The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

added 02/15/12

You could win a $250 Co-op shopping spree and help our sustainability goals too.

Last year, Co-op shoppers brought in over one million of their own bags to carry home their purchases. Even so, new bags provided by the Co-op still made up more than half of the total number of bags used by our customers. We would like to increase the reuse of bags and bring down the demand for new ones.

Bring Back the Sack

Many people who bring their own bags have told us that the incentive is not the nickel back that they receive. The incentive is doing the right thing for the environment and for future generations.

Under the nickel a bag program, if the average customer provides five bags per visit and shops once per week, he or she would receive 25 cents per week or $13 per year. The Co-op is going to up the ante for these dedicated shoppers who provide their own bags week after week.
Beginning on January 2, 2012, we are instituting a new “Bring Back the Sack” benefit at the Co-op. Instead of giving back five cents for each bag provided by the customer, we are pooling the money to provide the opportunity for sixteen dedicated bag recyclers to win $250 Co-op gift cards.

Four times a year—in January, April, July, and October—the Co-op will give away four $250 Co-op shopping sprees to shoppers whose names have been entered into our drawing. To enter, a shopper must have a fully punched “Bring Back the Sack” card, representing twenty bags they provided for packing their groceries on shopping trips to the Co-op.

Pick Up Your Card

The next time you bring your own bags while shopping, ask the cashier for one of our “Bring Back the Sack” cards. Each card has twenty spots representing twenty bags. The cashier will punch your card once for each of your bags used while bagging your groceries. When you have reused twenty bags, your card will be full, and you can put it into our raffle bin.

The more times you provide your own bags, the more cards you can fill and add to the pot, thereby increasing your odds of winning. Cards will have no time limit. If you don’t complete a card in time for the April drawing, drop it off for one of the subsequent ones. After each drawing, the pot will be emptied and the previous three months’ cards destroyed. Your odds of winning will be determined by the number of cards you enter and the number of cards entered overall during each quarter.

Complete instructions are available at all Co-op locations.

Please note that the punched cards will have no cash value and cannot be redeemed for cash. Their sole purpose is to provide the owner with proof of having provided at least twenty of his or her own bags for carrying out groceries. The Co-op reserves the right to discontinue the program at any time.