Welcome. This is what my wife calls "a bunch of stupid jokes and pictures of paper bags." She's right about the jokes. She's wrong about the bags: some of them are plastic.

What the critics say: "Utterly unnotable" (Wikipedia editor). "Ridiculous collections #4" (Buzzfeed). Other comments: "As complete wastes of time go, it's a very high quality complete waste of time... An entirely dispensable source of inane comments about a truly trivial subject... A monument to the planet's worst corporate design... An unwelcome reminder of some of the more unpleasant moments in our lives."

Donations (unused, please) of bags not represented in the bag gallery are welcomed -- please mail to this address, and I'll credit you on this site! I am happy to trade any extras that I have. Check out the links to other bag sites, find out how you can use your spare bags, and explore the fascinating world of bag manufacturers. 

Highlights: The design features page reveals the secrets of professional baggery, and the logos page analyses the enigma of airline corporate identities. Search for your favourite bag, browse the bag gallery by country and airline, and check out the biggest, best and worst bags!

Easyjet "pioneers" use of barfoto bags

Easyjet is pioneering the use of barfbags as photo mailing envelopes, according to this article in USA Today from 2003. Easyjet's bags (top picture) are colourful, though rather wordy - a single bag contains enough reading material to last an entire short-haul flight. And recently, the budget carrier has given up on "barfoto" bags - it has reverted to plain whites. But have USA Today's journalists never been Down Under? Qantas and Ansett have both used bags as photo mailers for years - the second bag on the left is from 1987. So have a smattering of Swiss airlines - Balair is one. USA Today also seems to have forgotten that Stateside carriers have done bags too: both American Airlines and TWA had photo mailers in the 1970s and 80s. The TWA bag (third bag on the left) has the date 1974 in the gusset, though I have another TWA bag with an even cheaper offer - $1.59 - that is presumably older still. Anyone know who invented the barfoto bag, when, and for which airline? Thanks to Earl Waibel and David Shomper for contributing to this item.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 

Underbagged

What do Latvia, Liberia and Lesotho have in common? Yes, they all start with an L. What else? They're all missing from my barfbag collection.

What's the biggest country not represented? Chad. In terms of population? Burkina Faso. Other prominent absentees (coloured red in the map): Georgia and Rwanda. 

Major underrepresented portions of the globe are a swathe of Africa and chunks of Central Asia and Central America.

Donations from these areas especially welcome!

Centres of megabagdiversity are the USA (though many US bags are distressingly plain), China, the UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia. 

Click here for details.

For new baggists only

New to the world of bag collecting? Want to get a head start on your collection? Then send me an email, and I'll send you a randomly selected free starter pack from my surplus bag stock. There won't be anything rare, and you may end up with some duplicates, but at least you'll be able to show your friends a few more of these lovely cultural artefacts. Make sure you include your mailing address in your email. Offer good as long as stocks last.

This is where old news goes when it's too old to be news.

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