[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett]
Mexican? Market? Manager? Which?
[/QUOTE]
All of them. Just to be fair.
[QUOTE=KGS]
I don’t understand. What’s so difficult about asking someone what the price is? All you have to do is engage them as a person and…oh wait, let me read your post again:
Okay, I get it. You don’t want to talk to them as PEOPLE because you’d rather deal with impersonal stereotypes. Well, sorry to shake your confidence in the world, but hippies & Mexicans actually do bathe sometimes. If you do smell something, maybe that stink is your deodorant wearing off, or maybe it’s just the stink within your own brain.
Jeez. :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
I think the stink is you shitting all over this thread.
[QUOTE=whiterabbit]
Or the watermelon on the floor in lingerie.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll bet it looked really sexy.
Then you have Safeway, who doesn’t want you to know what price you’re paying as it’s rung up anymore. I remember the price of everything I put in my cart - when a price came up hinky, I would be able to get it checked right then. Now, you have to give them your “loyalty” card, and the prices all get changed later, so your only way to know how much you actually paid is to stand there (off to the side) and read the entire receipt, and then go to customer service if some price is questionable. Which nobody does. Gee, wonder if that could possibly be part of Safeway’s grand plan to keep customers from knowing how much they’re paying for stuff? I think it’s part of the plan that includes posting a sign with huge letters “$1.99 EACH” and in tiny letters underneath it
“When you buy five or more.”
You want to give me good customer service, stop trying to call me by name and make the prices clear and not requiring detective work to figure out. Thank you.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
I think it’s part of the plan that includes posting a sign with huge letters “$1.99 EACH” and in tiny letters underneath it
“When you buy five or more.”
[/QUOTE]
It’s not just Safeway–Superstore is notorious for this too, especially in their liquor store. I can sort of understand it with wine–you may want to stock your cellar, lay some bottles down for additional aging, etc. so you may well buy multiples of the same wine. But do they really think a normal person is going to purchase six (or more) 40-pounders of gin at once? :rolleyes:
Anyone else remember the bad ol’ days when grocery store clerks were required to say the price of each item as they rang it up?
[QUOTE=Spoons]
But do they really think a normal person is going to purchase six (or more) 40-pounders of gin at once? :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
Speaking as someone who’s worked in bottle stores: Yes, yes they do.
On the prices thing: I’m staggered by the number of people who will walk into our store, look at an item (with the price tag sitting on it or otherwise prominently displayed), and then ask “How much is this?” :smack:
[QUOTE=Spoons]
But do they really think a normal person is going to purchase six (or more) 40-pounders of gin at once? :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
If it’s Tanqueray and it’s on sale…
[QUOTE=Khadaji]
I agree. There is a small chain here in town called The Big Ugly Warehouse that advertises cheap prices. I went there looking for a hot tub. No prices on any of them. I figure if their prices really were better than the spa stores, they would be displaying them in large letters. I won’t go back.
[/QUOTE]
Actually a favorite trick is to refuse to quote prices or give phone prices on large ticket items over the phone. This is to avoid “price matching” situations with other vendors.
[QUOTE=Sofaspud]
'fraid I can’t get behind ya on the farmer’s market rants, pal. They don’t post prices? They’re as good as shouting that they’re willing to undercut the competition – if you take the time to haggle with them. If you’re after the cheapest price for the best quality, you’ve got to give up some of your oh-so-precious time. Them’s the breaks.
[/QUOTE]
I hate bartering. I live in a country where bartering is not the norm, thank god. I don’t want to barter.
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
“Wow, this fish-splooge is only $9.99, as the price tag affixed to the shelf clearly states.” Shopper takes the item to the register. Cashier scans it, and beep, it comes up as $67.88, or other such ungodly price having nothing to do with the price tag on the shelf.
[/QUOTE]
But the name of the item is right on the price tag. All you have to do is read it. What is so hard to understand about
9.99
ITM 347895 3CT FSHSPLG 6OZ!!!111ELVNTYONE?
[QUOTE=Anaamika]
I hate bartering. I live in a country where bartering is not the norm, thank god. I don’t want to barter.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, I hate it too. But if I’m that desperate to get the best bang for my buck, I’ll do it. I acquired a $400 coffee table for $90 and a bottle of (fairly cheap) Scotch; it wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t been willing to haggle.
Otherwise, I’ll go pay whoever has the prices posted and not worry about it.
But the point is, bitching about it when it is an accepted method of selling one’s wares (as is the case in a farmer’s market) is pointless and stupid. Just don’t buy from them. Ranting at (or about, in this case) them because they’re doing something you don’t like when you’re not being forced to partake in the first place is just idiotic.
[QUOTE=Sofaspud]
But the point is, bitching about it when it is an accepted method of selling one’s wares (as is the case in a farmer’s market) is pointless and stupid.
[/QUOTE]
I’d be utterly thrown off if this were the case.
The Farmer’s market here has clearly posted signs stating prices, at everything from the fruit vendor to the glass jewelry to the Belgian desserts.
[QUOTE=Plynck]
Recreational Outrage: Priceless
[/QUOTE]
I always thought RO was about something that one read on Yahoo and brought attention to it to the teeming millions.
Since this effects me personally, I prefer to call it PO. Pathetic Outrage or Pedantic Outrage or something like that. Pissed Off in any case.
[QUOTE=Sofaspud]
'fraid I can’t get behind ya on the farmer’s market rants, pal. They don’t post prices? They’re as good as shouting that they’re willing to undercut the competition – if you take the time to haggle with them. If you’re after the cheapest price for the best quality, you’ve got to give up some of your oh-so-precious time. Them’s the breaks.
<snip>
North Face? To the pit with you. If cost is such an object, as evidenced by your treatment of the hippies’ zucchinis and heirloom tomatoes, then you shouldn’t have set foot in the store in the first place. Duh.
Mexican market? Eh. Depends. Is it a family-run, little shop on the corner market, or a Mexican SuperMegaGonzoMart? If the latter, I’m with ya. The former, see Farmer’s Market.
[/QUOTE]
I find your theory with the negotiation at the Farmer’s market interesting. I’ve noticed that at my Farmer’s market, vendors don’t like to negotiate because it undercuts others and causes everyone to have lower profitability. I notice that the time to get a great deal is at the end of the market when the farmers want to get rid of stuff and don’t want to haul away their quick to deteriorate vegetables.
How do you know that I’ve treated the salespeople poorly? I generally try to act civilly. I’m far from perfect, but I certainly hold myself to a higher standard than a lot of Americans. Is ranting on an anonymous message board really all that bad? Talk about RO!
I hope that you are not saying in the case of North Face that if I have to ask the price of something, I shouldn’t be there. I’m actually moderately affluent. I know plenty of multi-millionaires and I can’t think of one who doesn’t like to get a decent price. I think most people balance service, availability and price, but if the price is the same or even a bit more expensive, sensible well-off people will go for the better service.
The Mexican market is family owned and I quite like it. There is no comparison to the Farmer’s market in that there is no negotiation. I feel that it is laziness on the Mexican market produce manager not to post prices.
By the way, I meant “Mexican market” produce manager. I’ve never met the guy and I don’t even know what his race is. I assume that he is Mexican American just because the store has been around forever and certainly before the larger influx of non-Mexican Hispanics. I did not mean to be racist in any fashion. Thanks, Otto.
And for all you outraged about my derogatory comments about unwashed hippies, I am kind of a hippy and occasionally unwashed. I just got my hair cut, so I no longer look the part.
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
Anyone else remember the bad ol’ days when grocery store clerks were required to say the price of each item as they rang it up?
[/QUOTE]
I was a cashier at the Yosemite grocery store in the era before computers. I was fast as hell, my till was almost always accurate to the penny, I’d lay the bill on the shelf above the drawer so that there was never any argument about the money paid, I counted back change, and yes, I did call out every price.
The other thing that I like about the cashiers at the Mexican market (note that I’m not using the horrid term Mexican market cashiers) is that they are fast as all hell. They are 10 times as fast as the cashiers at Smart and Final or Rite Aid. Plus, they don’t have to call over a manager every time there’s a mistake. There’s something beautiful about trusting and empowering your employees.
Anaamika, I hate to barter also. I do it in third world countries where I’m told that it is expected.
In any case, I’m glad that at least there are a few dopers out there who would just like to see the prices and be done with it.
I’m with the OP. My general policy is to never buy things with no price. No price? Then move along, unless I really need the item. Safeway can’t be bothered to put a price tag or a label, a farmer can’t hang a sign that says “1.99 /lb”, then how interested are they in the whole process?
What I hate is jewelry stores that have tags on all the items, but they’re all upside down. Why do they do that?
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
I always thought RO was about something that one read on Yahoo and brought attention to it to the teeming millions.
[/QUOTE]
You could be right.
I share some of your frustration, but if there is a scanner nearby then I think that yours may be an overreaction. I scan things all the time to make sure that there are no surprises at the register. Stores are keeping costs down by reducing staff and making “the shopping experience” more DIY. The success of Costco and BJ’s “clubs” attests to this. You’ve already said that you are looking for the cheapest. You could probably buy the same object elsewhere, with the price prominently displayed and a gleaming salesperson to help bring it up to the register. And you would pay for that.
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
your daily massaging of the zucchini
[/QUOTE]
That’s hot.
[QUOTE=featherlou]
Now, you have to give them your “loyalty” card, and the prices all get changed later, so your only way to know how much you actually paid is to stand there (off to the side) and read the entire receipt, and then go to customer service if some price is questionable. Which nobody does.
[/QUOTE]
Clearly you haven’t met my father. 
[QUOTE=tdn]
What I hate is jewelry stores that have tags on all the items, but they’re all upside down. Why do they do that?
[/QUOTE]
So you or your loved one can try it on and fall in love with it before you find out that it costs 9.6 billion dollars.