If you’re like me, you don’t really think about the bag your fast-food order is delivered in. It seems essential to the ordering process, since it keeps your order organized and easy to transport.
But at some chain restaurants in Los Angeles, it’s now harder to order fast food without thinking about the bag.
According to NBC Los Angeles, a recently amended law allows some restaurants to charge bag fees.
Why the new charge?
The law was initially passed in 2013 but only recently was amended to affect restaurants.
“The requirement is that all facilities subject to the ordinance provide reusable bags to customers, either for sale or at no charge, for the purpose of carrying away goods or other materials from the point of sale,” reads the statement from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office explaining the potential new charges, per NBC Los Angeles.
“If recyclable paper bags are provided, the customer is to be charged $0.10 for each bag. This ordinance expanded the applicability of the 2013 single use plastic bag ordinance beyond just grocery stores,” the statement said.
The update to the bag law came into effect at about the same time as California’s “junk fee” law, which prohibits restaurants and some other categories of business from charging any unadvertised fees and surcharges, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In accordance with the new law, the McDonald’s app gives customers the option to order a bag or not, according to NBC Los Angeles. Cashiers will also ask if you’d like a bag at checkout. Signs posted at drive-thrus warn cars that they’ll be charged a bag fee.
“I’m going to drive-thru, and I see the sign: There’s a mandatory charge of 10 cents per bag,” said KT Shakur, a McDonald’s customer, to NBC Los Angeles. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ What if someone came to the drive-thru and just could not afford any extra fees? A mom with a couple of kids just getting by?”
Some restaurants may choose to eat the bag cost instead of charging. Per NBC Los Angeles, the decision is up to individual Los Angeles Chick-fil-A locations.
What happens if you don’t want to pay for a bag?
What happens if you decline a bag? It seems like most restaurants provide one anyway.
Even when customers select “no bag” on ordering apps, the store gives you one, free of charge, just to make things simpler, according to some reports on social media.
The bag fee in California could spread to other states. According to Route Fifty, 12 states have already banned plastic bags, while others have added extra taxes or issued other regulations.
McDonald’s former corporate chef Mike Haracz defended the restaurant in a video shared on TikTok, noting that it’s good for the environment to not hand out bags to people who don’t need one.
“If you don’t need a bag ... how about we don’t waste them and not give them to you?” he said, arguing that McDonald’s hasn’t necessarily added bag charges to boost its profits.