Target Angering Customers With New Environmentally-Friendly Policy
In an effort to move away from single-use plastics, Target will begin charging customers for plastic bags.
Target is not unknown for making changes to its business that angers its customers, and it seems they have just made another. They are starting to charge customers for the use of their plastic bags in order to become more environmentally friendly. This could annoy customers, as it will cost more to shop with them.
This is not the first time Target has implemented different procedures that annoyed their customers. During the first half of 2022, they stated that it had an extensive inventory that would not shift, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic in which buyers’ interests were continually shifting to store owners’ annoyance. This change in behavior left many retail stores will a surplus of inventory they could not sell.
Some of its stock was so hard to shift that after a customer had bought it and returned it, Target offered the customer to keep the item and still receive a full refund. This act could annoy some customers as they feel they must keep something they do not want. The unwanted items cost the company so much money that it was more cost-effective to let customers keep the merchandise.
Along with a considerable amount of inventory that they can’t get rid of, customers have noticed that Target is pushing the use of their self-checkouts over their traditional cashier checkouts as they become more involved in implementing technology in their stores. This can annoy customers as self-checkouts are known for going wrong, and sometimes consumers would like to interact with a human.
So with all these minor changes known to be annoying to customers, Target has implemented one more. They will start charging their customers for every plastic bag that they use. These changes will go into effect when their specific state mandates it. Already ten states in America have implemented a levy on plastic bags to combat single-use plastic and its devastating impact on the environment.
They have banned single-use plastic bags entirely and are changing a small amount for reusable bags. The amount will be added for every delivery or pickup order from Target. Initially, the amount charged for using the bags will be $1 for ten plastic bags, but it will be adjusted to the correct number of bags used after the order is complete.
When a customer is shopping instore, the plastic bag levy may not be applied for various reasons, including that they may have a low number of items that do not require a bag or that they have previously bought a reusable bag and have brought that with them for any items they purchase.
This plastic bag levy has been implemented in many European countries, including the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Their population has accepted it and has been a tremendous success at significantly reducing the number of plastic bags being used.
Regardless of annoying their customers or not, they are implementing a ley that will, in time, reduce the use of single-use plastic in their store. Well done, Target.
