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4. the same here, best investment I ever made

 Gimgamgoo wrote:
A few comments...
3. I'm surprised GW aren't selling them as 'bags for life' at a significantly increased profit margin with different images to make them 'collectable'.

This is surely coming, but first they have to establish the demand.

Herzlos wrote:
You'd only really be screwed if you visited an isolated shop without a car.

I don't drive. To be fair I buy 99.9% of all my purchases online as I work from home. I very occasionally might get called out into the office or find myself randomly in one of the two locations with a GW store where I'm very likely to have to have been passing by the store on an unplanned visit and wouldn't have backpack, bag or anything else with me.

I'd be very likely to make a large purchase to kill time waiting for the train home, especially if the store is stocking any books that have been out of stock online or even picking up back issues of white dwarf which I very rarely buy online.I'm certain not going to buy books at GW prices and be expected to carry them home and expect them to remain dry, I'm also not going to scurrying across town to find some other store that does stock bags.

I'm not against taking steps to save the environment. But this again feels like another step that is designed to push the issue on to the consumer and if you dislike it then it makes you look bad for speaking ill towards it.

I am happy to keep ordering online where GW have done away with plastic packaging, in favour of having that huge UPS van drive to my house multiple times a week to deliver hundreds of small boxes wrapped up in warhammer branded tape (with that tape probably massed printed in china, which is then sent over the sea in huge cargo containers) each containing a single plastic sprue of miniatures, most of which gets thrown away, with a single set of bases in each box which are wrapped in their own plastic wrapper inside the box, but sure carrier bags are a bad idea!

I think they should just have someone be sensible about it. Lots of small items or easier damaged stock- could do with a bag. Single items or have your backpack with you, perhaps think twice about giving one out.

As someone that used to live and game in the south of england, I do wonder how some certain stores on the southcoast (which I won't name but people will know which ones) will think about the idea of certain areas of youths having a lot of empty bags/backpacks in their stores on a weekend. I guess they won't remain empty for long and ebay will be busier come Monday mornings.

It's unnecessarily all or nothing. By all means encourage regular customers to bring their own bags to reduce the amount that are being sent out. If a new customer has their own bag, then great. But having nothing at all for when someone is in need of one just isn't great service, especially when paper bags are an option. There is no good reason really not to offer paper bags but also actively encouraging people to come prepared.

I am very surprised that GW doesn't offer multiple use bags made out of 100% recycled plastic with GW logos on them for, say, $1.50. I work at a bookstore and we sell loads of different ones for between $1.50 and $2.50. They won't last forever, but they will last 5 years easy. I keep a few in the car for shopping, and I would quite enjoy advertising GW in the grocery store (find the other nerds).

I hate that we (the bookstore) still offer free bags, largely because 90% of the people who need a bag are buying 1 book (or one greeting card) and get irritated if you ask them if they want one, not just offer it up. Even a marginal charge on bags in our area would change the calculus quite a bit. I am sure all the old ladies who 'need' a bag for one card would magically figure out a way to manage without it if it were even 10 cents.

I really think it's a missed opportunity for GW. Have some cool-looking branded (relatively environmentally friendly) bags for sale, and maybe give them away with a purchase over a certain level. The person buying some huge starter box (or bunch of boxes) that might actually need a bag gets it for free, and the rest of the collectors buy one anyway just to have it.

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

I guess I don't shop in enough boutique places then

Most of the big brand shops I go in will either sell you a branded plastic bag for 30p-50p, smaller retailers give you a plain white crappy bag for free, and some will just look at you as you struggle to gather 20 items in your arms off the counter. I guess as they say... it's grim up north.

 Mallo wrote:
I very occasionally might get called out into the office or find myself randomly in one of the two locations with a GW store where I'm very likely to have to have been passing by the store on an unplanned visit and wouldn't have backpack, bag or anything else with me.

I'd be very likely to make a large purchase to kill time waiting for the train home, especially if the store is stocking any books that have been out of stock online or even picking up back issues of white dwarf which I very rarely buy online.I'm certain not going to buy books at GW prices and be expected to carry them home and expect them to remain dry, I'm also not going to scurrying across town to find some other store that does stock bags.

How far away from other stores are these GW's? I was thinking more about the ones in business parks or strip malls when everything else is shut meaning you didn't have the opportunity to go and buy a disposable bag from next door. But those locations almost always require you to drive to them in the first place.


I still think every retail store should have some facility to provide the means to get purchases home safely, whether that's by having bags for sale or offering to ship for you.

I always have a backpack with me, and I think getting rid of plastic bags is a good idea. But even more than that I want to get rid of excessive plastic packaging. Nothing should come individually wrapped in plastic after being packed in a bigger plastic packet.

With GW the multiple use bags will probably be like 5€ each because if you slap a GW logo it becomes premium.

M.

Da Butcha wrote:

I hate that we (the bookstore) still offer free bags, largely because 90% of the people who need a bag are buying 1 book (or one greeting card) and get irritated if you ask them if they want one, not just offer it up. Even a marginal charge on bags in our area would change the calculus quite a bit. I am sure all the old ladies who 'need' a bag for one card would magically figure out a way to manage without it if it were even 10 cents.

I think that's the rationale behind the bag charge in the UK. It was only 10p (~$0.15) and changed the default from 'bag' to 'no bag' whilst adding a trivial penalty to it.

Before it, you'd see people buy something tiny in every shop and getting a bag each time when there's absolutely no need. Even if you don't bring your own bag, you can just pay for one at the first shop and then put other purchases in it until full.

Herzlos wrote:

Da Butcha wrote:

I hate that we (the bookstore) still offer free bags, largely because 90% of the people who need a bag are buying 1 book (or one greeting card) and get irritated if you ask them if they want one, not just offer it up. Even a marginal charge on bags in our area would change the calculus quite a bit. I am sure all the old ladies who 'need' a bag for one card would magically figure out a way to manage without it if it were even 10 cents.

I think that's the rationale behind the bag charge in the UK. It was only 10p (~$0.15) and changed the default from 'bag' to 'no bag' whilst adding a trivial penalty to it.

Before it, you'd see people buy something tiny in every shop and getting a bag each time when there's absolutely no need. Even if you don't bring your own bag, you can just pay for one at the first shop and then put other purchases in it until full.

Yeah thats what we do when we dont have more capacity on my backpack. To be fair we live in a strange world where we see so many discrepancies on packaging, I sometimes get HUGE cardboard boxes from amazon with like a tiny item... crazy world man.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

Such as?

The one that tends to amuse me at the minute is the giant ziplock bag that mail orders are/were getting shipped to GW stores in, regardless of what you ordered.

 Dysartes wrote:
The one that tends to amuse me at the minute is the giant ziplock bag that mail orders are/were getting shipped to GW stores in, regardless of what you ordered.

There's a joke in there somewhere about 'plastic crack'.

 Dysartes wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

Such as?

The one that tends to amuse me at the minute is the giant ziplock bag that mail orders are/were getting shipped to GW stores in, regardless of what you ordered.

Oh yeah, I got a bag big enough to climb into with a single warboss kit rattling around the bottom...

Most clothes/fashion brands are using paper bags currently, like Primark. Clothes are typically lightweight, flexible, and unlikely to split a paper bag. Cardboard boxes are the reverse.

You also get heavy duty paper ones in supermarkets like Morrisons that are sturdy enough to hold glass bottles and tin cans. They'd need to be absolutely soaked to fall apart in use.

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

Stop this right now.
This is dakkadakka.

If GW does something we complain about it being stupid and greedy.
If GW does NOT do anything we complain about that.
And if they reverse their stance in anything we insist that was always great and how dare they!

( Honestly, those plastic bags - at least in Germany - were so over the top you would not catch me dead with one in public. I mean i might be a nerd but too much is too much!
The christmas bags were nice though.)

 JamesY wrote:
You also get heavy duty paper ones in supermarkets like Morrisons that are sturdy enough to hold glass bottles and tin cans. They'd need to be absolutely soaked to fall apart in use.

I find paper bags do poorly with anything that has a point to it- once a hole forms, they lose integrity and tear if they are holding any weight. Corners of boxes are ideal for this if the box has enough weight behind it (like a starter set). Granted this tends to only be an issue if you stuff the paper bag.

Reusable plastic bags are far more durable than even heavy duty paper bags in my experience, and can comfortably be stuck in the washing machine once they inevitably get dirty.

Cloth bags I would say.

 Dysartes wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:

 Gimgamgoo wrote:

2. Paper bags... in the UK... where it rains nearly every day... nope. Just nope.

Somehow this works for all of the other major retailers who use paper bags though...

Such as?

Primark

Primark bags are awful, I've never managed to get home yet without it ripping. I'll stick to using my backpack.

My local WH-Store Manager told me here in Germany, with June, they switch to Cloth Bags.


5,00 € per Bag then.

As long as a bag can be provided (even for a charge), that is not too bad.

My local store posted this:

"Good morning all.
In case you didn't know we are phasing out plastic bags. So what we currently have in store isn't until we run out.
Moving forward we are asking all customers to bring their own bags if you need them.
This is to help with Games Workshops plans in improving sustainability"

It's lucky there's a Sainsbury over the road.