News

Dec 26, 2023

Controversial charge for shopping baskets leaves Walmart unimpressed shoppers fuming

Walmart previously stopped giving out single-use paper and plastic carryout bags

Walmart previously stopped giving out single-use paper and plastic carryout bags at the register at stores in New York, Connecticut and Colorado - but not all customers are impressed with the alternative

Walmart has left some customers feeling rather unimpressed after selling shopping baskets to replace their free plastic bags.

The supermarket chain previously banned plastic bags in Delaware, Oregon, Washington, DC, and Washington state in April.

Before that, the big box retailer got rid of single-use bags in six other states - Colorado, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maine, and Vermont.

Now the chain has gone viral on TikTok after one shopper noticed its local Walmart store was selling plastic baskets to carry your groceries in.

The TikTok video made by Travel Life Mama brought this update to shoppers' attention, as she shared a photo of the containers stacked on top of each other.

The creator asked viewers: "Would you buy one?"

People were split on how they felt about the baskets as some liked the idea while others weren't irritated by the charge and vowed never to use them

One shopper joked: "No more plastic bags so here's this plastic tote instead."

Another wrote: "I've been preparing for this all my life, 3 cabinet drawers full of grocery bags saved up lmao."

A third added: "I mean no frills has been selling bins like this for a while so I see no difference here"

"I just grab a full shopping cart now whenever I shop, even if I’m only buying a few things- I keep bags in the back of my car," admitted another.

"The thing about this is WALMART USED TO HAVE THEM FOR FREE‼️They got rid of them so we would have to use the shopping carts‼️," added a fifth.

Eliminating single-use plastic and paper carryout bags is "critically important," Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator and current president of Beyond Plastics, previously said.

"There are reusable alternatives," she said. "It gets people focused on the need to reduce plastics. It's also not hard."

California was the first state to ban single-use plastic carryout bags in 2016.

Plastic-bag bans reduce the number of these bags in stores and encourage customers to bring reusable bags or pay a small fee for paper bags.

"The ideal bag law bans plastic and adds a fee to paper," Enck said. While some customers are unwilling to bring their own bags, she compared plastic bag laws to seatbelt requirements and cigarette bans.

Get email updates with the day's biggest stories