The paper bags they give you are terrible, they're barely fit to walk to the car with. They always fall apart on the walk home, and the ergonomics suck too. But with any reasonable bag I find it's not a big deal.

I'm of the impression paper bags are not meant to be carried. As long as I've been alive, they always break.

I suspect they're simply supposed to be a bundling device so you can stack them for loading in one of those foldable vertical bring-your-own-grocery-cart like old ladies in urban areas use. They certainly can't carry all that crap in-hand either, but this is the only way I've seen paper-bagged groceries make it more than a block without drama.

Are paper bags for groceries a thing in any country other than the US?

As a mountaineer, you no doubt have a wonderfully ergonomic high volume backpack that is great for a week of shopping. Two if your diet is basic meat and veg not processed food in lots of packaging.

Same to the OP. You should own a decent feckin' shopping bag. It's basic adulting where I live. You have observed the problem yet not doing anything about which is just really weird.

>You have observed the problem yet not doing anything about which is just really weird.

They observed the problem and simply have a different solution than you. I'm sure there's a number of other factors they didn't mention that make it preferable to simply use their perfectly working car.

> I'm sure there's a number of other factors they didn't mention that make it preferable to simply use their perfectly working car.

I'm sorry but when one is willing to put that much effort to try to justify using a car to avoid a 10 mn walk, that's only because one is way too lazy and privileged...

You treat the walk as the default and car as something that needs to be justified. That's BS. I think you are too privileged to live in a safe neighborhood, in good climate, to be healthy enough to walk with load, and to own a good backpack :P

To me car is the default solution, it's simply better in every way for most people. Making one's life better doesn't need to be "justified".

> You treat the walk as the default

Is it unreasonable to treat “moving around with your body” as the default vs “moving around in a $x,000-x00,000 device”?

It is! Just like not having surgery, not using AC/heating, or not wearing glasses, etc. All those things are unnatural and some are expensive, but luckily we are not hunter-gatherers anymore ;)

The effort of a 300 word comment on the internet? This isn't Twitter.

>one is way too lazy and privileged...

you are free to think that. It is still a subjective choice in the matter.

> I mountaineer too, it's just a chore to walk with groceries