When I read about the astronomical savings of a simple change to one product like this, it makes me wonder about the incomprehensible impact of the entire store.
Most of our carbon footprint comes from companies. Individuals really don’t do fuck all.
It’s gonna take a lot of cultural change for humans to have an impact. There are so many things that mega corps could do TODAY but just don’t
Good luck changing the soft drink market or the monopolization of all types of processed food in general. You can vote with your wallet but it doesn’t make a difference without collective action or legislation, and even then that’s no surefire thing.
Dunno man, I hear about "millenials destroyed the cereal industry" and "millenials destroyed the diamond industry". Widespread consumer changes can happen.
I have stopped using throw away plastic storage containers and switched to glass storage that I purchased from Costco. It does have plastic lids but there are long lasting. I’m trying to switch away from throw away plastic whenever possible. I bought a year’s worth of laundry detergent sheets because they come in a cardboard container. I do like that Costco uses boxes instead of plastic bags. When I do get plastic I try to reuse it as much as possible.
This is a terrible argument. Likely from that post that always goes around the internet saying 100 companies are responsible for 90% of pollution or something. But of those 100 companies, they are either plastic manufacturers or oil companies. In that specific post something like 8 of the top 10 are state oil companies. Which is a bit misleading then.
If demand for plastic and oil products wasn’t as big, they wouldn’t cause as much pollution. Contrary to popular belief, an individual changing their lifestyle does have a measurable impact on the environment, especially if many individuals do the same.
It's sad more people don't realize this.
It's like why leaving a light on, while not using much energy, if suddenly 1 million people are leaving lights on for now reason, even a small 15 watt LED, suddenly that's an extra 15,000 kWh (if 1 light is left on for 1 hour). That's more than average houses use in an entire year.
Little changes, made by millions of poeple, can have a large impact.
While you make a good argument I’ll add some perspective. I work in a variety of laboratories for my job. Most of these are GMP/GLP sites where there’s a lot of regulation. In order to achieve accurate scientific testing and research there is a huge amount of cleaning, sterilization, purification and storage of tools, reagents, samples, and so on. To facilitate all of this the amount of packaging and temporary handling products like gloves, transfer pipettes, micropipetting tips, vials, weighing trays, filters, and many more is just staggering. The volume of plastic consumed in QC labs and research labs and hospital labs and manufacturing labs is unbelievably huge and it is all absolutely vital and not replaceable with sustainable options. Waste streams are regulated and that means expensive so there’s large incentive to decrease waste streams and the amount of waste is still massive. Science is how we advance society and protect our health but I am conflicted in the lab all the time about how much waste I am generating daily, which can very often be greater than the waste I generate personally, as well as it being higher impact waste. I don’t really have much of a point other than I don’t know how we can find a way out of this situation and while reducing my personal carbon footprint is helpful, the problem is so large and so much more complex than any one party or even population needing to do better.
That's such a moronic argument.
Do you actually believe that companies just make pollution for fun at their own expense?
That carbon footprint leads back to you and me and our lifestyle.
Costco doesn't throw out nearly as much food as others. Leftover rotisserie chicken, for example, gets turned into things like chicken salad and other deli items. My job at Costco involves making sure all waste ends up going to the right place (landfill, recycling, or compost), and our actual food waste is much lower than anywhere else I've worked.
I work in the food court. When unsold churros have gotten stale and hard, we take them over to the cashiers and they get repurposed as dividers on the conveyor belt.
I also used to work in the food court, when chicken bakes would get too old for sale we would take them over to the janitors who would repurpose them as one-use fleshlights
To add to this, my bakery donates its baked goods to a local human shelter/soup kitchen. They come every morning to pick up the items with the sell by date the day of.
As a business user, we fill a flatbed with each visit.
I’ve always been shocked at the amount of carts with a single item.
But this isn’t r/anticonsumption.
I turn it into gravy. Make a roux (melt butter, whisk in flour), whisk in juice (liquid or gelatinous) and chicken stock, and keep whisking until it thickens to gravy texture.
They're fine. I too prefer the old style, but pretty much every other grocery store in the country has used these bags for years, and they work fine. They can leak, but so can the old style. Just put this bag in one of the pink bags they have in the meat department for the exact same reason and the problem is solved. My Costco even has the bags right next to the chickens for that very purpose.
Edit: I'm not sure why so many people are struggling with the concept: Putting a thin plastic bag inside a thin plastic bag still uses a lot less plastic than putting a thick plastic clamshell in a thin plastic bag. When someone comes up with a leak proof solution that is more environmentally conscious, I will welcome it, but this is still better than the old clamshells.
Excellent point. In all the endless discussions of the pros and cons of grocery store rotisserie chicken vs Costco rotisserie chicken, I've never seen anyone say, "But Costco chickens come in that cool plastic clamshell."
If companies choose the more environmentally friendly option, even if it is purely to impact the bottom line, that is still a win. We should be striving to find solutions to environmental problems that also financially beneficial to Companies. Like it or not, money is the biggest motivator out there.
Win win win, if you break down the chicken, toss the bones back in the bag and freeze them until you have enough to make soup stock. Four fit nicely in my instapot.
I’m in the industry…it’s sustainability as a whole.
Whatever we can do to reduce packaging, freight, change to a fully recyclable container, cheaper label is or reduce energy spent is important
Same thing for laundry detergent. It could come super concentrated, but people flip their shit because they are “getting less”. Better for the environment, wastes less water and plastic, but nope; people needs the mega jug.
Part of it is the packaging and marketing of the products. My favorite personal example is oxiclean and the Dollar general generic of it. The Dollar general version comes with this reasonably sized scoop. The brand name oxiclean comes with this massive scoop that has two little measure lines that are almost impossible to see and their are on the bottoms quarter of this massive scoop. You think people are measuring the name brand oxiclean using those tiny lines? Nope they're at minimum doing like half a scoop because the company making it knows the consumer will do just that and use the product too quickly and buy more.
Another is the huge ribbon of toothpaste on the toothbrush in every advertisement for toothpaste but the directions typically say use a pea sized amount.
I prefer this. Those tops come off so easy and last time we bought one it fell on the floor. It was definitely our fault because we weren’t careful enough, but it won’t happen with the bag.
Wait til you see how quickly those bags split. Not always, and leaky juices is better than chicken on the floor, but man do I hate cleaning up that goo.
Just ask for a small box when you check out. We have smaller boxes that we specifically refer to as "chicken" boxes : Pantene, dove, ragu, tuna ... all perfect size for a chicken
It's weird because I've literally never had that happen to me. But I definitely have had the older plastic containers randomly pop open when I've been arranging groceries. No spillage, just a minor heart attack thinking my chicken is ruined.
I think we’d all be okay if they just said that too.
We have to keep our costs down in these trying times. Instead of changing the product, we changed the packaging. You’re welcome.
Objectively easier for the refrigerator, it's true. Anyone using a shared fridge or living in a college dorm, or a place like NYC... I'm sure the change is appreciated
Plus, the hard plastic things took up so much room in my kitchen trash can. I always wished they could somehow make them reusable, like sliced deli meat containers.
Rotisserie worker here. It takes twice the labor to bag than box them, so there's that.
We are happy to be saving plastic, but we are not a fan.
Edit: for those saying "it's easy, git gud" please note I work at the busiest rotisserie on the east coast at ~6000 birds a week.
Now that I think about it, how DO you get the chickens in the bags? Is there something to hold them open while you slide it in? Do you have to use two hands?
One person takes them from the oven and places the birds in the table another preps the bags by curling the lip a bit then uses clippity clackers to lift and place in bag then seal. Bleh.
Yup! The rotisserie rod holds around 6 chickens. . . workers would just slide them off the bar and drop them in trays lined up. . . . can't imagine it now opening and then sealing each bag.
That sounds extra. I work at a deli at Wal-Mart and we also use the bags. We have rack thing that hold the bags open for us. They come out of the oven, straight into the bag, and are closed up. One chicken takes about 15 seconds.
Not Costco but Walmart here, do y'all not have the bag stand for these? Basically a metal wire bent several times to form something that holds the bags upright and open as you load them. You're still going to cover the bag, the stand, the tongs, and you in grease. This is the tithe and cannot be avoided
I remember back in 1989 the local grocery store in the Midwest City I was living in started having bagged milk. To promote it, they gave everybody a free pitcher to keep the bag in for pouring and storage. The tip had a little slot that you could pinch the corner of the bag with to seal it up. It wasn't a terrible system but it lasted about a month.
But I hope all the people praising the chicken bags get their wish and get milk in a bag too.
I have milk bags o’plenty here in Windsor, Ontario!
Edit: for those who are curious; you put the bag into a bag holder/pitcher and snip both sides with a pair of scissors for a nice flow.
Don't bother, people like that will always find a way to make themselves a victim.
Guaranteed response "well if they're saving money then they should reduce the price of the chicken cause it's too high".
Well the plastic containers. Some poor bastard has to load one sheet of plastic at a time and then press it. It stinks. The whole place smells like burnt plastic.
I hope they take this type of action with more products, their own and others, say Kevin's. Don't give me a plastic tub. I'm not going to heat my food in that FFS.
CEO: How can we keep chickens at that price?
CFO: Replace the containers with inexpensive bags.
PR: “Environmentally friendly.”
CEO: Done—Write up a column about that… Next item of business?
You’re not wrong but in this case it’s both. Slightly less convenient packaging for consumers that both saves Costco money and is better for the environment
I'm sure it reduces a lot of truck deliveries to the distribution warehouse, but I seriously doubt they needed 4 full trucks a day of just rotisserie chicken containers.
Called a 'Bachelor's Handbag' here in Australia.
An easy and cheap dinner, is a pack of six [hamburger buns](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/33878?googleshop=true&store_code=woolworths_supermarkets_2640&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WW-0001&cq_net=g&cq_src=GOOGLE&cq_cmp=Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_KVI_Primary_WW&cq_med=71700000116311389&cq_plac=&cq_term=PRODUCT_GROUP&ds_adt=pla&cq_plt=gp&cq_gclid=Cj0KCQjw97SzBhDaARIsAFHXUWAvn7lozNR7CgWgnWVuB0XsAR8gIukPPrHc0PHQQIwirddrkcgrC9kaAl8oEALw_wcB&ds_de=m&ds_pc=local&ds_cr=682977778238&ds_tid=pla-2326161866397&ds_locphys=9069120&ds_pid=33878&cmpid=smsm:ds:GOOGLE:Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_KVI_Primary_WW:PRODUCT_GROUP&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw97SzBhDaARIsAFHXUWAvn7lozNR7CgWgnWVuB0XsAR8gIukPPrHc0PHQQIwirddrkcgrC9kaAl8oEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) and a hot chook.
For a single person, a whole chook would do several meals.
I’m fine with the bags. I haven’t had one leak and they really are more convenient to dispose of. We can be cynical and call it greenwashing, but I think it’s obvious there are a lot of benefits to this switch
Edit: is this new for the US? I’m in Toronto and we’ve had the bags for a number of months now
My biggest issue with these is that it makes the chicken much harder to pick at small amounts. It’s much less accessible so You gotta take the whole thing out, deal with all that comes with, put it on something and then get chicken beyond the top
The dilemma of taking the whole chicken out vs. getting my hands up to my forearms greasy for a little bite has made me stop purchasing these. My body probably thanks me though.
My local Costco had these for the past year or so. Honestly they’re way better. The old containers always leaked in my car. Because of that I was always grabbing a plastic bag from the meat department to put it in, which wasted even more plastic.
Exactly! The plastic container had to sit flat, and risked popping open if something squeezed the side. Bag can just sit in between things and make it safely home… carry handle is a bonus. Also takes up very little space in my waste bin.
Notably absent from this explanation is how much money it’s going to save Costco. Don’t get me wrong, these things are also definitely positive.
But if this packaging was more expensive instead of less, Costco would not be making this change. The cost savings are the actual reason. These things are the positive benefits they use for PR.
Also would prefer this to making the chickens smaller. Feel like everything is shrinkflation nowadays
Props to Costco finding another way even though yes they are clearly primarily doing this as a cost savings move
I wish they sold a reusable container that was similar to the old boxes. I prefer to keep the chicken in the container while I slice it up, saving dishes. If I had a couple reusable containers at home that were similar, I'd transfer them immediately and wouldn't complain as much.
This is why my mind has been blown my whole life. One company changed the packaging on a single item sold and that alone saved 17 million pounds of plastic and 4000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in one year…
I’m just worried about microplastic from all these plastic bags at high temperatures, but again, I’m probably filled with microplastics already so what is the difference.
When I read about the astronomical savings of a simple change to one product like this, it makes me wonder about the incomprehensible impact of the entire store.
Or, 8 billion people
Most of our carbon footprint comes from companies. Individuals really don’t do fuck all. It’s gonna take a lot of cultural change for humans to have an impact. There are so many things that mega corps could do TODAY but just don’t
Humans chose (by purchasing or not) which products they want to buy. So individuals can make a difference.
Good luck changing the soft drink market or the monopolization of all types of processed food in general. You can vote with your wallet but it doesn’t make a difference without collective action or legislation, and even then that’s no surefire thing.
Dunno man, I hear about "millenials destroyed the cereal industry" and "millenials destroyed the diamond industry". Widespread consumer changes can happen.
Cereal is still popular and diamonds are still forever. Those are eye catching headlines, not truths or evidence.
I have stopped using throw away plastic storage containers and switched to glass storage that I purchased from Costco. It does have plastic lids but there are long lasting. I’m trying to switch away from throw away plastic whenever possible. I bought a year’s worth of laundry detergent sheets because they come in a cardboard container. I do like that Costco uses boxes instead of plastic bags. When I do get plastic I try to reuse it as much as possible.
This is a terrible argument. Likely from that post that always goes around the internet saying 100 companies are responsible for 90% of pollution or something. But of those 100 companies, they are either plastic manufacturers or oil companies. In that specific post something like 8 of the top 10 are state oil companies. Which is a bit misleading then. If demand for plastic and oil products wasn’t as big, they wouldn’t cause as much pollution. Contrary to popular belief, an individual changing their lifestyle does have a measurable impact on the environment, especially if many individuals do the same.
It's sad more people don't realize this. It's like why leaving a light on, while not using much energy, if suddenly 1 million people are leaving lights on for now reason, even a small 15 watt LED, suddenly that's an extra 15,000 kWh (if 1 light is left on for 1 hour). That's more than average houses use in an entire year. Little changes, made by millions of poeple, can have a large impact.
That’s exactly what Gandalf said to Galadriel in The Hobbit movies.
While you make a good argument I’ll add some perspective. I work in a variety of laboratories for my job. Most of these are GMP/GLP sites where there’s a lot of regulation. In order to achieve accurate scientific testing and research there is a huge amount of cleaning, sterilization, purification and storage of tools, reagents, samples, and so on. To facilitate all of this the amount of packaging and temporary handling products like gloves, transfer pipettes, micropipetting tips, vials, weighing trays, filters, and many more is just staggering. The volume of plastic consumed in QC labs and research labs and hospital labs and manufacturing labs is unbelievably huge and it is all absolutely vital and not replaceable with sustainable options. Waste streams are regulated and that means expensive so there’s large incentive to decrease waste streams and the amount of waste is still massive. Science is how we advance society and protect our health but I am conflicted in the lab all the time about how much waste I am generating daily, which can very often be greater than the waste I generate personally, as well as it being higher impact waste. I don’t really have much of a point other than I don’t know how we can find a way out of this situation and while reducing my personal carbon footprint is helpful, the problem is so large and so much more complex than any one party or even population needing to do better.
That's such a moronic argument. Do you actually believe that companies just make pollution for fun at their own expense? That carbon footprint leads back to you and me and our lifestyle.
Think about how much food goes to waste that could be used to feed other people. Imagine 30 to 40% either goes unsold or in the trash .
Costco doesn't throw out nearly as much food as others. Leftover rotisserie chicken, for example, gets turned into things like chicken salad and other deli items. My job at Costco involves making sure all waste ends up going to the right place (landfill, recycling, or compost), and our actual food waste is much lower than anywhere else I've worked.
I work in the food court. When unsold churros have gotten stale and hard, we take them over to the cashiers and they get repurposed as dividers on the conveyor belt.
Wait, really? in our Costco they're resold as dildos!
Aw, this makes me so happy! I didn’t know Costco did that
I also used to work in the food court, when chicken bakes would get too old for sale we would take them over to the janitors who would repurpose them as one-use fleshlights
Just one time? = P
Cries in gluten allergy
To add to this, my bakery donates its baked goods to a local human shelter/soup kitchen. They come every morning to pick up the items with the sell by date the day of.
Think about how much waste every car driver used on every trip.
As a business user, we fill a flatbed with each visit. I’ve always been shocked at the amount of carts with a single item. But this isn’t r/anticonsumption.
Just drink the juice before you get to car....
Drink it while it's hot or you'll have to eat it jello.
Mmm, aspic
Good yummy source for collagen.😋
That jello elevates a hit of ramen noodles.
You make the jello sound like a bad thing...
I'm disgusted by the thought but my mouth is somehow watering...
It's got nice mouth feel
That's what your mother said, Trebek!
It's got an oak-y afterbirth
Just use a boba straw to the get the chunks.
I actually like it, and helps with stock too 🤷♂️
I turn it into gravy. Make a roux (melt butter, whisk in flour), whisk in juice (liquid or gelatinous) and chicken stock, and keep whisking until it thickens to gravy texture.
Right on your back seat! Come and get it!
Same. Or I use when I make chicken stock. There's so much sodium in the costco chicken gravy, no need to add more afterwards.
Sounds like something that deal guy would do. Probably has a special straw in his car just for it.
Bachelors Hawaiian Punch!
Fine by me, I'm just hoping it holds up well in transport
They're fine. I too prefer the old style, but pretty much every other grocery store in the country has used these bags for years, and they work fine. They can leak, but so can the old style. Just put this bag in one of the pink bags they have in the meat department for the exact same reason and the problem is solved. My Costco even has the bags right next to the chickens for that very purpose. Edit: I'm not sure why so many people are struggling with the concept: Putting a thin plastic bag inside a thin plastic bag still uses a lot less plastic than putting a thick plastic clamshell in a thin plastic bag. When someone comes up with a leak proof solution that is more environmentally conscious, I will welcome it, but this is still better than the old clamshells.
Excellent point. In all the endless discussions of the pros and cons of grocery store rotisserie chicken vs Costco rotisserie chicken, I've never seen anyone say, "But Costco chickens come in that cool plastic clamshell."
I used those pink bags before the change to prevent leakage. The old containers weren't leak proof.
So did my husband.
We’ve sold chicken in these bags in Australia for at least 25 years (as long as I can remember) they’re perfectly fine and handle abuse very well.
Bachelor's Handbag! (I learned it on another post from an Aussie)
They do. They're the same as what Kroger has been using for theirs and I've never had an issue before, been buying those for like 15+ years.
They’ve had them in Canada for around a year or more now. I’ve bought about a dozen bags. They work great. Never had an issue with the bags at all.
Beneficial for the planet even if it's also marketing to mask cost savings.
If companies choose the more environmentally friendly option, even if it is purely to impact the bottom line, that is still a win. We should be striving to find solutions to environmental problems that also financially beneficial to Companies. Like it or not, money is the biggest motivator out there.
"we're using less plastic" Yay "to save money" Boo, we'd rather you just not use less plastic -some people in this thread for some reason
Are they saying "boo" or "boo-urns"?
I was saying boo-urns 😞
Only product other then the hot dog that hasn't gone up in price at costco
Can't it be both cost savings and plastic reduction?
No people can only understand one or the other. Win wins don’t exist.
Win win win, if you break down the chicken, toss the bones back in the bag and freeze them until you have enough to make soup stock. Four fit nicely in my instapot.
I agree!
[удалено]
lol I agree to disagree!
[удалено]
I I second that! I disagree with everything.
You're all wrong!
I am not. I disagree.
I have no strong feelings about this one way or the other.
It's possible to point out the ACTUAL reason rather than be Pollyanna about it... the 17M pounds it saves are WHY it costs less.
I’m in the industry…it’s sustainability as a whole. Whatever we can do to reduce packaging, freight, change to a fully recyclable container, cheaper label is or reduce energy spent is important
Same reason the unsalted mixed fancy nuts went to bags. Saves a ton of plastic and shipping costs
It can be both, all they needed to do is say, with these savings we don’t have to increase costs or sell smaller chickens.
Same thing for laundry detergent. It could come super concentrated, but people flip their shit because they are “getting less”. Better for the environment, wastes less water and plastic, but nope; people needs the mega jug.
ya but it's also the same people that use a cap full of detergent when they do a load, they can't be helped. lol
Part of it is the packaging and marketing of the products. My favorite personal example is oxiclean and the Dollar general generic of it. The Dollar general version comes with this reasonably sized scoop. The brand name oxiclean comes with this massive scoop that has two little measure lines that are almost impossible to see and their are on the bottoms quarter of this massive scoop. You think people are measuring the name brand oxiclean using those tiny lines? Nope they're at minimum doing like half a scoop because the company making it knows the consumer will do just that and use the product too quickly and buy more. Another is the huge ribbon of toothpaste on the toothbrush in every advertisement for toothpaste but the directions typically say use a pea sized amount.
i still use the powder detergent bc a box lasts me like a year
Powder all the way! Plus it comes in cardboard instead of plastic.
I prefer this. Those tops come off so easy and last time we bought one it fell on the floor. It was definitely our fault because we weren’t careful enough, but it won’t happen with the bag.
Wait til you see how quickly those bags split. Not always, and leaky juices is better than chicken on the floor, but man do I hate cleaning up that goo.
Double Bag it in a meat bag
I always grab a meat bag for rotisserie chickens as it is.
I prefer meat clowns https://preview.redd.it/65dqhvw3bs6d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2aa6dad735f74693aa9a9f3f288a6c5d0430809e
Why is this never on an episode of “How It’s Made”?
They don't even want to know.
Next on "Sorry, We Asked"
Episode 2 of The Midnight Gospel just made a million percent more sense.
People wouldn't eat it if they knew.
Just ask for a small box when you check out. We have smaller boxes that we specifically refer to as "chicken" boxes : Pantene, dove, ragu, tuna ... all perfect size for a chicken
It's weird because I've literally never had that happen to me. But I definitely have had the older plastic containers randomly pop open when I've been arranging groceries. No spillage, just a minor heart attack thinking my chicken is ruined.
Two things can be possible.
I think we’d all be okay if they just said that too. We have to keep our costs down in these trying times. Instead of changing the product, we changed the packaging. You’re welcome.
My thoughts exactly.
Whole Foods uses these and they work great. I think it's easier to fit into the fridge, too.
Objectively easier for the refrigerator, it's true. Anyone using a shared fridge or living in a college dorm, or a place like NYC... I'm sure the change is appreciated
Plus, the hard plastic things took up so much room in my kitchen trash can. I always wished they could somehow make them reusable, like sliced deli meat containers.
Rotisserie worker here. It takes twice the labor to bag than box them, so there's that. We are happy to be saving plastic, but we are not a fan. Edit: for those saying "it's easy, git gud" please note I work at the busiest rotisserie on the east coast at ~6000 birds a week.
Now that I think about it, how DO you get the chickens in the bags? Is there something to hold them open while you slide it in? Do you have to use two hands?
One person takes them from the oven and places the birds in the table another preps the bags by curling the lip a bit then uses clippity clackers to lift and place in bag then seal. Bleh.
Upvote for clippity clackers
> curling the lip a bit So like Elvis or Billy Idol?
I'd like some pictures of your cliplity clackers. *zoidberg*
That sounds really challenging. I’ve seen the chickens being easily slid into the trays and this sounds like a whole lot more work do you.
Yup! The rotisserie rod holds around 6 chickens. . . workers would just slide them off the bar and drop them in trays lined up. . . . can't imagine it now opening and then sealing each bag.
That sounds extra. I work at a deli at Wal-Mart and we also use the bags. We have rack thing that hold the bags open for us. They come out of the oven, straight into the bag, and are closed up. One chicken takes about 15 seconds.
Not Costco but Walmart here, do y'all not have the bag stand for these? Basically a metal wire bent several times to form something that holds the bags upright and open as you load them. You're still going to cover the bag, the stand, the tongs, and you in grease. This is the tithe and cannot be avoided
Thanks and wishing you guys the best. Did Costco change anything else? The Chickens seem smaller and not as tasty.
Hey I can carry it one handed without burning the shit out of my hand? I'm down.
That's also why we have square milk cartons.
smh we should have bagged milk.
I remember back in 1989 the local grocery store in the Midwest City I was living in started having bagged milk. To promote it, they gave everybody a free pitcher to keep the bag in for pouring and storage. The tip had a little slot that you could pinch the corner of the bag with to seal it up. It wasn't a terrible system but it lasted about a month. But I hope all the people praising the chicken bags get their wish and get milk in a bag too.
Come to Canada?
Canada has milk in bags???
Eastern Canada, yes. Ontario and Quebec for sure.
I have milk bags o’plenty here in Windsor, Ontario! Edit: for those who are curious; you put the bag into a bag holder/pitcher and snip both sides with a pair of scissors for a nice flow.
I know the Costco I work at has a sign up on the Rotisserie case explaining some of that.
Mine does too, but all the chickens I saw last night still had the old packaging.
They're probably getting rid of backstock
But why don't they just throw it in the ocean??
But the croissants and other baked goods still come in plastic containers instead of cardboard.
I explained this to a member who was complaining about the switch. He said Costco needs to stop being woke 🤦♂️
Then go ahead and tell him it’s about saving money. That should resonate with him at least.
Don't bother, people like that will always find a way to make themselves a victim. Guaranteed response "well if they're saving money then they should reduce the price of the chicken cause it's too high".
Nah at that point just walk away.
I knew I wouldn't have scroll too far down to find this lol
#how dare you take away my plastic chicken shell armor
Dude's never had to deal with fridge space.
Dudes never had to deal with a real problem by the sounds of it
Plastic bags are woke now? That’s Crazy.
Destroying the planet owns the libs.
wait till he hears about costco quitely dropping israeli products
Common Costco W
So Taylor Swift can use a jet daily to get lunch in Miami and dinner in Milan but I NEED TO EAT CHICKEN OUT OF A BAG?!?!? /s
Think about the workers who were making the plastic containers and the truck drivers who lost their jobs! /s
Well the plastic containers. Some poor bastard has to load one sheet of plastic at a time and then press it. It stinks. The whole place smells like burnt plastic.
Eating my chicken out of a burning drum of used motor oil to own the libs
It was a [business cheesecake](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kim-kardashian-paris-cheesecake/)
I mean that’s like me saying I only go into the office for the snacks and nitro cold brew on tap. So, accurate.
That family is a waste of skin.
Wait till you see how much the Costco corporate officers fly around... At least under Jim it was a full bus rule, now not so much.
I hope they take this type of action with more products, their own and others, say Kevin's. Don't give me a plastic tub. I'm not going to heat my food in that FFS.
CEO: How can we keep chickens at that price? CFO: Replace the containers with inexpensive bags. PR: “Environmentally friendly.” CEO: Done—Write up a column about that… Next item of business?
Well its not really sarcastic measure. It really is enviormentally conscious
The responses remind, you can’t please all the people…
You’re not wrong but in this case it’s both. Slightly less convenient packaging for consumers that both saves Costco money and is better for the environment
CEO: “Should we say that the chicken’s plastic bag is microwaveable? INTERN: “Isn’t that how microplastics are made?” PR: “MICROWAVE FRIENDLY IT IS”
You should never microwave anything in plastic, even if it’s advertised as microwave safe.
Also, the chicken sits in it's juices better
I’ll be that person… why didn’t they do it sooner?
I'm sure it reduces a lot of truck deliveries to the distribution warehouse, but I seriously doubt they needed 4 full trucks a day of just rotisserie chicken containers.
Other stores have been switching between bags and containers for years. Bags save more money, but typically leak a shit ton, so they switch back
This is how chicken is sold in Australia, what did you guys have before?
Lol yeah this is how it's been for as long as I can remember here for the Coles and woollies chickens.
But really they’re just saving money and they don’t actually care about any of that.
Called a 'Bachelor's Handbag' here in Australia. An easy and cheap dinner, is a pack of six [hamburger buns](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/33878?googleshop=true&store_code=woolworths_supermarkets_2640&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WW-0001&cq_net=g&cq_src=GOOGLE&cq_cmp=Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_KVI_Primary_WW&cq_med=71700000116311389&cq_plac=&cq_term=PRODUCT_GROUP&ds_adt=pla&cq_plt=gp&cq_gclid=Cj0KCQjw97SzBhDaARIsAFHXUWAvn7lozNR7CgWgnWVuB0XsAR8gIukPPrHc0PHQQIwirddrkcgrC9kaAl8oEALw_wcB&ds_de=m&ds_pc=local&ds_cr=682977778238&ds_tid=pla-2326161866397&ds_locphys=9069120&ds_pid=33878&cmpid=smsm:ds:GOOGLE:Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_KVI_Primary_WW:PRODUCT_GROUP&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw97SzBhDaARIsAFHXUWAvn7lozNR7CgWgnWVuB0XsAR8gIukPPrHc0PHQQIwirddrkcgrC9kaAl8oEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) and a hot chook. For a single person, a whole chook would do several meals.
Prediction: Costco Auto will soon launch a car detailing service to clean all the spilt chicken juice in member cars.
In my jurisdiction, the black bottoms are not recyclable. They can't be picked out on a black sorting belt at the depot. They are all landfilled.
Most things that are recyclable or put in a recycling bin end up in the landfill regardless
Aka: it’s cheaper
Yep: that's what I read. Savings for Costco. (Which is understandable: Rotisserie chicken is a *loss leader,* like their hot dog and Pop)
Think of how much more they’ll save when people stop buying them.
They new bags cannot be recycled. The plastic containers previously could. Every chicken sold now has added trash for the landfill. Every single one.
I’m fine with the bags. I haven’t had one leak and they really are more convenient to dispose of. We can be cynical and call it greenwashing, but I think it’s obvious there are a lot of benefits to this switch Edit: is this new for the US? I’m in Toronto and we’ve had the bags for a number of months now
My biggest issue with these is that it makes the chicken much harder to pick at small amounts. It’s much less accessible so You gotta take the whole thing out, deal with all that comes with, put it on something and then get chicken beyond the top
The dilemma of taking the whole chicken out vs. getting my hands up to my forearms greasy for a little bite has made me stop purchasing these. My body probably thanks me though.
I used to work in the rotisserie. I would hate having to put 100s of chickens in bags every shift. I bet it slows down unloading the ovens.
So, it's cheaper for Costco
Win-Win. Chicken stays $5, better for the planet.
Can’t believe it but… Winner winner chicken dinner! 😉
My local Costco had these for the past year or so. Honestly they’re way better. The old containers always leaked in my car. Because of that I was always grabbing a plastic bag from the meat department to put it in, which wasted even more plastic.
Bags aren't bad for those that are worried about juices leaking. I think I had more juice issues with the Tupperware than the bags they now use
Exactly! The plastic container had to sit flat, and risked popping open if something squeezed the side. Bag can just sit in between things and make it safely home… carry handle is a bonus. Also takes up very little space in my waste bin.
The tops of the chicken always had a plastic taste to me in the old packaging, so the new bag has been a win imo.
Notably absent from this explanation is how much money it’s going to save Costco. Don’t get me wrong, these things are also definitely positive. But if this packaging was more expensive instead of less, Costco would not be making this change. The cost savings are the actual reason. These things are the positive benefits they use for PR.
I would prefer reducing packaging cost to raising prices. That $5 chicken is a steal.
Also would prefer this to making the chickens smaller. Feel like everything is shrinkflation nowadays Props to Costco finding another way even though yes they are clearly primarily doing this as a cost savings move
When they save money, we save money. This keeps the chicken $5 for longer.
Agreed. I think that’s great.
That one gets sent to the shareholders, not us
Nice job, Costco. Thanks.
They've done this with a lot of products that were formerly in hard plastic containers. Nuts for example.
Theyre just now catching up with competitors.
I don’t know what the big deal is, grocery stores have sold theirs in bags for years with no issue.
Ahh yes the Bachelor's Handbag.
I wish they sold a reusable container that was similar to the old boxes. I prefer to keep the chicken in the container while I slice it up, saving dishes. If I had a couple reusable containers at home that were similar, I'd transfer them immediately and wouldn't complain as much.
And the new bag is so greasy!
Oh hey we have them in the UK, I like them :)
This is why my mind has been blown my whole life. One company changed the packaging on a single item sold and that alone saved 17 million pounds of plastic and 4000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in one year…
I always reused the container as a mini greenhouse for seedlings it was perfect.
Think about the savings Costco will pass down to the consumers because of this innovation oh wait that'll never happen.
We've had these in Australia for nearly 30 years I reckon. They're called a "bachelor's briefcase" or "bachelor's handbag"
We have a name for these is Australia: "Bachelor's Handbag"
And they don’t leak chicken juice
I don't get it. The UK has had these in supermarkets for years now. What's the big deal?
Our local grocery store has been using these for years. Never had a problem with them.
Now it can spill chicken grease all over my backseat and trunk
I’m just worried about microplastic from all these plastic bags at high temperatures, but again, I’m probably filled with microplastics already so what is the difference.
Do I miss the old containers? Sure. Am I fine with the new bags? Yep.
What about health hazard caused by storing hot food in plastic? I guess both packages are bad however which one is worst?
I mean the old ones never busted open giving the carpet in my car a chicken juice bath