For the most part, Countdown says Kiwis are able to remember to bring their own shopping bags and use them to carry their groceries.
However, one customer found out the hard way on Monday that some people clearly haven’t gotten used to the idea of bringing their own bags.
When the customer walked into Countdown Lynfield in Auckland he could not find any of their green shopping baskets.
After inquiring, he said he was told by a staff member 175 of them had been stolen.
When asked, Countdown would not comment on how many had been taken from the store because they don’t hand out “commercial information”.
However, a spokesperson said it was not unusual for baskets to go missing “from time to time” and the Lynfield store was expecting new ones in coming days.
“Kiwis are adjusting really well to the change and are predominantly bringing their own bags,” the spokesperson said.
“Some stores have had a few issues with baskets going missing, but on the whole we’ve seen that settle down as customers get into the habit of remembering their bags.
“We’d, of course, encourage customers not to take baskets home - we have a range of reusable bag options in store.”
A New Zealand Herald employee experienced a similar issue with missing shopping baskets after visiting Fresh Choice in Glen Eden.
Initially, the store allowed customers to take groceries out to their car in store baskets after they were caught short without their own bags.
However, after a bunch of shopping baskets started to disappear Fresh Choice banned people from taking them out of the store and into the carpark altogether.
