Tesco is facing intense backlash from customers for hiking the price of its Bags for Life.
Gone are the good old days where you could skip out of the supermarket, swinging your shopping nonchalantly beneath you in your nice, free plastic bag.
Now, you're left having to wedge supermarket goods under each arm, haphazardly cradling a jug of milk and balancing a tub of butter on your chest, eyes wide with fear as you think about the wasted £7 should a knob of Lurpak fall to the floor, teeth gritted in determination as you plod back home, desperately trying to remain triumphant in having saved 30p amid a growing cost of living crisis.
As if the UK's rising cost of food products and other essentials wasn't bad enough, customers have rained in on Tesco for increasing the price of its plastic bags.
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Only the OGs will remember when a plastic bag from a supermarket cost nothing. When you could pop in spontaneously to pick up some grub and not have to fork out any extra hard-earned cash simply for a carrier bag.
However, in 2015, in a bid to ward off the build up of plastic litter and help the environment, the government introduced a 5p charge to encourage customers to reuse their bags.
The price of a studier Bag for Life from Tesco started out at 10p before soon rising to 20p in October 2020.
As to be expected with the rate of inflation in this country, it has since increased to triple its original price - 50 percent of its second cost - to a whopping 30p.
Customers have taken to Twitter in outrage, with one saying: "Wow Tesco, you've f**king excelled yourself... Not content with nearly doubling the price of some of your items, you now have Gestapo police by the checkouts handing a plastic bag to you to put your shopping in but making sure you pay 30p for each bag!
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"Blx to that. Not paying!"
Another wrote: "30p for bags in Tesco??? This s**t used to be free."
"Petrol and energy prices are one thing, but how did we let the price of a carrier bag in Tesco reach 30p?! Unbelievable times," a third commented.
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A final recalled: "I go Tesco to get a few things right. The cashier scans my stuff, goes searching for a bag and says 'tap your card' so I do.
"She then goes 'I forgot to scan the bag' so I said 'you’re not gonna make me pay for it are you?' BRO, 30p popped up on the card machine."
Tesco confirmed to LADbible it has 'recently increase the price of [its] Bags for Life to 30p' to 'encourage customers to remember their bags to cut down on plastic and avoid paying for bags'.
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The supermarket giant noted its Bags for Life 'are made of 100 per cent recycled plastic' and can be 'reused many times'.
It also reminded its Bags for Life can be returned to the store, recycled and 'replaced for free' if it starts to look a bit 'worn'.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story, you can find more information about where to get help from Turn2Us via their website.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
