There's a multitude of reasons for public RP to go like in the OP, the overarching one being the fact that it is public.
My character has a lot of plastic bags already. Entire warehouses full of them.
However, I wasn't making a complaint as much as pointing out something I saw as amusing. As far as I can tell, myself included, the majority of rpers do what they do in their own private in groups so public discourse is now irrelevant as a point of interaction.
Hey it's fine if you have inroads into people and rp networks of people to do it with over the years -- mostly when there was a lot of public interaction to make it possible -- but good luck if you're new these days.