Item 4: Ordinance on Suspension of Paper Bag Pass-Through Charge

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over as the main bag in stores. I thought they were silly though the company pushed how they were cheaper to make, produced less harmful toxins in production and how they took up less space in landfills. I’m no fan of plastic bags. Your decision to remove the plastic bags is fine with me but you have managed to do something I never thought would happen. You have driven most of my business out of Eugene and into Springfield. I have a handful of reusable bags I keep in the car for when I go shopping. I don’t always have enough and use the extra bags from the store. Your 5 cent “fee” makes me feel like I am the bad person and am being punished for not owning enough reusable bags, or driving the correct car with the reusable bags in the trunk, or riding the bus and stopping by the store for a few things without my bags. stnd As I said, I live very close to Gateway Mall. Yesterday and today, May 1 and 2, I visited 5 stores in Eugene. Every cashier politely explained to me how I will be charged 5 cents for a bag. I asked each cashier what they thought about the change. Not a single one liked it. I asked loudly enough for the other customers to hear. Quite a few responded with negative responses. Nobody seemed to mind the plastic bags going away as much as the 5 cent charge for using a paper bag. In 3 of the stores I carried the groceries out in my hands. The reusable bags were either in the other car or I accidently left them in the trunk. I am approximately half way between stores I generally shop at. This would include Wal-Mart, Winco, Fred Meyers, Safeway and Walgreens. I roughly estimate I spend around $20,000 to $25,000 a year on food and supplies for a family of 4 with teenagers in the house. Today I decided to change where I shop. For me it only changes the roads I drive on, the distance and fuel usage is roughly the same. This will not affect the stores I shop at as I will still go to Wal-Mart, Winco, Fred Meyers, Safeway and Walgreens. They will be the stores in Springfield now. I’m sure this will affect other things as well. I’m guessing I will now go to the Les Schwab in Springfield rather than the one by Fred Meyer on River Road since I won’t be shopping there anymore. I’m also guessing this will affect where I buy fuel as well. I generally purchase fuel at Fred Meyer on River Road. As I spend more time in Springfield I see myself finding a gas station close to one of the places I shop. Do you see the ball rolling here? Again, I’m not a fan of plastic bags. With that said my family and I reuse our plastic bags multiple times before they are no longer fit to use. My daughter uses them as lunch bags. My son throws his workout clothes from school in them and ties the top shut. We use them for pet droppings and we use them in our bathroom trash cans. I’m sure we can find other ways to do these things though it will cost us more as a family. I now have to purchase lunch bags or a lunch pail for my daughter, a reusable bag for my son’s gym clothes (he absolutely refuses to use a green Winco bag to put his clothes in). I can always buy bags for my trash cans and come up with something different to pick up after the pets. I don’t find you’ve changed my plastic usage much as I will be buying (more money out of my pocket) heavier plastic bags to replace the (free) plastic bags I would get from the store. So as long as Springfield doesn’t put a fee on their bags, paper or plastic, I will be shopping there. Add up the $20,000 or so from the people that didn’t write or call you but have chosen to do the same thing. This will affect Eugene poorly. I would even meet you half way and start shopping in Eugene again if you lift the required 5 cent fee from the bags and allow the customers the choice. Allow the companies the choice to charge for the bags or not. Companies were paying for bags, paper and plastic, long before you put the ban in place. I would guess they would offer free bags again if it kept people like me in their stores.