I’m sure it’s already happened to any Genevan that briefly crossed the border to pick up a few items at the Batavia Trader Joe’s. You get to the register only to realize you left your reusable shopping bag in the car so you have to cough up that dime for a single-use paper bag. It’s not that a 10 cent per bag charge is that big a deal, but it feels like a “gotcha” tax that only serves to remind the shopper of what an ecological cad they really are.
Trust me. I understand those ubiquitous windborne plastic shopping bags have become a pestilence on the ecosystem and it’s wise to discourage their use. That said, I don’t understand levying the same tax on eminently recyclable and biodegradable paper bags. But what bothers me far more than that illogic or the punitive tax angle is that Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke and the city council clearly didn’t think his one through.
Because while my wife and I have been bringing multi-use bags to TJ’s and Meijer for 20 years on our Saturday grocery sojourns, the senior citizens who’ve come to depend upon grocery pickup and/or delivery in the post-COVID era, and those physically unable to make it to the store, don’t have that choice. They’re stuck with whatever bags the store chooses to use.
And that relegates this bag fee to one of the worst kind of regressive tax status because it unduly affects those at-risk for COVID complications, the physically infirm, and fixed income senior citizens who have mobility issues.
I’m sure that’s not what Batavia intended, but local government has a nasty habit of failing to consider the reasonably predictable consequences of their actions, particularly when it comes to any form of taxation. And apparently, not all bag fees are created equal.
If you place a delivery order with the Batavia Aldi, not only will you pay that City fee, but you’ll fork over Aldi’s 12 cent per bag charge, too. And 22 cents a bag for large order starts to add up, particularly for the fixed-/lower-income folks who tend to patronize that discount store.
Then the Batavia Target’s charging a fixed one-dollar bag fee per pickup order regardless of the number of bags used. That certainly won’t sit well with folks who want to pick up just a couple of items. I’m sure there are other equally fascinating applications of this new tax I’m not aware of, but let’s get back to the consequences the Batavia city council failed to foresee before implementing this ill-advised initiative.
First, the plethora of wayward disposable plastic bags problem begs for a statewide solution that would level the playing field. I’m sure I’m not the only one who, having been hit with that surprise fee, now opts for a non-Batavia, option even if that store’s a little further away.
I’m similarly convinced that a healthy number of Batavians are willing to drive those few extra minutes to the St. Charles Meijer or the Geneva Home Depot where there is no fee. That means the Batavia Menards, Jewel, Target, Aldi, and Walmart will all lose business. How significant those losses will be I don’t know, but the larger grocery/home improvement stores already operate on the slimmest of margins. TJ’s shoppers have armed themselves with reusable bags for years, so they won’t feel the same pinch.
The same thing goes for deliveries. Since there’s no way to avoid the bag fee in that regard, it’s just as easy to order from the St. Charles Meijer and their delivery service extends throughout the entirety of Batavia.
As far as Target’s catchall surcharge, once they realize they paid a dollar for one plastic bag, those shoppers will resort to other possibilities or they’ll simply order from the Target website where shipping is frequently free. And those Net orders don’t add to the local bottom line.
It all comes down to this. Why would any self-respecting mayor and city council erect any barrier to people shopping in their burb, particularly when they’re the only municipality erecting that barrier? I applaud the progressive notion of working towards a better world, but there are economic realities that make it very difficult for one city to go it alone.
Another thing that always bothers me about this kind of initiative is it puts the collection burden on the stores. Unfunded mandates tend to be a Springfield specialty, but it never ceases to amaze me how city councils and village boards have absolutely no reticence about adding to the massive amount of stress local businesses owners/managers already face.
If I thought this statute would have the desired effect and Batavia shoppers started bringing their own bags to stores en masse, I’d be all for it. But Americans generally don’t care for being “educated” via government fiat, particularly in the every-man-for-himself post-COVID era, which renders most of these progressive edicts pointless, or worse, they backfire.
Cashless bail has meant more, and not less incarcerations in the majority of states it’s been tested. Pushing and passing radical pro-transgender policies has led to a HUGE backlash against the LGBTQ+ community. The Cook County state’s attorney’s refusal to prosecute all but the worst shoplifters has resulted in rampant retail theft and Chicago chain stores are closing their doors as a result.
Considering that inevitable lack of success when it comes to the most minor forms of government social engineering – like a single-use bag tax – I’m surprised city councils still believe those efforts will somehow bear fruit.
For all of the above reasons, I’d encourage Batavia to rethink and repeal this single-use bag tax and put that effort into lobbying Springfield for a statewide bag fee statute. In lieu of that, I’d ask the council to exempt paper bags and remove the bag fee on grocery delivery/pickup orders that disproportionately impact senior citizens, the disabled, and those at risk for serious COVID complications.
It’s called basic common sense.
