What I Saw in the Produce Section Today...

[Mouse House Mama]

You lost me right about here.. I guess I'm just not understanding why there would be a need for eating and drinking while in the store shopping..

But as I said, it's just a difference of opinions.. Unless you have no intent of paying for the consumed items, I don't think you have to worry about it..

Because life is much busier than it was when either of us were kids. Most families have 2 parents working full time and then some. Most kids are in a ton of activities or daycare etc. In a perfect world we would all eat 3 meals a day at the same time no matter what like we did when I was a kid. That is simply not the reality for most people these days. So yes, while I know that shopping on an emptty stomach is not a great idea sometimes the choice is to shop hungry and have a snack to get through it or not shop at all and have nothing to feed the kids for dinner.

 

[N.Bailey]

My sister in law works as a manager at one of the Dollar Stores. If an employee so much as has a drink that they purchased from the store without a receipt attached to it, the store will fire them. There is a huge difference between employees and your customers. BTW, this also applies to the management team.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thank you for stating that you feel it's ok that you define the term, "stealing" to mean any old thing you want it to mean. I gotcha!!! I'll remember that in the future.

Seriously?

Usually you have better discussions than that. I did mention what I considered--I did mention what my employer considers...nowhere did I mention that the cops were coming after anyone or that it was prosecutable.

Still haven't come across the store's glaringly obvious posted policies that such activities are okay--but as long as everyone else is perfectly okay with declaring it okay, my opinion is apparently invalid.

Thanks for the lesson--and I'll remember it next time.

As long as it isn't illegal--people can do whatever the heck they please.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Nm.

 

[C.Ann]

Because life is much busier than it was when either of us were kids. Most families have 2 parents working full time and then some. Most kids are in a ton of activities or daycare etc. In a perfect world we would all eat 3 meals a day at the same time no matter what like we did when I was a kid. That is simply not the reality for most people these days. So yes, while I know that shopping on an emptty stomach is not a great idea sometimes the choice is to shop hungry and have a snack to get through it or not shop at all and have nothing to feed the kids for dinner.

Now that's a much nicer explanation - and I can see where it might pose some difficulties for some people..

 

[CathrynRose]

Such animosity over this--perhaps it is snack time or dinner time for you fine folks.

I have no animosity. Perhaps you should snack while shopping, to calm any animosity you might be feeling?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have no animosity. Perhaps you should snack while shopping, to calm any animosity you might be feeling?

That's what the cookie counter and the deli counter are for at Publix. Between that and the apron meals--so many free samples....I'm a happy camper while shopping.

And when not pregnant--the lady with the wine samples is my favorite stop. But she only does that on weekends. In the future, I'll remember a cork screw and just serve myself on those bad days when the kids drive me crazy in the store.

It's even better than Sam's club and if I plan it right--I don't even have to shop for dinner. Free meal--and no need to shop afterall.

 

[N.Bailey]

Seriously?

Usually you have better discussions than that. I did mention what I considered--I did mention what my employer considers...nowhere did I mention that the cops were coming after anyone or that it was prosecutable.

Still haven't come across the store's glaringly obvious posted policies that such activities are okay--but as long as everyone else is perfectly okay with declaring it okay, my opinion is apparently invalid.

Thanks for the lesson--and I'll remember it next time.

As long as it isn't illegal--people can do whatever the heck they please.

Now you're twisting words. Nowhere has anyone said people can do whatever the heck they want, though it's probably true, that for the most part, that they can (just because you can however doesn't always mean you should). In this instance, you are accusing them of stealing, on the presumption that you get to define the term. It's not debatable. This is NOT stealing and you don't have the right to redefine the term, regardless of your opinion.

I take no exception with you stating you don't think people should do it. That you have every right to believe. It however is not a crime, and that's what you used to back up your argument.

Now, if the store had issue with this, they clearly can address that issue. I don't need to read store policy before I walk into every establishment and it's absurd to suggest someone should have to do this. It's the establishment's job to enforce their policies. Since it doesn't appear that the issue is being addressed, no one (especially the store), has the right to cry foul. And that most definitely does not give other customers the right to dictate how others should behave. You say potato......... it's all relative.

BTW: Your opinion is not invalid when deciding how your wish to behave. It only becomes invalid when you try to shove that belief onto someone else.

 

[manning]

My aunt loved a certain type of jarred pickle. Like it or not one or two bottles would be bought. My cousin would catch her opening a jar, take one out, put the lid back on a replace it on the shelf.

She was getting old and the mind slowing down.

My cousin said the sad part was that if she caught any of her kids doing that they would have gotten what for.

It was found out later that the doctor forbid her from eating the pickles because of the high salt content. This was her way of getting around it. Sneak a pickle and no one would know. Good thing my cousin caught on. Every jar opened was bought and thrown away/hid when they got home.

 

[LilyWDW]

So far noone has provided a single source that stated that it is company policy that blesses this innocent act of good will towards men to hush grumbling tummies.

But whatever--it's an opinion as everyone else's.

I just find it hard to believe that it is so difficult to pay for something in advance and thus far noone has really proven that either. But I can appreciate that they are choosing to do something out of convenience.

Noone said that I had to agree with them--in fact, many posted as such.

Such animosity over this--perhaps it is snack time or dinner time for you fine folks.

I was told, personally, by the store manager of a local grocery store that they did not mind if the customer opened a boxed item or drink while they were still in the store shopping. They only had issues with product that was priced by weight, because so many people are NOT honest about how much it weighed before hand. This was recently...

I was also told by another store manager at a different store that it was okay to do the same thing. I also did this in front of my father... who was at the time a police officer in the town the store was in. This was when I was younger, so 23 through 10 years ago...

 

[sasywtch]

But how do you know the person didn't have a legitimate reason to open the package and eat a few things? (I have a cousin who is a bad diabetic and if his sugar goes low, he needs something to eat fast. He doesn't have time to wait until he pays for it first. )

And as long as they are paying for it, why do you care?

This would be me but my sugar is low. Better for me to get something in my mouth then to have me faint on the floor. When I go into the store, I feel fine but sometimes if it's crowded or my sugar drops, I need something soon. It would always be something that has a price and not to be weighed.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

I will never forget the old lady in the Piggly Wiggly back when I was 11 years old. There were a couple carts of Bama jelly displayed in the front of the store as a sale item. This lady was opening the jars and sticking her fingers in them to taste. I never could eat Bama jelly after that.

Piggy-Wiggly and Bama jelly - - have not heard those words in years!!

 

[CathrynRose]

No need to.

But feel free to post the policies of stores that permit you to open up foods you haven't paid for that state they are "okay with it".

Again - everywhere I have shopped, from childhood on, and snacked (or my kids snacked)

Unless all of us are lying, and have an extensive criminal background which lists all of the snacking violations we have made, the stores *must* be "okay with it"

That's my opinion.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

There is another whole side of this that I have not seen mentioned - - the fact that stores actually I believe make snacking more acessible than they did years ago and make profit on it (for those of us who pay for the items we have snacked on).

For instance - - soda and water. When I was a young girl, if I got thirsty and wanted something cool to drink while I was with my grandmother shopping, I would go to the water fountain, no other alternative was available, there wasn't even single sodas sold (cold or warm).

Now while I am shopping, if I get thirsty, the store has refridgerated soda, juice, water and milk in single servings I can drink and then pay for, at a much more higher profit margin too (than a 2 liter or gallon).

Even pet stores have single serving cold sodas and candy these days - - they are quick, impulse items that can consumed right away, thence keeping people in the store longer for more purchases if they feel the need for a drink/snack and raising profits.

Just my take on it..........and yes I do and will continue to snack/drink through grocery shopping, paying for anything that I do and I consider myself an upstanding person who was raised with very good beliefs.

 

[CathrynRose]

There is another whole side of this that I have not seen mentioned - - the fact that stores actually I believe make snacking more acessible than they did years ago and make profit on it (for those of us who pay for the items we have snacked on).

For instance - - soda and water. When I was a young girl, if I got thirsty and wanted something cool to drink while I was with my grandmother shopping, I would go to the water fountain, no other alternative was available, there wasn't even single sodas sold (cold or warm).

Now while I am shopping, if I get thirsty, the store has refridgerated soda, juice, water and milk in single servings I can drink and then pay for, at a much more higher profit margin too (than a 2 liter or gallon).

Even pet stores have single serving cold sodas and candy these days - - they are quick, impulse items that can consumed right away, thence keeping people in the store longer for more purchases if they feel the need for a drink/snack and raising profits.

Just my take on it..........and yes I do and will continue to snack/drink through grocery shopping, paying for anything that I do and I consider myself an upstanding person who was raised with very good beliefs.

Actually - that's a very interesting take on it. I think you're right.

Now we shall talk about stores encouraging us to eat, drink and be merry - all while we shop.

 

[NotUrsula]

Now we shall talk about stores encouraging us to eat, drink and be merry - all while we shop.

Ah, that would be the late lamented Schwegmann's chain (in Louisiana); they had a shopper's bar in every store. If you went in on a Saturday back in the 60's it was an interesting scene, dozens of men congregating at the bar near the front door while their wives "made groceries".

They also were one of the first grocery chains in the nation to sell while-you-shop tire and battery service; in later years you could get really sloshed waiting for that. Oh, the good times we all had at Schwegmann's!

 

[CathrynRose]

Ah, that would be the late lamented Schwegmann's chain (in Louisiana); they had a shopper's bar in every store.

A shoppers bar??? Why has this stopped???

I'll tell you right now, I'd spend a heckuva lot more, if I had a shoppers bar.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

Ah, that would be the late lamented Schwegmann's chain (in Louisiana); they had a shopper's bar in every store. If you went in on a Saturday back in the 60's it was an interesting scene, dozens of men congregating at the bar near the front door while their wives "made groceries".

That must have been the non-southern baptist men at the bar

Gosh, I had totally forgotten Schwegmann's - - never knew about the bar part. Used to shop at one in Baton Rouge (I think it was a new one that had been built in the mid-80's). It was huge (for the day).

 

[NotUrsula]

I take that back about every store; the ones in Baton Rouge never had a bar; they eliminated it in the early 80's for liability reasons (the whole drunk-driving issue.)

But it was fun while it lasted.

 

[goodeats]

I've seen this same topic discussed on various message boards and I'm always surprised at how strongly the opinions on grocery snacking are. This is truly a black and white issue. Either you believe in grocery snacking or you don't.

Personally I am a grocery snacker. I see nothing wrong with it, and I don't plan on stopping.