Arthur Peabody

Stores aren't letting me bring in my panniers. I've been carrying a cloth shopping bag around my neck with bungee cords, whipping it out at the cash register, bungeeing it on to my Blackburn, but it's small and will be less comfortable in hot weather. Is there a container of some kind I can hide under my shirt and attach to the rack?
Or has someone an alternative?

mtnbud

Lonepeak makes a shopping bag pannier. https://lonepeakpacks.com/product/grocery-bag-pannier/

You could make something similar using their basic design.

If you make your own make sure the backside has a hard backing and set them up so you can cinch them up so they won't flop around when they're empty.

mschwett 

confused. why do you need to bring your panniers in the store? leave them on the bike, bring in a reusable grocery bag or two (presumably this will fit in your empty panniers on the way there, no need to wear like a necklace), walk out of the store with your groceries in the bags, put the bags into the panniers, or if needed, transfer the items from the bags into the panniers and then stuff the empty, folded up bags in.

rsbob 

I was thinking a triple D bra would work fine.

GamblerGORD53

I just hang the bags on my steel bars. LOL. That's why I have 2 bells on all my bikes. I don't go far or often tho.
But then again, my tour bike had hanging bags almost the whole way. The nose trunk stopped the swaying.

Outrider1

This.

79pmooney

Good grief, why? (Not directed at you but the stores? I've been carrying Ortleibs into the Portland markets the past two decades and no one's ever said a word.) My pattern - lock up, lift off the pannier, drop them into the lower tray on the cart, have the cashier load the cart or hand me the items. I wheel the cart to a quiet corner, load the bags for the best ride and best for the food and packaging. Ride home. Bring the bags into the kitchen to unload (and rinse if needed). Hang to dry if needed. Really easy. (Ortleibs wash like pots.)

I'm very aware that you may be a lone voice and need to choose your battles so I'm not going to say you have to confront whoever to get that changed but perhaps you have a local bike advocacy organization and you could mention it.

Honestly don't have any ideas for you.

zandoval 

Allot of guys down range now calling this rig their Bra...

blue192

In my younger days I had a supermarket prevent me from shopping carrying my panniers and told me to leave them up front. I refused arguing that the panniers could be stolen and as a result I just stopped shopping there. Now that I am old and retired I have a permantly installed folding wire basket mounted to the rear rack and holds a single reusable shopping bag nicely that might be a solution for you as well.

raceboy

I leave panniers on my bike and use the store’s basket that I grab in the entry area. At checkout, I tell the checker to reload the groceries in the basket after scanning so I can load my bike and return the basket. I’ve never had a question or problem…

fjifu

this made me laugh out loud. can't tell if OP is joking or not

Maelochs

If a store wouldn
't let me in with panniers I would start a real issue ... I would get my phone out and tape the manager explaining that I wasn't allowed to bring bags in, and then video women with handbags walking in. I would send the footage to the store's head office and then mention that this discrimination would look great on whichever local news channel liked to feature consumer issues.

Unless No one can bring any bag into a store, anyone can bring Any bag into a store.

If the store were one I didn't care about, I simply wouldn't ever shop there. if it were say, the closest grocery store and the best place to get necessities, I would go right up the corporate ladder, and I would shoot video of people with baby strollers, e diaper bags, knapsacks, handbags, fanny packs... in effect you are being singles out as a potential thief because you have bike bags. Dontt tolerate it.

Maelochs

Also ... I do not leave my panniers outside ... because I like to be sure I will have them when I leave the store with an armful of groceries. I can lock or double-lock the bike but the panniers are not so easy to secure. Even lock-on panniers could be pried off---they aren't likely to fall off while riding but are not theft-proof.

RobbiRobbi

Exactly. It’s not super likely they get stolen if you’re in for a short time, but man would I be pissed if someone took them AND I didn’t have an easy way to get my food home.

mstateglfr 

This is one of those times where it is completely reasonable to name the multiple stores that hold this policy as well as what town/metro you are in. Its a simple PSA, really.
I cant even imagine walking into a grocery store with a pan bag and being told I cant have that in the store, while countless others walk in with reusable grocery bags that are the same size.

mcours2006

Why in the world would a store care what you put into your shopping cart as you enter? I usually just use reusable shopping bags and then load them into the panniers on the bike after. Detaching them from the bike is more hassle, but it could be done, and when detached, then can go right into a shopping cart.

mschwett 

shoplifting, probably. many stores have “no outside bags while shopping” policies. they want you to use their carts and baskets, which get emptied at the checkout aisle before you start filling the bag you’ll take home, which is quickly/visually verifiably empty.

i don’t think this is an anti-cyclist thing, and it’s so trivially easy to deal with that i also wonder if the post is trolling or what…

Maelochs

And in some stores I have been asked to check my bags at Customer Service, and am given a receipt.

It depends how much it matters to you. If a person walks in with Any kind of bag and is not asked to check it, you have a legit case. As I mentioned, no one is asked to check diaper bags or strollers or handbags, and it has been proven many times people use them for theft.

Calsun

Why not simply leave your panniers outside and load up a grocery basket and then loading the groceries into the panniers after you exit the store? It is what I have always done and not a big deal.

squirtdad

What stores? where
why would you need to hide a bag in such convoluted manner.
it is increasingly common that people bring their own bags to stores as many stores now charge for bags.

this seems really at odds with anything i see in my area (california)

Arthur Peabody

Sounds like a lot of work and unlikely to help....
Shopping bags are okay, not backpacks or panniers or any bag with structure larger than some too-small-for-my-purposes size

Shoplifting. They don't want to have to inspect customers' bags on departure.

The one time I absentmindedly left a pannier on my bicycle it was gone when I returned. I keep my panniers with me for the same reason the stores don't let them inside.

Mallwart, True Value, Ace, Family Dollar, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, many others.

I was unclear. I don't need to hide the shopping bag, I just find it convenient to carry it inside my shirt instead of bungeeing it onto the rack.

Maelochs

Possible fold the panniers flat and tie/bungee/strap them flat so that they are not obviously bags, and obviously could not be repositories for shoplifted items?

Not sure what you were looking for when you posted here ....

Hiding a bag under your shirt? I wear loose jerseys, but not that loose .....

Anyway, I am sure you will work it out.

mstateglfr 

So stores you refer to dont allow people to bring in reusable shopping bags? I mean...thatd be odd.

fishboat

I've never had a store object to panniers..but.. another option is the tried and true, time honored kitty litter bucket approach to the touring-grocery-getter life:



Grab an old mtn bike and rig it up for grocery runs. I doubt anyone is going to snatch your buckets.

Chuck Naill

My first thought was to consider a large bike messenger bag. Wear it in on your back and fill as you are leaving..