How 5 cents ruined my life

Where I live it costs five cents for a plastic bag. Paper bags are still free but we have to charge five cents for plastic. Apparently cutting down trees isn't bad for the environment?! So needless to say people only want the paper bags, or should it be needless? We're talking five cents for a bag that most of the time is the best size for the items they're buying and you can reuse as a garbage bag. Believe it or not charging five cents per bag is the biggest issue I deal with on a daily basis. I have had people walk out without buying the $200 worth of items they wanted because I wasn't willing to give them a plastic bag for free (it's a by-law, not a rule I made up). I have had people walk out with armloads of underwear, pants in their coat pockets, and one guy who wore three t-shirts at once just so he wouldn't need a bag. We ask every customer if they want a bag so they can tell us before we charge them and 90% of the time they say no "on principle" but come on, we know it's because you're cheap. You're buying clothes that were made in sweatshops, do your principles not cover human rights? Oh wait, if you stand up and say you don't want your clothes made in sweatshops then the price of the clothes will go up and if you aren't willing to pay five cents to save the environment then you definitely aren't willing to pay an extra dollar so factory employees can have better working conditions.