I was in the grocery store last night, in the produce section.
There was a lady with two kids - approx 13 and probably 15/16 - They were standing next to a display of cherries and grapes, casually chitty chatting with a friend Mom ran into. She and the children were eating grapes and cherries from the display, one after the other as if they were at home on their kitchen counter. These were not already weighted and labeled in their cart. They were plucking them right off the display, Mom had a produce bag where they were discarding the pits and the stems.
I find this just wrong, I cannot even begin to figure out where one is justified in this action.
I get bent at DH when he wants to sample one grape to "make sure", 30 years of training and he still periodically steals a grape I feel like produce, like just about anything else in the store is bought based on appearance, smell, feel etc. not by taking a bite.
1000's of people a day make their way thru the grocery store, what if everyone sampled the produce.
Now, I realize the one grape sample is very different from the snacking family I noted above but it got me to thinking, what are the general thoughts on the subject?
Do you sample produce before you buy?
What constitutes a sample?
Interesting. I've never seen that before. Our scales are just the normal ones, like these.
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It's stealing. No, I don't sample because a) it's stealing and b) many people have come before me, picked it putting their hands/fingers that have been who know where all over it before I picked it up.
I love that the stores have the scales in produce where one can weigh and then apply the price sticker. I used that when the kids were younger, pick out a piece of fruit, weigh it, put the sticker in the cart to be paid for and snack away while shopping. I think this is a fabulous thing and see lots and lots of parents using the scale/price sticker in this way.
HEB central Texas - the scales, weigh, give a price and spit out a bar coded sticker so the checker just scans instead of trying to find the code for the Mexican Squash that is always significantly cheaper than the zucchini the checker thinks it isInteresting. I've never seen that before. Our scales are just the normal ones, like these.
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or an HEB!Wow. Our stores have had self weigh produce for years. You need a Wegmans.
Ohhh flabby grapes, I know exactly what you mean! Last night I bagged, scanned and stickered a small portion of green grapes. Then I sampled, they were sweet with that nice firm grape crunch, I bagged, scanned and stickered a few more pounds worth.I sample ONE grape before purchasing them. We don't always have the freshest produce up here, and if I'm paying $5 a pound for grapes, I want to make sure they are not sour or "flabby."
But yes... to answer the original question, it's stealing.
Yes, the Mom provided the bag for the pits/stems - it was one of the weirder things I have seen in the grocery store.I'm more at mom than I am the kids. Having a produce bag to let the kids put the pits/stems. Seriously?
On a semi-related note, how many of you have kids that insist on going to Costco with you so they can eat their way through the store? My kids get so excited when DW goes there, they grab every single sample they can find. Yes, we limit them to one sample per table...though a few times the employee has handed them more than one.
Great idea!!!!LOL- hello 1980's- Wow haven't seen one of those around in a LONG time. Ours all have the electronic scales that print out price sticker too and they also have a bin of fruit that has a sign on it to take one for your child to eat while you shop in the store for free as a healthy snack.
It was odd, people were noticing, it was not just me who noticed. Mom and kinds continued to just munch away.I think sampling one grape is okay. Fruit is so frustrating. Sometimes I buy a melon and when I cut it open at home, it is tasteless and gross. Obviously, you can't sample a melon, but taking one grape to check for "goodness" is okay in my book. That will not throw off the weight to cause a significant price change, and if the grapes taste bad, you are not wasting money.
I have seen people open a bag of goldfish crackers to give the kids, but they paid for it at checkout. They just handed the open bag to the cashier to scan. Cashier was fine with it. I think that is fine.
What they were doing, was not okay. They were just chatting and grazing. It's not a buffet, plus it's kind of weird. I would feel foolish standing in the produce dept. chatting and grazing like I was at a cocktail party.
When a store representative does something like this, clearly it's acceptable to the store. When a customer does, it's stealing.FWIW I've occasionally asked people working in the produce department about various items, like an apple or orange, and they will cut one open right there for us to sample. So I don't think sampling is that big of deal. But standing there munching away is not ok.
Kids, heck. My dad and his friends used to do this during retirement.On a semi-related note, how many of you have kids that insist on going to Costco with you so they can eat their way through the store?
Agreed, it's stealing. I feel guilty when DH samples a grape. It's charged by how much it weighs. By snacking on it before you pay you're not paying the store the actual amount that the item costs.