It is basically all the same. I used to work at a marina that was a “Texaco” dealer. WE got gas deliveries from a distributor-one day the truck would say “Shell”, another day “Exxon”, etc. As long as the octane rating is the same, who cares?
Why do employees need the secret price code on the items?
One reason is if the manager wants to discount the item for a customer, the manager may not want to discount it below cost.
I don’t know if it’s the same outside the UK, but product barcodes contain three control numbers. a 6 at the start, a 6 in the middle, and a 6 at the end.
666…:eek:
I may have told this story before, but this reminds me of the time my mom went to a Starbucks for the first time, found the coffee sizes on offer too large, and drawing on her elementary Italian, took a stab in the dark and ordered a “piccolo.” And they made it for her! With its own cup size and everything.
It’s apparently uncommon enough knowledge that some time later when she asked a colleague who was going on a coffee run to pick one up for her, they recognized it as being her order.
Yeah, but if an artist is going to sell directly to a customer, screwing the gallery who gave him or her a show, they risk burning that bridge. Running an art gallery is not an especially lucrative business, and it depends on trust and belief. Every gallery owner I know has stories about artists who fucked them, and word gets around.
No, they don’t. That is a myth generated by ignorance and misinterpretation. First of all, the “6” in the middle is not a six, but guard bars, and if you see a pattern at the start that looks like a 6 to you, it can’t be a six at the other end because 6’s at the left and right are of different parity and don’t look the same.
How do I know? I wrote software to read & print barcodes of many kinds, including UPC. But don’t take my word for it:
(Scroll down; there’s a discussion of this claim.)
You can probably get that size by asking for a “short” whatever; sometimes I just want a smaller drip coffee of whatever special kind they have and ask for a short. The downside is that the standard size of insulated sleeve is a little too big for the cup.
I was just going to post this!! Whether you can get a discount by bypassing the gallery is going to depend a lot on how much the artist values her relationship with the gallery, how likely it seems that you can keep your mouth shut, and other factors. Some exceptions might be if you can find out if the artist will be selling in an alternate venue, like a temporary fair or something, and they might be able to do a deal that way. Also it might help if you have a personal connection you could go through, friend of a friend etc, rather than approaching the artist cold and asking her to screw over her gallery.
Cheers Musicat for setting me right, and sorry to all for propogating the myth.
No problem. Ignorance Fought. 
reported
Whenever I mention this to someone who doesn’t work in the business, 9 times out of 10 they’re absolutely, utterly shocked.
I notice it more with bakery because…er, I’m a baker 
I can walk into any supermarket bakery and tell you which manufacturer makes X or Y, why they might carry bread from Z as opposed to A, etc.
Two things I’ve learned in the past couple of years: Most, if not all supermarket bakeries in my area use the same supplier for their cakes and icings. Ditto muffins and danish. Try explaining this to a customer and you’re met with utter shock which sometimes is downright hilarious.
God, I laughed
Not ALL food stores are supplied from the same distributor.
I temped for a chain that is starting up here in California called Fresh & Easy. They are owned by Tesco and this is their attempt to break into the US market with a “clean sheet” concept.
ALL stock came on a daily basis from their own solar powered distribution center on their own hybrid diesel trucks. Even items usually delivered by the manufacturer like soda or chips came on those trucks. The Coke or Frito/Lay guys would come by from time to time to kibbitz and check that their product was being stocked and displayed properly, but they never brought any product.
Even the produce and meat was different than what you saw in other stores. Different packaging, different product (higher quality, IMHO). All prepared food was made by Fresh & Easy in the “kitchen” at the distribution center.
They are fanatic about quality. We had a rule that any employee could waste out product that didn’t measure up. “If you wouldn’t buy it, take it off the shelf!” They really had an excellent inventory system set up. Seems like a lot of effort, but it must work for them, as the prices are consistently lower than in the competitor’s stores and they maintain total control.
Good outfit!
These secret Costco codes were posted on the Dope a while back but I can’t remember by whom.