Why Paying 15p for a Plastic Bag Still Annoys British Shoppers: A Hilarious Mister Winner Sketch

I can’t quite remember when supermarkets and other shops started charging for their plastic bags, for the rather scurrilous reason that they were helping to save the planet and demanding payment for their bags would encourage people to bring their own.  Well, I can only speak for myself – it has.  I must add, of course, that sometimes I forget to take my “bag for life” with me in the morning and so I do end up acquiring a new one.  Yet I resent that – because I know that the markup on my new carrier bag is huge and that the place I am buying it from is making more than a tidy profit from my forgetfulness.  So, the situation is far from perfect from this consumer’s perspective.

Not that I would stoop to this extreme. In this scene from the BBC’s sitcom Mister Winner, Leslie Winner (Spencer Jones) – who always finds himself in disastrous situations – finds it impossible to part with 15 pence (about 20 US cents) for a plastic bag for his groceries and so decides to use his various pockets (and other articles of clothing) to carry his shopping home.  This doesn’t impress anyone, particularly the shop assistant at the till who remains poker faced throughout (I imagine that there were a few outtakes during the filming of this scene!).  If only Leslie had thought of an obvious solution. In the UK, there are so many self-service checkouts that most people feel obliged to use them (the till lady is a dying breed).  According to a straw poll I conducted at work, when customers use them and need a new bag, they will rarely scan it. They just pile the shopping in, and whistle nonchalantly as they leave the store with their (paid for) groceries in their new (stolen) bag. Sorted.

Watch the sketch below: