The Tote Bag Trend Makes NO Sense

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I honestly don't get it. The point of a reusable bag is that it's reusable. I've been using the same reusable Costco bags for groceries for the past 15 years and have never felt the need to get anything new.

It's a shame how much reusable stuff becomes a trend and thus stops being "reused" coz people start collecting them in their droves thus defeating the point of reusability as they become just as saturated as the plastic bags we were trying to reduce use on

Sooooo wild that you post this today. Trader Joe’s recently restarted their program where, if you bring your reusable bag to the store, you get entered into a weekly raffle. Every Monday they draw a name and pay for that person’s groceries. Kinda cool incentive program to get people to ACTUALLY use their bags 😂

My mom loves reusable bags. She uses them for everything - groceries, of course, but also anytime she needs to carry anything anywhere. Going to the library? How are you going to carry your books? Going on a picnic? How are you going to carry all the stuff that doesn't fit in the cooler? Grandkids visiting? You can fit so many presents in a tote bag, and here's another bag full of food because how do I know you're being fed if I don't give you food?

When my fabric tote bags start falling apart, I use them as fabric pots for my garden. There’s a healthy bush of chives currently growing out of my free Barnes and Noble bag rn lol

I'm only about a third of the way through this video, but I wanted to say that the IKEA tote bag that you buy for $2 at on IKEA the huge blue kind of tarp material is pretty much the only bag I use at Aldi and trader Joe's for the past 3 years and it still hasn't broken and I've carried upwards of 80 lb worth of groceries in a single tote.

When you’re actually a sustainable minded person these trends mean nothing. I’m happy with my two totes that I use regularly for specific purposes, and my mom has used her reusable grocery bags for years at this point. Some of them are probably nearly as old as me.

I use a tote bag every single day, and I keep them handy everywhere, including in my purse. I use them when I travel, either as an extra bag for storing T-shirts or socks. They're not just lying around; they're actively used. I have around 10 of them, ranging from thin material to strong ones.

I've accumulated such a large collection of a bag filled with bags that lately I've been donating used things I no longer need inside of extra reusable bags instead of plastic/trash bags.

My wife buys them as gifts for friends when we are on holiday, I really don’t understand it 🤷🏼‍♂️

I was thinking last week: isn't it kinda wild that we got upset at the thin plastic bags, so stores got rid of them, and now plastic bags are back, THICKER than ever and often say "rip resistant," or "anti-tear," or even "Don't throw me out!"

Plastic bags got a glow-up, or rather a rebranding.

Your problem is that “tote bag” does NOT mean “reuseable bag” meant to replace a plastic grocery bag.

A tote bag is a certain style bag. They are rectangle, open-top bags, with straps long enough to put over your shoulder. They’ve been around forever and most purse companies make a tote in their lineup.

But you can store your collection of limited edition steel travel mugs in these.

The way the reusable bag suddenly worked in Europe: Shops were forbidden from giving bags for free. And people refuse to pay 20 cents every time they go shopping, in every shop. (Like clothes shopping. One bag is enough).

When we had the "single use" bags, my family never just threw them away, they'd be used to carry things on random occasions, AND we used them as household garbage bags, so even though they were getting thrown out, they were being "used".

Japan resident here. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods tote bags absolutely have been a hot item here for many years, specifically because the stores don’t exist in Japan, so carrying one of their bags makes you look more international and worldly. They don’t sell for a thousand dollars though, good grief they never could have become so popular at that price. $10-$20 is typical (even in Tokyo, contrary to what the person quoted in the article believed). Also to have “seen [something] selling online in Japan for $1,000” (per the article) doesn’t mean anything. Online sellers will often set outrageous prices on items they are currently holding for a specific seller, or for whatever other reason is temporarily unavailable.

Not a criticism, just a clarification. Love this channel :)

where I live there are no plastic bags, so everyone needs and uses reusable bags. I definitely have gotten more than 50+ uses out of each of my bags!

We use a single bag for our grocery shopping. It’s like a fishers net bag so the load and strength capacity is insane. After that, our store has compostable plastic bags for bagging vegetables and alike which we then use to line our compost bin. When we need a bag at check out we’ll take paper bags which we then use to put our recycling in or consolidate our compost for the week. Lastly, we take the cardboard boxes given by the store to stack grocery items if we have a large load. Then the cardboard box can be broken down and recycled.

It’s not complicated. It’s easy and practical.

Your suggestion at the end was a joke but that’s basically how we manage our reusable bags. We don’t own a car so we just have bags stored in backpacks, larger bags, bike bags, my purse etc. all with the goal of always having one when we need it. Also those folding bags are very convenient, they even fit in pockets.