Seconded. Pretty much minimum waste for the amount you get. Buy a four jar or snap container that will keep the air out. Reusable, keeps four fresh longer, easier to scoop from, less mess.
I bought a set of containers for stuff like that that is just too small. The bigger tubs hold about 4.8 pounds of flour so if I buy a 5 pound bag I have to wait until I make something to transfer it to the tub.
Much easier for shoplifting, yeah. Just stick a knife in the bag and inconspicuously drain it into your fanny pack while pretending to browse other baking items. Walk on out and you've got 1.5 lb of that all-purpose grain glitter and no one is the wiser.
You can use it for gravel as well. I walked into a quarry recently and pretended to fall into a pile of loose gravel (but then I started covertly shoveling it into my fanny pack).
Boom. Close the zipper on that lock box while some production employees help you out of the gravel and you've secured 1/8500th of what you need for your new driveway. You just have to pull the grift a few more times.
They know my face at the local quarry now, though, which is problematic.
Why not a recyclable cardboard tube like oats come in sometimes? Probably easier for logistics too when packaging (of course retooling all the equipment from like 1988 wouldnt be easy but its one and done)
The bags aren't much better in this regard, but anything that easily topples over is going to add likeliness of spills. Also, those tubes are probably more expensive than the bags or the plastic.
They mean a cardboard tube that's recyclable. You know like cardboard, in a tube shape.
You know what a pipe made of metal looks like, well like that but not made of metal, made of cardboard. Imagine a flat bit of cardboard, in a tube shape.