An Ethical Question...Tomatoes at the Supermarket

Great Debates
1

I just came home from the supermarket. In the produce section, they had packages of grape tomatoes on sale. (Grape tomatoes are very small tomatoes–smaller than cherry tomatoes.)

The sign said “Grape Tomatoes / $2.49 / 1 pt.” The tomatoes were in the clear plastic boxes that are becoming very common. I frequently buy grape tomatoes packaged this way.

When I picked up the packages, I noticed that they were only about 3/4 full. I don’t know how full the box has to be to equal one pint, but the packages were noticeably emptier than they usually are.

Let’s assume 2 things:

  1. These packages were identical to the ones I am used to seeing.
  2. The grocers have not been overfilling the boxes in the past.

It follows that each package contained less than a pint of tomatoes.

My questions:

The sign clearly said “1 pt.” Was the supermarket guilty of false advertising?

What are the rules for labeling weights and measures of produce sold this way, anyway?

And the big ethical question:

Would it have been okay for me to open one box and fill it to the top with tomatoes with another box?
Now of course I could have gone to the manager and asked for a full box of tomatoes, but I thought it would be more fun to come here and ask you.

2

Interesting ethical question. I don’t really think you should unilaterally fill the container and not tell anyone. But, perhaps you could do so and inform the cashier at the checkout that you did this since it said 1 pt for $2.49 and the boxes there did not contain the full pint. Or, like you said, you could go to the manager and complain…That would be the best choice from an ethical point of view, because you would be helping others in addition to yourself and putting the manager on notice (or let him/her know if they were unaware this was happening).

A similar question that comes up for me is when I realize I have been (or think you have been) undercharged for something. My attitude is that I always do tell the cashier if it is a matter of incorrect change that they might get in trouble / lose money for. If it is something that is just going to cost the business money, I usually still do too…although there have been a few cases where I haven’t. (E.g., where I wasn’t sure if was wrong…it just seemed a bit low…AND there was something in the whole attitude of the salespeople or the store that made me think “Well, it’s totally their mistake…Not mine and the way they do this, I ain’t going to go way out of my way to correct it.”)

3

Wouldn’t they do the weight at the front register though?? Every supermarket I’ve been to has scales connected to the register so that they can make sure they charge the proper amount.

4

No, RugbyMan. These tomatoes are not sold by weight. They have bar-codes on the box, so the cashier just scans them.

Some produce is sold by weight ($1.49 a pound), some by quantity (6/$1.00), and some stuff is prepackaged and just costs what it costs. These tomatoes were the latter. I don’t think the boxes are filled by the supermarket–I think the grower/distributor fills them (but I’m not sure about that).

5

A U.S. dry pint is 550.6 cm^3 or about two cups (500 ml) in volume. Next time you get some see if you can fill your measuring cup twice from the package. In Nebraska the little plastic boxes they come in are usually pretty full.

6

I’m from a metric country, but couldn’t “pt” stand for “punnett”?

7

We’ve got dry pints and wet pints and furlongs and acres, but what’s a “punnett”?

8

I got that off of a gardening message board.

Also, from an online dictionary:

9

Well, I’d say that if you have bought these, bring one of the empty plastic containers with you the next time you go to the supermarket, weigh it on the produce scales (to get the weight of the plastic) and then weigh one of the “full” ones, subtract the weight of the plastic, and determine the net weight. If this is indeed less than that marked on the carton, then bring it up to the produce manager. If he doesn’t take a valid interest in your claim, then by all means…take it outside (make sure you let him know that you are taking it outside as well…perhaps that will change his mind). Lettors to the editor or the paper’s consumer affairs person, the Better Business Bureau, and certainly at least one TV station in your market should have one of those consumer affairs types (in Pittsburgh, it was Wayne Van Dyne…always kinda funny to see these shady businessmen walking around like mobsters coming out of court!)…certainly these are all valid forms of protest.

10

I quote Green Bean:

“No, RugbyMan. These tomatoes are not sold by weight.”

Patience, everybody. If we just repeat it enough times, he’ll catch on… :slight_smile:

11

Tomatoes should weigh practically the same as water (because that is mostly what they are), so if you weigh the tomatoes you can convert their weight in ounces directly into their volume in fluid ounces. If I remember right, there are 16 fluid ounces in a pint. Mind you, that doesn’t account for the spaces between the tomatoes.

12

Actually, it still IS Wayne Van Dyne…I see him all the time on KDKA.

13

just kidding! (Actually, I think some of the above confusion might be with the term “pint” itself. I mean, to someone from a metric country, it could just as easily be a measure of electrical resistance as volume, right?

I am kind of surprised, because I’ve never seen tomatoes or any other produce sold by volume.

Call me a doofus (and spell it right!) but is it a given that the original container is exactly one pint? I mean, maybe that is obvious but I didn’t catch it. Perhaps they had been overfilling them, until some budding scientist filled a container with 1.1 pints of water and ran crying to the produce manager.

You could always get your own pint container, and fill it up. That might confuse the cashier (and if I were the cashier, I would be confused, but some people are more mentally resilient than myself), but you could always just bring the original tray along and say you just wanted to store your tomatoes in an exact pint container instead.

14

Well, perhaps they are sold by volume, but the weight will certainly be a way of determining whether the proper volume has been provided. According to manduck’s rough guestimate of the weight that a pint of tomatoes would take up, the weight would provide a rough guide without having to purchase them first. Still…I suppose that I was pissed off enough not to completely pay attention :slight_smile:

15

My girlfriend worked in the produce department of a supermarket for 5 years. I’ll see if she’s willing to share her vast produce-ical experience with us :slight_smile:

16

I think intent is somewhat important here. If the sign advertises the tomatoes at a certain price/pint, and the containers are roughly equivalent to a pint, then I think it’s pretty clear that the sign is indicating that the containers of tomatoes you see in front of you are $2.49 each. I don’t see it as false advertising, since you can see how many tomatoes are being offered at the advertised price. Now, if you’d seen an ad in the paper for $2.49/pint and come in because of it, that would be false advertising, IMO.

If you feel angered and mislead because of the discrepancy between the sign and the container size, then I’d recommend talking to a manager. But I don’t think you’re justified in putting more tomatoes in a container on the basis of the strictest, most literal possible interpretation of the sign.

Besides, if the boxes were filled past the top, odds are you wouldn’t scoop any tomatoes out. I know I wouldn’t.

17

Hello Everybody. I’m Gravity’s girlfriend.

Alrighty, here’s how it works:

The tomatoes are shipped pre-packed to the grocery store, and the weight of the plastic containers don’t count towards the weight of the product (ie. each package should weigh a little over a pound/16 ounces).

Since these are a product sold by weight, sometimes the amount in your little plastic container will vary (if it’s got big tomatoes in them, there will be fewer tomatoes, but might look more full- or if they’re rather tiny tomatoes, there will be many tomatoes by count, but might not fill the container to the lid).

Over-filling is rarely done by the tomato producers, it’s not profittable, however, your quality standard boards would dance a jig if they were doing it- because it’s good for the consumer. Producers are not allowed to under-fill the packages (by law) though, because this is cheating the consumer and not business friendly. Businesses getting caught ripping off their customers can get into some very deep legal trouble.

But, I would always be suspicious of a container that seem “unreasonably” under-filled, such as this package appears to have been. Definitely weigh the container on a produce scale. If it’s a pound or more- you’re all set. If it’s under a pound, keep trying packages until you get a good one.

If that’s not working, snag (or ask for one at customer service desk) your local produce stocker and tell them that this package of tomatoes is under-weight, and that you’d like to buy one, but not an under-filled one (unless they offer to knock down the price, of course).

NOTE: Cashiers have no authority in adjusting the price of the product if it’s under-filled- don’t even ask. If there’s no produce help available, ask at the cutomer service desk to speak with the on-shift manager. See if they’ll go out back and get you a properly weighted package or fill one for you.

::Remember to treat the help like humans, they are you know. It’s not likely it’s their fault the package is under-filled, and it’s unlikely every tomato package was weighed before it was put out. Many produce stockers would check these things before getting them to the shelf, but everyone makes mistakes, gets busy or otherwise doesn’t think at times.::

If all else fails and everyone’s being un-cooperative- simply refuse to buy the tomatoes and ask after the address/phone number of the Regional Manager and tell him/her about your misfortune. I promise, s/he’s not going to take it lightly.

I don’t recommend filling up your container from another basket on your own. Why not? Two big reasons:

Because a passer-by might mistake you for cheating the store and report you to the manager as a would-be fraud. If they (the store) wants to be evil about it, they could possibly prosecute you for shoplifting.

And the more human, but just as important, reason is because the next person to buy tomatoes might not notice how the now even-more under-filled container and just buy it anyway. While they might return it, it’d still really ruin their night to get home and have a half-package of tomatoes…

Also, the tomatoes are technically sold by weight - just a specific weight in a specific package. If they were sold by volume you’d definitely want your little container to be full.

Hope that helps a little…

BTW- About half the time, pint packages of strawberries (rarely quarts) are packaged in-store. Be careful in picking out your strawberries, if they look underfilled- weigh them. If you find several are under-weight, report it to a produce person or at the service desk (cashiers are usually too busy to wander off and do it for you). While the produce packers are supposed to check the weight of the strawberries while they’re packing them, I’ve known a lot of people who do it “by eye” (“It looks like a pint to me”), but it’s not a very sound measurement method, and very often wrong!
-=Flashpoint=-
Madness is nothing more than extreme creativity.

18

See…the expert vindicates me after all…they are sold by weight :slight_smile:

gloat

19

Wow! Thanks, Flashpoint. So you’re saying that the tonatoes are actually sold by weight, even though the sign indicated a measure of volume?

(and these grape tomatoes were on the small side…)

20

GB,
I saw the produce manager at my grocery store just yesterday opening containers of raspberries (packaged in pints) and topping off the other containers. I asked him why (thinking of this thread) and he told me that they are sold by volume, not weight and this particular shipment seemed to be lacking in each container. He was just filling them up to their normal levels. He also said that that was not very uncommon to do, and if I ever saw a volume based packaged item that seemed like there wasn’t enough in it, to let him know and they would fix it. (By the way, I don’t often just strike up conversations with produce people, but I know him from having worked at the store :slight_smile: )

also,

Our store sells the following by volume:

-bussels of apples
-pints/quarts of blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and grapes
-pints of grape tomatoes

  • [b/]box 'o**clementine tangerines

Zette

PS- if it makes you feel any better, I know exactly what you mean by grape tomatoes. I buy them all the time in the summer for salads.