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Area Grocery Stores


Heather

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BTW: Brookville has individual duck leg confit from D'Artagnian, if anyone is "game" to try them. I couldn't find a price and that stuff is off our menu for the indefinite future (except in restaurants, of course :P ). They also have squab. I always thought one had to go to Dean and Deluca for those, but apparently not.

Arrowine and Wegman's sell them as well. Arrowine has the better price, and sometimes puts them on special.

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In general, the MaGruder's next to Palena is subpar, though the company has been addressing complaints. However, they get shipments only twice a week--according to their competition at Brookvillle--and produce will often look tired after a few days. You have to show up at just the right time and in general, it's bunches of cilantro, scallions or parsley that are worth buying if you're there at the right time. Three grapefruit for $1 if you're lucky.

Second, the store just isn't a priority; at the store on Upper Connecticut, liquor accounts for profits more than produce does. At any rate, the wonderful bargains on produce that you'll find in MD & VA are often not offered at the two DC locations. "Higher rents," I was told as an explanation. "Most food retail outlets have different pricing zones. Standard for the industry."

* * *

Thanks for the confit tip re Brookville. The store is good for lots of old-fashioned items and for fresh produce in a pinch. I have already used this thread to lament the loss of the good Viriginia ham that Pam the Butcher used to order.

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I like the chopped frozen spinach Harris Teeter carries so I treked out to NoVA to pick some up this evening. While at HT I decided to pick up some dried beans to use for chili and black beans and rice. I glanced at the prices of the bags of Goya and thought "hmm" but grabbed them anyway.

On the way back into the city I remembered I needed one more grocery store item, so I pulled into the Giant on Sprout Run/Lee Hwy. I happened by the same brand of beans, same beans and same sizes... $.40 less at Giant! And that wasn't the sale price.

Wow.

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I had a bad experience with my grocery bagger at the new WF, myself.

She tried to stuff everything into one bag, which ripped, then she tried to hand me the ripped bag, anyway.

I asked her to re-bag into more than one bag -- at some point, when I wasn't watching, she put a lot of heavy stuff on top of the bananas. :unsure:

Taught me a lesson that I can be a sexist. For some reason I assumed that women were more attentive to such matters, not that men can't be wonderful baggers, but this requires some thought, like put all the frozen stuff together in one bag, don't put bread or fruit or eggs in the bottom of the bag, etc.

In contrast, the next trip, my bagger was a young male, definitely teenaged, and he was extremely careful.

I have long twigged to this, so I put the heaviest stuff on the conveyor belt FIRST. The fragile stuff is rung up at the very end. Sometimes it really IS in your hands. :lol:
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I have long twigged to this, so I put the heaviest stuff on the conveyor belt FIRST. The fragile stuff is rung up at the very end. Sometimes it really IS in your hands. :lol:
Gosh, I've been doing that all my life. The fragile/soft stuff, like eggs, bread, pears, mushrooms (especially the $30/lb kind) go at the end. The canned stuff, the dry pasta, the potatoes and onions go at the front.
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Gosh, I've been doing that all my life. The fragile/soft stuff, like eggs, bread, pears, mushrooms (especially the $30/lb kind) go at the end. The canned stuff, the dry pasta, the potatoes and onions go at the front.

Once again I am amazed to find, through donrockwell.com, that I'm not the only one out there. :lol: Great minds think alike. And so do ours.

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Gosh, I've been doing that all my life. The fragile/soft stuff, like eggs, bread, pears, mushrooms (especially the $30/lb kind) go at the end. The canned stuff, the dry pasta, the potatoes and onions go at the front.
Once again I am amazed to find, through donrockwell.com, that I'm not the only one out there. :lol: Great minds think alike. And so do ours.
Nice to know I am not alone

Am I alone in bagging my own purchases?

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Am I alone in bagging my own purchases?
For me, it depends on how long the line is. If it's the day before/of a holiday like Super Bowl Sunday and the line wraps around the dairy section I'll pitch in and bag my own so the people behind me don't have to wait so long.
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For me, it depends on how long the line is. If it's the day before/of a holiday like Super Bowl Sunday and the line wraps around the dairy section I'll pitch in and bag my own so the people behind me don't have to wait so long.
I'm usually too busy making sure things ring up correctly to bag my own. Besides, if I wanted to bag my own, I could go to Aldi's...
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Aggravating effect hanging over from the low carbohydrate craze: Every variety of sliced bread has made their slices so thin, in an attempt to reduce the carb count per serving, that most have no internal structure and fall apart once made into a sandwich. When I was pregnant with my son on '01-02 and had to count carbs for diebetes exchanges, the average was 15-18 per slice. Now it seems to be 23-28g for two slices.

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Aggravating effect hanging over from the low carbohydrate craze: Every variety of sliced bread has made their slices so thin, in an attempt to reduce the carb count per serving, that most have no internal structure and fall apart once made into a sandwich. When I was pregnant with my son on '01-02 and had to count carbs for diebetes exchanges, the average was 15-18 per slice. Now it seems to be 23-28g for two slices.
You'll find things have changed, depending upon what you buy. Ever since Arnold took the partially hydrogenized oil out of its bread, I've been happy with the brand. I think it was first to go this route and actually used real butter for a while. Don't know if it does. But there are more than 20 grams per slice and lots of options for fiber-rich breads that include whole wheat or seeds, nuts, etc.

Even more recently, Pepperidge Farms decided to copy every single successful Arnold bread and you'll find the same qualities re size of slice, fat & fiber.

Often Safeway has bargains on Arnold (this week) and Giant, Peppridge Farms if with less frequency.

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What this city needs is a Californian supermarket. Someone in Northern California is doing a weekly food blog over at eG. Nobody stopped him from shooting pictures at his local Safeway. The chain there seems to hold its own against Ralph's or Gelson's. Those piles of glorious produce....

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I've actually found the prices at My Organic Market (MOM) to be really competitive (taking into account the fact that it's organic), the selection to be good and the produce quality to be reasonable. Plus, they sell this STHT (short time high temp, I think) milke that I really love the flavor of (yes, ending sentence in preposition). I go to the one in Rockville (not sure what other locations they have), but would recommend it as an organic alternative to YES! and WF.

I like MOM, but it isn't much cheaper than Whole Foods for most of the things that I buy. They are also going to be putting in a Roots Market near Olney (where the Silo Inn used to be) on Georgia Ave.

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Interesting about price at MOM vs. WF. It must be a function of what we buy a the respective stores, because I find them significantly cheaper.

What's a Roots Market? I'm not too far from Olney and might be interested? Similar small, organic market type thing?

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Yesterday at Shopper's Food Warehouse in Rockville, I found veal shank for $4.99 a pound. I have been wanting to make osso buco, but the only place I have seen veal shank for sale was at WF, where it is $19 a pound! Yipes! I have been meaning to make a trip to Halalco in Falls Church, which is a good source for reasonably priced veal (and lamb and goat) but haven't had a chance to get there. Meanwhile, this'll do!

I know I sound like a bit of a geezer when I reminisce, but back in the mid-80's I used to be able to get veal shank (nice thick slices, too) at Golden West Meats in Santa Monica for $1.99 a pound. Very few people knew from osso buco then.

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Yesterday at Shopper's Food Warehouse in Rockville, I found veal shank for $4.99 a pound. I have been wanting to make osso buco, but the only place I have seen veal shank for sale was at WF, where it is $19 a pound! Yipes! I have been meaning to make a trip to Halalco in Falls Church, which is a good source for reasonably priced veal (and lamb and goat) but haven't had a chance to get there. Meanwhile, this'll do!

I know I sound like a bit of a geezer when I reminisce, but back in the mid-80's I used to be able to get veal shank (nice thick slices, too) at Golden West Meats in Santa Monica for $1.99 a pound. Very few people knew from osso buco then.

I have noticed that the Shoppers near my home always has pretty good deals on meat. A few weeks ago I purchased a huge pack of short ribs for about $14. Short Ribs are hard to come by at WF, they usually just have a pack of 3 small ribs.

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I was happy to find boneless short ribs at The Springfield Butcher this weekend, over two pounds for around $16.
Good grief, that's expensive meat. I get boneless shortribs from SFW for about $3-4/lb.
I have noticed that the Shoppers near my home always has pretty good deals on meat. A few weeks ago I purchased a huge pack of short ribs for about $14.

Shoppers has boneless short ribs for $3.99/lb pretty much all the time. Bone-in are about $3.59. Meatiness varies. Asking the butcher to put a pack together will result in a very good deal if he/she is amenable.

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Yesterday at Shopper's Food Warehouse in Rockville, I found veal shank for $4.99 a pound. I have been wanting to make osso buco, but the only place I have seen veal shank for sale was at WF, where it is $19 a pound! Yipes! I have been meaning to make a trip to Halalco in Falls Church, which is a good source for reasonably priced veal (and lamb and goat) but haven't had a chance to get there. Meanwhile, this'll do!

I know I sound like a bit of a geezer when I reminisce, but back in the mid-80's I used to be able to get veal shank (nice thick slices, too) at Golden West Meats in Santa Monica for $1.99 a pound. Very few people knew from osso buco then.

My devotion to free-range, grass-fed, and hormone-free meat always seems to diminish considerably when I'm choosing between something like $7/lb lamb shanks at the farmers markets and the $2/lb (it was a sale, I recall) version at Safeway.

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Shoppers has boneless short ribs for $3.99/lb pretty much all the time. Bone-in are about $3.59. Meatiness varies. Asking the butcher to put a pack together will result in a very good deal if he/she is amenable.

I have never seen boneless short ribs anywhere but the Springfield Butcher. I use the bone- in for just regular braised short ribs, and the boneless I use for the Bouchon Beef Bourguignon. I thought the Pack I got from Shoppers was a pretty good deal because it was one of those large family packs. Maybe I just did not know any better.

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Gosh, I've been doing that all my life. The fragile/soft stuff, like eggs, bread, pears, mushrooms (especially the $30/lb kind) go at the end. The canned stuff, the dry pasta, the potatoes and onions go at the front.
Yeah, I'm pretty ocd about it myself.

How about adding the OCD of spinning the UPC's around forward for quicker scanning? You would think I was a former cashier, but no. In years of doing this, no comments from any cashier, but I like to think I'm getting silent appreciation. Maybe I just scare them.... :o

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My devotion to free-range, grass-fed, and hormone-free meat always seems to diminish considerably when I'm choosing between something like $7/lb lamb shanks at the farmers markets and the $2/lb (it was a sale, I recall) version at Safeway.

Any good?

You asked recently about all the branzino. I'm curious about the ubiquity of the lamb shank these days. They're in the new issue of Gourmet, too, I think.

I'm still waiting for baby lamb.

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I have had a Costco membership for some time now, and for the first time this weekend I just found out how inexpensive their meat really is. I went crazy. A 5lb rib roast for $26, you could spend that on one steak at Whole Foods!. Needless to say, my fridge is now packed with all types of meat from Costco. I made the rib roast last night, and its as good as any I have ever bought from Whole Foods. I am only buying Chicken from Whole Foods going forward!

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Then I noticed another sign that said they were on special for $2.99 a pound. So I took a couple, making a mental note to make sure they really rang up as $2.99/lb. Well, the checkout clerk rang them up as ordinary eggplant for $1.69/lb, and I said nothing. Was that wrong?

Yes, it was very very wrong. Bad bad bad. Don't ever, ever do it again. Not.

When that kind of thing happens in a big for-profit chain store, I think of it as "nature's little discount." Or the store's way of thanking me for my business, since they are probably overcharging me on so many of the other things I buy there. If the checkout clerk asks me what something from the produce department is or what the price was marked as, I answer truthfully. But if I notice them making an error that is in my favor, I don't go out of my way to correct them. If it is a small merchant, or at the farmer's market, I will correct all mistakes, even if it favors them. With a small business person, I just feel more protective somehow. Is this a sign of moral relativism? Possibly. But I don't shoplift--in big stores, I just pay them the amount they are asking for.

The other day, at Total Wine, I bought a bottle of wine that I had previously paid $12.99 for. I was buying the next vintage, and I think the shelf price marked was a dollar more. I wasn't really paying attention at the checkout counter, but when I got home, I noticed the price for that wine on the computerized register receipt said $6.99. I was tempted to go back and buy a few more bottles before someone fixed the glitch. But I didn't go back. Was that wrong?

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When that kind of thing happens in a big for-profit chain store, I think of it as "nature's little discount."
I'm with you completely. I always correct a mistake in my favor when dealing with a small business. But at WF, given the staggering profit they've made on me over the years, an undercharge of a couple of dollars leaves my conscience unruffled.
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I'm with you completely. I always correct a mistake in my favor when dealing with a small business. But at WF, given the staggering profit they've made on me over the years, an undercharge of a couple of dollars leaves my conscience unruffled.
I point out errors when I notice them, regardless of where it is, but I have also had the experience of being yelled at by the cashier for pointing out an error in my favor. My most memorable encounter came when I was about 15 and had gone to buy something for my mother at a local small butcher/grocery. The change the cashier gave me back wasn't right, and I started to say that only to be cut off and told that she'd given me the right change. By my third attempt to explain (by which time I had figured out that what was wrong was that she gave me change for a $20, not the $10 I had given her), she was visibly and audibly irate, so I gave up. She never checked her drawer or anything. Maybe it's because I was a teenager, but I've had similar things happen on a lesser (quieter!) scale since. I don't know if it's me or what. All I can figure is that I tend to notice something is off before I've quite registered what it is, and perhaps this is annoying.

Despite these misadventures, I generally find it's better to point out an error than not, since sometimes the scene proceeds in such a way that it's to my benefit anyway. Some times when I point it out, employee will just give me the item for the incorrect/favorable price or, as I recall one time with a mislabelled turkey at Giant, for a negotiated price that is less than full price. At the Alexandria Whole Foods, I've been given more than one item for free because the cashier didn't know the code or there was some problem.

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At the Alexandria Whole Foods, I've been given more than one item for free because the cashier didn't know the code or there was some problem.

this has happened to me a few times when the cashier was obviously mad at the store and the item wasn't scanning correctly. my schizo brother once lost a job at a store when word got out that he was ringing things up and making change generously and he attracted a noticeably long line -- hurry shoppers! in the old days, a young man in the produce section at giant (the son of a well-known politician) would occasionially weigh my produce short and it could have been deliberate -- which is a more effective method of winning popularity than kissing babies. i know for sure because his father once kissed our baby at the checkout counter in the same store, not something we would have recommended. for at least two or three weeks last spring, the p street whole foods was giving away (overpriced) ramps because the cashiers couldn't identify them -- even when you told them what they were. one of the cashiers told me they looked like weeds. i guess if i had those things growing in my lawn, i would pull them up too.

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this has happened to me a few times when the cashier was obviously mad at the store and the item wasn't scanning correctly. my schizo brother once lost a job at a store when word got out that he was ringing things up and making change generously and he attracted a noticeably long line -- hurry shoppers!
With Whole Foods, it's seemed more like providing customer service than being angry at the store, but I've gotten that vibe sometimes too at various places. I remember doing a self-checkout at Giant, and there was some (fairly expensive) produce item not in the computer. The guy who came to deal with it was clearly not thrilled with having to figure it out and just asked me: "How much do you want to pay for this?" That left me a bit speechless, and he followed with, "A dollar?" "OK." (This was something clearly worth much more than a dollar.)
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With Whole Foods, it's seemed more like providing customer service than being angry at the store, but I've gotten that vibe sometimes too at various places. I remember doing a self-checkout at Giant, and there was some (fairly expensive) produce item not in the computer. The guy who came to deal with it was clearly not thrilled with having to figure it out and just asked me: "How much do you want to pay for this?" That left me a bit speechless, and he followed with, "A dollar?" "OK." (This was something clearly worth much more than a dollar.)

Clearly, what you describe isn't quite the right approach, but I've always wondered if it wasn't actually better financially for the store for the cashier to just guesstimate a price, rather than having to have a price looked up if they can't identify it or if it doesn't scan. The annoyance factor of the customer (and the customers behind them in line), plus the cost of the employee's time to go look up the item is surely more than the $0.39 the store would lose from an incorrectly rung item.

Dean, care to weigh in?

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At the Alexandria Whole Foods, I've been given more than one item for free because the cashier didn't know the code or there was some problem.

Hmm, I wonder if this might be WF store policy? Twice now at the Vienna WF I have shown up in the checkout line with a pepper in my basket. The checker asks me what kind of pepper it is, and I say I don't know - because I honestly don't know, since WF has this annoying habit of not labeling their produce either with name or price. But that's another rant. The checker then mumbles "Okay, it's free" and tosses the pepper past the scanner. Both times, it has been the same checker that did this. So now whenever I check out there, I look for her line, hoping to get lucky again. Am I wrong?

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Hmm, I wonder if this might be WF store policy? Twice now at the Vienna WF I have shown up in the checkout line with a pepper in my basket. The checker asks me what kind of pepper it is, and I say I don't know - because I honestly don't know, since WF has this annoying habit of not labeling their produce either with name or price. But that's another rant. The checker then mumbles "Okay, it's free" and tosses the pepper past the scanner. Both times, it has been the same checker that did this. So now whenever I check out there, I look for her line, hoping to get lucky again. Am I wrong?

having extensive experience holding up the line over price discrepancies at whole foods, i doubt this is the store's policy. actually, there have been times when the cashier initiated a price or product check when they were having a problem identifying it. i don't recall the price of ramps when they were giving them away at the checkout counter (maybe as high as $10 a pound), so a third or half a pound was worth more than 39 cents.

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I agree with those who say it's not necessary, or immoral/unethical to correct store clerks' mistakes and thus pay more, but I get to my conclusion through a different bit of logic. This developed in my mind based on many experiences at the old Peoples Drug Stores, but there are many which are similar.

In brief, these stores, if they are well managed, have made a calculus---they pay badly and only attract a lower quality level of staff on average, and so they save money. They know full well that there will be more mistakes made by such staff, and that will cost them money, but they have achieved a profit maximizing optimum by doing what they do. Of course, from my point of view as the customer, such staff does not give me the quality of service that a higher level of staff would.

Given their optimization process, and the pricing they do based on that and many other factors, I don't see it as my duty to help them increase their profits by cutting off the loss end of their equation. Their job is to make as much money as possible, and mine is to get as much stuff with my scarce resources as I can. They have figured out the profit maximizing strategy for them; they hire staff that they know will both make more mistakes and give a lower quality of service, and when one of those mistakes happens to favor me, fine. I can go with the flow.

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I agree with those who say it's not necessary, or immoral/unethical to correct store clerks' mistakes and thus pay more, but I get to my conclusion through a different bit of logic. This developed in my mind based on many experiences at the old Peoples Drug Stores, but there are many which are similar.

In brief, these stores, if they are well managed, have made a calculus---they pay badly and only attract a lower quality level of staff on average, and so they save money. They know full well that there will be more mistakes made by such staff, and that will cost them money, but they have achieved a profit maximizing optimum by doing what they do. Of course, from my point of view as the customer, such staff does not give me the quality of service that a higher level of staff would.

Given their optimization process, and the pricing they do based on that and many other factors, I don't see it as my duty to help them increase their profits by cutting off the loss end of their equation. Their job is to make as much money as possible, and mine is to get as much stuff with my scarce resources as I can. They have figured out the profit maximizing strategy for them; they hire staff that they know will both make more mistakes and give a lower quality of service, and when one of those mistakes happens to favor me, fine. I can go with the flow.

This is a good way of logically explicating my intuitive ethical decison making regarding large corporations vs. small businesses. Thank you.

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I always play fair, regardless of who benefits. But given the number of times items have gone through the scanner but failed to make it into the cart :o , I'm tempted to stop playing nice. As it is, I have to watch the bagger carefully to make sure the eggs, meat, etc that they like to triple or quadruple wrap in plastic bags actually goes into one of the paper bags. When I call customer service after getting home and seeing that something's missing, the response is always "nobody's turned it/them in", whateverTF that's supposed to mean.

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I agree with those who say it's not necessary, or immoral/unethical to correct store clerks' mistakes and thus pay more, but I get to my conclusion through a different bit of logic. This developed in my mind based on many experiences at the old Peoples Drug Stores, but there are many which are similar.

In brief, these stores, if they are well managed, have made a calculus---they pay badly and only attract a lower quality level of staff on average, and so they save money. They know full well that there will be more mistakes made by such staff, and that will cost them money, but they have achieved a profit maximizing optimum by doing what they do. Of course, from my point of view as the customer, such staff does not give me the quality of service that a higher level of staff would.

Given their optimization process, and the pricing they do based on that and many other factors, I don't see it as my duty to help them increase their profits by cutting off the loss end of their equation. Their job is to make as much money as possible, and mine is to get as much stuff with my scarce resources as I can. They have figured out the profit maximizing strategy for them; they hire staff that they know will both make more mistakes and give a lower quality of service, and when one of those mistakes happens to favor me, fine. I can go with the flow.

This is a good way of logically explicating my intuitive ethical decison making regarding large corporations vs. small businesses. Thank you.

But this is still just all moral relativism, guys.

Put it this way: here in Africa, when I go buy a kilo of carrots from one of the men in the market, I may walk out with a good price and a kilo of carrots; I may walk out with a good price, but get shorted on the kilo; or I may walk out with a full kilo of carrots at five to six times the legitimate price.

The "ethical" construct used to short my purchase or exorbitantly overcharge me is that I have significantly more wealth than about 90 percent of the people in this city, so I can afford to pay the adjusted, or "profit-maximizing" price.

Come on. You should pay what you owe. We all learned that in kindergarten. Halas, as the Arabs say.

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But this is still just all moral relativism, guys.

Put it this way: here in Africa, when I go buy a kilo of carrots from one of the men in the market, I may walk out with a good price and a kilo of carrots; I may walk out with a good price, but get shorted on the kilo; or I may walk out with a full kilo of carrots at five to six times the legitimate price.

The "ethical" construct used to short my purchase or exorbitantly overcharge me is that I have significantly more wealth than about 90 percent of the people in this city, so I can afford to pay the adjusted, or "profit-maximizing" price.

Come on. You should pay what you owe. We all learned that in kindergarten. Halas, as the Arabs say.

Ah, but the question is, what exactly do you owe? Is the so-called "price" the right number, or something else?

In your example, is it "right" for you to pay more just because you have more? Is this a business transaction or an elymosenary act?

Is it "right" that I should correct errors made by clerks so the store doesn't suffer the consequences of their hiring decisions when I do suffer those consequences?

I'll give a perhaps more provocative example. Most or all stores "accept" a certain amount of shrinkage (shopper and employee theft) because it is easier to do so than aggressively respond to it. Prices are set a bit higher than they otherwise would be to cover these losses, i.e. you and I pay more because of it. Say this amount is 2%. Faced with this fact, hypothetically, would it not be "fair" and "ethical" for the individual to also lift about 2% of what he spends so that he is not paying for the transgressions of others? I could argue the "rightness" of this one both ways. In the end, I'm not sure there is a "right" answer. But the more important point for me is that it does suggest that answers to these questions are not easy or clear. In short, like it or not, there is relativism in moral and ethical issues. Including even things as mundane as grocery shopping.

I'll go back in my hole now.

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Well, yeah, it really is that easy. No one's asking you to take on the "duty" of increasing their profits. It's an ethical question, and if you sleep okay at night, you're all good.

But you're using an awful lot of assumptions ("if they are well managed," "make a calculus," "pay badly," "attract a lower quality level of staff," "they save money," "they know full well") to justify what can be considered on some level theft. It's unethical to knowingly and silently profit from someone else's mistake--even if the offender is an employee of some big, bad corporation. Ethics isn't a zero-sum game; just because you are treated badly doesn't give you the right to do the same.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [wo/]men to do nothing. (Or something something something....)

'Scuse me. Getting a little vertigo up here on this soap box... :o

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by its very nature (the number of items, the way their cost is determined, variability in quality, etc.), a food market is too disorderly to expect exchanges between the store and shoppers to work perfectly and there are circumstances under which it is impractical to impose strict ethical rules about what is fair and unfair. it is a perfectly appropriate place to take a practical approach to resolving the sorts of dilemmas mentioned above, and you really have to take a giant step back from the scene to reach anything resembling high moral grounds.

i used to wonder if the clerks at whole foods were instructed to err on the side of giving the customer more of what they ask for rather than less. if i ask for a pound of bluefish and the piece on the scale weighs in at 1.1 pound, the store is selling more, and working that margin for every customer in every store things begin to add up. this suspicion has faded over the years, but suppose i was right. to what extent is this policy immoral? i can easily tell the clerk that i only want a pound, and although i may not get exactly the weight i want, i probably can get something weighing under a pound that's close enough. the store may know that most people aren't going to quibble over this, if they even notice. is the store taking advantage of the customer and is that a moral issue? maybe, but you can solve this first as a practical matter and walk away from it.

last night i bought a couple pounds of medium-sized to large red bliss potatoes for 59 cents (or so) a pound and came home to discover on my receipt that the cashier had transformed them into small red organic potatoes for $1.99 a pound. this falls into the honest mistake category, and i have a reasonably good idea of what to do to resolve it, although i suppose you could argue that if there was a label on the potatoes, the mistake would not have occurred, and that you would expect the store to be more careful about labeling the potatoes that actually do go for $1.99 a pound. (the only ones i ran across at that price were purple.) and then to turn it into a moral issue, you would have to hazard that the store did this on purpose.

the checkout counter at the grocery store is not the place that i would go seeking justice, and how big or profitable the place is should not be relevant. farmers can have ways of ripping people off that can be just as effective as anybody. (what does it get me to wage a discussion of the ethics of packing containers with bruised peaches on the bottom and nice specimens on top? there are better ways to get results.)

as far as getting back more than you should, i think you have to take it as it comes. the cashier can't find a price for my clump of weeds in a plastic bag, i tell her they are ramps, she calls over a manager and i tell both of them they are ramps, and they both ignore me and give them away. i'm happy if they're happy. and if a cashier decides that it's better to give away a jar of something for which she's not turning up a price, i will accept the decision.

(the lupini have returned to the olive counter at p street, not that they are worth a mad rush.)

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i used to wonder if the clerks at whole foods were instructed to err on the side of giving the customer more of what they ask for rather than less.

No, they're not. Though, in the case of meat or fish, I'd imagine most people would cut a little on the large side to avoid cutting a piece that's 0.92 lbs and the customer complains (and they will) that it isn't a full pound, and then you cut another, and next thing you know you have all these little pieces of fish or meat which you can't sell or at least don't look so hot sitting in the case. One doesn't have this problem when portioning out something like coleslaw or pasta salad obviously.

[Edited to correct mine grammar.]

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last night i bought a couple pounds of medium-sized to large red bliss potatoes for 59 cents (or so) a pound and came home to discover on my receipt that the cashier had transformed them into small red organic potatoes for $1.99 a pound. this falls into the honest mistake category, and i have a reasonably good idea of what to do to resolve it, although i suppose you could argue that if there was a label on the potatoes, the mistake would not have occurred, and that you would expect the store to be more careful about labeling the potatoes that actually do go for $1.99 a pound.

Given that WF sells so many "organic" bulk items alongside "conventional" bulk items which are basically very similar in appearance, one wonders how often this must happen.

OTOH, down here in NC my go-to store sells some organic items but seems not to have placed special codes into their system to cover them, so at the checkout they tend to be coded in the same and go out at the same price per lb. as the conventionals. Hmmmmm.

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Ethics & Incorrect Charges

I always scan my receipt before leaving the store or while I'm putting the groceries away. Very, very often I am mischarged. I attribute this to the high volume of items supermarkets carry, weekly fluctuations in prices and the fact that a lot of cashiers never saw Tuscan kale or quinces before; they have to memorize a gob-load of code numbers in order to do their jobs as it is.

If there is an error in my favor--usually the case, I hope--I go to the Customer Service Rep and depending on the store, I get the item for free (this used to be standard) or at the very least, am credited with the amount I should not have paid. If there is an additional error that is in the store's favor, I bring it to the employee's attention and either it's taken into account, or usually, s/he just smiles and ignores it.

If I notice that I got charged the price of scallions for ramps, I tend not to say anything. This is wrong and is yet another reason it will be difficult to decide which circle of Hell to cast me in at the end of time.

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Given that WF sells so many "organic" bulk items alongside "conventional" bulk items which are basically very similar in appearance, one wonders how often this must happen.

this can also work to the unscrupulous buyer's advantage. to some extent, there is an honor system at work, and i would assume that most people adhere to it. for example, what's to stop me from scooping up $11.99-a-pound coffee and writing the code on the bag for the $9.99 coffee? i am sure there are many other such opportunities throughout the store, but this is one that has occurred to me.

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