2 comments for Clicklist: Nudity and orgasms, with a cause »

1. 

   The leaving excess packaging at the till thing? Really pissed me off. I see where the environmentalists are coming from, but the cashiers? Are generally low-wage workers (at least in the ‘states) who have no say in how things are packaged and no time to do anything but run things up. I worked at a 24-hour open supermarket back in 2004 after graduating college (only job I could find, heartening) and I have a lot of respect for people who work cash registers. I don’t even know if going up to the customer service counter and doing this demonstration in front of the manager would be helpful… in fact, I don’t know how I feel about it.

   I currently live in Japan, where everything is over-packaged. There’s no getting away from it, and I certainly don’t want to cause a scene. I avoid bags if at all possible and urge my friends to do the same. Small steps.

   Comment by meThe leaving excess packaging at the till thing? Really pissed me off. I see where the environmentalists are coming from, but the cashiers? Are generally low-wage workers (at least in the 'states) who have no say in how things are packaged and no time — November 23, 2006 @ 6:13 pm

2. 

   Hey meranie — I don’t disagree that this might be a tough job for the cashiers, dealing with the line back-up and such. Cleaning up the mess does indeed seem like a real pain in the ass.

   However, your “what about the cashiers” argument is sorta like the “what about the baristas” argument for the Starbucks Challenge. Both tug at our heartstrings, cuz most of us come face to face with cashiers or baristas every day. Still, the issues here, I believe are broader than that.

   I mean, It’s this sort of thing that makes grassroots action difficult. The problem is that activists trying to incite change are not given many avenues for letting their thoughts be known to the top dogs that should really be paying attention. The only way, often, to get the attention of the people at the top is to bug the people at the bottom, who’ll hopefully channel up the message, either via the corp ladder or via the MSM.

   Let me take a different tact: I’m glad to hear you avoid unnecessary bags. But there still are many stores in the US where the cashier acts like it’s a big hassle — slowing down the checkout line and such — if you try and get all your groceries in 1 or 2 amorphous and individuated canvas bags (as opposed to acquiescing to the prepped-and-ready, one-size plastic bags hanging on those metal prongs; as you may’ve experienced, if you forego your own canvas bags, the bagger will inevitably put only 1 or 2 items in each bag, leaving you with a dozen bags to carry out).

   So I guess my question is: Where do you draw the line, in terms of caring for the cashier discomfort? Certainly, we can disagree as to where this line should be drawn — For ex, I’m awed by the moxie of this gal who tried unwrapping all her packages at the “till,” as you call it, but I would not be okay if, say, someone started verbally harrassing the cashier, demanding to know why they were working at a company that allowed for enviro-destruction caused by overpackaging to take place.

   And certainly, we can come up with different, individual ways of dealing with such issues depending on the choices we have avaliable to us. I for one, instead of bugging grocery stores about shrinkwrapping their cucumbers, now only get produce from an organic grocery delivery company that has v. minimal packaging and reuses the box the produce comes in.

   But I guess I feel that accusing activists of cashier hatin’ in this case is not really something I feel is helpful. The behavior (de-packaging stuff) was not a direct attack, physical or verbal, on the cashier, even though I would agree it inconvenienced the cashier a bit. It is, in a technical sense, similar to picking up an energy bar during your shopping trip, eating it while shopping, then asking the cashier to throw the empty wrapper away, post-checker-scan, as you check out.

   Yes, I know that throwing out a Maya bar wrapper isn’t as tough as dealing with a mound of packaging. There’s more time and more packaging involved if you’re talkin’ ’bout de-bagging everything. Perhaps we can encourage would-be depackaging activists to do this: Do the de-packaging either before you get in, or while waiting in, the checkout line. That way, you clearly have a mound of trash to show both the checker and the line behind you, but you dont actually hold up the line.

   What d’ya think of my suggestion?

   Comment by Siel — November 25, 2006 @ 10:15 pm

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