News

Nov 19, 2023

How reusable bags could cost you more at the checkout

The bags you use for fruit and vegetables could soon cost you more at the

The bags you use for fruit and vegetables could soon cost you more at the checkout.

Previously, supermarket checkout scales were calibrated to deduct the weight of the store's single-use plastic produce bags.

But those bags are banned with effect from July 1, meaning supermarkets will have to decide how much "bag weight" to allow.

A Countdown spokesperson said its scales would have a tare weight – which is the weight of packaging – of 10g to account for the weight of paper bags or the weight of the reusable polyester produce bags sold in-store.

A three-pack of Countdown's reusable produce bags costs $1.70 and weighed between 4.38g and 4.63g each.

Produce bags available to purchase online from various bag retailers ranged between 4.5g and 36g. Some sellers did not specify the bag's weight, while others were sold with a tare weight tag attached.

The price of orange kumara at Countdown was $11.49/kg.

If a shopper used a 36g produce bag and did not take the kumara out at the checkout, they would pay 30 cents for the weight of the bag.

If the price of kumara increased to $19.99/kg and they used the same bag, the cost of the weight of the bag would increase to 52c.

The Fruit World chain in Auckland did not respond to questions about the tare weight on its scales.

If it was the same as Countdown at 10g, a shopper who used their own 18g bag to carry a couple of high-priced items such as New Zealand garlic bulbs, selling for $55/kg, would be paying 44c for the bag's weight.

For the year to April, fruit and vegetable prices soared 22.5%.

Pak’nSave and New World owner Foodstuffs did not respond to a request for comment on how it would manage the weight of produce bags from July 1.

Stephen O’Brien, the national manager for trading standards at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, said under the Weights and Measures Act any goods sold by reference to weight must be sold by net weight – the weight of the product excluding packaging.

O’Brien said retailers need to adjust the "tare weight" on their weighing instruments to account for heavier paper bags and reusable bags.

He said if consumers use their own produce bags they could talk to the retailer before using them to ensure the weight can be deducted.

"Or be ready to remove produce from the bags at checkout, so goods can be weighed without any tare required," said O’Brien.

Supermarkets and green grocers were not required to supply their customers with bags, he said.