The title of this post refers to the latest bags we bought to, well… to pick up our dog, Desmond’s poo! We normally buy the Dollars Store’s own version of biodegradable poop bags, but last time we were at Costco we saw these and fell in love with the packaging (if you’re a regular on this . . . → Read More: “Extra-long so you never make unwanted contact.”]]>

The title of this post refers to the latest bags we bought to, well… to pick up our dog, Desmond’s poo! We normally buy the Dollars Store’s own version of biodegradable poop bags, but last time we were at Costco we saw these and fell in love with the packaging (if you’re a regular on this blog you’ll know that we often choose to buy stuff simply for the way they look, like it was the case for this or that – we justify the few extra dollars paid on nicely designed stuff by featuring them here ). So here’s our review of  “The World’s Best PoopBags” (that’s how they’re called) in comparison with the Dollars Stores brand from both a designer and a dog-owner perspective.

THE DESIGNER’S PERSPECTIVE:

What’s not to love about the design of the World’s Best PoopBags!? The dog illustrations are simply irresistible. We love their simplicity and how easily they communicate what the product is about: taking care of your dog’s “needs” in an ecological manner. The bags are biodegradable (in 18-months) and their “greenest” is well shown by the choice of 100% post-consumer recycled paper for the box (which, with the 2 tones of green printing, looks great from a design perspective!). The use of the leaves and of the colour green for the illustrations also emphasize the eco-friendliness. Inside, the packaging is minimal: 25 rolls of 15 bags, held together by a little round sticker of the friendly dog. A clear window on the top of the box let us see the rolls inside, which is an appreciated feature. The quirky text on the box (including the mention “Big enough for a Great Dane’s pile.”) is written in a Serif-but-not-too-serious font which goes very well with the illustrations and humoristic tone. The bags themselves are very attractive too: again they feature the friendly dog and the company’s branding. Under the box, along with the bar code, is an invitation to “like” the company on Facebook. We personally would have put this on the back with the other text – we doubt that every person buying the box will look at it under every angles like we did for the purpose of this post. Many people might therefore miss the Facebook icon. Overall though, it’s a very nice design that respect perfectly the company’s branding throughout all the elements: from the box to the actual bags, via the little stickers used to hold the roll together. A visit to the company’s website shows that they are consistent with their branding online as well, which makes us appreciate them even more!

In case you want to see what the Dollar Store poo bags look like, here’s a picture (okay, it doesn’t help that the box got somehow destroyed by our cats before the picture was taken, but still, you can see that, design-wise, it’s really not a winner). Who thought that putting the head of the little girl hugging the dog on the detachable flap was a good idea?! Once the box is open we’re left with an headless dog hugger. Poor, poor design choice – but what do you expect from something bought at the Dollars Store?! We won’t elongate on this design other than to say that it’s very basic and unremarkable.

Now, on to…

THE DOG OWNER’S PERSPECTIVE:

Shame there isn’t a scratch-and-sniff function on this blog: you do want to smell the great scent of lavender emanating from these bags! Indeed, the cupboard where we store Desmond’s stuff now has a nice smell of lavender thanks to the box of PoopBags that have been stored in there for a few days. Good to know is the fact that the lavender scent really covers the “other” smell, making your journey from the pick-up place to the rubbish can a little bit nicer. The Dollars Store bags are also scented: with a weird coconutty-vanilla-very-sweet perfume…however they certainly don’t smell strong enough to perfume your cupboard.

Price-wise, we calculated that, at a cost of $9.99 for a box of 375 bags at Costco, each bag costs 3 cents before taxes. Comparatively, the Dollars Store ones are $1.00 for a box of 60 bags, so they come up to 2 cents per bag before taxes. The World’s Best PoopBags are therefore slightly more expensive than the Dollars Store ones… They are, however, a few inches longer which, as mentioned on the box and on this blog’s title, makes avoiding unwanted contact between your hand and the “pile” you’ve just picked up easier and allows for an easy knotting of the bag before you dump it in the bin.

Biodegradability-wise, both the World’s Best PoopBags and the Dollar Store one have the EPI certification and have been certified by the American Society for Testing and Materials. We’re not scientists, but we think that it can be assumed that both products are safe for the environment and will degrade much quicker than regular plastic bags. So on that note, both brands win.

Finally, the Dollar Store bags are Made in Thailand, imported by some company and distributed in Dolloramas across the country. The World’s Best PoopBags, on the other hand, are Made in Canada by what seems to be a real company with real people behind it (they even have a blog!), and are available online and in more than 175 stores in the country (including Costco, where we bought our big box of 375 bags).

CONCLUSION:

Since the 2 brands’ functionality is pretty much the same, when it comes to choosing between the Dollar Store poo bags and The World’s Best PoopBags, we guess it all depends on if you’re willing to spend a few more pennies to encourage a “local” company instead of giving your money to some nameless corporation. And of course, it also depends on how trendy you want to be while picking up your dog’s poo…

If you’re also a dog owner and belong to the 53% of dog owners that ALWAYS pick-up their dog’s poop when it occurs in public place (crazy I know – only half of us are responsible dog-owners according to the statistic we found here!) please feel free to share your own reviews of poop bags below in the comment section. And please, please, please: no matters what type of bags you use, always pick up after your dog! Otherwise it makes us, responsible dog-owners, look bad.

Amsterdam is a locally brewed beer. It is conveniently located just around the corner from us so it’s a great alternative to the Oh-So-Stinky-And-Far-Away Beer Store. There’s definitely something special about buying beer directly at the brewery: not only are we doing something good by buying a local product, but the beer even seems . . . → Read More: Amsterdam Beer – Nice packaging (and taste!)]]>

Amsterdam Beer

Amsterdam is a locally brewed beer. It is conveniently located just around the corner from us so it’s a great alternative to the Oh-So-Stinky-And-Far-Away Beer Store. There’s definitely something special about buying beer directly at the brewery: not only are we doing something good by buying a local product, but the beer even seems fresher and tastier. The brewery shop isn’t just a plain refrigerator. It’s a cool warehouse where we can see the beer-making process and the staff, if often not overly friendly, is at least authentic and far from the corporate ‘fakeness’ that we get in other places.

Anyways, the purpose of this post is to show you that Amsterdam recently changed its packaging. It used to be a paper label glued to the bottle, but now they’ve changed it so the label is directly printed on the bottle. It gives it a nice, clean look and makes it easier for the brewery to reuse the bottle in an eco-friendly manner. We also like the box in which the 25 bottles came: it’s minimalist, a bit rough-looking and very different from the overly decorated and colourful box that other beers come in… We give it two thumbs up, and on that note, we’re off to drink a beer – it’s New Year’s Eve after all!

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Amsterdam – Bière au bel emballage (et bon goût!)

Amsterdam est une bière brassée ici, à Toronto. La brasserie est située juste au coin de notre rue, donc c’est pratique et nous permet d’éviter la puanteur du Beer Store. Il y a définitivement des avantages à acheter de la bière directement à la brasserie: non seulement encourageons-nous une entreprise locale, mais la bière semble être plus “fraîche” et semble également avoir meilleur goût. Le magasin de la brasserie n’est pas qu’un simple réfrigérateur… C’est plutôt un genre d’entrepôt qui permet de voir comment la bière est faite et les employés, même s’ils ne sont pas toujours extrêmement sympatiques, sont authentiques.

Récemment, Amsterdam a changé l’emballage de ses bouteilles de bière. Au lieu d’avoir une étiquette en papier collée sur la bouteille, l’étiquette est désormais directement imprimée sur celle-ci. En plus d’être écologique, ça modernise l’image de la marque. On aime beaucoup la simplicité de la boîte dans laquelle venaient les 25 bières…Ça fait changement des autres caisses de bières aux couleurs et designs un peu trop dynamiques! Parlant de bières…C’est l’heure d’aller en prendre une. Après-tout, c’est la veille du Nouvel An!

How happy would you be to receive that nicely crafted box of presents? Very happy I’m sure! I took that photo for fun before sending it (for fun + for the fact that with the postal services you never know if a parcel is going to reach its destination… better have a proof that yes, we did . . . → Read More: Christmas Design]]>

Gifts

How happy would you be to receive that nicely crafted box of presents? Very happy I’m sure! I took that photo for fun before sending it (for fun + for the fact that with the postal services you never know if a parcel is going to reach its destination… better have a proof that yes, we did bought presents for everyone!). Taking that picture made me realize how great baby blue and dark red go well together, and how it should officially replace green and red as the usual Christmas colours. Anyways, just a thought!

vicky

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Cadeaux de Noël

Aimeriez-vous recevoir cette belle boîte pleine de cadeaux? J’imagine que oui, elle est tellement bien décorée (ahah!). J’ai pris cette photo pour le fun (et aussi pour avoir une preuve que oui, nous avons acheté des cadeaux à tout le monde! Après tout, avec la qualité du service postale, on ne sait jamais si un colis va arriver à destination ou non…). En tout cas, cette photo m’a fait réaliser que bleu ciel et rouge foncé vont vraiment bien ensemble et que ces couleurs devraient remplacer la combinaison habituelle du rouge et vert en tant que couleurs officielles de Noël. Bonne idée non?

vicky