A furious shopper has vented at Coles for switching away from plastic bags, showing how her groceries were damaged when one of the new paper bags gave way.
The supermarket giant, along with rival Woolworths, phased out soft-plastic shopping bags in June for environmental reasons.
The Queensland woman packed her purchases in Coles new 25c brown paper bags designed to hold up to 6kg, but the bottom soon fell out.
Footage showed groceries and the receipt strewn across the ground as she vented at the cost.
‘Thanks Coles for your little b******y 25 cent paper bags that supposedly hold 6kg,’ the woman begins.
‘I didn’t even have 6kg of groceries in this thing and it just snapped.’
She ends the rant by mocking Coles’ catchy advertising jingle.
‘Down down, groceries are down,’ she says.
‘F*** you Coles!’
The groceries were of various weights, from ice blocks and a cup of noodles to bags of chips and other snacks and a one-litre bottle of soft drink.
The shopper added in the comments that she distributed the items in the bags as evenly as she could.
‘It’s difficult to get the balance right when you only have two heavier items though in different sizes,’ the shopper explained.
She also pointed out she won’t be the first or last shopper to see their grocery bags fall apart.
‘Plenty of others have had the same problem. If the bags aren’t fit for purpose or can’t hold the 6kgs that they claim, they shouldn’t be sold,’ she added.
This shopper’s Coles paper bags (pictured) lasted until she got to the carpark
The video has attracted almost 100,000 views within two days and sparked a mixed response from Aussies.
‘Why do Coles even sell these if they don’t work? Thank god I hoarded all the better bags.’ one woman said.
Another added: ‘These bags have ripped on me with 3 1.25 l bottles of soft drinks. Ever since then, if I get them, I carry it like a baby’.
A third said: ‘A Coles bag broke on my 81 year old mum in the middle of the road. She fell and broke her arm and when I told the Coles manager he said ‘oh well’.’
While some shared their own horror stories involving the bags, others suggested keeping more durable recyclable alternatives handy for shopping trips.
One added: ‘Coles & Woolies make you pay for bags, have cameras on us, and we have to be our own checkout chick, while they rake in billions in profit.’
A second declared: ‘I am never going to buy bags from any supermarket had enough of being ripped off.’
Another said: ‘My bag had mince and olive oil and it broke as I walked into my house! Now olive oil everywhere.’
She won’t be the first or last shopper to see their grocery bags fall apart
Coles stands by its claims that the bags hold up to 6kg of groceries.
‘Our paper bags have undergone vigorous independently testing and found to safely hold up 6 kilos of groceries, including chilled and frozen items, and can be reused multiple times,’ a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Since we announced our decision to phase out soft plastic bags in May, we have been impressed by our customers’ response to the paper bags and thank them for their willingness to adapt and support this important change.’
The supermarket giant said the move would remove 230 million plastic bags from circulation nationwide within a year.
‘The most sustainable option is to bring your own reusable bag to the supermarket but for those who forget, we will continue to sell 100 per cent recycled paper bags that can be recycled kerbside, as well as other reusable options,’ Coles group chief operations and Sustainability Officer Matt Swindells announced in May.
Coles recently phased out soft-plastic shopping bags and replaced them with 25c paper alternatives designed to hold 6kg of groceries (stock image)
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