Greengrocers selling fruit & veg in bowls. Is it a scam? 29 May 2022 at 10:37AM in Food shopping & groceries 28 replies 1.1K views

Appliance_engineer

With all the talk of weights and measures today, possibly going imperial as well as metric, I've been thinking about greengrocers. They always used to sell by weight, but many now sell by the bowl.

I feel that this must work heavily in favour of the greengrocers otherwise so many wouldn't have turned to this method.

Has anybody worked out how disadvantageous this method is to the consumer rather than the old-fashioned weight method? Also, could this actually be illegal under the weights and measures legislation?

Rosa_Damascena

This is not a new concept, and by eyeball alone I have found this to be much better value than supermarket offerings. Produce is also in a better state of readiness for consumption, eg no waiting for plums to ripen when they are going to stay sour forever. 

What I have noticed is that the size of the content has been shrinking.

comeandgo

Cant see it being illegal, supermarkets sell boxes of fruit and veg with no indication of weight.  If customers think it’s not a bargain then they don’t have to buy it.

Rosa_Damascena

comeandgo said:

Cant see it being illegal, supermarkets sell boxes of fruit and veg with no indication of weight.  If customers think it’s not a bargain then they don’t have to buy it.

Not everyone shops with their pocket in mind (a strange concept to me). If they did, M&S Simply Food stores would not be thriving!

comeandgo

Rosa_Damascena said:

comeandgo said:

Cant see it being illegal, supermarkets sell boxes of fruit and veg with no indication of weight.  If customers think it’s not a bargain then they don’t have to buy it.

Not everyone shops with their pocket in mind (a strange concept to me). If they did, M&S Simply Food stores would not be thriving!

But to me a bargain may not be the cheapest, just the best value for what I want.  I do use M &S a lot, but only to find the reduced yellow sticker items.  Even though they would still be more expensive than Aldi, they taste a lot better.

MovingForwards

I used to go to a fruit and veg market and pick which bowls I liked the look of. There was the option of asking for a certain weight or even picking my own and having that weighed.

Rosa_Damascena

comeandgo said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

comeandgo said:

Cant see it being illegal, supermarkets sell boxes of fruit and veg with no indication of weight.  If customers think it’s not a bargain then they don’t have to buy it.

Not everyone shops with their pocket in mind (a strange concept to me). If they did, M&S Simply Food stores would not be thriving!

But to me a bargain may not be the cheapest, just the best value for what I want.  I do use M &S a lot, but only to find the reduced yellow sticker items.  Even though they would still be more expensive than Aldi, they taste a lot better.

I don't actually enjoy food in the same way that others do, so for me its ethics and price first and second. The taste rarely comes into it and that probably accounts for my appalling dietary habits.

Appliance_engineer

comeandgo said:

Cant see it being illegal, supermarkets sell boxes of fruit and veg with no indication of weight.  If customers think it’s not a bargain then they don’t have to buy it.

That's rather beside the point. Many people think they are getting a bargain but then find out they could have got a better price.

tastyhog

How can it be a scam? They're selling you a type of fruit / veg for a price per bowl, you're getting that bowl of whatever for a price you agree to pay

It doesn't matter if dave on the next stall will sell you a pound of peppers for a quid instead of a bowl of 4 for a quid that you bought. 

Brie

Must admit that having been raised in a somewhat rural area it seems normal to get fruit and veg in baskets.  Raspberries were always in pint baskets, strawberries often in 2 pint ones.  Apples, peaches, tomatoes, potatoes were in 4 or 8 pint or bushels.  I always feel a bit ripped off when I see the price per kilo for bramleys - I'd much rather buy a basket of them!! 

As for the whole imperial vs metric - I think someone should just make up the country's collective mind and do one or the other.  It's less confusing and doesn't take long to get used to it if the change is completely to metric.  

Appliance_engineer

tastyhog said:

How can it be a scam? They're selling you a type of fruit / veg for a price per bowl, you're getting that bowl of whatever for a price you agree to pay

It doesn't matter if dave on the next stall will sell you a pound of peppers for a quid instead of a bowl of 4 for a quid that you bought. 

Well, if they know that selling it by the bowl, they can get more than selling it by weight, then that's scammy. I'd guess that they make more money this way.