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New Taxes, Grocery Shopping

There's always something new we can tax, isn't there? Today I read about a proposed tax on vitamins and supplements. Will the money generated go to health care? Probably not. The other proposed tax was on plastic bags at the grocery store because they use foreign oil to make them and they fill up land-fills. I'm sure it would be a pain for the check-out workers, but I never liked those plastic bags. At least paper bags have a flat bottom. The plastic bags roll around in the back of the car and all the groceries go rolling around in the trunk. Personally, I take a stack of assorted cloth bags when I go shopping. Some of them are a bit of a challenge to hold open and pack and they can cause the self-checkout computer confusion when they're placed on the packing area. But, face it, they are trendy "green." Some stores give a 3 cent credit for each reusable bag. There is a "just right"area in the back of my Ford TaurusX where the groceries sit nicely. Also, the teenage boy who works as a bagger at the grocery store where I usually shop always admires the handiwork that went into the bags--most of which I made myself.
I went to the grocery store today and then also stopped in at the Natural Provisions store nearby. I like to buy flours, grains, nuts and spices there. It's much cheaper to get that kind of stuff from the bulk bins...and they give a 10% discount to the over sixty crowd. I like that it is not automatic, though. So then I have to say, "Thanks for not noticing, but I am over sixty."
When I shop for groceries in Florida, the baggers are rarely teenagers and sometimes quite elderly, but they always offer to carry out the groceries and help put them in the car. I've never taken anyone up on that offer because I would feel ridiculous having an eighty year old, eighty pound woman toting my sacks out to my car when I am, for the time being, relatively strong and healthy.

Comments

  1. I tried the reusable bags and got nothing but eyerolls from the baggers, even when I offered to hold them open for them. Some one needs to invent a stand that will make the reusable ones easier to bag. Can't be all that hard.

    ReplyDelete

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