plastic bags

The sun still rose on Tuesday

Posted on January 28, 2020February 4, 2020 by Wegmaniacal

One customer joked about the bagapocalypse. A few seemed annoyed that they had forgotten their reuseable bags, or that cashiers had to charge a nickel per paper sack. But all in all, everyone coped. The first day of no plastic bags at Wegmans’s New York stores turned out to be the Y2K of the grocery…

Evil plastic, be gone

Posted on January 23, 2020January 26, 2020 by Wegmaniacal

We’re all bracing for the supermarket equivalent of a tectonic plate shift. On Monday, Jan. 27, Wegmans stores in New York State will stop using plastic bags. This is HUUUUGE. For customers, the company, employees, and the environment. Shoppers will have to buy reusable bags or use paper, at five cents a pop. The company’s…

Upstate New Yorkers love their Wegmans, with a bond that newer customers in other parts of the East are discovering. As a customer and former employee, I share the obsession.

I launched Wegmaniacal in December 2019, to examine the cultlike following the company has developed since its founding in Rochester more than a century ago.

The site stagnated when I left Wegmans and returned to other endeavors. But with rising grocery prices, lowering environmental regulation, and pharmaceutical challenges, it’s time to resume writing here.

Much of what I have to say is positive. Nevertheless, the company is family owned and most of its operations are conducted in private. As a longtime journalist, I’ll also delve into topics Danny Wegman would prefer to keep behind closed doors.

— Laurie Bennett