Succumbed to Another Bag...

I am now officially a sucker for re-usable bags. Ended up at the mall unexpectedly, and didn't have one with me...then also found a cute dress I couldn't pass up, but I didn't want a big plastic garment bag. The solution, of course, was right at the check-out counter. A new 'green' tote was available from JC Penney's.

So I wonder what the revenue totals are from these bag sales...are they selling them at cost or below just to build or maintain a 'green' image? Or is there a positive margin on the bag sales? And then what percentage of their customers actually bring them back (or a bag back) to allow them to reduce the number of plastic bags they have to purchase? Are there serious savings there that add to the bottom line?

I don't see it so much in retail stores. My non-scientific observations show that about 10% of the people I see buying groceries bring their own bags. But, surprisingly, I see about the same percentage whether I'm at SuperTarget, a Hy-Vee in a prosperous area of town, or the Hy-Vee in my neighborhood which is an odd combo of Yuppies and people living on minimum wage or less.