Sneaky ways grocery stores are scamming you
It is a routine for all of us to shop in a grocery store. One-stop in one place can ease the stress. But the significant national chain has us all figure out. From the labels to the layout of the aisles, there is a specific operational method in use. The idea is a simple business. Spend as much money as possible while employing a few legal tricks. We look for a couple of items and end up with a lot more we intended to buy. Temptation takes over us, and stores know that. The seduction begins with objects positioned strategically, and we fall into the scam. Some stores go to the extension of the no-return road and force the journey through the store.
Here’s a list of some creative ways they can fool us.
1) They design the stores for customer manipulation.
2) The produce department appears first, and the bright colors make us hungry
3) The bakery will be next, with the oven that releases the scent of fresh-par-baked chocolate chip cookies
4) Staples such as eggs and milk will always be at the other end of the store. Walk for 1/3 of a mile, lose weight, and then buy as much as possible to gain the weight back.
5) They don’t have a grandma making those luscious cookies, pies, and bread. Frozen, par-baked, or reheated. Some stores bake from scratch. The scratch comes from a pre-mix to which they add eggs and water. Cream dessert arrives mostly frozen. There is no bread-man on the payroll.
6) A common mistake is to mislabel meat. Label the weight with a higher price than what the scale registers.
7) Meat on trays collects moisture and water. Water is cheap, but you will pay for it. Multiply one ounce of water for hundreds of customers a day. Sometimes you see a sign that states that the water solution helps the taste. No, it’s a lie. The sum of all the pennies made from the water sends their kids to Harvard Medical.
8) Stores also spray water on produce because it keeps it inviting and fresh-looking. Again, water holds weight and regularly passed on to the consumer. Profits are all about one penny at a time.
9) Scallops fall into the category of the water scam. Stores soak scallops in a solution comprising as much as 85%. The Boston Globe investigated 21 Massachusetts Supermarkets and found water levels much higher than industry standards. Scallops have high water content naturally, no need to add any more—even scallops sold as unprocessed fall into the mix.
10) Seafood fraud is not a fluke. It is a serious issue across all states, especially on the expensive varieties. Distributors swap one fish for another as a common practice. Let’s say that you want to buy fresh red snapper at $21 a pound. Most white fish have a similar texture once filleted. It’s effortless to sell another specimen such as tilapia, tile-fish, and other cheap substitutes that often cost $3 a pound. Restaurants repeat the practice. Purchase fish whole and have the store clean it for you.
Consumers may not have all the expertise and fully trust the store while paying for the “bait and switch” process.
11) Savvy customers can combat scams in grocery stores. Comparing prices and get the best deal requires time and knowledge. Stores make the process very difficult by mixing the units of measurements on the labels. One example is ice cream.
Some companies label their brands by the ounces, and others go for a pint or quart. It’s practically impossible to understand the price amount. Download a unit conversion app on your phone to have a clearer idea of what you are getting.
12) You buy potatoes and fresh fruit, get home, and once the bag or packages are open, you’ll find rotten and defective products. If you catch the store’s problem, you might get a refund, but you will not go back for the exchange once you are back home. Stores purposely arrange products that way. They could discard the faulty items, but there is no money to be made that way.
13) The eye-level stratagem is another method to weasel out money. Shoppers look at the center first, too lazy to bend down, stretch, or move things around. High price items stand in front of your face. Be aware and actively seek items below or above the “eye-level buy level” manipulation.
14) Chips and salsa walk together. Most things like eggs, dairy, and meat have their department, while salsa and chips are side-by-side. The mind works in a particular way. We see salsa, and we know that we need the chips, the same applied to pies and whipped cream, or hash brown and bacon. There might be a less expensive salsa on the other side of the aisle, but you don’t know that.
15) The trend of the time cage-free or organic. You feel morally obligated to purchase, hoping for the better choice. It could very well be another example of a lie. Hens, classified as cage-free, are not locked up at San Quentin prison. The only requirement for the chicken to be considered cage-free is to have one square foot of space. Paying a higher price for the eggs makes you feel better but does not solve the cage issue.
16) The organic movement has reached skyrocketing popularity. We all want to buy and eat fewer pesticides and chemicals, but there is no way to tell if it is organic by the look of it. Possibly not. You buy organically-fed meat, but you have no idea of what the animal ate. It is challenging to know if something is organic or not unless there are shreds of evidence of a scientific examination. Buy local, stay away from imported fruit and produce, get acquainted with brands. Quality companies monitor the legitimacy of their products and are concerned about your health and the environment.
After reading, you might think that I hate shopping in supermarkets. It is not my favorite chore, and I have plenty of reluctance, but I am very aware of the scamming possibilities and religiously act accordingly. I ask many questions, read labels carefully, use a conversion app, read about brands and companies, and try not to rush through the task. I eat better food, spend wisely, and don’t get on board with the scamming train. Shopping is an art-form that requires the best of all of us. Maybe the dollars we save can go toward our kids’ education and not toward the corporate pockets. #keepyoureyesopen
