I’m all for the environment, puppies and motherhood, but BWS’s recent decision not to give their customers plastic bags to carry their alcohol purchases home is just plain dumb and harms shareholder value*.
I live in a inner suburb of Brisbane and there are at least 10 bottle shops within two minutes driving time of my residence. In other words there is no shortage of choice which means from tonight I will no longer buy from BWS because of the extra inconvenience of having to organise plastic bags.
Yes, it is an inconvenience. Most of my visits to BWS are on impulse. I don’t plan most of my purchases. Get over it. And besides, 95% of the plastic bags I do get at stores get put to other uses like lining the garbage bin or puting cane toads to sleep in the freezer.
If BWS (aka Woolworths), are truely serious about the environment here are some greener than Kermit’s eye-shadow suggestions:
1. Give every customer the choice at the checkout if they want a receipt or not. I estimate this act alone would save tens of thousands of trees. How many receipts do you handle per week and how long are they? I could wallpaper the Opera House with my monthly take.
2. All company vehicles, top executives included, should be electric, pedal-powered or hybrid. Or take a freaking bus like lots of your customers.
3. Cut corporate aircraft travel by 30%. Use Skype video conferencing instead.
4. Replace high-watt bulbs used for display lighting in the BWS stores with low power LED lights.
5. Reduce the amount of promotional junk mail distributed to Australian households and increase spend on digital media.
Sorry BWS, sorry Woolworths, but you have misjudged your clientele. Like a lot of Australians I am fed up with anything that smells like the nanny state and although we have to wait over a year to get rid of the existing government, we can choose other liquor retailers who do give their customers plastic bags right now.
*Disclaimer: Wollworths [WOW] owns BWS and I am a shareholder. Anyone want to bet this crazy policy gets quitely shelved before 30 September this year?———————
Updates:
I found this on Woolworths web site: http://www.woolworths.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Website/Woolworths/About+Us/Our+Planet/Sustainability/
I had bought 4 items and was told no bags available.
