The Bag Tax

[jon0844]

The Daily Mail did a story about the increase in stolen trolleys, consisting of Tweets from people posting photos of the trolleys they took 'in protest'.

 

[deltic1989]

The Asda trolleys I see students using, which seem particularly popular for helping move furniture etc, all gave these. Tesco also has them, where the brakes kick in at the red line.

It appears it must be easy to avoid the brakes kicking in as all the trolleys I see are free wheeling.

The Tescos on Wragby Road in Lincoln (and possibly many other loactions but I haven't been to a Tesco in years) employs a similar system, however when i lived nearby and socialised with students at a nearby Uni outpost, we discovered that the braking system could be bypassed by simply picking the trolley up and carrying it over the 9 inch high wall that ran alongside the road.
We were caught once but the Police Officer simply said, "I'll say nothing as long as you bring it back" which we duly did on the next visit the following day.

 

[ed1971]

For those locations where CFLs weren't the bset type there are Halogen bulbs. Their prices are almost the same as old type tungsten. Their life is much longer and they use about 30% less power for the same light.
LEDs are now getting better and their price is falling fast.
I wonder how much those who bought up the last of the tungsten bulbs are faring with their stock, not to mention those who got even more thirsty rough duty bulbs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Williams
That one was silly, as one spends a tiny amount of time per day using one, so it was of almost no benefit, particularly as if one needs to vacuum for longer due to a less powerful machine, no gain is made.

The problem was that when tested, the highest power models weren't necessarily the best performers. A bit like old american gas guzzlers.

I am a little puzzled. A few months ago I tried a number of stores in the high street to buy some CFL energy saver bulbs. Very few had them, but everyone seemed to have traditional light bulbs, including the pound shops. The few shops that had the energy savers were charging around £4.50 each. In the end, I bought some on Ebay. It needs to be remembered that CFLs contain harmful mercury that needs to be disposed of at the end of their life.

In the interests of energy efficiency, a lot of electronic equipment now use switch mode power supplies instead of good old mains transformers. They give off a lot of electrical noise and the capacitors in them often have a stated life of about 2000 hours, resulting in a lot of people throwing away failed equipment that could easily be repaired for further use.

On the subject of vacuum cleaners, I think that the bag-less ones are overrated. They are a pain for soon losing suction as the filter becomes slightly blocked. They seem to need a motor of 1500w or above to have adequate suction. I have a recent 800w one that is pretty useless and keeps blowing fine things back that it has swept up.

A traditional bagged Hoover Junior that uses a 250w or 300w motor is a lot more effective at cleaning up and less cumbersome to use, but is not ideal for someone who has a dust allergy, as the bag is the only filter on them.

 

[Jonfun]

I went out shopping today and bought three things. The first two places I shopped had moved to supplying paper bags for free, which I think is a good thing, and I'm surprised that more places haven't. Wilkinson's still use plastic bags and charge 5p for them, but they've always been of tolerable quality so I shan't moan. I will say I'm impressed that Tesco and Sainsbury's have upped the quality of their bags, the latter I'd even go as far as to say I'm happy to pay 5p for. Asda though is just a pain - still really naff, thin bags which fall apart crossing the road from the shop to the station and they've actually taken them away from the self service checkouts, so to get some you have to summon an overseer, who is manning a bank of 20 or so, all of whom are trying to get their attention so they can get bags or escape from the curse of the unexpected item in bagging area.

 

[Bletchleyite]

AIUI paper bags are included in the law, so that shop will get in trouble. Sainsbury's and Tesco have I think switched to all bags for life which allows them to keep some of the 5p.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
ed1971: Don't buy CFLs, they are rubbish. LED is a far superior technology.

 

[alxndr]

Sainsbury's and Tesco have I think switched to all bags for life which allows them to keep some of the 5p.

Tesco, at least, hasn't. Their 5p bags are just slightly thicker versions of their old carrier bag, no where near a true "bag for life" (which also has the replacement policy). They still sell proper "bags for life" for a bit more in the same way they always have done.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Tesco, at least, hasn't. Their 5p bags are just slightly thicker versions of their old carrier bag, no where near a true "bag for life" (which also has the replacement policy). They still sell proper "bags for life" for a bit more in the same way they always have done.

I stand corrected. Sainsbury's definitely have, though (the 5p bags do have the replacement policy).

 

[Tetchytyke]

Sainsbury's are doing that to keep the money. Asda offer the 5p bags but do a bag for life for 6p, which is pretty much a no-brainer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sainsbury's are doing that to keep the money.

Supposedly so they can pay the cost of the bags from the 5p. They are still donating any surplus to charity. Quite right too; if I am to be discouraged from using bags, if I don't use any why should I pay anything towards their cost?

I imagine Aldi etc will do similar to ensure they can keep the fee as their business model is not to donate it.