Bagging groceries for extra cash, Mexican elderly told to pack up

Walmart in Mexico, the country’s biggest retailer, told baggers over 60 that they need not come back to work following a ban on plastic bags and a post-pandemic shift in consumer habits.

The coronavirus pandemic and changing consumer habits threaten to put an end to a decades-old practice of allowing elderly people in Mexico to earn extra income as grocery store baggers. Baggers over 60 had expected to return to stores last month as pandemic restrictions eased in Mexico City. But Walmart de Mexico, the country’s biggest retailer, announced this week that they wouldn’t be allowed back. The retail chain said Mexico City’s ban on plastic bags and the pandemic meant customers no longer want other people touching their groceries.