Home » City Guide »

San Francisco Bans Reusable Bags from Grocery Stores

If you bring your own tote from home, you’ll now have to bag your own groceries
By - posted 4/2/2020 No Comment

As part of new stricter rules put in place on May 31st to help prevent unnecessary contact, the City of San Francisco has instructed business to no longer permit customers to bring their own bags, mugs or reusable items from home.

In Funcheap’s experience this week, grocery stores like Safeway and Trader Joe’s have still allowed you to bring your own bag, but the workers will not touch the bag and you will need to bag your own groceries. 

Thanks to SFGate, FoxNews and Politico for pointing out that this applies to reusable bags at grocery stores.

This is part of the updated “Social Distancing Protocol” which includes

  • Preventing people from self-serving any items that are food-related.
    • Lids for cups and food-bar type items are provided by staff; not to customers to grab.
    • Bulk-item food bins are not available for customer self-service use.
  • Not permitting customers to bring their own bags, mugs, or other reusable items from home.
  • Providing for contactless payment systems or, if not feasible, sanitizing payment systems regularly.

Read the updated health order