CTlawyer, how wonderful for you that you have a car, and keep bags in it. Most of us in NYC do not drive casually around, and when we buy something we DEPEND on plastic bags to get it home. Paper bags will not work because they have no handles. If I can’t get a bag from the store, and I don’t happen to have shlepped a bag with me I WILL NOT BE ABLE BUY THINGS, because I will have no way to get them home on the subway. Even if I have taken a bag with me, I will only be able to buy as much as fits in that one bag. If I pass a store and see something good on sale, I will not be able to buy it in quantity unless I go around everywhere with five bags, just in case. This is insane.
Also, I will have to start buying garbage bags. And pet owners will have to start buying bags for that. What is the purpose served by all this? There is an almost UNLIMITED supply of landfill, so don’t drei me a kop about the garbage problem.