So, is this stealing?

[CF'er]

Do you look at eggs before you buy them? If one is cracked do you replace it with another or just get another dozen eggs? I have been known to replace a cracked egg with another from a different package. The eggs are all the same price by the dozen. No I didn't add a 13th or 14th egg. I can't imagine that each strawberry pkg weighs exactly the same. I doubt she was able to get too many more berries in that package to make much of a difference. Odd yes, theft? eh

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I wouldn't consider it stealing. I hate moldy berries , but I probably wouldn't do that myself. I do try to look at them closely through the packaging to make sure they're in decent shape. Love really fresh fruit! But a pp was right - if it was a Farmer's Market you wouldn't pick out rotten fruit, you'd only pick and buy the good pieces. Just because it's pre-packaged, should we have to buy ones that are rotten? If I really wanted to only get good ones from pre-packaged portions, I'd probably - having worked in a supermarket myself for years - work with a produce clerk to sort through the packages, but I wouldn't just open them up and do it myself, leaving all the rotten ones there, lol, and I wouldn't overfill the package, that seems wrong. I wouldn't say I'm completely against it, though.

I was in Whole Foods recently and this woman came in and started tearing all the grape packages apart like a madwoman, seemingly having no awareness whatsoever that everyone was staring, even the produce clerk working the aisle, who went over after she left to clean up the mess she'd made. She wasn't outright wrong, but the way she went about it was off-putting.

 

[QueenIsabella]

It would never occur to me to open a clamshell and add extra berries. I can understand removing moldy or damaged ones, and putting in good ones. Like a PP said, I would do this with eggs. When I buy berries, the clamshells seem pretty full--yeah, if you rearranged, you could maybe fit an extra berry or two in there, but for it to close, you're not going to fit in a couple dozen extras.

 

[Allons-y!]

I wouldn't consider it stealing. I hate moldy berries , but I probably wouldn't do that myself. I do try to look at them closely through the packaging to make sure they're in decent shape. Love really fresh fruit! But a pp was right - if it was a Farmer's Market you wouldn't pick out rotten fruit, you'd only pick and buy the good pieces. Just because it's pre-packaged, should we have to buy ones that are rotten? If I really wanted to only get good ones from pre-packaged portions, I'd probably - having worked in a supermarket myself for years - work with a produce clerk to sort through the packages, but I wouldn't just open them up and do it myself, leaving all the rotten ones there, lol, and I wouldn't overfill the package, that seems wrong. I wouldn't say I'm completely against it, though.

I was in Whole Foods recently and this woman came in and started tearing all the grape packages apart like a madwoman, seemingly having no awareness whatsoever that everyone was staring, even the produce clerk working the aisle, who went over after she left to clean up the mess she'd made. She wasn't outright wrong, but the way she went about it was off-putting.

But the woman didn't remove any rotten strawberries, she just added more to her pre-weighed, pre-priced container. That is, indeed, stealing.

 

[mom2rtk]

It would never occur to me to open a clamshell and add extra berries. I can understand removing moldy or damaged ones, and putting in good ones. Like a PP said, I would do this with eggs. When I buy berries, the clamshells seem pretty full--yeah, if you rearranged, you could maybe fit an extra berry or two in there, but for it to close, you're not going to fit in a couple dozen extras.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to even add an extra berry. That would run the risk of putting pressure on the berries when you close the lid, leading to bruising and shorter shelf life.

I bought a plastic container of strawberries at my Wal-mart Neighborhood Market yesterday and even though it wasn't filled to the top, there's no way I could have fit another one in there.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

But the woman didn't remove any rotten strawberries, she just added more to her pre-weighed, pre-priced container. That is, indeed, stealing.

Ok I didn't see the OP's second post, but I'm sort of with others who say there's not a lot of room left in the container to add too many more, plus I'd be willing to bet if it was so over-filled they were spilling out, she probably had a squishy, red mess everywhere by the time she got home which seems a fitting consequence. They probably used the open containers for a fruit salad, but yes, these types of things do lead to loss for stores. I won an award during my years working in a supermarket for "loss prevention" so I'm attuned to it when I'm in a store. Just the past few times I've shopped I've seen a lot of people "snacking" - eating a handful of things here and there, etc. This is a big source of loss - probably much more so compared to the number who open and overfill containers. Maybe people should be giving "the look" to them too.

 

[Poohforyou]

This post reminded me of an article I read on reducing your grocery spending. The article said you should bring a small paring knife with you to the grocery store. When you buy stalks/heads of broccoli, you should cut off the stalk, keeping and paying for only the head. You pay for broccoli by the pound, but the way most stores package it, you have to pay for the inedible stalk too. I have never done this, but I sometimes see just stalks in the broccoli bin, so I know some people do it.

The reason I don't do it is because at my grocery store the "heads only" broccoli is priced higher per pound than the "heads with stalks" broccoli. If your store only sold "heads with stalks", would you cut the stalks off so you didn't have to pay for the unusable part? Curious minds want to know!

Broccoli stalks aren't inedible. Just use a paring knife to peel off the outer layer and slice the stalk. Cook it with the florets.

I think a better description would be peeling oranges before purchasing but then again, the peel protects the fruit.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I always open the containers and pick through to make sure there are no rotten ones or white ones stuck in the middle or on the bottom. I switch those out with other containers. I'm paying for edible fruit.

 

[mom2rtk]

If the packaging is what I think it is, it looks like this photo. The fruit is in a clamshell container, is weighed before it reaches the store and is priced per container. One of the stores I shop at had blackberries on sale this week at 2 (containers) for $6.00. I forget the exact ounces. It isn't weighed again at the registers so if you (the general "you") added more, or took some out, the price is the same.

That's what I assumed the OP was talking about. I have no idea how you would fit more berries in there without squishing them.

 

[ronandannette]

...Where I live, its all by weight, so it doesn't matter how you put it together. You're still paying for all them. Same thing with the flowers...

Flowers by weight? Curious - please explain how that would work?

...In addition she left several containers of berries open with less produce in them. I would not buy those open containers, would you? So, chances are good that the store has to eat that loss.

I've personally never "purged" the moldy berries from a package; I just find one that seems OK. But many people must do it (whether or not they pilfer the odd berry along the way) because I see open packages all the time. I've also seen (many times) the produce clerks consolidating partial packages into full ones so they are saleable. At that point the actual weight will likely be give-or-take a little bit. I've also heard from a friend who works in a grocery store with a big "pre-made" food section that they often pull the skanky fruit from the produce section and trim it down for use in fruit trays and salads.

This is so obviously theft. We can't have people opening up packages all willy nilly because it's not full enough for them. Buy it like it's packaged or don't buy it. Very simple to do. Its not like she was stealing the Hope diamond but theft is theft.

There are lots of people who go through life taking a little here and there, whenver and whatever they want if they feel it's to their advantage. I guess you'd call it entitlement, but it is definitely an unattractive character trait.

 

[brockash]

I was in wal mart today when I remembered i needed lemons. As I approached them i noticed a woman about 5 feet away open several clear plastic containers of strawberries and proceed to pick and choose the best ones, remove them and place them in another container she was holding making sure to overfill hers. She then walked away leaving them open and one in particular unsaleable as she had taken more than half! She noticed me staring at her in disbelief and cheekily said "don't buy it if you don't want it". She then proceeded to take her cart with 2 kids inside and walk away.

For the record i say it is stealing.

If she was just switching out bad ones for good ones then definitely not stealing in my opinion (more like not allowing to be ripped off...why should someone pay for inedible food?)...if they're "over filling" it, then I guess it depends on if they're taking more than what the oz. on the container says...if it's more than yes they're wrong, if it's not, well then the stores wrong and attempting to cheat the customer.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Around here, strawberries are sold by the pack, not by weight, so you pay for the amount they put in there. Just because you *can* open the container doesn't mean you should add more to it. That's no different than opening up two boxes of cereal, filling one to the top from the other, and buying the full one.

Same here. Driscoll is one brand--they are packaged as 1 pound packs. Sometimes there is space on the top where one could add more. But you are not supposed to. Since they are scanned and not weighed at the register, the cashier isn't going to realize there is an issue as she tries to scan the order quickly.

Not to mention, the packages she took berries from are now less than a pound and the customers would be getting less than what they paid for.

As you said, it would be just like any other item sold by a pre-established weight and taking from one to top off your item.

So yes, theft.

 

[Missy1961]

Do you look at eggs before you buy them? If one is cracked do you replace it with another or just get another dozen eggs? I have been known to replace a cracked egg with another from a different package. The eggs are all the same price by the dozen. No I didn't add a 13th or 14th egg. I can't imagine that each strawberry pkg weighs exactly the same. I doubt she was able to get too many more berries in that package to make much of a difference. Odd yes, theft? eh

No, if I find a cracked egg, I put that one back and check another package.

 

[kidshop]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned somebody's gross fingers all over the strawberries! Yuck. Sure, you wash them but I never really thought about unnecessary fingers all over the inside of a pre weighed container. It has never occurred to me to open containers like that. I look them over to find a good one, if no good one I don't buy it. I also put back the dozen eggs if one is cracked and get a new package,

I do parcel out/ repackage grapes, though (weighed by the pound), it's hard to eat 5#!

I'll go with tacky, rude, entitled, unattractive behavior. And stealing if extra berries are added over the pre priced weight.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned somebody's gross fingers all over the strawberries! Yuck. Sure, you wash them but I never really thought about unnecessary fingers all over the inside of a pre weighed container.

I thought of not only that, but if any fall out on the cashier's belt, well there's all kinds of good stuff on there!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've also heard from a friend who works in a grocery store with a big "pre-made" food section that they often pull the skanky fruit from the produce section and trim it down for use in fruit trays and salads.

Yes, they do it (can you say rotisserie chickens?) and so do bakeries and restaurants, etc. it's a way of using up things that or at or near the end of their shelf life. (They aren't all necessarily "skanky" though.)

 

[bcla]

This.

I won't buy strawberries in packages anymore because no matter how carefully I look, there are always several with mold on them.

I never thought of going through the cartons to pick out the healthy ones (nor would I - I don't want to waste the time), but I also don't think people should have to pay for inedible food.

In California there's a really good supply of strawberries. I read over 80% of national production centered around the Salinas Valley, Ventura County, and Santa Maria. While certainly there can be mold (and there are controversial fungicides used to control them), that's going to be inevitable depending on how long since they've been picked as well as refrigeration. There's less transportation time, so that of course leads to fresher fruit. I even remember when Fresh & Easy (RIP) used to label when the strawberries were packaged and where they came from (typically Oxnard or Watsonville). I had some superb ones that were labelled as packaged the previous day.

As for taking the fruit out - these clamshell packages are packed by weight. I've weighed them when I got home, and quite a few weigh more than the stated weight. I have never seen strawberries sold loose by weight nor any place where they were sold to be weighed at checkout. In my youth, it was typically green, open baskets, which are still sold to some degree. The places I buy them often have signs posted saying to be considerate and don't take extras from another basket. Even so, it's kind of random, especially the way the strawberries are placed into the "flats". Often there will be some just sitting on the edge between two baskets. They'll also have different suppliers, and some baskets may be covered with plastic wrap and a rubber band (color coded for supplier or labelled).

I have a favorite place to get strawberries - Berkeley Bowl Market in Berkeley, California. While in prime season, they will literally have five or more different clamshells, in addition to their organic department. Each supplier may be priced differently, and often it's based on the age of the strawberries. I've seen some that were heavily discounted because they were on the verge of going bad. I was kind of talking to myself about many being bruised (but not mildewed) and someone mentioned to me that they were just perfect for making pies or tarts.

While I'm not an "organic produce" proponent per se, my absolute favorites are from a place called High Ground Organics in Watsonville, California. Even when they're not completely red, they have a smell in the package that's intoxicating - it's just permeates the air. I've also found they pick them almost perfectly - with a pure red going through the fruit and not white. At their best, they've been the absolute best strawberries I've ever had.

As for what the OP witnessed, it certainly sounds low-class. I've seen similar behavior that may not have been "stealing" but made the person doing it look petty. I was at a Trader Joe's where bananas are sold individually. I saw one older woman filling up a shopping cart with only the largest bananas, which were the front row, while breaking off the smaller rear rows and putting them back on the shelf. It was almost comical since she had a shopping cart with maybe 50 bananas and none were rears. Certainly for eggs, even the cashiers will check the eggs for breakage. Still - I've checked boxes, and there may be a disparity in size even though they're supposed to be sorted. I've heard of some people going through egg cartons and then selecting only the biggest.

 

[Disney Doll]

When I get to the point that I have to steal a few extra strawberries from WalMart, I hope someone puts me out of my misery.

 

[dhardawa]

I was at Meijer once and asked the produce guy about the containers with moldy strawberries. He told me to switch them out and then proceeded to go through removing moldy ones, throwing them away, and combining containers. So...

 

[mummabear]

My first thought: the customer was a stereotypical "People of Walmart."

At a Walmart in Florida this past week, I noticed a woman letting her kids eat the grapes from a package. I'm pretty sure they were sold by the pound, so yes, I consider that stealing. The strawberries in the above example? Tacky, but not necessarily stealing.

By the way, this was Sunday May 1 at about 1130pm. The place was packed, many people with small kids. Shouldn't they be asleep at that hour? DH pointed out that it was most likely the day EBT cards were refilled.

Florida is filled with tourists fro all around the world. You have no idea what timezone those people might be operating on