Topic: Grocery Bagging

The hosts discuss producing No Agenda branded reusable grocery bags. They brainstorm which show memes and jingles to include on the bags, such as "Shut up slave," "Living the mac and cheese life," and the number "33." The goal is to create a "weird" conversation piece for listeners to use in public.

Alameda County, including Berkeley and Oakland, implemented a ban on plastic grocery bags effective January 1, 2013. Customers are now required to purchase reusable canvas bags, which the hosts claim can harbor E. coli and other bacteria. The discussion briefly touches on the cost of bags ranging from ten to fifty cents.

A listener email from a grocery store accountant at Harris Teeter describes the "eco-guilt" associated with reusable polypropylene bags. The writer notes that customers often refuse plastic bags even for raw meat, leading to contamination risks. The email highlights that these 99-cent bags have high profit margins for stores but degrade quickly, potentially creating more waste than disposable alternatives.

John Dvorak recounts an experience at Monterey Foods in Berkeley where a customer held up the checkout line to demand her vegetables be repacked into her own canvas bags. The anecdote serves as a critique of performative environmentalism and the "grimy" nature of reusable bags compared to standard paper options.

A comparison of international grocery shopping habits reveals that Americans expect staff to bag their groceries, whereas Europeans typically bag their own. In the Netherlands and other parts of Europe, customers are often charged a fee for plastic bags, a practice that is becoming more common in environmentally conscious U.S. cities like San Francisco. The shift toward self-service is viewed by some as a loss of traditional service and employment opportunities for youth and retirees.