Is this stealing?

[wenrob]

It's stealing. No, I don't sample because a) it's stealing and b) many people have come before me, picked it putting their hands/fingers that have been who know where all over it before I picked it up.

 

[scrapquitler]

I think it's stealing. You are eating the fruit and not paying for it.

 

[bcla]

Maybe one might be OK when it's tolerated, but just snacking on it like you're at home? That's just crazy. I remember hearing rumors about a well-known produce market around here that supposedly barred customers from returning for sampling, although I heard it was untrue. They did ban a reporter who wrote a story claiming that. The manager claimed that their ban is only on shoplifters and not samplers.

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2008/10/01/did-berkeley-bowl-ban-reporter-for-life

Store manager Larry Evans seems to confirm the policy in the story: "There's a sense of entitlement to this town. ... People think, 'If I want to do it, I'll do it, just try and stop me.' " But now, Evans claims there is no such policy against samplers, just shoplifters. "People who put stuff in their pockets and walk out with it, we don't call that sampling," he says. "But somebody who tries a grape, there's no harm done." Evans adds that after the story ran, TV reporters called to do follow-up pieces, which didn't exactly thrill him. "I'm still kind of in disbelief as to what broadcast journalism finds interesting."​

I've been there where I asked on of the (expert) produce stockers on what was good. He took his knife and cut off a piece for me to sample, even though I didn't buy it.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

I was in the grocery store last night, in the produce section.
There was a lady with two kids - approx 13 and probably 15/16 - They were standing next to a display of cherries and grapes, casually chitty chatting with a friend Mom ran into. She and the children were eating grapes and cherries from the display, one after the other as if they were at home on their kitchen counter. These were not already weighted and labeled in their cart. They were plucking them right off the display, Mom had a produce bag where they were discarding the pits and the stems.
I find this just wrong, I cannot even begin to figure out where one is justified in this action.

I get bent at DH when he wants to sample one grape to "make sure", 30 years of training and he still periodically steals a grape I feel like produce, like just about anything else in the store is bought based on appearance, smell, feel etc. not by taking a bite.
1000's of people a day make their way thru the grocery store, what if everyone sampled the produce.

Now, I realize the one grape sample is very different from the snacking family I noted above but it got me to thinking, what are the general thoughts on the subject?

Do you sample produce before you buy?
What constitutes a sample?

One piece is a sample.
More than one is theft.

 

[Klayfish]

I'm more at mom than I am the kids. Having a produce bag to let the kids put the pits/stems. Seriously?

On a semi-related note, how many of you have kids that insist on going to Costco with you so they can eat their way through the store? My kids get so excited when DW goes there, they grab every single sample they can find. Yes, we limit them to one sample per table...though a few times the employee has handed them more than one.

 

[aprilgail]

Interesting. I've never seen that before. Our scales are just the normal ones, like these.

View attachment 257860

LOL- hello 1980's- Wow haven't seen one of those around in a LONG time. Ours all have the electronic scales that print out price sticker too and they also have a bin of fruit that has a sign on it to take one for your child to eat while you shop in the store for free as a healthy snack.

 

[Princess Mulan]

"Everybody Loves Raymond" has an episode about this.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

It's stealing. No, I don't sample because a) it's stealing and b) many people have come before me, picked it putting their hands/fingers that have been who know where all over it before I picked it up.

This! So many hands come in contact with that produce, I always take it home and wash it thoroughly before we eat it. Besides being gross, it's also stealing.

 

[bcla]

I love that the stores have the scales in produce where one can weigh and then apply the price sticker. I used that when the kids were younger, pick out a piece of fruit, weigh it, put the sticker in the cart to be paid for and snack away while shopping. I think this is a fabulous thing and see lots and lots of parents using the scale/price sticker in this way.

I've never see that for produce. I've been to places that have bulk items where they generally get weighed before checkout and a sticker is applied. These days the store I'm thinking of no longer does that. Just write the bulk item number down and it gets weighed like produce at the checkout. One of the more interesting things I'd get there bulk is liquids like bulk shampoo or soap. They would weight the container first andwrite the weight on a piece of tape. Then after it was filled I would then bring it back and they'd deduct the original weight and apply a sticker with the price and a barcode. Sometimes I'd even bring an empty bottle of something like Dr Bronner's soap and refill it there and they had no problem.

Now I'm not a big Whole Foods shopper, but they used to have containers for their bulk liquids. I'd just fill up a new bottle and everything got weighed together, even though the bottle wasn't a nontrivial weight like a plastic bag. I figured it might have been around 20 cents for the new bottle by weight depending on what I got. However, later they were on to this and they charged for each new bottle although the weight got deducted.

 

[anniemae]

I think sampling one grape is okay. Fruit is so frustrating. Sometimes I buy a melon and when I cut it open at home, it is tasteless and gross. Obviously, you can't sample a melon, but taking one grape to check for "goodness" is okay in my book. That will not throw off the weight to cause a significant price change, and if the grapes taste bad, you are not wasting money.

I have seen people open a bag of goldfish crackers to give the kids, but they paid for it at checkout. They just handed the open bag to the cashier to scan. Cashier was fine with it. I think that is fine.

What they were doing, was not okay. They were just chatting and grazing. It's not a buffet, plus it's kind of weird. I would feel foolish standing in the produce dept. chatting and grazing like I was at a cocktail party.

 

[sam_gordon]

In my opinion...

Tasting a single grape (or cherry) from a bag: Not stealing (even if you don't purchase the bag, but if it tastes bad it would be good to pointing it out)
Putting a bag of grapes, cherries, box of cookies, cereal, whatever and eating as you go through the store: Not stealing as long as you pay for the full amount before leaving the store.
"Snacking" on any item with no intention of purchasing (except those out as 'samples'): Stealing.

 

[CarolAnn856]

My family and I watched a boy facing us munching on the apples he and his mom had just picked. We were all riding back from the orchard on a wagon, and the weigh station and cashier were at the drop-off point. Our son asked if he could have an apple, and my husband, rather loudly, told him no, the white stuff you can see on the apples is a pesticide and needs to be washed off. DH just grinned as the mom told her kid he had to wait until they got home to have more, lol. (It was kaolin clay, which I think is edible, but at least DH got the mom to pay for her apples.)

 

[mamacatnv]

Interesting. I've never seen that before. Our scales are just the normal ones, like these.

View attachment 257860

HEB central Texas - the scales, weigh, give a price and spit out a bar coded sticker so the checker just scans instead of trying to find the code for the Mexican Squash that is always significantly cheaper than the zucchini the checker thinks it is

Wow. Our stores have had self weigh produce for years. You need a Wegmans.

or an HEB!

I sample ONE grape before purchasing them. We don't always have the freshest produce up here, and if I'm paying $5 a pound for grapes, I want to make sure they are not sour or "flabby."

But yes... to answer the original question, it's stealing.

Ohhh flabby grapes, I know exactly what you mean! Last night I bagged, scanned and stickered a small portion of green grapes. Then I sampled, they were sweet with that nice firm grape crunch, I bagged, scanned and stickered a few more pounds worth.

I'm more at mom than I am the kids. Having a produce bag to let the kids put the pits/stems. Seriously?

On a semi-related note, how many of you have kids that insist on going to Costco with you so they can eat their way through the store? My kids get so excited when DW goes there, they grab every single sample they can find. Yes, we limit them to one sample per table...though a few times the employee has handed them more than one.

Yes, the Mom provided the bag for the pits/stems - it was one of the weirder things I have seen in the grocery store.

DH and I love the samples at Costco, its like a free lunch! We have been known to circle back for a second of something we really liked

LOL- hello 1980's- Wow haven't seen one of those around in a LONG time. Ours all have the electronic scales that print out price sticker too and they also have a bin of fruit that has a sign on it to take one for your child to eat while you shop in the store for free as a healthy snack.

Great idea!!!!

I think sampling one grape is okay. Fruit is so frustrating. Sometimes I buy a melon and when I cut it open at home, it is tasteless and gross. Obviously, you can't sample a melon, but taking one grape to check for "goodness" is okay in my book. That will not throw off the weight to cause a significant price change, and if the grapes taste bad, you are not wasting money.

I have seen people open a bag of goldfish crackers to give the kids, but they paid for it at checkout. They just handed the open bag to the cashier to scan. Cashier was fine with it. I think that is fine.

What they were doing, was not okay. They were just chatting and grazing. It's not a buffet, plus it's kind of weird. I would feel foolish standing in the produce dept. chatting and grazing like I was at a cocktail party.

It was odd, people were noticing, it was not just me who noticed. Mom and kinds continued to just munch away.

 

[amberpi]

What in the ever living...no. Not just no...

ETA: I want to see these little uncouth brats do that to a piece of tuna. Ugh.

 

[MrsDuck]

Sounds like stealing to me!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Stealing.

FWIW I've occasionally asked people working in the produce department about various items, like an apple or orange, and they will cut one open right there for us to sample. So I don't think sampling is that big of deal. But standing there munching away is not ok.

When a store representative does something like this, clearly it's acceptable to the store. When a customer does, it's stealing.

On a semi-related note, how many of you have kids that insist on going to Costco with you so they can eat their way through the store?

Kids, heck. My dad and his friends used to do this during retirement.

 

[RangerPooh]

Agreed, it's stealing. I feel guilty when DH samples a grape. It's charged by how much it weighs. By snacking on it before you pay you're not paying the store the actual amount that the item costs.

 

[adisneyaunt]

It's theft. I don't do it.. there is typically a little display at so many veggie/fruit displays in my market for free( fresh market) and I Dont touch them..
It's gross that others hands , fingers are in there UGH, skeevy if u ask me.
And taking from the actual display.. eek, not even washed
Plus... it's just plain wronged never think to do that.

What I did do, (tho don't any more, honest) was open the pkg in my cart ...of crackers or cookies etc... I always thought that nibbling one/two since I was buying it was just no biggie.. and I never had a cashier ever say anything...and I've always bought the item.
BUT then one day I saw something on tv actually doing a story on store theft and they Specifically said you can be charged with theft for Opening the item and buying it! Makes sense, just never thought about it.
My dh laughed at me ..but I'm one of those "chickens" so I don't do it anymore.
My luck they'd call the Police and I'd be bawling like a baby at the checkout...
Anyone else ever eat a cookie out of a pkg as you were on line or shopping?

 

[bcla]

Agreed, it's stealing. I feel guilty when DH samples a grape. It's charged by how much it weighs. By snacking on it before you pay you're not paying the store the actual amount that the item costs.

Well - I do remember when one could sample bulk candies on the honor system. Usually there was a box that said something like drop a nickel for each piece sampled. The sample cost was probably less than the bulk price though, although it would depend on how big the piece was.

 

[tasha99]

It's theft. The mom could eat one grape or cherry in order to decide it they're good. The kids have no business eating any, and you only need to eat one. I always eat one. In fact, at one place I shop, they have a pit and stem bag out for people to dispose of their sample stems.