I wouldn’t say the Greenwood Fred Meyer is my favorite grocery store, but it’s the closest. And I don’t mind shopping there. It’s annoying to have to show my receipt to an armed guard as I leave the store, but I like their Murray’s cheese counter, and at least they don’t lock up their i ce cream like the Ballard Safeway. When I moved to the neighborhood 18 months ago, the store offered reusable paper bags at checkout for $.08 a pop (as state law requires), and those bags had handles. I loved those paper bags. I have spent dozens of dollars on those paper bags over the years as a chronic reusable bag forgetter. They were convenient when I’d be out for a walk and decide to grab a few groceries at the last minute. I could carry multiple bags in one hand, so I still had a free hand to carry a coffee or take a picture of a window cat or dig out my Orca card while walking home or jumping on the bus. And I reused them often, to gather up household recycling and transport snacks and lunches to the office. I really appreciated that they were easily recyclable, unlike the plastic bags with handles offered at stores like Target. But gone are the days of looping the handles of the multiple bags around your wrist while fishing out your bus pass or cell phone. At the start of the year, Fred Meyer’s Greenwood location switched to shorter paper bags without handles. Annoying? Yes. But it’s not just a convenience issue, it’s an accessibility one, too. The lack of handles makes carrying more than one bag much more difficult for anyone who uses mobility aids, or who didn’t drive to the store.  So where are the bags with the handles? Clerks aren’t talking. “I’m not privy to that information,” joked one employee as he rang up my groceries the other day. He said that customers inquire often enough that he has a prepared response about how there is a customer survey at the bottom of every receipt, and people should let Fred Meyer know how they feel.  “Are the handles gone forever?” I asked another clerk during a different trip. She said she missed them, too. It made it easier for her to lift the bagged groceries from her checkout station into people’s carts. The edges of the new, handleless bags sometimes start to tear when she grabs them. “It’s been at least six weeks, so I’d assume they’re gone for good,” added a nearby coworker. On yet another trip—I have been pestering staff about the bags for a while—another clerk posited a theory. The change happened because someone in the corporate office decided customers wouldn’t want to pay $.12 for plastic bags with handles, they say. So they kept the $.08 charge and provided smaller, handleless bags. But the Ballard Fred Meyer still offers the old bags at $.08 a pop, as does the QFC up the street, which is also owned by Kroger. In March, I took my frustration straight to the top: Fred Meyer and its parent company Kroger. I am a journalist, after all. Has the Greenwood Fred Meyer location permanently stopped offering paper bags with handles? Are other Fred Meyer stores impacted by this decision? Is it true that Fred Meyer no longer provides bags with handles because it would have required a $.12 charge instead of the current $.08? Kroger’s listed media contact never responded to my multiple emails. Tiffany Sanders, head of public affairs for QFC Fred Meyer Divisions of Kroger, told me she’d respond to my questions by the next day if they had any further comment. It’s been two weeks. What were they hiding? Were they breaking some rule? Yes! Kind of. Dave Bennett, the Communications Manager at the Washington State Department of Ecology, which oversees the reusable bag program, tells me retail shops aren’t required to provide paper bags with handles. He says the only requirement is that “large, paper carryout bags (880 cubic inches or larger) must be labeled with their percent of post-consumer recycled content (a minimum of 40% ) or other non-wood renewable fiber.” I inspected the new bags further. They were still larger than 1,000 cubic inches, but… A-ha! They are not marked with the appropriate post-consumer recycled content! He confirmed that that would mean the new bags don’t meet the current requirements. “Anyone can report a violation and learn more about the ban by visiting www.ecology.wa.gov/bagban,” he says. If a business’s bags aren’t up to code, Bennett says, “Ecology sends a letter to notify the business of the issue and offers education or assistance if needed.” The process includes a 30-day grace period between reports, he adds, but any business that is “persistently out of compliance, with at least five reports of violation, may face penalties up to $250 per day.” Enough to bring a grocery giant currently valued at somewhere around $45 billion to its knees. On Thursday, I asked Fred Meyer if the new bags were made with post-consumer recycled material, as required, and if they had a plan to correct the labeling. Bryanna Crouch, their Communications Public Affairs Manager, responded with a small photo of the proper labeling, saying, “Our Bags today carry the below details, with the noted 40% PCW (Post-Consumer Waste).” But that’s the labeling on the old bags. With handles. There is no such label on the new bags, I pointed out, and sent back a photo of the new and old bags side by side. I bought these last week, at the end of March. The new, unlabeled and handless bag is on the left. Credit: Megan Seling Friday morning, I got a response.  “Thank you for sharing the photos and for the follow-up, we appreciate you bringing this to our attention,” Crouch writes. “We’ve identified the bag in question and are working closely with our vendor to update the print so the labeling is clearly aligned and easy to read. These updates are already in progress. “In the meantime, we want to assure you that the current bags remain compliant with applicable legislation.” Then what the fuck am I looking at? Funnily enough, on Saturday, I went to Fred Meyer to load up on Easter candy for the weekend. They’ve been out of Cadbury Mini Eggs for weeks, but I wanted some of those Reese’s Pieces Eggs anyway. When I got to the checkout, I gasped. A bag! Properly labeled!?! But… still handleless. I ran home to compare them to the dozen or so other bags I had squirreled away from the previous month of shopping. Was I imagining this all along? Did I get one bad bag and blow everyone out of proportion? There was no labeling on any of them. This was a recent change.  If you’re already working closely with your vendors to ensure the bags are up to code, Fred Meyer, you may as well bring back the handles, too. Please. I’m begging you. I could let this go. But me and those bags, we had a good thing going.  The post Why Did the Greenwood Fred Meyer Stop Offering Paper Bags with Handles? appeared first on The Stranger. ...read more read less