Five cents ...

I stumbled across a happy surprise this morning at Bi-Lo. I used to shop there all the time, but since our Publix opened, I've become a Publix convert, and I only go to Bi-Lo on occasion. Like this morning ... I needed just a few things, and it was on the way home.

I've gotten pretty good about remembering to take my own grocery bags whenever I go shopping. I have five of them, and they stay in the back of the car - on the theory that I'll always have them whenever I need them. Which only really works when you remember they're back there and actually take them into the store with you. But like I said, I've gotten pretty good about it. It only took me a year or so ...

But back to this morning's happy surprise. As the cashier rang up the last of my groceries and scanned my lone coupon, he glanced toward my bags and asked, "How many bags do you have?" I thought he was just making chit-chat, so I answered, "Oh, I don't know, four or five, I think." He then walked over to the cart, counted them all, and credited my bill $.25, or $.05 per bag. Certainly, a quarter discount isn't much when you spend nearly $100. But I love that they're recognizing and rewarding people's efforts to help the planet. (By the way, he said the credit was good when ANY bag is brought in - so even if you don't have cloth grocery bags, you can reuse your paper or plastic grocery bags and get the same credit. As long as Bi-Lo doesn't have to use new bags for you, you'll get the discount.)

It's just a drop in the bucket, but sometimes great floods begin in just this way.