For many Canadians, Swiss Chalet's Festive Special is an annual tradition. Even if they rarely eat from chain restaurants, most people I know admit that the chicken dinner with stuffing, cranberry sauce and a chocolate treat is a seasonal guilty pleasure.
Greg and I are no different. When the ads appear, we run around the house yelling “Festive SpeCHULLLL!” at the top of our lungs. It may be the only chain restaurant food we eat all year, but for some reason we have to have it.
So when the ads appeared recently we hopped online and started to place an order via the chain's website. As we got to the point where it adds the tax, we noticed that the website automatically added a 5 cent surcharge for a plastic bag.
Besides the fact that we think Toronto's freaky plastic bag bylaw is really stupid, we didn't actually want Swiss Chalet's bag. As an apartment dweller (no yard and no green bin) and the owner of two very large dogs, I regularly show up at friends' homes and raid their plastic bag stash. I have been known to go to No Frills, well before the silly bylaw, for the sole purpose of buying plastic bags because I was out, and desperate. But those Swiss Chalet bags – those things are nasty; they don't fold well in your pocket, they don't tie well, and because of the condensation from the chicken dinners, they tend to smell of rotisserie chicken for days after.
So we cancelled the online order and called.
“No cutlery, no condiments and no bag,” Greg tells the order taker over the phone. There was some talking on the other end. “No, I don't want the bag,” I hear him say. Then, “she's put me through to customer service.”
I take the phone and finish the conversation with the customer service rep, who makes it sound as if the issue is up to the individual franchisee. He comes back on the line and tells me that they refuse to deliver the meal without a bag.
“So let them take the bag back with them when they drop it off,” I say, this being the most logical of solutions to my mind.
No. They won't do that. No one can tell me why, but they won't deliver the order unless it's in a bag, and we pay for the bag. So no Festive Special for me, because I'm not being strong-armed into paying for something that isn't actually used by me and that I don't want in the first place.
The next day I put in a call to Swiss Chalet's head office and talk to Mark DiPratto, who tells me that the bag rule is a company policy.
DiPratto says that Swiss Chalet is “looking at alternatives, I would love to see environmental changes,” that would allow the company to avoid the use of plastic bags. But for now, he says, the company has no other options.
Why not give the customers the option of a paper bag, I ask, but DiPratto tells me it could become a quality control issue; they don't want the food getting cold and customers complaining. That's fair enough, but how about putting the food items directly into the store's insulated carrier? No can do, as it would create sanitation issues if something spilled. Which kind of makes me wonder how often the insides of those insulated carriers get cleaned out.
Okay, so what about a paper bag inside a plastic one and taking the paper bag out at the customer's door? In fact, why not put the food directly into the plastic bag and take out the items and hand the customer at the door, like I suggested to the customer service rep initially?
According to DiPratto, this would slow down the deliveries, and the driver would be stuck with the plastic bag. But as it stands, the customer is stuck with the plastic bag. One that they've been forced to purchase in order to be allowed to purchase the food.
A policy that, incidentally, just happens to be illegal.
As is typical with City of Toronto bylaws, the plastic bag law, which forces retailers to charge 5 cents for a plastic bag, wasn't particularly well thought-out. The law was made to apply to restaurants without considering the logistics of how it would work. Like other retailers, restaurants are supposed to ask customers if they want a bag and then advise them that a bag will cost them a minimum of 5 cents. This applies to take-out orders, or even if customers want a bag to take home leftovers.
All of which is fine for an in-person transaction; Torontonians all know to bring their own bags, or cough up the bag charge. But is it fair to force a customer to buy a bag for delivery? To make them pay for something that is for the convenience of the driver, not them personally? Not according to a spokesperson at the Waste Enforcement Division of Toronto's Municipal Licensing and Standards office. I was told that the restaurant can choose to carry the food to a customer's location in a plastic bag but that they cannot force the customer to take – or pay for – the bag if they don't want it. Because the bag charge is not a tax levied by the city, but the sale of a product by the retailer, they can't legally force a customer to buy a product in order to be allowed to purchase another product.
DiPratto refutes this, claiming that Swiss Chalet's policy is legal because of health and safety concerns.
He stresses that the company is looking at alternative solutions, because they are concerned about the environment, but that there is no time line or target in place for implementation.
As a potential (and now lost) customer, I'm not really buying any of it.
Most people either don't notice the bag charge, or shrug it off. To be honest, if the bag was a different plastic, I might as well. But it's not unreasonable to calculate the little bonus that Swiss Chalet makes on every delivery order. All of those nickels add up. So despite DiPratto's insistence on Swiss Chalet's dedication to the environment, there's really not a lot of incentive for a company to stop charging for plastic bags if they can get away with it.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I don't really order a lot of delivery. The small local places I do get food delivered from seem to be either unaware of, or are ignoring, the bag charge policy. Plastic bags are handed over readily with no mention of a nickel in return.
Obviously chains are under more scrutiny when it comes to things like this, so I pop into the Quizno's on the corner near my house to find out their policy regarding plastic bags and delivery.
“We put the food in a bag to get it there,” the guy behind the counter tells me. “And then when we get to the customer's door, we take the food out of the bag and hand the items to them.” (Gee, that sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?)
“You don't charge them for the bag?” I ask. Not unless the customer wants to keep it, I'm told.
So what happens to the bag? The driver brings it back to the store, and if it's clean, they use it again.
Doesn't this slow down the delivery process? That's the excuse Swiss Chalet gave me for not doing the same thing, after all. “Uh, maybe 30 seconds to a minute,” he says. “It's not that big a deal.”
Exactly. Now someone convince Swiss Chalet of that.
[Editor's Note: We're getting a lot of comments on this article that either miss the point entirely or that seem to be for the sole purpose of the commenter seeing their name on the intarwebs. As indicated in the comment box, unless your comment adds an intelligent voice to the conversation, it will not be approved.]
No offense, but you are making a mountain out of a molehill here.
You could very well be right, Paul. Why don't you send me your home address and I'll drop off my Swiss Chalet bags for you to dispose of. I'll expect you to pay me a nickel for each one.
Sheryl, If I gave you a roll of nickels would you feel better?
Danielle, No... you're missing the point. It's not about the money. It's about a restaurant taking advantage of an ill-thought out bylaw that illegally forces delivery customers to buy something they don't want or need in order to be allowed to purchase the items they do want.
Sheryl, I completely agree with you. I need plastic bags for my cat litter, but I am still disgusted by stores making a profit on each and every one, but at least they give me a choice! Everybody thinks the plastic bag fee is a tax and that the money is going to help the environment, but they're uninformed. Swiss Chalet is forcing people to buy bags, and making a profit off it. I don't order in much either, but I also will join your boycott of the Chalet.
Why don't you just throw the bag out? Presumably your time is worth something. With the amount of effort you've put into this, you've already 'spent' more than than you ever would on Swiss Chalet bags.
Paul - You're **REALLY** missing the point, especially by suggesting that I throw the bag out. The point of the bylaw is to stop people from taking free plastic bags that they will take home and throw away. Your suggestion utterly defeats the purpose.
Second, yes, of course, I could just pay for the bag and throw it away. But why should I pay for something that I'm not even going to use? Why should I pay for a tool that will be used by a delivery person to do their job that they can easily do without that tool? Or that can be reused by that delivery person?
And as for the time that I've spent on writing this article, I do thank you for your concern about my busy schedule, but frankly, that's none of your business. And in terms of time "spent", I think I got a good return for my investment. I got Swiss Chalet to start thinking about their illegal policy, I got that same company put on the City's radar in terms of the illegality of their policy and how it jives with the bylaw, and I got at least a few people to sit up and recognize the unfairness of the situation and speak up for themselves when it happens to them.
I'm really sorry that you're not getting the point of all this - it's not about the stupid nickel - it's about how corporations bully their customers, and about how those same customers are too lazy, or uninformed or passively compliant to stand up for themselves. As I've pointed out in the article, I don't have a problem paying for a bag if I need one - I just don't feel it's fair to be forced to buy a bag when I don't want or need one.
Ever since I moved into an apt and my kitchen garbage receptable is the size of a grocery bag, that is where any bag I "buy" ends up, hugging that tiny container. Anything runny and organic naturally goes in the green bin. At any rate, I agree with you - I buy grocery bags at the Kitchen Table in my neighbourhood but 90% of the time the groceries break through the flimsy plastic before I make it home. Double waste. For my dog's stoop and scoop and for my cats littler box I buy biodegradable dog bags from the dollar store. Or the pet store/loblaws.
I have to say that despite all the grumbling I've heard, the 5 cent tax has worked exactly as intended. Almost nobody carries home plastic bags from my local grocery store now. Oddly enough, it turns out that carrying stuff in a square reusable bag is much easier than an awkward bouquet of twisting plastic. I prefer having to scrounge for the odd plastic bag when I want it to that cupboard overflowing with plastic we used to have in our kitchen.
Nobody had seen a plastic bag until the 1950s, and they weren't popularized until the 1970s, so I find it a little difficult to believe that we can't live without them today. There are many battles worth fighting, but I'm not sure the plastic bag tax is one of them. Just my opinion.
Gary...
First of all, the 5 cent fee for plastic bags is NOT a "tax", because the money does not go to any level of government. Yes, the charge has been mandated by the municipal government, but the money is collected and kept by the businesses. So it's a fee, but not a tax.
Secondly, Sheryl is not arguing against the fee. As a concept, we both think it's fine, as it encourages people to go with reusable bags, which is obviously a good thing. We also don't have a problem paying the fee when in a position when it's not avoidable, like an unplanned stop at the grocery store when we have no tote bags with us.
What she IS arguing against is being forced to accept a plastic bag, and pay for it, when she would prefer not to receive one. Again, neither of us have an issue with the fee - as long as we have the option not to pay it when we don't want or need the bag.
The bottom line is that Swiss Chalet/Cara Foods is ignoring the fact that this fee is supposed to encourage people to not use plastic bags. They're treating it as a cash grab (as Sheryl notes, "All of those nickels add up"...) AND are putting thousands of plastic bags into landfills at the same time.
As Gary pointed out the bag fee is working to reduce the number of bags used, which is a lot more relevant than whatever happens to the money.
I seriously doubt that Swiss Chalet views this as a "cash grab". Frankly, I doubt they thought about it all before you brought it up. The difference between Quiznos and SC is that (I assume) like most subs Quizno's is already wrapped in paper making the bag essentially redundant anyways, while SC comes in ridiculous plastic containers to start with, which are probably a bigger environmental concern than the bag in the first place. This packaging is what precipitates all the reasons they cited to you for keeping the bag - they have chosen a delivery packaging arrangement that works "better " with the bag. Their best solution here to would be to just scrap the 5 cent bag fee and charge a 50 cent "convenience fee" or "delivery fee" on every order. Or completely change their packaging system.
What about asking Swiss Chalet to put your order into a cardboard box? It's probably easier for carrying the individual items than using a bag, they most likely have more than a few boxes lying around (and should consider switching from bags to boxes), boxes are reusable/recyclable and they certainly can't charge you for it.
Jeremy - DiPratto claims they are looking at reworking the packaging overall, thus the reason for the delay on the bag issue. They are aware that their current method is neither ecological nor does it present the food in the best manner - the soggy fries are a big concern.
Larry,
Boxes fall under the same area as paper bags - they won't use them because they are concerned the food won't be hot when it arrives at your food.
Sheryl,
I'm with you guys, it's as if as soon as anyone gets elected to public office, their common sense flies out the window. Also, brilliant move charging us for the plastic bag, the most re-useable bag created out of the least amount of material possible.
David, it's true, the lack of logic to the bylaw boggles the mind. If it weren't for the dog issue, I'd be even more hardcore about bringing my own bags when shopping. As it is, I started using canvas bags for groceries (along with either a knapsack or a bundle buggy) back in 1990, the last time we were all gonna make changes and save the planet.
But your point is important - plastic bags don't necessarily use more resources than paper, and the City now recycles them. So there should be no reason to change for them in the first place, making this whole thing all the more frustrating.
Then they really didn't think this through! Plastic bags obviously aren't ideal for carrying their containers and people generally aren't willing to pay for them. Other delivery places use large paper bags and it works fine.
Some stores are still giving away plastic bags without charging for them, strangely enough.
Mandarin for a couple of years has been delivering orders in bags similar to Loblaws' reusable bags. They are pretty fantastic, I'd have thought that the Swiss would have done this ages ago, but it hasn't stopped me from ordering them, the stuffing is like heroin.
Sheryl, I admire your principle.
maybe people would get your point if swiss chalet decided to bag each container, (seeing japanese food items, it wouldn't be far fetched), [(1)chicken, (2) fries, (3) bread, (4) sauce, (5) drink, (6) stuffing, (7) cranberry, and (8)chocolate, then (9) one to carry everything in] in the interest of heat retention and spillage and then charge the fee 9 times for tiny useless bags that you don't want, then list it on your bill and expect you to pay up.
Having caved to my own love of the festive special (I admit, it's the little houses full of chocolate that gets me, because I find the stuffing revolting, and everything else is just ordinary Swiss Chalet), I was paying particular attention to the bags. You'll all want to carefully note that while Swiss Chalet charged me for 3 bags they only used two to pack my dinner! Unless they're counting the bag the buns were in inside the other bag, but they've never done that before -- it's always been just the two big bags that got charged for.
So, go them for using less bags than they thought they would, but boo them for charging me for them anyway.