Free Republic

The top 20 global airlines hauled in more than $33 billion in revenue from bag fees last year, .. That accounted for about 4.1% of global airline revenue in 2023. It was also an increase of 15% from the $29 billion the companies collected in 2022... Baggage fees, according to the report, are seen as a "significant component of ancillary revenue" ... It comes from checked baggage in the aircraft hold, added fees for heavy and extra-large bags and, in some instances, the price charged for larger carry-on bags. It started "as an economic necessity" as airlines sought relief from...

Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found. "Following New Jersey’s ban of single-use bags, the shift from plastic film to alternative bags resulted in a nearly 3x increase in plastic consumption for bags," Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a business research division for MarketResearch.com, reported in a study published this month. New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time, billing it as an effort to cut back on...

The outlet price just wasn’t cheap enough. Brazen thieves ransacked a California Nordstrom Rack and made away with thousands of dollars in designer merchandise on two separate occasions in a one-month span, startling security footage showed. The off-price location of the popular department store in Riverside was targeted by the daring burglars first on July 10, then again four weeks later, on Aug. 14, KTLA said, citing the Riverside Police Department. During the July 10 incident, a group of at least six people stormed into the store and made a beeline for the handbag and accessories section, the security video...

Michael Bagwell, a.k.a. 'Bagster' ~ RIP, Patriot May 1959 to June 7, 2023During his stay in the hospital, he really enjoyed the posts by FReeQs and FReepers to him – he was very encouraged and was touched that so many were praying for him.Blu and I had a nice long chat with him Tuesday night. He sounded good, was receiving the care he needed, and was arranging to transfer to a rehab facility. We, Free Republic, and the Q thread, lost our information warrior Wednesday night.Click to skip to bottom of this sad post.When I spoke with bagster at the...

Shocking video captures the moment a burglar used a hammer to smash the display window of a Manhattan auction house – before he and an accomplice ripped off more than $200,000 worth of Hermès bags from inside, authorities said. The clip, released early Wednesday, shows a white Acura sedan pulling up in front of Heritage Auctions on Park Avenue near East 57th Street in Midtown around 3:50 a.m. March 7. Three men get out – two of whom are toting hammers.

As of Wednesday, cashiers at the store will no longer be bagging bottles for them, though they might supply empty boxes when available. All New Jersey retail, grocery, and pharmacy stores, along with restaurants and other food service businesses, are banned from giving out single-use plastic bags, as well as foam containers, though there are some exceptions. What about switching to paper bags? Supermarkets can no longer provide those either. “We have long-term customers that still probably don’t know there is going to a be a bag ban,” Millington said. “So we’re trying to educate everybody as they come in....

DETROIT -- General Motors is recalling more than 400,000 pickup trucks in the U.S. because the side air bags can explode without warning and spew parts into the cabin. The recall covers certain 2015 and 2016 Chevrolet and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks. The company says a manufacturing defect allowed moisture into the inflator while it was being manufactured, causing corrosion. The inflators were made in Mexico by Joyson Safety Systems.

DENVER (KDVR) — Single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers will eventually be a thing of the past in Colorado after Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill to phase them out. The Plastic Pollution Reduction Act goes into full effect in 2024. Polis signed the law on Tuesday after Colorado Democrats passed the bill without any Republican support. The measure also repeals a pre-emptive law that bars local governments from passing stronger plastics restrictions than the state’s.

The federal government warned Americans on Wednesday not to fill plastic bags with gasoline during the ongoing fuel shortage on the East Coast. “Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline,” the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission wrote on social media on Wednesday morning.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Just weeks ago, cities and even states across the U.S. were busy banning straws, limiting takeout containers and mandating that shoppers bring reusable bags or pay a small fee as the movement to eliminate single-use plastics took hold in mainstream America. What a difference a pandemic makes. In a matter of days, hard-won bans to reduce the use of plastics - and particularly plastic shopping sacks - across the U.S. have come under fire amid worries about the virus clinging to reusable bags, cups and straws. Governors in Massachusetts and Illinois have banned or strongly discouraged the...

With some experts predicting, at a minimum, anywhere from 480,000 to 1.6 million American deaths from the coronavirus over the next three to 18 months, how smart does urban living, mass transit, open borders, reusable straws, reusable grocery bags, reusable water bottles, gun restrictions, over-regulated housing, using the Centers for Disease Control to fight gun violence, and outsourcing to China look now? Hey, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the coronavirus. What we do know, though, is that between last Sunday and this Sunday, things went from Zero to Crazy in one week: We shut down our economy,...

Here’s where you can stuff your plastic-bag ban. New Yorkers were forced to begin grappling with a new shopping reality Sunday as the state’s ban on plastic shopping bags kicked in — and not many people were happy about it. “I think it’s ridiculous,” letter-carrier Scott Kimmel, 56, said while shopping at the Whitestone Target in College Point, Queens. “I understand about ‘conserve, take care of the environment,’ but c’mon!” About half the shoppers seen by The Post on the first day of the bag ban, including Kimmel, were compensating by bringing their own bags from home, while another quarter...

Forensics officials in the western Mexican state of Jalisco are trying to determine how many victims are accounted for in 26 plastic bags... The Jalisco state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it began to collect the bags Tuesday in the municipality of Tonala on the outskirts of Guadalajara. Officials initially recovered 14 bags of body parts. They returned Wednesday and found 12 more.

Joe Biden said he “100 percent” supports a national ban on plastic bags. Here’s the key exchange: Voter at town hall: “When I go back to Kenya, we don’t even use plastic bags or plastic papers. It’s not allowed, because we are trying to clean the ocean. And I think here in America, we are not trying to do that, to support the environment. And so, what’s your view? I mean, what’s your focus? Because in Kenya, we are trying to clean the environment. No plastic bags, you go with your own bags.” Biden: “Well I agree with you 100...

It probably looked good on paper, but the plastic bag ban making its way through the State Legislature, as it is now, is not the planet-friendly panacea environmentalists proclaim, and will hurt the bottom line of consumers and small businesses. As the Herald’s Mary Markos reported, under the bill, customers would pay at least 10 cents for a recycled paper bag at check out. The aim: to keep nasty plastic from polluting our environment. “While Massachusetts may not be able to tackle the proliferation of plastics worldwide, we can take concrete action at home,” Senate President Karen Spilka said.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Council is poised to pass a countywide ban on single-use plastic bags after all the members of a council committee on Wednesday voiced support for the ban. Four members of the Education, Environment, and Sustainability Committee signed on as co-sponsors of the ban during the Wednesday hearing, and Council President Dan Brady told cleveland.com he expects the measure to pass. Committee Chairwoman Sunny Simon and Councilman Dale Miller are the primary sponsors. Signing on Wednesday were Brady, Council Vice President Pernel Jones Jr., and councilwomen Shontel Brown and Cheryl Stephens, giving the measure the six...

In the battle against litter in the Garden State, plastic bags have been public enemy number one. Several municipalities, mostly along the Shore, have acted on their own to limit plastic bag use either through fees or bans. But for years, efforts for statewide regulation of the bags has failed to gain traction. Now, state lawmakers have decided that it is time to move forward. A new fee on plastic and paper shopping bags is being pushed through the state legislature: The bill cleared budget committees in both the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday and could be passed as early...

Bags in the Produce section -- it was overlooked when the phoney AstroTurf coalition between greedy California Grocers & hairbrained Enviros convinced the dope California electorate they would Save the Planet by charging everyone 10¢ for bags, or $4 for reusables. Just go over to the produce section to get enough bags to take home your stuff. But please keep all bags away from dopes.

In June, Washtenaw County became the first local government to approve a tax on disposable carry-out bags at the grocery store. If you forget to bring your own bags, grocers are forced to charge a 10 cent tax on every new bag you receive, paper or plastic. If you double-bag, it will cost you 20 cents. Counties claim that they have the authority to manage solid waste collection but this is a policy that stinks on many levels. Let’s start with the environment. There is little evidence that targeting a particular type of packaging with a tax will have significant...