RETAILERS IRKED OVER BAG BAN
Say online giants benefit
The head of the state’s retailers association slammed the city’s new ban on plastic shopping bags — which Mayor Martin J. Walsh signed Friday — as the latest obstacle putting mom and pop shops at a disadvantage from online giants.
“This is just another example of too many recent government intrusions, which hit brick-and-mortar stores, but totally ignores competition online,” said
Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “We can’t serve our customers the way they want (to) be served and give them the packaging for the goods they’re buying in stores for free, yet all this packaging, all this trash hitting front doorsteps for online sellers, that’s totally untouched by this kind of government intrusion.”
The prohibition applies to single-use plastic shopping bags throughout Boston.
But it also forces retailers to charge at least 5 cents for other checkout bags — even reusable, compostable plastic and paper ones with handles.
Walsh told reporters yesterday that he signed the plastic bag ban — which was passed unanimously by the City Council — on Friday afternoon.
“Five cents is the threshold,” Walsh said. “Some companies could spend as much as 50 cents or a dollar for a bag. That’s a problem. There are people that are on fixed incomes in the city. It’s going to be passed over to the consumer. A dollar a bag or 50 cents a bag or 5 cents on top of all the other charges that people have to pay, that adds up. I have the means to pay, you have the means to pay, but other people don’t.”
Nevertheless, Walsh still signed the ordinance, which will go into effect next fall.
Hurst added the ban will also hurt tourists, who typically don’t travel with reusable bags in their suitcases.
“Unwittingly, they’re picking winners and losers, and the losers are brickand-mortar stores, and the winners are out-of-state online sellers,” said Hurst, who equated the latest restrictions to the town of Concord’s controversial ban on bottles of water.
Some 59 communities across the state have similar bans or limits and fees on plastic bags.