Money Moral Dilemma: Is it OK to snap off the broccoli stalk before weighing it?

Annie70

Loose broccoli is bought by weight which includes stalk and this is usually reflected in the price. Same applies to loose mushrooms as I know some people remove the stalks before buying. Do we peel bananas before we buy them because we don't eat the skins?

John_Gray

This question seems to have a false premise - that people of sound mind and palate will actually BUY broccoli for eating!

Those people who like broccoli will probably grow it in their own gardens or allotments, where they can do with the stalks what they wish.

Broccoli may not be as polarising as the love-or-hate relationship which people have with sprouts, but surely most people will draw a parallel with Dr Johnson's definition of oats: "which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."

Jellifer

I can't stand broccoli so have never done this but I do snap off the stalks when I buy red peppers that are sold by weight. Is that wrong too?!

Emily1975

You'll be telling me next that I shouldn't core apples before I buy them. :huh:

Fitzmichael

Given that businesses in general, and the bigger the more so, try every trick to persuade/confuse you into buying their product, of course you/we should repay them in their own currency.
And, dopey torus, precisely what has been stolen?
Flying flea's comment is, of course, correct - the store would soon retrieve its 'loss', confirming my statement that they (unlike what some posters think is the 'right' way to behave) will go to any length to maintain the profit margin they have decided they are entitled to. Many people (presumably not posters here) don't understand that: a student of mine, smart enough to have been at uni 30 years ago, remarked - without any apparent dissent from her peers - that lots of people shop-lifted an item from time to time, 'to get back at' stores for the excessive prices they charged. It was clearly a surprise when I explained that customers in general (certainly not the share-holders) would shoulder the 'loss' by an increase in price, as stores decided what profit margin they wanted and set their prices accordingly, so that customers paid 'over the odds' for some, more expensive items, which made up for the small or non-existent profit they made on cheap, high volume (loss-leader) products. And I was teaching them languages, not Business or Economics. I doubt that school-leavers (or teachers for that matter) are any more aware nowadays.

CompChrissy

I buy the left behind stalks for juicing! Keep on snapping please.

rodrocket55

Snapping off the stalks is wrong for 2 reasons.
1) you are depriving the shop/supermarket of revenue
2) peeling and eating the stalk either raw or cooked is very nutritional.
The Chinese have been doing it for ever, and 1.2 billion people can't be wrong

Mojisola

sensiblesue wrote: »

No it's not ok. I worked in a supermarket and a customer used to take the stalks and all the seeds out of peppers and put the remains in a bag to be weighed! I was disgusted and as another lady has said, it only saves a very SMALL amount! If anyone tried to do that in a fruit and veg shop, the owner would throw them out and rightly so!

Friends of mine used to have a market stall, selling veggies. They had one customer who insisted on removing the tiny green stems from tomatoes before they were weighed.

nczm

I think this is a question for the store manager rather than a moral dilemma.

If they tell you it's not a problem but to ask a member of staff to cut it so the stalk can be sold, then great. If not at least you know how to avoid being unwittingly detained by store security for 'theft'!

My 'moral' response was that this is akin to stealing as the stalk cannot be resold, however as others have pointed out the stalks can be left behind for someone else to purchase. It seems the issue is that stores aren't clear (perhaps to protect profits).

If it doesn't get purchased is it really any different to all the other veg which goes out of date and needs to be disposed?

OneLeggedPig

Haha! I've thought of this many times, but haven't done it.