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Old 08-12-2011, 10:28 AM
 
Location: I'm around here someplace :)
3,633 posts, read 5,337,869 times
Reputation: 3980

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Not counting a "convenience store," there are 3 stores I can get to occasionally (meaning not near enough to go to on the spur of the moment)- a nationwide chain, a regional chain, & a smaller local chain.

I am fed up with buying spoiled groceries-and nothing is being done by the people who manage any of the stores.
One store brushed me off entirely, the manager of another apologized but nothing ever changed, & the manager of the third store gave me a refund when I brought it to his attention the first time, so if I bring it up again he might think I'm just trying to get free grocery money.

First, I hate wasting money; equally important, because of distance, I don't have the option of always running back to a store when I find a product I'd bought there is spoiled.

Dare I say these people are here are ignorant hicks who don't take food safety seriously & probably know nothing about it. On quite a few occasions I've seen frozen & perishable foods sitting unattended in store aisles because employees didn't get around to stashing them in the refrigerated or frozen sections.

Customers don't always have time to examine everything they buy before purchasing it-- and shouldn't need to-- but when the issue is frozen food & it's nowhere near the expiration date, a customer should be confident that it is fresh.

Constructive input would be welcome... & sorry about the extended vent, but I'm tired of "grocery shopping" at a convenience store because the regular grocery stores don't take proper care of their products.

 
Old 08-12-2011, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,681,866 times
Reputation: 36642
Can you be more specific, about that kinds of things are "spoiled"?

Fresh produce you can always select yourself, and make sure it is fresh, with a few possible exceptions like bagged potatoes, and you can squeeze a few of those in the bag to make sure they are hard.

Frozen foods that have partly thawed and refroze are unlikely to be "spoiled" in any meaningful sense of the word, except ice cream and the like. Unopened refrigerated products can certainly tolerate a few hours out the fridge before being shelved. Everything has a best-by date on it, even salt, which is an unprocessed mineral millions of years old.

Unless you can specify a few examples of things you have bought that you found to be "spoiled" when you got them home, it sounds like you are making assumptions that stocking delays are likely to materially affect the quality of the item. Or that you are not taking the trouble to examine your purchases before you buy them.

-------

Americans have become terribly spoiled in their food expectations. The average American spends less than 10% of income on groceries---in most countries it is more like 50%. You get a very high degree of freshness of virtually everything every day of the year, and it's even cosmetically perfect (or you expect it to be).

In the 40's my mother had to cut tallow off meat and sift flour for weevils, every apple and ear of corn had a worm in it, potato chips and cookies and cereal came in a bag folded down and stapled shut, ice cream was hand-scooped while you wait, milk was covered with a cardboard disc, and forget about tomatoes out of season.

------

Finally, the stores can make more money doing it the way they do, than by doing it they way you want them to do it. Why do you think they are in business? To serve you, or to make money?

Last edited by jtur88; 08-12-2011 at 11:32 AM..
 
Old 08-12-2011, 11:36 AM
 
4,897 posts, read 18,452,592 times
Reputation: 3884
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Can you be more specific, about that kinds of things are "spoiled"?

Fresh produce you can always select yourself, and make sure it is fresh, with a few possible exceptions like bagged potatoes, and you can squeeze a few of those in the bag to make sure they are hard.

Frozen foods that have partly thawed and refroze are unlikely to be "spoiled" in any meaningful sense of the word, except ice cream and the like. Unopened refrigerated products can certainly tolerate a few hours out the fridge before being shelved. Everything has a best-by date on it, even salt, which is an unprocessed mineral millions of years old.

Unless you can specify a few examples of things you have bought that you found to be "spoiled" when you got them home, it sounds like you are making assumptions that stocking delays are likely to materially affect the quality of the item. Or that you are not taking the trouble to examine your purchases before you buy them.

-------

Americans have become terribly spoiled in their food expectations. The average American spends less than 10% of income on groceries---in most countries it is more like 50%. You get a very high degree of freshness of virtually everything every day of the year, and it's even cosmetically perfect (or you expect it to be).

In the 40's my mother had to cut tallow off meat and sift flour for weevils, every apple and ear of corn had a worm in it, potato chips and cookies and cereal came in a bag folded down and stapled shut, ice cream was hand-scooped while you wait, milk was covered with a cardboard disc, and forget about tomatoes out of season.
you can't be serious! how dare we expect the food we spend our hard earned money on to be exactly what it should be. fresh and whole and devoid of bugs and other unwanted things???

this isnt third world country. the problem is people are lazy and greedy and dont want to work, which results in our getting crap for our money.
 
Old 08-12-2011, 11:38 AM
 
4,897 posts, read 18,452,592 times
Reputation: 3884
the only thing i can really suggest is try to find a butcher shop for your meat and other smaller stores that actually care about their output and their customers
 
Old 08-12-2011, 12:30 PM
 
Location: Edmond, OK
4,030 posts, read 10,727,060 times
Reputation: 4246
All I can suggest is that you address your concerns to management beyond your local store. I would however, continue to complain to the store managers every time you find something that is bad. I would return whatever I found spoiled, as soon as you realize it, along with the receipt. Make yourself a pain in their a**es. Talk to friends and neighbors and get them involved in complaining as well. I actually know a woman who looks at everything she can while in the store, finds all the expired items, and takes them to the management.

If there is somewhere else you can shop, I would boycott the offending stores. I actually did that for a while with a local chain here. Unfortunately they are the closest store to my house, so I eventually broke down and began going there occasionally, for a few small things, but I do not shop their regularly.
 
Old 08-12-2011, 02:06 PM
 
9,238 posts, read 22,817,792 times
Reputation: 22692
I agree, if these are chains, no matter if they are small or large chains, there is always someone above the store mgr. Ask how to contact the district manager or regional manager. Is there an owner? Is there a central corporate office?

In the mean time I would take my time in the store, especially if it's so far away, and inspect the stuff I'm buying before paying. If they complain, you can explain about your previous experiences with their products.

There are also lots of options to buy food online. You need to, of course, take into account your remoteness, and with perishable foods it might not work. You also have to pay attention to shipping costs and the weight of the items. But lots of low-weight non-perishable foods can be bought online and delivered to your home. I got a lot of Barilla dried pasta with free shipping last year for example. This can help take some business away from the stores who don't seem to care about quality, and maybe they'll shape up.



I reject the assertion that we Americans are spoiled when it comes to food quality, and we should just lower our standards to what people in other parts of the world face.
I also firmly believe that our free market economy (well, the freest you're gonna find anyway) is responsible for our high food quality, not our government inspectors...lest someone jump in and say it's the USDA and FDA who are responsible.
 
Old 08-12-2011, 02:16 PM
 
Location: NJ
31,771 posts, read 40,529,027 times
Reputation: 24590
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88 View Post
Americans have become terribly spoiled in their food expectations. The average American spends less than 10% of income on groceries---in most countries it is more like 50%.

Finally, the stores can make more money doing it the way they do, than by doing it they way you want them to do it. Why do you think they are in business? To serve you, or to make money?
i couldnt care less what % of peoples income they spend on food in other parts of the world. i want to spend a small % of my income and get quality food. i dont have the problems of the OP so i know its very much possible, so i expect it.

grocery stores make money by serving us. its a beautiful thing.
 
Old 08-12-2011, 02:19 PM
 
13,976 posts, read 25,859,103 times
Reputation: 39857
Give us the names of the stores. Nothing like a little bad publicity to make them straighten up. I have returned things that didn't meet my standards, but have never gotten an attitude. It was always an apology and a refund without question.
 
Old 08-12-2011, 04:41 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,579 posts, read 86,681,866 times
Reputation: 36642
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainNJ View Post
i want to spend a small % of my income and get quality food. .
You just summed up the problem. You want something for nothing. There you go.

The store also wants something for nothing: More money in the register for less quality on the shelves. Now you're at a standoff. Who do you think will win? Who usually wins in America, capital, or consumers?

You want the store to hire more employees to assure a higher standard of quality, but charge you less.

We still dont know what Tia's problem is, other than that she's generally pist. We don't know what was spoiled, in what way it was spoiled, how often it happens. What have you got to go on, except that you just found a rant you want to grab the coat-tails of. Somebody, Tia or anybody, tell me what you bought at the grocery store that you got home and found it to be spoiled.

Last edited by jtur88; 08-12-2011 at 04:51 PM..
 
Old 08-12-2011, 05:43 PM
 
Location: Prescott Valley,az summer/east valley Az winter
2,061 posts, read 4,123,513 times
Reputation: 8190
if you fail to do due diligence checking your fresh food then you are at fault~ feel free to shop elsewhere. If you are ordering it delivered then you do have a claim~ otherwise its your own fault
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