Penny-wise, pound foolish - a phrase that has the ring of Dickensian London, or maybe your Grandma, but we don't seem to use it much any more. Perhaps we should, though, because even if the phrase is out of date, the behavior it describes is as contemporary as an i-phone.
Effective this month, the District of Columbia instituted a nickel tax on every disposable bag, paper or plastic. This was a well-intentioned effort to reduce trash, especially because plastic bags constituted a huge proportion of junk clogging up the Anacostia River. And it's working, because stores already report that the number of bags being given out is down by 40-60%. [Personally I think the DC government got overly eager, taxing both plastic and paper, because paper is both heavily recycled, and degradable. But that's just government caving in to the interests of the plastic bag industry.]
So far, so good. Enter the penny-wise, pound foolish American consumer. Read how some (many?) people are reacting to the new bag tax. Specifically, exhibit A here is one Virginia Johnson, who admits that to avoid the tax, she now shops for groceries in Virginia, with no bag tax (though with a 2.5% sales tax on food the District doesn't have), dumps her $20 lunch on the sidewalk, prefers "small government," and will go to any lengths to avoid paying a nickel.
Questions arise: Isn't that irrational? Yes, even Ms. Johnson admits that. Won't people soon get over this kind of foolishness? Ummm, maybe. According to the author of the book Predictably Irrational, (mentioned in the article), it's a natural reaction to even a small fee suddenly attached to something people think ought to be free. But I've lived in various foreign countries for many years, and never found it difficult to adapt to bringing my own bag, so I think people will adjust eventually.
Other questions, less relevant, also arise: When Johnson drops her lunch, does she pick it up? Will the streets of the District be increasingly cluttered with the detritus of people who can't figure out when they really need a bag? If Johnson favors small government, (she could hardly ask for smaller than DC's) but wouldn't it be rational to give up her government job?
But I'm straying from the topic - consumer irrationality. Reaction to the bag tax is no different from what people do when gasoline prices rise -- they go crazy. Gas up a nickel a gallon? Wow, a whole dollar a tank on a sedan! Drive across town to get a lower price, use up an extra gallon at $3.50 to get there.
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