The USA Green Lady  

I am still amazed when I go to a big box store at the number of people who do not bring a bag to put their items in when the check out.

This week I went to a couple of big box stores - I won't name names but let's just say they rhyme with May Mart and Mall Mart.  My initial task was to find out how many people owned shopping bags and who did not.  I then talked to the people who said that they owned shopping bags and asked them if they had them with them for their shopping experience.

Of the over 50 people who said that they owned bags, only 2 brought bags.  Of the 2 that brought bags, I watched them leave the store with their bags full and even a few extra plastic store bags. 

My question then became, where are the bags?  If people have shopping bags and they are even sold in the store, why are they not using them?

Most of the answers that I received were that they forgot them or that they were not convenient.  One Mom stated that she had 4 bags that she bought specifically to use when she grocery shopped, but that once she unloaded the groceries in her kitchen she would forget to put them back into the car.

This brings up the point about routine and habits.  Most people will say that it takes about 30 days to create a habit.  So, I took it upon myself to see if I could challenge someone who wanted to use their shopping bags, but kept forgetting. 
I took some unexpected shopper aside and gave them the challenge to not accept any store plastic bags for one month.  That meant that they would have to always have a bag at the ready.  The challenge was that if they could do it for a week, they would receive a gift card.  If they could use their bags for a whole month, they would receive a special surprise gift with great value.  The shopper took me up on the challenge and agreed to email me daily where she shopped and if she used her bags.

I also thought that since most people complained that their bags were too bulky to always carry, I outfitted a local Meteorologist with NBC with a cool very compact bag that he could easily carry in pocket.  I gave him the challenge to see how many times a month he could use his new bag and then to keep in touch with me and let me know how he was doing.

You will have to check back and see the results....
I am excited to see if the challenge will work and create a new Green routine for the two people.


Charlie Geiger
The USA Green Lady
www.myspace.com/theusagreenlady