"Nancy2" > wrote in message
...
> >
>> All the local grocery stores around here sell inexpensive reusable
>> shopping bags. We have a supply of them and it was a PITA for a while to
>> remember to take them with us when we shop, but now we keep a number of
>> them in each car and are in the habit of returning them to the car the
>
> Yeah, here, too - sometimes they're free - usually they're 99 cents.
>
> I love that they are square on the bottom, with a little
> reinforcement.
>
> N.


When I first arrived in SC to help my mother she asked me to buy some wine
when I went to the grocery store. I wasn't expecting them to give me a free
heavy-duty wine-tote with a reinforced flat bottom and room for four
bottles. It didn't hit me until later, oh! they want me to bring this back
for later purchases. (Note: my grocery store back in TN didn't offer these
bags; maybe they do now.)

At that time the grocery store here was selling the flat-bottomed grocery
"totes " for IIRC 2/50 cents. But since my mother insisted on using the
plastic bags to line small trash cans in the TV room and the bathrooms she
wanted her groceries in the plastic bags. The price for the heavy grocery
bags/totes with handles went up to 99 cents each and may even be more now.
I got a couple of them. They work just fine when I'm not picking up too
many items. But I normally only shop once a month (the exception is fresh
local produce for a specific recipe). If I need more room than the couple
of tote bags allow I do ask for paper. And I have to remember to put the
cloth totes in the car after I've emptied them, otherwise I forget to take
them. I'm getting better about that

Jill