Plastic bags are banned starting March 1. Paper bags will cost 5 cents each.
I always bring my own bag. I started doing so because I was sick of plastic bags taking up my whole garbage can, then I was sick of plastic bags accumulating under my sink. They still accumulate, but now my roommates and friends wont' be able to do that.
I am also looking forward to this to watch people freak out. People who will pay any amount of money for something on the shelves are going to have a conniption over having to pay 5 cents to get something from a store instead of getting something for free from the store. People who would never bend over to pick a nickel up off the ground will suddenly become very concerned about 5 cents.
The psychological principle at work here is "loss aversion." People react much more strongly to losing something they had (free bags) than the actual value of what they're losing or what they could gain (5 cents, like if they picked up a nickel). And that's why the bag ban will work. People don't want to pay 5 cents so badly, even though it is objectively very small, that they will bring their own bags.
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