Abstract: A bag handling method and apparatus for a check-out counter are disclosed. A strip of serially connected bags having their bottoms leading their tops in the direction of strip movement are intermittently fed from a roll to an edge of the counter where the bottom of the leading bag is fed into a carriage provided in a recess in the counter. When the leading bag reaches a predetermined location, advancement of the strip is stopped while the leading bag continues to be transported into the recess carriage causing separation of the leading bag from the strip. After separation, vacuum jaws engage with the sides of the leading bag and open the same and flaps are inserted into the bag opening to retain the opened condition. After the leading bag is filled with articles, the flaps are removed and the recess carriage transfers the filled bag to a pick-up basket.