Get Your Dime Bag

Some residents like toting their bags under city rules, others loathe new fee for paper sacks

There’s a new line being uttered at Santa Fe checkouts: “Would you like to buy a bag?”

The phrase is still foreign on the tongues of cashiers, not yet six weeks old, really.

In the world of drugs, that sort of question, when posed to the wrong person, could land you in jail. But in the City Different, it's an innocent yet loaded query that cashiers are now required to ask of all shoppers.

And the response has been varied, from outright anger among customers who are appalled, given that there was a time when they used to get paper bags for free, to "Sure, why not? It only costs a dime."

Then there are those for whom the question is moot: They've brought their own reusable bags, which is the entire premise behind the paper bag charge—to wean shoppers off paper and plastic and look to cloth as the answer.

And so it's been nearly two months since the fee went into effect, mandating stores charge customers so that they can walk out the door with some dignity or forgo everything and play the juggling game.

Or the "Let's load up the cart and haul it to the car" game.

City lawmakers began imposing the fee in late June, an addendum to a plastic bag ban that they passed 14 months ago with a stated aim of reducing litter.

When the city decided to ban plastic, the idea had originally been to allow stores to charge the dime and keep everything for themselves. But then the city attorney noted that such actions would be deemed an "impermissible tax," which led to a period with no charge for the bags, followed by the current service fee.

Now stores only retain a penny, and the city takes in nine cents for every paper bag, but the money hasn't started to flow in just yet, says John Alejandro, the city's renewable energy planner.

In all, roughly $300,000 is expected to be raised by the fee this year, and the city is promising it will spend a good chunk of it on cloth bags to be distributed free at community events.

Stores need to now file either monthly or quarterly reports on the number of paper bags that have been purchased, Alejandro says.

"The money will be locked in and can't be spent on anything else," he explains. "Already from what I've heard, people are beginning to bring their own reusable bags into the stores."

That last statement might be wishful thinking, but that's only natural from a man whose job is to make sure that the city of Santa Fe is in sync with the 21st century and is dutifully trying to reduce the waste stream.

And yet the reaction among some shoppers should not be ignored. While some are fine with the fee, other shoppers have blown up at the checkout.

"They can be very rude," says Jesusita Romero, who's been working as a cashier at Smith's for four years. She says she's never encountered the sort of hostility that's come her way in the last month and a half at the store on Cerrillos Road, just south of St. Michael's Drive. "I wish we could bring back the plastic. Customers were nicer back then."

Part of the pent-up anger comes from the fact that for well over a year, with very few exceptions, stores didn't charge a red cent for the bags that they provided their customers. That was simply the way of doing business, complying with the loss of plastic bags and compensating with paper.

Shoppers Zachary and Chandra Wolf, husband and wife, say the recent step goes too far.

"It's going to sound far-fetched," says Chandra when asked her opinion outside the store last week, "but sometimes it's hard enough for people to come up with the money for food, let alone start paying 10 cents for every bag they use."

Nonsense, says Cailin Cosman, a college student who recently moved to Santa Fe from Albuquerque: "A dime is the price of a cat toy."

Susan Alexander, who ironically was busy packing cat food into her reusable bag, says the city ordinance is "a day late and a dollar short."

"It's a great conservation effort, but it should have been done in the '70s," says Alexander as she puts on her helmet and pedals her bike out of the parking lot. "But back then, we were more worried about nuclear power plants, from what I can remember."

Then there's Aaron Nolder, who's from Huntington Beach, Calif. He's lived here for going on 11 years and admits that he's not a "Save the seals" kinda guy. But when he first heard about the pending ordinance in the late winter, he booked on down to the nearest thrift shop and bought a reusable bag for $3.

"I can see where some might see it as a hassle," says Nolder, 52. "But for me it's no big deal. I don't mind bringing it."

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.