brown paper shopping bags in america??

[joko]

do americans really use these for shopping? they seem very impractical.

why don't they use carrier bags?

i realise they tend to only have to walk to their cars but still...

is it just a film/tv thing or real?

and why is there always foliage sticking out of the top?

thanks

[Stu in USA]

Yes joko Americans do use paper bags. At most supermarkets the cashier will say "paper or plastic?" and will actually pack your bags and ask if you'd like help with the bags to your car!! Can you imagine that at Tesco's? The plastic ones are the same as UK style "carrier bags" and are not surprisingly more common.

[smorodina]

When Safeway (RIP) opened their first UK stores in the early 70s, they used the same brown bags for a while before switching to plastic. Mind you, back then most supermarkets charged for the plastic bags.

[gammaray]

I love the brown sacks you get in the states. For some reason food always seems fresher when it's sticking out of the top of the sack. On my many visits to the US I always go shopping and have french bread and parsley poking out of the top. (I guess that borders on some kind of obsessive compulsive disorder...??)

[valsuey]

gammaray - I know just what you mean,I love the brown paper sacks too.My hubby says I am easily impressed! I love the way when you go into a diner they always bring you a glass of iced water too!

[lady_p_gold]

I'm sorry to say that whenever I have been in the States for a while and I come back to do a supermarket shop here, it really does show up the difference in standards. The brown paper sacks surely are better than all those plastic ones !!!!!

[camioneur]

The foliage is a recycle thing. it comes free with every empty bag

[Stu in USA]

Also joko it may be that when filming these scenes a paper bag looks much better on screen so you'll see more on TV/film than in real life.

[aviator]

yeh i dont think that seeing a star walk down the streets of manhattan with a happy shopper or londis bag would really look too good on celluloid!

I always feel sorry for the greeting guys they employ to stand at the doors and say hello. I dont know if its just me but they always seem to be 80 yr old men just keeping busy or making a few extra bucks being ritually humiliated by OC/90210 rejects that dont understand that they only drive their jeep wranglers cos old jim fought in the bulge or some other battle.

[aurelia]

I have never been to the states and have always wondered that myself. It looks unusual to me as it doesn't happen here and certainly looks more awkward without the handles.

You definitely need to pay a lot of money to get the little brown bag and big brown bag

STU in USA - I always assumed that paper or plastc meant cheque or credit card

[Stu in USA]

Thats funny, but what about the cash option? "check (us spelling), paper or plastic?"