Other than making a few discoveries a day while living here (there's a Sephora in town!), I am also learning a few things about how things work. For example, I bought a map from a street vendor the day after I arrived and I'm happy to say it's getting a lot of use. It lists which buses run around town, and I can save a heck of a lot of money by taking the bus into town, rather than taking the cabs. Buses do stop at designated bus stops here, and won't just let you off anywhere you feel like it. How I wish our buses back in Manila were the same.
I also wish our supermarkets would consider the pay for shopping bag rule they have here. If you don't bring your own shopping bag, you have to pay 3 mao (approximately P2.10) for every plastic bag your stuff gets put into. I think forcing the customer to pay for plastic makes a point to reuse your plastic bags or bring totes! Since so many of our local supermarkets are selling canvass totes, why don't they give shoppers a small discount or a free gift if they use the darn things?
Tomorrow, I will go to the library with two of my fellow co-workers, I hear they even have movies for rent, so I don't have to spend all my savings on buying up a collection of dvds!
Pike Market Peonies
2 comments:
Nice to have a good bus system there!
Also nice that they charge for plastic! I too wish they did that here...Rustan's give points (which you can later redeem for stuff) to the shoppers that use their totes, which is good, but I think that paying for plastic will work even better!
You have a Sephora there?! *pout* Then again, my lack of access to Sephora means less money spent. ;-)
The points Rustan's gives for using their tote bags is meager motivation. I've never redeemed mine -- it isn't the reason I do it. And if they really wanted to help the environment, they shouldn't force shoppers to use only their bags. In other supermarkets, using one's own bag is so uncommon that cashiers and bag boys are usually surprised and unsure of what to do when I bring it out; one bag boy actually put the groceries in plastic bags, THEN put those in my tote! Charging for plastic would be far more effective. Sad that a seemingly less progressive city like Wenzhou is ahead of us in this.
Post a Comment