People are Taking Free Plastic Bags from Hawkers to Use in Supermarkets

Singaporeans have found an ingenious solution to the new $0.05 charge for disposable plastic bags in supermarkets.

The solution? To take more free plastic bags from hawkers.

People are Taking Free Plastic Bags from Hawkers

According to Shin Min Daily News, there seems to be a growing trend of Singaporeans asking for more free plastic bags from hawkers in view of the supermarket plastic bag charge.

Hawkers at Chong Pang Market & Food Centre in Yishun have confirmed this.

Or perhaps, it’s just a uniquely Yishun occurrence again.

One particular hawker shared about her encounters with several elderly customers who have taken plastic bags from her stall while she wasn’t looking.

While the hawker would “give chance” at first because these customers were elderly, it eventually got to a point where these customers would take up to six plastic bags at once, although they were just buying one pack of food.

Hawkers Also Planning to Impose a Plastic Charge

Given this very Mr Kiasu-esque solution that Singaporeans have devised, several hawkers have floated the idea of imposing their own plastic bag charge for additional plastic bags.

Learning from that one Kovan coffee shop…

Some hawkers have also suggested quantifying the charge at $0.05, following rates imposed by supermarkets.

This is especially considering the rise in the costs of plastic bags, which has imposed additional costs for hawkers in running their stalls as well.

Hais… This economy. 

According to hawkers interviewed by Shin Min Daily News, plastic bag costs have increased by up to 20%. Previously, it cost hawkers less than a dollar to order 20 plastic bags. Now, hawkers struggle even to get 20 plastic bags for a dollar.

As a result, many hawkers have also raised the additional fee charged for customers that choose to ta pau—many of us would be familiar with this; ta pau-ing your food used to look like a mere $0.20 surcharge. Now, it’s usually $0.30.

If customers continue taking free plastic bags from hawkers, this will be a cost that hawkers have to shoulder on their own.

However, on the other side of the coin, several hawkers are apprehensive about imposing such a charge in the hawker centre.

One particular hawker shared that it was a practice for hawkers to provide an extra plastic bag for free to reinforce the thin plastic bag containing customers’ ta pau orders.

Thus, it appears to be acceptable for customers to take extra plastic bags for free so long as these requests are reasonable.

So, don’t ask for six plastic bags lah. 

But what do customers think about the imposition of a plastic bag charge by hawkers as well?

Many customers interviewed by Shin Min Daily News have shared that the plastic bag charge will probably put a hole in their wallets.

Regardless, these customers were willing to accept the charge as long as hawkers clearly indicated the additional charges.

So, what’s your take? How should hawkers solve this problem?