Campbell, California.

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Grocery Decor and Color

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
(excerpt from my book “Grocery Store Planning”)

Like signage, décor delivers a message to customers. A clean, utilitarian design can tell customers a store is focusing on low prices and not spending a lot of money on fancy signage and décor. However, cheap, flimsy, or dirty décor can tell customers the store is not very focused on freshness or quality. Likewise, an elaborate or fancy décor can tell customers the store is high quality, but may be expensive. As in all factors of store design, a delicate balance must be maintained in order to send the most appropriate message to customers.

Décor can be very noticeable, or subtle, depending on the desired effect. Sophisticated décor can be very effective in creating a comfortable shopping mood for customers. Garish colors, too many faux finishes, or a multitude of props can cheapen the overall look of a store’s décor; customers are no longer amused by a net with dust-laden plastic sea creatures draped over the seafood department.

A designer must avoid falling into décor stereotypes. A modern décor does not have to be sterile, white, and devoid of warmth, just as a traditional décor does not have to be filled with antiques or old-fashioned lettering.  Color plays a very important role in setting a mood. Using an abundance of oranges, browns and yellows may increase the overall warmth of the store, but it may also feel retro, like a return to the seventies. A designer may want to refer to one of the many color palette guides available in book stores in order to better coordinate a store’s décor. Dairy departments traditionally have used the colors blue, white or yellow for signage. Red would resemble the sanguinity of the meat department and is best for stimulating an appetite, but can also be too fiery for a cool department. Green is of course a traditional produce color, but so are wood tones and most earth-tones. Orange is typically too warm of a color for dairy, but it could refer to juice. Blue and white are cold colors, frequently associated with the frozen food department, but clearly refer to a cooler, fresher product. Yellow, although a warm color, can be crisp and fresh feeling.

Earth-toned colors are mutations of the traditional “jewel-tone” color palette. They specifically refer to colors found on, in or near the ground such as soil browns, clay reds, mossy greens, ochre yellows, and slate blues. These colors create a warm, subdued atmosphere but their overuse can create a rich, expensive décor. Jewel-toned colors like emerald green, sapphire blue, topaz yellow, garnet and ruby red, are rich, bright colors which can generate excitement and stimulate appetites. However, using too many of these colors together may cause over-stimulation or look too primary & childlike. The best way to integrate jewel-tones is to pick one and paint (or tile, or wallpaper, etc.) a single focus wall, leaving the surrounding/adjacent walls neutral or white.

Lamb's Palisades Market in Lake Oswego, Oregon

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Can you afford to buy local?

Monday, June 28th, 2010

I am a firm believer in supporting the local economy.  I also believe in supporting small business.  Being sustainable means taking a long term look at the decisions that we make and making choices that best benefit ourselves, our communities and our planet.  But can we always afford to make the best choices?

There have been plenty of studies that tell us that consumers prefer to buy green products.  They want locally made, locally sources environmentally friendly goods.  Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, they are less likely to pay much of a premium for these products.  I can relate.  The last year has not been kind to many people.  The downturn in the economy has been difficult at best and devastating at worst.  Many people I know still have not returned to work.  When times are tight, it is harder to remain steadfast in your resolve.  We are no exception.  When making our buying decisions, We still  buy most of our fresh foods at farmers markets, but a bigger part of my food budget is going to places like Deals and Wal Mart, as we struggle to stretch those dollars whenever we can.  I still insist on toilet tissue made from recycled paper.  But we have a small household with no children, and we need less in the way of clothes and other goods.

A friend of mine shared the following story with me:

I thought of you yesterday and the LED buying situation in Cleveland. I started painting my son’s room. When I went to get the paint, I first went to Sherwin Williams… A gallon of paint there is $32. I was told that I couldn’t get the dark blue color I wanted in the zero VOC or any other dark blue shade for that matter.  When I was in Lowe’s the zero VOC was $20 and I could get any shade I wanted. My budget for this room was tight, so even though I wanted to buy local, it just wasn’t workable!
Just a little anecdote I thought I’d share with you – it’s much more understandable to me now on this level! :)

I do not want to get into the debate of quality versus quantity.  The truth is, when times are tight, making the decision to buy local, buy more environmentally friendly, or even buying more nutritional becomes harder and harder to do.  Compound that with the fact that much of our local food is not sold in any local markets, and that a majority of the produce sold at the West Side Market comes from the same suppliers as Giant Eagle.  Top it off with the loss of manufacturing in the region and you are left with relatively few local goods to buy to support the local economy.  (sorry American Greetings and Bonnie Bell, but I stopped sending paper cards a few years ago, and I found that lip gloss doesn’t suit me!)When times are good, it is easy to decide to spend an extra 10% or more on better ingredients and goods from local producers.  When times are tough, however, the decisions get even tougher.  I would prefer to shop at Heinen’s, Acme, or another local food store, but If I were to drive the 5-10 miles or more to support local, the trade off is in emissions as I am blocks from Steelyard Commons.

So, how do you make YOUR buying decisions?  Do you have certain items that you insist must be local or eco-friendly?  What about the stores that you choose to support?

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Help Create the West Side Food Co-op…

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

A food co-op is a member owned grocery store. There are a number of different styles of food co-ops, but all of them share common values of group management and decision making, social responsibility, and equality. Most food co-ops strive to follow the Seven Cooperative Principles, which include:

• Voluntary & Open Membership
• Democratic Member Control
• Economic Participation
• Autonomy & Independence
• Education, Training & Information
• Cooperation among Cooperatives
• Concern for the Community

Eastsiders have been blessed with a food co op for many years.  The co op on Euclid just east of University Circle has long been a successful shopping destination for lovers of local and natural foods.  Unfortunately, it is quite a schlep for those of us “westies.”  Part of building a greener more sustainable city is to strengthen our neighborhoods.  Dense urban neighborhoods that provide more amenities within a small area are vital to reducing our city’s carbon footprint and to attracting new residents and new business to the region.  Enter the West Side Food Co op.

This concept was borne of a discussion between residents of Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.  After several informal talks, the idea was tabled for several months.  However, it has come back and with a vengeance.  Now boasting a strong core of potential members and a “steering” committee that is dedicated to making this dream a reality, the West Side Food Co op is getting serious.  Monthly meetings are well attended and things are progressing pretty close to schedule.  By-laws and articles of incorporation are now in the works and things are getting ready to move to a new stage.  So, how can you help?

Before the steps can be taken to obtain funding and to move to the next stage, it is imperative to prove that there is a need and a desire for a food cooperative on Cleveland’s west side.  To achieve that end, they have produced a simple survey.  Not only will you help to show how much excitement there is for this project, but it will also help steer the direction of the plan and help to determine product selection within the store.  It may also steer the physical location of the store location.  The survey itself takes only a few minutes to complete.  I filled it out while sitting at a meeting on my cell phone.  Although the survey is simple, it is vital to the progression of this project.  Additionally, there will be folks out and about in west side neighborhoods, going door to door to get more survey results.  Please take a couple of minutes to answer the questions and help form a brick and mortar location for a food co op.  If you would like to help get some surveys filled out amongst your friends and neighbors, just drop me an email at robert@thegldc.com and I will connect you with the canvas coordinators.

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Wal-Mart, Starbucks, et al.

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

A lot of people hate Wal-Mart for various reasons.  I understand that.  They were famous for civil-rights violations, racism, gender bias, and other unfortunate blights under the direct orders of perma-southerner founder Sam Walton.  After his death and a major regime change, the company started cleaning up its act.  But truly, these things are not the main reason people hate Wal-Mart.

For years the mega-store would come into a small town, build their gargantuan behemoth, sell at rock-bottom prices which would then force little mom & pop operations to go belly-up.  So evil.  Although this seems to be the epitome of business models celebrated in the eighties, the constant loss of smaller venues began to rattle people, to their core.  Grass roots action groups formed and many citizens started to gather to protest at potential building sites, saying “not in our town, Wal-Mart!”  And good for them; this is America and what’s more American than protesting?

Let me shed some personal insight into how Wal-Mart and their corporate brethren choses potential sites.  In the early eighties I worked for PayLess Drug Stores, the largest independently owned and operated drug store chain in the U.S. at the time (it has since been swallowed up by Rite Aid).  I worked in the construction/real estate development department.  The modus operandi for the development department was to scout out a town, suss out how many operating pharmacies are located there and then start drawing lines to and from each one.  At each intersection of lines, property was scouted to build a new strip mall, usually featuring a local grocery store alongside the drug store, but many times it only had a drug store anchor.  Then a slick salesperson would sidle up to one of the pharmacists at one of the local drug stores; maybe take them to lunch or dinner; buy them some gifts and tell them how great working for PayLess would be.  You see, a state only issues so many pharmacy licenses per year, and it’s easier to get an already licensed pharamacist to come to work for your store.  Once the pharmacist has taken the bait, then you can build your store with complete confidence the other store will have to close.  You can’t call yourself a drugstore if you don’t have a licensed pharacist on site.  Same Evil as Wal-Mart.

Later in my career I designed a grocery store for a woman who had just stepped down as the head of real estate development for Starbucks.  Guess what story she told me?  Starbucks would send out scouts into a neighborhood to see how well other coffee shops were doing.  Once they drew their connecting lines, they’d know just where a new store could be located.  If the existing shops were too far apart, Starbucks may even try to take over the existing stores instead of locating between them.  Pure evil, huh?

A person recently suggested we shop at Target instead of Wal-Mart.  As SNL’s Seth and Amy used to say, “Really?”  Here’s another personal tale:  A few years ago I was working for an architecture firm who was doing a design for a strip center in Chili, New York (pronounced Shy-Lye).  The center was going to be placed on a wetlands, and the developer was willing to purchase double the amount of replacement land that would then be converted into wetlands.  Don’t get me started about whether or not newly created wetlands are as affective as existing ones.  This story is really about how the residents of Chili went to the first public meeting and asked their councilpersons why a this location was so special; couldn’t the center be placed closer to town so the scenic wilderness and wetlands could be preserved?.  The representative from Target announced clearly (and I wildly paraphrase): “don’t mess with us or you won’t get a Target in your town at all!”  To which the citizens of Chili simply said, “fine, we don’t want you anyway.”  Supposedly this surprised and angered Target, but to my knowledge no Target has been built in Chili, New York to date.  I don’t know if Home Depot, who was also to be in this center shared a similar fate.

I guess the moral of these stories is that pretty much all big corporation with ideas of expanding into untapped territories follow the same path that Wal-Mart is constantly blamed for.  Does it make it right?  I don’t know.  Perhaps the little mom & pop stores who have all that quaintness and down-home good feeling are actually guilty of overcharging their customers so they just can’t compete with the buying power of a mega-chain.  Maybe we shouldn’t be patronizing any chain at all?

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Milk Milk Everywhere!

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

The dictionary describes the work “milk” as both a noun and a verb (to milk). One of the definitions is “any liquid resembling this [the liquid secreted by female mammals] as the liquid within a coconut, the juice or sap of certain plants [like the thistle], or various pharmaceutical preparations [i.e.: milk of magnesia]. Some of the other definitions is “to exploit: the swindler milked her of all her savings”, or “to extract such as in: He’s good at milking laughs from the audience”.
Now the National Milk Producers Federation is petitioning the FDA for a second time to ban all other products from using the term milk. Their targets are products like soy milk, almond milk, etc. The first time they tried this back in 2000, the FDA didn’t go for it, but that was before producers started branding things soy cheese, “r”ice cream and even non-dairy yogurt.
In a press release from the NMPF, it’s President and CEO Jerry Kozak says: “The FDA has allowed the meaning of ‘milk’ to be watered down to the point where many products that use the term have never seen the inside of a barn.” The NMPF is trying to correct the “misappropriation of dairy terminology on imitation milk products.” He goes on to state: “You don’t got milk if it comes from a hemp plant, you can’t say cheese if it’s made from rice, and faux yogurt can’t be made from soy and still be called yogurt,” says Kozak.
According to Bob Vosburgh with SuperMarket News, “The crux of the NMPF argument is that, by using dairy terminology, non-dairy alternatives are positioning themselves as equivalents when, in fact, they contain vastly different ingredients and vary widely in nutritional value.”
I’ve always had a difficult time with the branding of words instead of names. It’s alright to copyright or trademark a name like “Brandy’s Coffee House”, but it agitates me when someone trademarks the word “Boulongerie” a common French word meaning “bakery”. So can the NMPF ‘trademark’ the word Milk? If they won would the award winning Sean Penn movie have to choose a different name? Would comedians no longer be milking audiences or would swindlers no longer be milking savings? Would Milk of Magnesia now have to be called Opaque Liquid of Magnesia?
Perhaps the meat industry will have to go after “nut meats” or “mince meat pie”, or maybe, finally the grocery produce industry will finally resolve that age old question of whether a tomato is a vegetable or a fruit.

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Paper, plastic, or other…what does it take to reduce plastic bags?

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

It has been over a year since I brought a plastic bag into the house, I think. It started out kind of difficult. I often forgot the reusable bags in the car or the house. Then I took on a new strategy. I store all the reusable bags in the trunk of the car. If I ever stop somewhere and forget to take one in, I simply ask not to give me a bag and I bag my own in the actual trunk. It took a little while, but I have completely adjusted and no paper, no plastic. It has gotten me to think hard on the daily down and dirty of bags, plastics, packaging and waste. I started with just 3 reusable bags and a giant sack of plastic bags left over from the store. I now have a host a bags, and I have never purchased a single one. But before i began my quest to eliminate plastic bags from my life, I often had the discussion of which is better, paper or plastic? Plastic is bad, but paper requires trees and energy, so not a perfect solution. One of the blogs I read is called Tomato Talk and is a part of the Earth Fare Supermarket chain website.

Earth Fare just announced that we’re eliminating plastic bags from our stores.

And, many of you have responded to this with, “Why plastic bags and not paper bags?” Here at Earth Fare, we know that the paper versus plastic debate is bound to rage on for many years to come. But, we felt like we needed to take a stand.

So, here’s why Earth Fare has decided to boot plastic over its paper counterparts.

1.) Plastic bags can take over 1,000 years to biodegrade. Paper only takes two to three weeks to biodegrade in a warm landfill.

2.) Only 13% of plastic bags are ever recycled. OVER 56% of paper bags are reused or recycled.

3.) Plastic bags are made of petroleum and natural gas, both NON-renewable resources. Like plastic bags, paper bags do require energy in production. But, two-thirds of that energy is RENEWABLE ENERGY. Creating paper bags is a carbon neutral process

4.) Don’t be fooled. Paper is a renewable resource! The Society of American Foresters have reported that there are more trees now that there was 100 years ago. The paper and forest products industries plant more than three times the number of trees that they harvest.

Finally, and most importantly, paper bags are safer for animals than plastic bags. How often have you heard of a wild animal getting caught in a paper bag or dying from eating one? NEVER. But, this is exactly what happens when plastic bags get picked up by wildlife, especially birds and marine wildlife. They eat it. They feed it to their young. They die from it.

Even better of course is to spend a little cash and pick up a reusable bag next time you go shopping. My first bags are still going strong and I got them in the summer of 2007. And having worked in a grocery store, I can tell you, I pack them FULL!

The great bag debate has been going on for sometime. In some areas of the world plastic shopping bags are banned. In others, there is a nickel charge for a bag. What good is a nickel? Quite a lot apparently. When you give a nickel discount for each bag you bring in you see a lot more reused bags of all sorts. But when you make it a mandatory charge for each bag, then you you will really see behavior change. I am constantly amazed by the poor quality of bags and bagging services in this part of the country. In Oregon, the bags were of better quality and many stores used photo degradable bags, bags that broke down in the sun, so the errant bag caught in a tree or whirling around the freeway would break down on their own. Still, cashiers, baggers and consumers were all conscious of how much each bag could hold and were trained to fill each bag to its proper capacity. Shopping at most any Cleveland area grocery store and you are likely to receive a separate bag for eggs, as separate bag for bread, a limit of about 4 jars or cans to a bag (and often double bagged at that), and your milk-that comes in a jug with its own handle-will get a double bag as well. I insisted on bagging my own groceries, as I was been overwhelmed by a sea of plastic bags. Cashiers used to insist that their bags were just not very strong. I tried the “if you told the manager to buy better bags you would use less” comment more than once, but finally got tired of the blank stare from dead eyes that said, “whatever, weirdo.”

It is apparent that it is up to consumers to make the right moves, and if we do not, then legislature will have to do it for us. In Washington DC, a 5 cent bag tax was implemented on all plastic bags. That means grocery, hardware, drug stores-even restaurants like Subway started adding a nickel to every purchase that used a bag. That means that every time you shop there, you are confronted with your own use, your own waste, and a decision that goes right to your pocket. The result? Consumers hate taxes and will do anything to avoid them. In DC, stores averaged about 22 1/2 MILLION plastic bags a month-each and every month. Enter the New Year’s Bag Tax, and in just short month, bag usage went gone down to a mere 3 million. If these results stay static, then this legislation means that the DC area could reduce the waste of its city by over 230 million plastic bags. What about all those nickels that are collected? That tax is earmarked for environmental causes, starting with the clean up of the DC rivers. By these numbers that is 36 million dollars to be used by those most polluting the environment to clean it up. Sounds fair to me.

What will it take for you to eliminate YOUR plastic bags.

Amplify

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