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Comment by mattlondon | Hacker News Reader

Edit: stores outside of the US are accessible without a car. It is very common for people to go to local stores during lunch breaks or on their way home from work on public transport etc.

I personally don't have space in my jeans pockets after a wallet and the ridiculous size of modern phones to then also pack in 2 or 3 reusable bags too.

Sure if you drive to a store, keep some bags there. I do this a lot but I am not going to carry bags around with me on the off-chance I might go to a shop that day.

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The answer is foldable shopping bags. Any intelligent person that regularly go to stores during lunch breaks or when commuting is either always carrying a backpack or a small foldable shopping bag. There are many folding bag designs that fit into your pants backpocket.

I have no car and I very rarely leave home with either a foldable bag, a backpack, a drawstring bag and when I don't have one of those that is usually because I am using my bicycle which is equipped with a basket and panniers on the rear rack, or my motorbike with its top case.

> Any intelligent person that regularly go to stores during lunch breaks or when commuting is either always carrying a backpack or a small foldable shopping bag

The problem is all the non-intelligent people, like me, who don’t carry this. I don’t carry a backpack around on my lunch break (or really anywhere other than when I’m hiking).

I have a foldable shopping bag which is smaller than my wallet, you don’t need a full backpack. If I think I might want to pop into the shops while out, I’ll chuck it in my pocket.

Sure, if you want to do a big family shop then it’s a bit different, but that’s more of an event anyway.

Does it fit inside my phone? Because I need a bag about 1% of the time and I’m not carrying a bag for those occassions.

It doesn't have to be a backpack. A foldable shopping bag fit in the pockets of your pants. If this is something you do regularly, you would learn at the second occurence to have any kind of bag ready at your place of work.

Keep a couple of fold up bags at work and take one on the lunch break if planning to shop or if shopping on the way home. I can't think of a time that I went out for a lunch break and then on a whim bought two full bags worth of groceries back to the office.

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