Do you folks bring your rackpacks in the store, hook them to the grocery cart and then at the checkout load the groceries directly inside, or do you just leave your rackpacks on your bike and then use the normal paper or plastic bags and then load them outside?

I've been bringing my Ortliebs in the store, but they seem to get in the way and checkout is a little chaotic (trying to balance the load). I'm considering buying 4 reuseable cloth bags and then loading them outside.

Here in Germany, everyone uses reuseable cloth bags. It is much easier to just walk out with them and stick them into the panniers. I recommend going that route.

i have the same problem as you...the cashier runs all my stuff over the scanner, i pay, tell them i don't need a bag, then rush to to pack everything in my bag and i can never do a good job packing because the next person in line's stuff starts coming.

canvas bags inside, panniers outside is smooth operating.

My grocery bike has baskets so its canvas bags inside anyway.

for just a few groceries on the way home, i'll bring a pannier in.

I bring my panniers in the store and then only pack once. It took a little while to get the loads equal, but I can get close enough now that it doesn't bother me. I start packing when the first item is scanned and stay until I am done. I was a grocey bagger in high school, so maybe I do have an unfair advantage :).

We always take our panniers into the store. It's much easier that way, no loading and unloading plastic bags that will be thrown out when we get home.

I consider my Ortlieb bags too valuable to leave outside on my bike. I have seen people run a cable lock through the smaller loop on their Ortlieb bag, but I find it simpler and more secure just to bring the bags inside with me always.

I just have them put it all back into the cart, no bags, then take the cart outside to my bicycle to load it up. Seems to work fine and no rushing to load either.

I bring my Ortliebs in and put them in the cart along with my helmet, gloves, and glasses. I do my shopping, pay, then take all the stuff back outside and load the panniers.

I just have them put it all back into the cart, no bags, then take the cart outside to my bicycle to load it up. Seems to work fine and no rushing to load either.
Roger that, "I brought my own" works great and makes the checkout person do a mental hiccup. Whole foods gives you a nickel.
California sustainability: 200 cars and 1 bike in the front of the natural food chain store on a spare-the air-day.

If I want bags, I let 'em bag 'em. If I don't need the bags, I say, "No bag please."

I pack stuff in my backpack (I don't use panniers) in the alcove where the carts are stored, if there is one. I try to get out of the way, becaus it does take a minute to stow stuff properly to my specifications.

Here in Germany, everyone uses reuseable cloth bags. It is much easier to just walk out with them and stick them into the panniers. I recommend going that route.

Yep I discovered that in Germany, you pay a dime or so for a plastic bag if you need one, and you end up feeling like a real fool, or an ******* American(tm) if you show up for a bit of shopping without your handy shopping bag like the locals have.

This is off topic, but, I find it interesting how many of us car-free or bike commuting fans have lived in Germany (5 years myself). Could it be that this culture planted some habits that we didn't want to forego for those who've returned to the states?

Lots of good ideas here; I think i”ll try the cloth bags next because it seems like it would be quicker than loading items one at a time outside. Plus since the bagger's salary is included with the price of the goods, why not let them help out? Plus it might inspire a paper or plastic person behind me in line to go cloth too.

We have to pay for plastic bags at some stores here, and they're being outlawed completely by 2008. Nearly every store here sells a reusable pannier-sized bag for a buck.

I have one of those Wald quick release front baskets. I leave it off unless im gonna go shopping and just leave the hanger on. It takes about 3 seconds to put it on and when i get to the store i take it off, carry it in, and fill it up. When it's full it is time to go.

In the UK, supermarkets have been using smaller trolleys for light shoppers. These are about the same area as std models but only about 10" deep. The high platform is ideal for standing the pannies up and loading them. I often just chuck everything back into the trolly after paying, and pack the bags afterwards, ensuring that I dont damage squashables or place sharp edges where they damage the pannier material.

America is going to be the last bastion of the disposable plastic bag.

Gripping our collective hands firmly around thin films of polyethelene, looking for our SUVs in the parking lot of the food co-op.

"I want my freedom to choose paper OR plastic." (personally, I never seem leave the house without a canvas tote regardless of my locomotion, unless I'm going out on a date.)

What a joke. Americans myopic wastefulness is apalling. Our 5 percent of the global population uses 25 percent of the worlds oil, etc..

Same as MW. Also as a regular but light shopper I can line up my shopping on the conveyor belt in the order that I want to load it into my pannier.

I can usually finish my packing while they swip my card and wait for the payment to process.

Reusing plastic bags: I reuse them until they die. Use them to keep stuff dry in your backpack. Tie one over your saddle when your bike has to be out in the rain. Make a kerchief to put under your helmet in a sudden downpour (tuck it in good as it looks pretty dorky if it's sticking out). Put veggies in them in the refrigerator. Donate them to your library, resale shops, rummage sales, etc. If you must recycle them, most supermarkets have a collection bin.

I use a messenger bag, and flip it to the front. As the cashier scans items, I pop them into the bag. I make sure that I put the things that go in last at the back of the conveyor belt.

Edit: the only problem is when I forget small stuff in my bag--its big. I routinely find bulbs of garlic and ginger roots. Once I forgot a stick of butter :D

Yeah--I left a little piece of smoked trout in my backpack once. I couldn't figure out why every cat in Lansing was following me home.

Holland is the same as germany in terms of bag. plastics bags cost .15 or 1.00euro buys you a cheay duty resuable vinyl one. My big fat panniers strap on the bike and aren't too easy to get off, so I just bring a couple bags into the store and then drop them back after shopping. No one bags your groceries here so no matter who you are you feel hurried. The key like someone above said is to sort your stuff out on the belt. Cans go first, Bread goes last.

Back in the states, my panniers are quick on off and I bring them into the store. I get weird looks form all the yuppies at whole foods, but plastic bags just seem to pile up around my apartment. There are so many times when I've been as Best Buy or target just picking up batteries or a cd, and before I can say know its in a bag. such a waste

I know SF was trying to pass an ordinice to charge for plastic bags, but I think the big chains lobbied against it.

I bring my Ortliebs in and put them in the cart along with my helmet, gloves, and glasses. I do my shopping, pay, then take all the stuff back outside and load the panniers.

Word. Except I tend to load panniers inside the shop, then roll them out with the cart to the bike. I value my Ortliebs too much to leave them on my bike.

Around here plastic bags are also charged separately, but are worth the cost, rugged and fairly durable. Sometimes I buy one if I need a cheap dry sack for a couple of kayaking trips, for example.

--J

Cloth bags here unless need to refill plastic bag box for kitchen trash.

I know this thread is titled rackpacks in the grocery store, but does anyone use a trailer? I have used my BOB trailer and I love it, just drop the bags in the trailer and go home. It's also easy to lock up. Even if there isn't something to lock it up to, just locking the rear wheel to the trailer prevents most people from even considering stealing it.

Chris

When I go to the grocery store and need only a few items, I take a large knapsack into the store, get the items, pay for them, and pack them into 3 different sections
of the knapsack. If I have a few more items than the knapsack will hold, I put them
(depending upon size) in my panier.

If I'm shopping for a lot of items over a period of days, I go to the store in a bus and return in a bus or a cab. I ask for the groceries to be put into paper bags inside plastic ones.

Later, I recycle the paper bags by putting them into bundles and take them to small stores that need to reduce the cost of getting bags. The plastic bags I reuse myself in a number of ways until they break.

Today, the grocery store I frequent is starting to sell cloth bags like the ones in Europe. I'm thinking of buying a few of them.

Y'all talked me into it. The last couple times I shopped, I loaded my own stuff into my backpack. I must say it worked quite well! Thanks for the tip.

does anyone use a trailer?

I use a Wheele trailer to get groceries every time I go. It's a single-wheel trailer that folds, so I can leave it attached, fold it so that the trailer wheel is up by the rear bike wheel, and run my lock cable through both. Then again, I usually lock it to a signpost, it could probably be lifted right off. Then again, again, I live in a small town, I doubt anyone would take it anyway. Actually, a funny thing happened to me at the store yesterday...

As I finished my shopping and headed for the checkout, I saw that the checker whose line I normally go through was not working. I picked a lane at random and unloaded my stuff. A bagger came over about halfway through and I waved to get their attention - no luck. So I told the checker instead that I didn't need any bags.

Checker: "Oh, you brought your own bags?"

Me: "No, actually I'm going to be loading it all in my bike trailer, I don't need any bags."

Checker: "Oh...you don't need any bags?"

Me: "No bags."

(To bagger) "He doesn't need any bags."

Bagger: "No bags?"

Me: "I don't need any bags."

Bagger: "Ok..."

(Of course I had gone through this once before, with my "usual" checker, that's why I like to go through her lane when possible.)

I continued unloading the cart, and as I got done, I looked up and see the bagger - bagging my groceries!

Me: "Actually...I don't need any bags..."

Checker: "Yeah, he's got a backpack or something out there...he says he doesn't need any bags."

Bagger: "Oh, I thought you meant no paper bags..."

Me: "No, I don't need any bags."

Checker: "Yeah, he'll have his receipt, so..."
(The checkout stands are less than 10 feet from the door - no greeters, anti-theft devices, displays, etc to pass - I couldn't slip anything extra into my cart without taking another trip around the store...but maybe they have people that try to just leave with a cart full of unbagged groceries, without paying.)

So we unload the bags she already bagged - she starts taking items out one at a time and carefully placing them back in the cart; I pick up bags and upend them. Doesn't need to be neat, I'm moving them into my trailer in a minute anyway...

I get my receipt and check to make sure we got everything unbagged and back into the cart. I head out the door, leaving two puzzled employees behind.

...

I'm still not sure how the checker changed my bike trailer into a backpack - that I had for some reason left outside. I guess "getting groceries with bike" just didn't register with her.

I know this thread is titled rackpacks in the grocery store, but does anyone use a trailer? I have used my BOB trailer and I love it, just drop the bags in the trailer and go home. It's also easy to lock up. Even if there isn't something to lock it up to, just locking the rear wheel to the trailer prevents most people from even considering stealing it.

Chris

Yes I use a Burley Nomad and pull it with a trike when I buy groceries, the manager lets park inside the store next to his office and the shopping carts. Grab a cart, do my shopping and the nice thing is I'm not restricted to how much or what I can buy. Goe through the checkout, they bag the groceries, except for cold which I use a thermal bag and as you said just drop the bags in the trailer and go home.

yep, my partner and i use a trailer. we have a bikes at work trailer that carries two 18-gal Rubbermaid tubs. We bring the tubs into the store, stashed on the bottom part of the shopping cart. When it's time to check out we pack everything directly into the tubs and stack 'em for carting out of the store in the cart. Works great and no bags.

The only problem is that POrtland requires paper bags to separate your recycling! So I guess we'll have to get some at some point.

Right now Holly's sewing up a batch of cloth produce bags to use for shopping so we can be free of plastic bags forever. Well, mostly free, cuz we still need a couple to put on our saddles.

Back to the OP's point, when I use a backpack or panniers instead of a big trailer, I always try to bring a cloth bag or two to shop and check out with. It makes the whole process much easier.

I have a reuasable grocery bag that I purchased at my local natural food coop. It is strong but super lightweight, and it folds into its own little pouch that I can attach to my keychain. I can have it on me all the time, unlike the bulkier canvas bags I used to use, (when I remembered them). Fits easier in my pannier, too. The coop people told me they are from Germany, which jives with what I'm hearing. Reisenthal is the name on the tag.
I just wish that the pouch was attached so there was no way of them getting seperated, which they currently are. Also it has gotten shmutzy, and I am not sure if I can run it through the washing machine.
I have brought my Pannier in before, but I almost always use the hand cart, not the push cart, and carrying the pannier gets awkward. If I am carrying my backpack, I will put stuff right in thereat the cash register unless it is to filled with books. I almost never buy more groceries than will fit in the collective space of my backpack and my compactable bag/pannier. If I did, I own a couple of canvas bags and live ridiculously close to the store. And when I need bags, I let them give me some around my purchases.

I saw a similiar product to mine by a different company on Treehugger.com here http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/onya_bags-_a_cl.php

. . . Also it has gotten shmutzy, and I am not sure if I can run it through the washing machine. . . .
Have you tried washing it with vinegar water?

I use my messenger bag to grocery shop, and lately I've just been stopping at the grocery after riding just to ride, so naturally I'm hungry while shopping. I've been getting bags because it takes me a while to stuff my bag past it's limits. I was thinking about getting canvas bags to bring, but then they're kind of bulky and would take up space in my bag that I need to stuff it past it's limits. And I was thinking of bringing old plastic bags to have them reuse, but I'm actually thinking ask for no bags and just take the hand cart out to pack up then return the cart, or the Onya bag that someone mentioned might be the best bet. At Trader Joes I sometimes get asked if I want things bagged in a particular way when they see my helmet. That's always nice.

Woah, did you see the price of those Onya bags?

Treehugger,
I just found some bags identical to those you described, but these ARE attached to their pouch, so they won't get lost. The tie string is attached as well. They're called ChicoBag. I just noticed they have a website.
You're right, these things are totally practical, featherlight, and take hardly any space. Stuffing them in their pouches reminds me of stuffing my sleeping bag!
I think i'll like these more than the cloth bags. Less weight and clutter.

The last time I posted on this thread, I let you know about my use of a knapsack to grocery shop as well as that I was considering buying some canvas bags to use when I need to get more items than the knapsack will hold.

I recently bought two canvas bags and have been using them with great success. The bags are made by a company here in Maine, can be rolled up in my knapsack before shopping, but will hold almost everything I put in it.

After returning to my apartment and putting the groceries away, I'm able to neatly hang the bags in a closet. Now I am free from paper and plastic bags cluttering up my kitchen.

Let me first say that Sweden is a very practical land, and this is overlooked a lot of the time. I think the practicality is a byproduct of people wanting to avoid confrontation (this is why Swedes have a reputation for being cold, I think). For example, almost every bathroom has a little indicator that shows occupancy. One almost never has to bet into a supposed awkward situation by rattling the handle of a locked and occupied bathroom door.

Anyway, at grocery checkouts, the loading area is divided into two sections. A gate descends over your section after you pay and directs the next person's groceries into the other division. Unless you have bought an inordinate amount of things, it is almost impossible to feel rushed. Quite nice.

As to the thread's question, I routinely brought my two large capacity Carradice panniers into the grocery store. Cumbersome at times. Now I more or less just load up two canvas bags and redistribute when I return to the cycle.

Ok, I've been following this thread because I'm determined to incorporate riding into as much of my time as I can. I still happily own a car, and I don't really care how expensive petrol gets. I just want to ride my bikes. Today, my wife and I rode our beach crusiers to the Fruit Barn for some fruit (duh!). The panniers I bought for my MTB don't work on the rack on my Jester, so I just have the bag that goes on top of the rack. We parked right in front (there's no door, the whole front of the store is open) and I just used their basket to do my shopping. When I was done, I just loaded everything into the bag on top of my rack, and we strapped a few things on top of that. If we go back there on the cruisers, we'll do the same. If we go on our tandem, or single MTBs, we'll take the panniers inside and after checking out, just load everything into the panniers. I'll go back to reading everyone else's posts now.

Cheers,

Expatriate - an American in Australia, and unapologetic car owner.