No more bags

[EveDallas]

You don't have to 'get' it! Maybe that's not how you operate. I was actually talking about purchases made in the Disney parks, but it is mostly the same at their stores in the Mall I live near. If I'm walking past, I usually pop in to see what, if anything, is new and interesting. Am I that unusual that I enjoy shopping and often am 'out and about' with no certain purchase in mind??

Nope, not taking bags with me (except for grocery shopping). You shop your way, doesn't bother me at all...I'll shop mine.

Exactly. And that's what is so frustrating about these arguments. "Well, I do it this why so I don't understand why everyone else doesn't do it the same way."

 

[EveDallas]

So i had to jump in here! I went to the Disney Store yesterday - i typically order online. I purchased $300 in PJs and sneakers and princess dresses - and walked out of the store carrying it all in my hands as they wouldnt give me a bag! I had to buy one, on top of the $300 I spent. I wholeheartedly agree with “green”! Dont use plastic - but this is NOT my local discount store where i have to bring my own boxes / bags. I am paying premium prices and expect better customer service from Disney. You should have seen the looks i received walking through Macys and Boscovs and the mall carrying kids clothers on hangers.

I would have gotten a refund, set every single thing on the counter and walked out. Let them lose some big sales and see how fast they change their tune.

 

[AurumPunzel]

Exactly. And that's what is so frustrating about these arguments. "Well, I do it this why so I don't understand why everyone else doesn't do it the same way."

I'm also one who prefers to only take reusables to the supermarket. I refuse to lug around reusables just for one store in the mall, because it's massively frustrating for me to do so, and if I'm splurging on, let's say a Black Friday sale or any of the other big sale events like I did in NYC earlier this year, I don't want to have to lug around a bulky reusable or have to buy two of their largest 99c reusable bags because they're not even close enough to jumbo-sized, which is a requirement when you spend a lot and need a bag big enough.

I would have gotten a refund, set every single thing on the counter and walked out. Let them lose some big sales and see how fast they change their tune.

I would have also complained to Guest Services and wrote a nicely-worded letter to the VP and the head of WDPECP to tell them how ridiculous 'going green' really is. Disney Stores are not membership warehouses or hard discounters, so they should stop behaving like one with the bags and actually come to their senses over this bad virtue signal.

 

[Mariearistocat]

My reusable bags fold into tiny pouches that are about as big as a compact. I always have one in my purse, or car, or bike bag. Even wandering places spontaneously, I have a bag, just as I have a pack of Kleenex and a wallet. I don’t get people wandering into a mall without a purse, but I guess I could see it wandering a park. Then again, if I go through all the trouble of going bag free in a park I’m very unlikely to buy something I have to carry around.

I carry three of these little things in my purse. They hold a lot for such tiny bundles!

 

[Dingdingding]

It's a cost reduction. It's not green, it's cheap.

 

[michipenguin]

I just wanted to add my two cents in saying that it’s not the cast member’s fault for not being able to provide anyone with plastic bags. I see a lot of disgruntled people in here about it, and that’s okay! But I’ve seen and read that a lot of people are taking it out on the employees who have no control over what their company decides to do.

If you have concerns, definitely call guest services! That’s what they’re there for. Let your voices be heard and perhaps something will change and better alternatives will be available in the future. But yelling at the cast member at the box office and demanding a plastic bag when, in fact, they literally don’t have any to give won’t do much. They’re not holding plastic bags hostage in the stock room. They legitimately don’t have the option and I’m sure if they did, they would be more than happy to give you one in return for not flipping out at them for something they can’t control.

In short, just be nice to the cast. They’re just as tired about the complaints as you are about stores going “green.”

 

[AurumPunzel]

I just wanted to add my two cents in saying that it’s not the cast member’s fault for not being able to provide anyone with plastic bags. I see a lot of disgruntled people in here about it, and that’s okay! But I’ve seen and read that a lot of people are taking it out on the employees who have no control over what their company decides to do.

If you have concerns, definitely call guest services! That’s what they’re there for. Let your voices be heard and perhaps something will change and better alternatives will be available in the future. But yelling at the cast member at the box office and demanding a plastic bag when, in fact, they literally don’t have any to give won’t do much. They’re not holding plastic bags hostage in the stock room. They legitimately don’t have the option and I’m sure if they did, they would be more than happy to give you one in return for not flipping out at them for something they can’t control.

In short, just be nice to the cast. They’re just as tired about the complaints as you are about stores going “green.”

Yeah, but the trouble is, is that it's been months, and by now Guest Services would have acted on those complaints from the onset, but from what I can tell, they still haven't, and Black Friday has yielded even greater complaints over the limited capacity of the 99c reusable bags, since some had no option but to purchase the more-expensive $5 jumbo holiday totes to ensure they can safely carry all their purchases in. Disney Stores were and have never been designed for 'going green', so the way they have implemented this policy and came up with it is a huge affront to the Disney brand and their consumer-friendly image, not to mention that all those 'green' moves are nothing more than empty pious virtue-signalling moves that will do nothing for the environment except give people the false impression that they're doing something, and what's more, Disney are ripping people off for low-quality sweatshop-made bags that have lower capacity than even the optional reusable bags they used to have before they brought in those plain and boring bags. The least Disney could have done was just, as I've mentioned multiple times on here, charge a very small fee for plastic bags and make them more reusable by upgrading the thickness so that they can at least meet any existing and future single-use bag bans, and also promote recycling them where facilities insist, instead of ripping people off and causing such a huge ruckus by leaving people with little choice but to either purchase the reusable or just leave with the purchases unprotected. And yes, I do feel sorry for the CMs that are still facing the music over this ruckus, but still, they really need to come up with a solution that will please both sides before they start to lose sales as people become more weary about the bag situation and take their business online.

 

[AurumPunzel]

It's a cost reduction. It's not green, it's cheap.

And the sad thing about it is that they choose to use the cheap-and-nasty NWPP material, which is worse for the environment, and offshore production to China, at the expense of US jobs, since the plastic bags they had were more environmentally-friendly in terms of having a low carbon footprint, were made of a large percentage of PCR materials and were easily recyclable, not to mention already being reusable to a certain degree.

 

[michipenguin]

Yeah, but the trouble is, is that it's been months, and by now Guest Services would have acted on those complaints from the onset, but from what I can tell, they still haven't, and Black Friday has yielded even greater complaints over the limited capacity of the 99c reusable bags, since some had no option but to purchase the more-expensive $5 jumbo holiday totes to ensure they can safely carry all their purchases in. Disney Stores were and have never been designed for 'going green', so the way they have implemented this policy and came up with it is a huge affront to the Disney brand and their consumer-friendly image, not to mention that all those 'green' moves are nothing more than empty pious virtue-signalling moves that will do nothing for the environment except give people the false impression that they're doing something, and what's more, Disney are ripping people off for low-quality sweatshop-made bags that have lower capacity than even the optional reusable bags they used to have before they brought in those plain and boring bags. The least Disney could have done was just, as I've mentioned multiple times on here, charge a very small fee for plastic bags and make them more reusable by upgrading the thickness so that they can at least meet any existing and future single-use bag bans, and also promote recycling them where facilities insist, instead of ripping people off and causing such a huge ruckus by leaving people with little choice but to either purchase the reusable or just leave with the purchases unprotected. And yes, I do feel sorry for the CMs that are still facing the music over this ruckus, but still, they really need to come up with a solution that will please both sides before they start to lose sales as people become more weary about the bag situation and take their business online.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I fully agree that Disney needs to implement a better plan for the future. I don’t like that they have limited sizes, and the bags they have now aren’t very high quality. I’ve had a few that had holes in them from the get go (the CMs never gave me issues when it came to replacing them). I actually don’t even use the Disney bags except for the large $5 one (which was primarily used for moving, not shopping). I’m not sure if charging for plastic bags will help calm the guests very much, as I’ve heard them throw fits over simply being charged at all for any kind of bag (plastic or otherwise). But yes, there is a lot of things the higher ups at Disney could do to make it better while still cutting down on plastic waste.

But that still doesn’t excuse the way I’ve seen CMs being treated over this. That really was my main point of my post, not to debate over the justification of the blue bags. Just the other day I was visiting my outlet center and I witnessed a CM get things physically thrown at her because of the bag situation. I’ve witnessed them being cussed at, screamed at, and all sorts of other things all because of a bag. I understand it’s frustrating, especially if you have a lot to carry and you don’t know about the change yet, but people seem to fail to realize that the cast members themselves really can’t do anything about it. It doesn’t matter how much you demand them to give you a free bag, they can’t magically pull one out of the drawer for you. They’re frustrated too. Just cut them some slack, okay?

 

[AurumPunzel]

I’m not disagreeing with you. I fully agree that Disney needs to implement a better plan for the future. I don’t like that they have limited sizes, and the bags they have now aren’t very high quality. I’ve had a few that had holes in them from the get go (the CMs never gave me issues when it came to replacing them). I actually don’t even use the Disney bags except for the large $5 one (which was primarily used for moving, not shopping). I’m not sure if charging for plastic bags will help calm the guests very much, as I’ve heard them throw fits over simply being charged at all for any kind of bag (plastic or otherwise). But yes, there is a lot of things the higher ups at Disney could do to make it better while still cutting down on plastic waste.

But that still doesn’t excuse the way I’ve seen CMs being treated over this. That really was my main point of my post, not to debate over the justification of the blue bags. Just the other day I was visiting my outlet center and I witnessed a CM get things physically thrown at her because of the bag situation. I’ve witnessed them being cussed at, screamed at, and all sorts of other things all because of a bag. I understand it’s frustrating, especially if you have a lot to carry and you don’t know about the change yet, but people seem to fail to realize that the cast members themselves really can’t do anything about it. It doesn’t matter how much you demand them to give you a free bag, they can’t magically pull one out of the drawer for you. They’re frustrated too. Just cut them some slack, okay?

Perhaps if they just didn't keep giving them out by default and only did so on request (ie. have the CM ask "do you need a bag?" to the guest) and taught the CMs how to efficiently pack, not to mention educating on bag reuse and recycling (perhaps even have recycling points in-store), before deciding on this controversial move, then at least they'd still achieve something while avoiding the fracas that's sadly ensued, even though I argue that Disney should focus more on packaging than the bags, since packaging yields an even greater share of plastic waste compared to bags, and packaging definitely gets thrown out more than the bags, because while plastic bags can be reused (and I know people who do), packaging is thrown straight away 99% of the time. I was disappointed when I saw that the new doll packaging didn't use the same idea the first-release Moana doll packaging used, which was to have provision for re-purposing and minimal unrecyclable plastic, not to mention the use of eco inks and higher PCR content percentages.

As for the amount of altercations that have ensued, yes, it's definitely inexcusable, and again I do feel sorry for the CMs who continue to get stick for what Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank or wherever the Disney Store top brass are now based came up with, but so's the way they have decided to profiteer with those low-quality NWPP reusable bags that are smaller than both the previous reusable bags and the plastic bags. From the onset, I knew that 'going green' was going to be a recipe for disaster, but surely they would they have assessed the potential downsides of it and thought about the safety of CMs before deciding on this controversial move? Thing is, if anything, I'd have rather have seen a thicker, ordinance-compliant version of the plastic bags they had, since they were really cute - who on earth would throw away a bag that has Rapunzel on it, eh? And yes, being the huge Tangled fan I am, I'm biased; I've saved those bags I got in NYC last year and earlier this year, so zero waste from me - yay for being 'green' in my own way by never throwing all of them away and reusing some of them!

 

[Babsy]

How about instead of charging for bags, Disney decided to offer a 99 cent discount if you didn't need/take a bag? That would be Disney going green. Right now Disney is charging customers unless they agree to 'go green'.

As it is, it is a cost saving measure / money grab.

 

[AurumPunzel]

How about instead of charging for bags, Disney decided to offer a 99 cent discount if you didn't need/take a bag? That would be Disney going green. Right now Disney is charging customers unless they agree to 'go green'.

As it is, it is a cost saving measure / money grab.

I say it’s more profiteering than cost-saving. Especially when you consider that most bag ban ordinances still allow H/LDPE plastic bags, as long as they fit the ordinance's legal definition of a 'reusable bag' (eg. 2.25mil in San Francisco, and designed for 125 reuses), and that most retailers in those areas typically charge the same fee as what's applied on paper bags, the Disney Stores are sticking out like a sore thumb by being the only store that isn't IKEA that's charging such a high fee, and that's why a lot of people are angry over that. Even in Australia, the two biggest supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, learnt from their mistake of jumping straight on the 'green' bandwagon by offering the thicker plastic bags for free before resuming the $0.15AUD ($0.11US) charge when people reacted with hostility over being charged for the thicker reusable bags as the supermarkets phased out the free thin vest bags in advance of statewide ordinances being implemented in WA and QLD, and a future ban being implemented next year in VIC. At least having such a small fee is better than almost a whole dollar, and that's why I'm calling upon Disney to reinstate the plastic bags in their stores, this time with ban-compliant thicknesses, and still having a jumbo size for those who splurge a lot during the sales, as well as to ditch those cheap-and-nasty non-woven polypropylene bags, which I'm hearing a lot of reliability issues with.

 

[Fleuristic]

So i had to jump in here! I went to the Disney Store yesterday - i typically order online. I purchased $300 in PJs and sneakers and princess dresses - and walked out of the store carrying it all in my hands as they wouldnt give me a bag! I had to buy one, on top of the $300 I spent. I wholeheartedly agree with “green”! Dont use plastic - but this is NOT my local discount store where i have to bring my own boxes / bags. I am paying premium prices and expect better customer service from Disney. You should have seen the looks i received walking through Macys and Boscovs and the mall carrying kids clothers on hangers.

My strategy thus far has been to shop at another store then use that bag to carry the Disney items. I've also refused to buy the bags in the past. If they'll still provide bags at the resorts and Disney Springs then why not at the off site stores?

 

[AurumPunzel]

My strategy thus far has been to shop at another store then use that bag to carry the Disney items. I've also refused to buy the bags in the past. If they'll still provide bags at the resorts and Disney Springs then why not at the off site stores?

Blame the cities that have passed/are passing bag ordinances. Although most still allow thicker versions of the plastic bags they had, Disney Store chose to exploit the bag laws so that they'd make more money by selling the reusables for more than the ordinance minimum, and it's clearly backfired because I keep on hearing complaints. Again, they need to come to their senses on this issue.

 

[Alynw]

I must be missing something here. Im currently at disney world and they have given me a platic disney bag at every shop with all my purchases..i didnt ask nor did i pay.

 

[AurumPunzel]

I must be missing something here. Im currently at disney world and they have given me a platic disney bag at every shop with all my purchases..i didnt ask nor did i pay.

This is only concerning the Disney Stores in malls and cities. The Parks have a different future strategy that's been mentioned in the July Environmentality announcement, and that's just to reduce the number given out. That doesn't mean that they're phasing them out, but people will be given the option to purchase a reusable bag if they so desire, and they'll probably start to only dish out plastic bags on request. World of Disney is the first Parks store to do so.

 

[Alynw]

This is only concerning the Disney Stores in malls and cities. The Parks have a different future strategy that's been mentioned in the July Environmentality announcement, and that's just to reduce the number given out. That doesn't mean that they're phasing them out, but people will be given the option to purchase a reusable bag if they so desire, and they'll probably start to only dish out plastic bags on request. World of Disney is the first Parks store to do so.

We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe at animal kingdom and they also gave plastic bags without request but they did not give straws with drinks unless requested. We didnt have to pay for straws but did have to ask for em, which i found weird since their still handing out bags. I was also givin plastic bags at the World Of Disney store located at disney springs, not sure if this is the same world of disney store your talking about. All the shops at disney springs were giving out disney plastic bags like normal. Ill b back at disney springs tmrw, ill try to talk to one of the managers at world of disney store on this matter and get their opinion.[/QUOTE]

 

[Alynw]

.

 

[Alynw]

At the World Of Disney store, we bought a few items and were given the large plastic bags. I then went back in and bought a single trading pin and was given the small plastic bag. I was thinkn maybe they only gave bags to larger purchases but no, given bags like always.

 

[AurumPunzel]

We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe at animal kingdom and they also gave plastic bags without request but they did not give straws with drinks unless requested. We didnt have to pay for straws but did have to ask for em, which i found weird since their still handing out bags. I was also givin plastic bags at the World Of Disney store located at disney springs, not sure if this is the same world of disney store your talking about. All the shops at disney springs were giving out disney plastic bags like normal. Ill b back at disney springs tmrw, ill try to talk to one of the managers at world of disney store on this matter and get their opinion.

[/QUOTE]

At the World Of Disney store, we bought a few items and were given the large plastic bags. I then went back in and bought a single trading pin and was given the small plastic bag. I was thinkn maybe they only gave bags to larger purchases but no, given bags like always.

Yes, it was the same World of Disney I was talking about, but again, it was previously mentioned that the reusables will be optional and not a forced purchase. I'd hate to imagine the amount of frustration and anger that would result in the Parks if guests became forced to purchase the reusable bags, because a phaseout would be rather impractical, and there are some that don't carry around rucksacks or handbags around Disney all the time, though I do agree that they shouldn't keep giving out bags unless a guest requests one, because why give out a small bag with pins when a guest clearly has a large bag they already got when buying a spirit jersey on Main Street? They could use that same bag until it's full, then Disney will achieve a fair balance between convenience and conservation.