What I Saw in the Produce Section Today...

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I am so glad that nowadays there so many products that have that seal on top. It used to really skeeve me out to be walking down an aisle and see people picking products up, opening and then sniffing it. I did not eat salad dressing, peanut butter, juice etc for a long time because I had a vision in my head that I will spare the rest of you! Thank GOD for those seals, no matter how painful to get them off at home, the inventor deserves a high five.

Kelly

I so totally agree!!!

 

[KAMLEM]

As for produce, if you really feel you must sample before you buy ask someone in the department, they will be more than happy to give you samples, then they can account for the shrink.

I really doubt that they account for it when someone asks for a sample. Especially because most of the time it's just a kid and I really don't think they could care less.

 

[kellyg403]

I really doubt that they account for it when someone asks for a sample. Especially because most of the time it's just a kid and I really don't think they could care less.

I am not so sure about caring less, a department can see hundreds of customers a day and that can really eat into their inventory..sorry for the pun! They are held accountable for their inventory by their company.

Our PM always will help you with a sample. We carry some fruits that customers are interested in that they may never have seen before. He will cut one up, and hand them out for samples as the customers come through. He can handle one cut up fruit taken from his inventory. 25 punds of bananas, 16 pounds of grapes and 13 pounds of apples a week..totally different story! And from personal observation its not just kids...it can be WHOLE families!


Kelly

 

[HonnyDipp]

I was at the Wal-Mart deli last year and a woman ordered a bag of fried chicken tenders. The clerk reached in and put a pound in a bag, and sealed the bag shut with the pricetag. About 10 minutes later I was in the ceral aisle, and the woman was eating the chicken tenders. I figured she was hungry and the chicken was smelling good, so she was snacking with the intentions that she was gonna pay for it later. I was scanning the aisle for my DD's favorite ceral, when I walked back to my cart, I noticed an empty bag on the shelf. The woman placed the empty bag on the shelf and left it there! What nerve!

 

[binny]

I didn't quote the produce post, I quoted and responed to the opened box post.


And as for bring something with you (granola bar) you have workers who would assume you just opened a box and took it out and left the box on the shelf.

This is my issue too. I dont let my kids eat something unless we have paid for it. So my DS will often go buy a soda then come and shop. I make him keep his receipt on him though because he's a teenager and he DOES get stereotyped. He has never stolen anything in his life yet I know he gets watched until he finds me. Then it all seems to be ok.

I am fine with someone trying *a* grape. I hate getting home and finding out that the crop wasnt good. But when people munch their way through a store it makes me crazy.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

For everyone who says the cashier doesn't mind....she/he is not going to tell you if they do. So you are making assumptions based on the fact they are trying to provide good customer service.

I'll address this since I was the one mentioning customer service. Giving free samples in the deli is the way Publix operates. I have received (without asking) offers of free deli meat samples, fresh chicken fingers, and when I ask them to hold one out AFTER weighing it and including it in the price-they give it to DS free. This is THEIR idea, not mine. And for these and other little things, I consider Publix to be the best customer service grocery store around.

Trust me...cashiers do not care. They don't even know about it. This practice makes the deli much more money than they lose on a free sample here and there. They lose more in spoilage.

Having worked in retail, I know that security in a store cannot stop someone for stealing until they are outside the building. So until the person has left the store after helping themselves and not paying, not a crime.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If the customer has hands on access to the food without having it handed to them at like a drive thru, I'd bet my life that somewhere, someone at some point, ate food prior to paying for it. If they put your food on the counter on one of those trays at Mickey Dees and your little one started eating the fries while awaiting the order to be completely filled, would that be theft in your imagination?

Little one's still get happy meals, so they'd have a hard time just snatching it and for the past several years---I've paid prior to them traying the food.


In any case--folks are justifying and stretching to fit their needs. Their kids wont' grow up to become axe murderers--but it doesn't make it right.

You've opted to compare two completely different business models to illustrate the point.

I don't pay for car repairs in advance either. They put in the parts, do the service and then I pay. But to be sure that I do pay, they don't give me the car back until I do.

But whatever justifications you need to make yourself feel better--you go ahead and keep on coming up with them.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

It sounds like several people are comparing apples and oranges (pardon the pun). Eating something that doesn't have to be weighed prior to paying is okay IMO; eating something that has to be weighed, where you are essentially 'thieving' the amount you ate is wrong. One grape is sampling, eating half the bag is stealing.

I think many of us would agree that opening the Goldfish crackers for Junior is okay as long as you scan the bag at checkout, same thing goes for nibbling on fries at McD's while you are waiting for the rest of your order. The OP's post was about produce that has to be weighed...which, when eaten before weighing, is theft.

 

[CathrynRose]

But whatever justifications you need to make yourself feel better--you go ahead and keep on coming up with them.

Personally, I'm not making any justifications. I don't think it's a big deal, at all, what so ever. I'm not apologizing for it, or saying my kids can't wait, or that my blood sugar is dropping.

I'm saying - until they put up a big sign that says "No eating in the store", I don't think they care.

I'm not stealing it. I'm not leaving empty wrappers, or a trail of breadcrumbs.

No apologies. No justifications. No big deal.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'll address this since I was the one mentioning customer service. Giving free samples in the deli is the way Publix operates. I have received (without asking) offers of free deli meat samples, fresh chicken fingers, and when I ask them to hold one out AFTER weighing it and including it in the price-they give it to DS free. This is THEIR idea, not mine. And for these and other little things, I consider Publix to be the best customer service grocery store around.

Trust me...cashiers do not care. They don't even know about it. This practice makes the deli much more money than they lose on a free sample here and there. They lose more in spoilage.

Having worked in retail, I know that security in a store cannot stop someone for stealing until they are outside the building. So until the person has left the store after helping themselves and not paying, not a crime.

Free samples is a customer service decision to facilitate the sale of their products.

Cracking open juice boxes and wheat thins b/c your starving and thirsty is entirely different.

As stated--the cashier isn't going to comment, but that doesn't mean it is okay. The cashier wont' care about free samples--b/c it is known what is being sampled in the store that day and what the business practice is. Showing up with the half empty box of wheat thins b/c you couldn't keep control of yourself--is not the business practice of the store.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm talking about a 17-month-old for pete's sake. Anyone with a 17-month-old knows 2 things--(1) you can't always plan around when he'll be hungry and (2) you can really only go so far at that age to teach patience. My 4-year-old waits until we get home.

It's just an excuse.

Sure my 17 month old whined a time or two b/c I wouldn't open an unpaid for pack of goldfish--but he learned real quick that until we pay the person up front for it--he isn't getting any.

Perhaps keeping snacks in the diaper bag will help. Or waltzing up front to pay for the item.

But in reality--you are doing what conveniences you--but that doesn't mean you had no options or no other choices and are simply justifying what was easier for you on that particular day.

 

[Abbie]

Personally, I'm not making any justifications. I don't think it's a big deal, at all, what so ever. I'm not apologizing for it, or saying my kids can't wait, or that my blood sugar is dropping.

I'm saying - until they put up a big sign that says "No eating in the store", I don't think they care.

I'm not stealing it. I'm not leaving empty wrappers, or a trail of breadcrumbs.

No apologies. No justifications. No big deal.

Yup, this. When someone is convinced utterly that they are doing nothing wrong, no justifications are needed. And just because you are convinced it is wrong doesn't make it so; don't do it if you think it's wrong but it doesn't mean any one person gets to decide what's "correct" or not for everyone else.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Personally, I'm not making any justifications. I don't think it's a big deal, at all, what so ever. I'm not apologizing for it, or saying my kids can't wait, or that my blood sugar is dropping.

I'm saying - until they put up a big sign that says "No eating in the store", I don't think they care.

I'm not stealing it. I'm not leaving empty wrappers, or a trail of breadcrumbs.

No apologies. No justifications. No big deal.

People claiming "they had no choice" are indeed making excuses. Short of medical emergency where one will get extremely ill--most here, are simply doing what conveniences them and nothing more.

At least you are being honest--and truth be told, your story is cute.

But the "well you haven't shopped under these circumstances stuff" is a justifcation.

 

[Tiana]

.

 

[paintnolish]

Like CathrynRose said, I see people eating chicken tenders and fries all the time at Walmart, Jewel, etc.- they aren't going to be good once you get home. Often, it's a toddler in the cart, happily munching away. I have consumed drinks while shopping and have let the dcs, especially when little, eat a bag of fruit snacks before I paid for the box. If people are going to steal and be dishonest, they will. It has nothing to do with me keeping my children happy while we shop. Do you honestly think cashiers go home and complain about scanning an open box of fruit snacks? Does it make their lives any more difficult? I can't see how it would.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Do you honestly think cashiers go home and complain about scanning an open box of fruit snacks? Does it make their lives any more difficult? I can't see how it would.

Not at all--but that isn't the same as saying that the store is "fine" with it.

My comments on the board are not active in my life where I go and condemn all for eating their oreos before paying. So no worries--I'm not bumping carts into offenders or ratting them out to store management.

People can do what they wish.

It just isn't that hard to go and pay for it first and so far noone has really come up with a good reason of why they could not.

 

[JVL1018]

I've been a cashier, too, and I never thought twice about people handing me an open box. They paid for it. I would think that if it was an issue, there would be a sign, since I don't think I've ever been to shoprite and NOT seen small children eating something, like a little box of animal crackers. Heck, I assumed that's why they sell those little boxes of animal crackers!

Same here. People did it-not often, but not all the time-it was a total nonissue. No one in the store I worked in over those 3 years cared if there was a box of cookies put on the belt to be scanned with a few eaten. Store management did not care.

I never did it for myself-and with my own kids it is verrry rare. I remember when my son was a preschooler opening a pack of raisins for him to have a box-I really think that is the only time.

More recently my DD will get the cups of popcorn chicken and eat a couple as we walk and shop because it's nice and hot-and so hard to resist-they smell so good and there's a hole in the lid to just pop a finger in and pull a piece out...
But even that is pretty rare. My son will sometimes buy a muffin from the bakery and as he's putting it in the plastic bag, he'll break off a little piece to eat right away.

 

[allison443]

I don't think a cashier would even care if someone opens a box of cookies, closes it back up and puts it on the conveyor belt...how would they even notice? It has absolutely no impact on their job, doesn't make it harder, etc.

The only time I remember doing this is with those little boxes of circus animal crackers with the string! DD ate a couple, closed it back up, paid for it.

Eating the produce without paying for it like the OP observed, that is wrong imo.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

The cashier wont' care about free samples--b/c it is known what is being sampled in the store that day and what the business practice is. Showing up with the half empty box of wheat thins b/c you couldn't keep control of yourself--is not the business practice of the store.

I was a cashier for 9 years. Trust me, they don't care about this, either. As long as it's not all slobbered on, which has happened to me. I rang it up, but I wouldn't touch it.

Like I said, it's not stealing until it's outside the store unpaid for. So yes, taking grapes or produce to taste is stealing, but opening and eating a pack of crackers and paying for it before you leave the store is not.

 

[ksumn1]

Oh I don't have to justify my actions. If you think it's wrong to grab a Coke to drink while you shop..then don't.

I don't think it's wrong, so I'll continue to do it. I could pay for it first, but I don't see the point when I can pay for it 20 minutes later when I leave the store. I find it more rude to bring in McDonald's to eat in store than to eat a pack of crackers (not an entire box of wheat thins as other posters have stated) or M&M's and drink a Coke.


Again, there are those who see EVERYTHING in black and white and those who don't. To each their own.