Would you like a bag? It’s a simple question. One that I must ask countless times a day. Maybe it’s because I live in Vermont and we’re supposed to be eco-friendly up here, so folks seem to take an inordinately long time to answer the question. I can see their thought process: I shouldn’t get a bag, it’s wasteful. I only have two books, I can just carry them out and put them in the car. My car’s a wreck. But it’s a nice bag, and it’s recycled paper. I shouldn’t get a bag. Oh, but I’d re-use this one. I can recycle this one. And on and on it goes. In the meantime I have customers in line waiting to get rung up who know how they feel about bags.
The bag issue is starting to loom large at our store. We are currently out of most of our bags and are deciding what/if to reorder. Yes, all of our bags are made from recycled paper with a minimum 30-40% post consumer content, so I feel good about that. But does every purchase automatically warrant the offering of a bag? Invariably, when I neglect to offer a bag, they want one, and when I do offer a bag, more and more, an Envirosax or some similar folds-up-to-nothing-bag that holds 100 pounds gets flung out of purse in a strident flourish, making me feel foolish for even offering. Sometimes, I can see someone really struggling about the bag issue. I tell them, "It’s okay to want a bag, really, it is." Bag guilt shouldn’t happen.
The great thing about bags is they are advertising for your store. Ours is a destination store in a tiny downtown (two streets). The parading of our name about town is minimal, so we don’t get a ton of pop from folks seeing the bag. What does provide great advertising are our lovely canvas tote bags with our logos. Again, these are eco-friendly, made from recycled cotton with soy-based ink from a women-owned company in New Hampshire. These totes show up everywhere. We’ve had folks send of pictures of their bag (similiar to what kids do with Flat Stanleys) from Russia, Greece, and South Africia. My painfully shy mom uses her in Connecticut and regularly gets stopped by another shopper wanting to discuss the Flying Pig.
We give our tote bags away as a premium. You spend $75 at once, you get a free tote. We buy in bulk, so it’s not expensive for us to do that and people will often spend up to $75 just to get the tote, so this works. I see them every day at the market, which pleases me everytime.
So, back to the bag discussion. We must continue to offer bags, obviously. Just as we’ve done recently with our gift wrap, we’ll keep making it as green as possible and only hope that folks have made their bag decisions before they come to the front of the line. And if they take one of our bags, at least they can feel good about it.
Well, that settles it: my next NE vacation will be northern Vermont, and I WILL spend $75+.
I’d like to buy a bag with The Flying Pig on it!
We’ve started to ask our customers “Do you need a bag today?” instead of “Would you like a bag?” Since Boulder is also a very eco-friendly town, we’ve found that this is a good way to a) not offend customers who bring their own bags and b) keep our bag costs down. Just that simple rephrasing has saved us quite a bit on bags and we’ve been thanked by several customers for not wasting bags. And if a customer does need a bag, our booksellers produce a logo-imprinted bag and offer it with no censure. 🙂
I like the suggestion by Mandy on the wording. It does make you think differently. Josie, I want to buy a Flying Pig Book Bag. I’m constantly telling the staff around here your stories and adventures and suggestions. Couldn’t find it to purchase on your website. Any suggestions?
I’m a ditto on the bag. How and where?
Josie, we too ask if the customer needs a bag. We have not bought bags with our name and logo for years. Too expensive for what seems like a small reeturn.
In Ireland, they charge about 50 cents per bag (by law), so people are more inclined to remember reusable bags. I’m glad that so many stores are selling reusable bags– now people just need to remember to bring them!
A few months back I went to a Shannon Hale book signing and she was carrying a FP bag. She had just been there for a signing. The next day I called FP and ordered a bag. Everywhere I go people want one….love it!
Hearing on CNN that Walmart is testing charging for bags (0.15 for flimsier plastic or 0.50 for their blue reusable) at stores in CA; knowing that IKEA stopped offering plastic/paper bags years ago (bring your own or buy one for 0.59) and rejoicing that Target is offering 0.05 off your bill if you bring in your own bag, I hope soon it will be a minimum of customers who need to request a bag and our sellers can operate thinking the customer will have one with them.
Correct me if I’m wrong but when all of us go to the library and take away an arm-load of books-it’s never with a bag. Why is a book store any different? Cheers
So Josie, How would you feel about a customer returning bags? I’ve ended up with quite a collection (and a canvas bag) from my local indie. Would returning the bags be appreciated? e