Have you ever been weighing your fruit and vegetables at the supermarket and wondered how many rappen (centime) you’ve spent paying for plastic bags? Now, Coop and Migros have rolled out a new system, meaning you will only pay for the food you buy without the bag surrounding it.

Shoppers will no longer have to pay for bags at weighing stations

As part of the new system, users will be able to tell the weighing scales at Coop and Migros whether they are using a plastic bag, paper bag, textile bag or nothing to carry the fruit and veg they want to pay for. The system will then take this information into account when calculating how much you have to pay for the items.

Both supermarkets explained that the change would make it easier for them to adhere to new legal requirements from the government, which bans retailers from using the weight of carrying bags to boost the price of weighed products. Before the changes came into force on January 6, stores could add the weight of the bag to the price of the product, provided it weighed less than two grams.

New weighing system at Coop and Migros causes friction with customers

Coop and Migros concluded by assuring that regardless of which option is selected at the scales, the product will be the same price per gram. Interestingly, the new regulations will also apply to Lidl and Aldi, where the weight is measured by staff at checkout.

While the new change may lead to savings over time, changes to a time-tested routine like supermarket weighing scales are bound to cause friction. Shoppers speaking to 20 Minuten and Watson called the changes tedious, as they now have to select the packaging for every new product, instead of simply inputting the code.

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