Friday, January 24, 2020

Mango Mystery


Yesterday was grocery day. There are a few other choices here, but out of sheer laziness I generally end up at the nearby Publix, one of a massive chain in the area.
I have gotten a little spoiled by the intensive customer service, unlike some other places where I feel like I should thank the surly bagger for deigning to put my cereal in a sack.

          At Publix you almost have to beat off the bagger (who’s often older than me) to prevent him from helping you to your car. Yesterday the helpfulness was intensified; people were being walked personally to the item they needed. Looking around, I realized the reason. The place was awash in upper management types conferring in the bakery or staring into the deli cases.

          I began as usual in the produce section and headed for the mangoes, of which I’ve become a big fan. They were on sale last week at a fraction of the price I pay back home so I was hopeful.  There they were, but the sign said 2 for $4.

          I moved past, thinking, “Well, maybe next week.” But there before me was another grouping of them, this time labeled 4 for $5. This was more like it.

          I checked to see how these mangoes might be different from those mangoes one foot away. Identical.

          I walked over and interrupted three men in ties with my query.

          One followed me back, looked at both groupings, checked his phone, and then assured me that yes, they were still on sale and the second price was the correct one.

         I loaded up a bag with an armload of my favorite fruit.

 I put it in my cart and looked up to see him strolling back to his colleagues.

           


The conflicting prices remained on display.

18 comments:

  1. Mmmmm mangoes.
    I adore them, and they go someway to making up for the summer heat and stickiness.
    We rarely get them at that price though. I saw some at 2 for $4 yesterday and snapped them up.

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  2. Bureaucracies and profit margins abound in corporate food!

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  3. I love good ripe mangoes. Some of those look just right. But up here in the Pacific Northwest, if we get them at all, they are shipped in from a long ways away.

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  4. Apparently in the UK the checkout people all sit and everybody bags their own. This is close to universal from what I can gather. Indeed, standing at the cash for hours on end must be very hard on a body.

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  5. He obviously didn't care to take the time to take down a sign...what a bum. Mangos by the time they get to us are either hard as a rock or so soft they are mush...I rarely get a good one...and I like them:)

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    1. Exactly. All those management huddles and yet no one takes the time to correct the signage?

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    2. that's not their job.
      I found that out some years back at a small chain restaurant. There were three young fellas behind the counter, in white shirts and ties (but open at the neck, so you knew they were Important but Cool) talking apparently about how they were going to run things when THEY were managers. All the while the single paid employee, a middle aged woman, served the customers, cooked the food, waited on tables, and cleaned up, dancing around the three important men who were blocking the pathway.
      After waiting for a good ten minutes to be served I walked up to the counter and said, "it's too bad the upper management couldn't be bothered to lower themselves to wait on paying customers", gave the girl a tip, and walked out. The silence was bright red with embarrassment, as I left. Management does not help. It manages.

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    3. You're now officially my hero. I love that story!

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  6. Not a fruit I like, so I've paid little attention.

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  7. In grocery stores there is some very sloppy work and some evil tricks in pricing.

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  8. 2 for $4 would be cheap in Australia, but since I don't like mangoes I really bother about the prices of them. 4 for $5 is a real bargain :)

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  9. I've learned to read signs and examine displays very carefully in grocery stores, and am in awe of the stupidity of customers and the cupidity of store managers. Maxwell House Coffee has a policy of putting out same-size containers of coffee with differing amounts in the containers. The only clue is the weight label at the bottom, and the hard-to-read price label on the shelf, since it's usually on the floor, where few of us like to go. I remarked to the manager about the cheat labels on the cans and he feigned surprise: "REALLY? My goodness, we'll have to do something about that, then." and he walked off. A few weeks later there was a huge sale on a table on Maxwell House coffee, blatantly showing the three different containers, clearly marked on a cardboard sign, i.e., "28 oz, 30 oz, 32 oz all $5.00 each."
    And people were buying the smaller container, mostly because they couldn't drink that much coffee 'before it went bad..."

    I buy the house brand now, it's just as good, and half the price.

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    1. "before it went bad"? Coffee is a dry product, like sugar, it doesn't go bad! When my coffee is on special I buy enough to last me a year!

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  10. Maybe they're not conflicting -- maybe you're just getting a big ol' discount for buying more of them.

    Publix is grocery PARADISE. Seriously, their motto has always been "Where shopping is a pleasure," and it's TRUE! When I lived in NYC and now, here in England, I really miss Publix.

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  11. I hope that the right price showed up at checkout! I've had hte wrong price show up and correcting that is a real hassle!

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    1. Uh oh. I didn't even check. Now where did I put that sales receipt?

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    2. In Australia, maybe not at all supermarkets, but the one I worked for certainly, if a product scanned at the wrong price you got the item for free.

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    3. By that I mean if a product scans HIGHER than the shelf price listing. If it scans LOWER than the shelf price, that's just a bonus for the customer.

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