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Dave wrote:I remember "ice cream bags", which were insulated bags just big enough for a half-gallon "brick" of ice cream. I haven't seen those since the '70's I don't think.

A large independent grocer in my town STILL uses them!

I have not seen them in the chain stores for years!

Anyone know when the smaller "single-item" plastic bags started beig used? Did that come around when plastic bags in general were being introduced?

Plastic bags for freezer items predated the big ones by a few years. they seemed to be less about insulation than about keeping wet stuff off the rest of your order.

Wal Mart here still has the paper ice cream bags.....

On a side note, when I worked for Skaggs Albertsons in 1974 when they came to Oklahoma, we had big rolls of brown paper at each checkstand that we used to wrap fresh meat purchases in.

Most people liked the idea, it kept the paper bags (which were blue in color with gray printing......kind of unusual, I think....most grocery bags have always been brown, I have seen some white ones) from splitting due to leakage from the meat. However, some people were VERY vocal about not wanting it done......I assume because of the time it took to wrap every package.

Did other regular Albertson's stores, or anyone else do this?

Wegmans still has plastic "freezer bags" in their stores. However, i've never seen anyone use one for anything frozen, even though they are labeled as such. (I work part time as a cashier). All they seem to be used for now is putting greeting cards in or small cosmetics/bottles of chemicals to keep them seperate from a larger bag of food.

Most other grocery stores in my area had these as well, but were gone by the early-mid 90's.

in the old days they use to box up your groceries in the cardboard boxes left over from stocking. They claim that paper bags cost around 5 cents a piece and that the plastic bags are less that a penny a piece. So it is simple economics. I think it is easier to unload your car at home with plastic since you can grab 10 or more bags at a time. Where as paper is limited to maybe 3 bags without risking ripping the bag and making a mess.

Re: cost. During the stagflation years of the late 70s and early 80s, some chains would give you anywhere from 2 to 5 cents/bag if you brought & used your own paper bags.

I know this is leaning "off topic" from grocery stores, but when did most discount stores (Kmart, Target, etc..) stop using paper bags and go all-plastic?

Ahhhhh.... ice cream bags at WD.... I remember having to stock them!

What about the paper bags with handles?

Seems like Trader Joe's pushed 'em most @ first in Southern California.

Ralphs has been with them for a time now.