# 'The manager was livid': Guy takes advantage of prime rib pricing blunder,"...my question is was he being a asshole? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248 "2023-01-15T03:40:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/141 "2023-01-16T18:46:02Z")
The prime rib ain’t the means of production. That’s just some stuff. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/142 "2023-01-16T19:59:00Z")
Relevant to this discussion–40% of the food produced in this country is thrown out because nobody can make a profit off it and that is done while food insecurity afflicts an appalling percentage of the citizens of this “richest country on the planet.” The amount of food every grocery store throws out into their locked dumpsters could probably feed the entire homeless population for a couple miles radius but no, better to throw it out and let it rot than to allow people to live in slightly less desperate conditions. Don’t really care what anyone thinks, I will never simp for the huge grocery chains. Never. > **[Canadians are now stealing overpriced food from grocery stores with zero remorse](https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2023/01/canadians-stealing-food-grocery-stores/)** > > If you can't beat them, join them. If you can't join them because you weren't born into an excessively wealthy family, eat them. If you can't eat t... ETA: And so long as corporate wage theft continues to vastly outweigh EVERY OTHER FORM of property and money theft I will continue to maintain that balancing the scales by any means is legitimately moral. I don’t see a lot of CEOs going to prison for stealing billions from their workers, only little people being turned into prison slave labor if they cross the oligarchs. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/143 "2023-01-16T20:20:20Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Relevant to this discussion–40% of the food produced in this country is thrown out because nobody can make a profit off it Cite? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/144 "2023-01-16T20:25:50Z")
According to [this](https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste#:~:text=How%20much%20food%20waste%20is,food%20in%20America%20is%20wasted.) about 40% of food in America is wasted and 39% of that is household waste ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/145 "2023-01-16T20:26:45Z")
From the top hit on Google: > How much food waste is there in the United States? > Each year, **[119 billion pounds](https://insights-engine.refed.org/food-waste-monitor?break_by=sector&indicator=tons-waste&view=detail&year=2019) of food is wasted in the United States**. That equates to **130 billion meals** and more than **$408 billion in food thrown away each year**. Shockingly, **nearly 40% of all food** in America is wasted. > Food goes to waste at every stage of food production and distribution - from farmers to packers and shippers, from manufacturers to retailers to our homes. Food waste in our homes makes up about 39% of all food waste - about 42 billion pounds of food waste. While commercial food waste makes up about 61% of all food waste or 66 billion pounds of food waste. Feeding America focuses on reducing food waste on farms and in food service, manufacturing, and retail. [https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste](https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/146 "2023-01-16T20:29:39Z")
That doesn’t say 40% is wasted because no one can make a profit - that 40% includes spoiled or leftover food i throw out at home - any profit was made before I bought it. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/147 "2023-01-16T20:32:27Z")
And of the food that’s wasted, 40% is at the retail level. Like it or not, grocery stores are responsible for a LOT of wasted food and they do it after it’s been processed–wastage at the farm level is less of an affront than when it’s been through a bunch of other steps THEN gets pitched in the garbage. Face it, grocery stores throw out a LOT of food and they do it because they can’t get money for it and they’d rather protect their profits than feed people who DON’T HAVE MONEY TO BUY FOOD. FFS, how does anyone defend this shit? And before anyone trots out the spavined “But they can’t give it away because LiAbiLiTy!!!1!” that’s bullshit and I will expect some serious cites of this ever happening. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/148 "2023-01-16T20:59:29Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > And of the food that’s wasted, 40% is at the retail level [43% is wasted at home](https://www.rts.com/resources/guides/food-waste-america/) and 40% is wasted in a combination of retail grocery, restaurants and food services. Saying that it’s okay to finesse your way into underpaying from a grocery store because they make up some amount less than 40% seems like a good excuse for me to scam my neighbor. He’s helping to waste considerably more at 43%! ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/149 "2023-01-16T21:14:20Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Face it, grocery stores throw out a LOT of food and they do it because they can’t get money for it and they’d rather protect their profits than feed people who DON’T HAVE MONEY TO BUY FOOD. FFS, how does anyone defend this shit? They are not stocking extra food just to throw it away- they stock all that food so their customers can get what they want (everything) when they want it (now). Presumably, a profitable grocery store is throwing away the smallest amount of food possible. Why paint the grocer as the evil person doing “shit” that needs to be defended? Why not the consumers whose purchasing habits make it profitable for the store to stock more than it will sell? Why shouldn’t the manufacturers be distributing this excess food directly to the needy, instead of passing on the moral baton to the retailers? Why not the farmers (shouldn’t the lack of processing at that level make it easier, economically, for farmers to give food away than retailers)? Like, I completely agree that food insecurity (at least in America) is a problem that we have the resources to solve if we could get our acts together. I don’t think the answer is as simple as “grocery stores should just give away food to those who need it, and those stores that don’t do so are responsible for food insecurity in America.” And, I think it’s questionable that well-managed and targeted access to retail food waste would be an effective or efficient or humane way to resolve hunger. Those who need food need good food. Not only calories but nutrition in a broader sense. Being outraged that someone else isn’t getting the leftovers that you didn’t want or buy into the hands of the needy is . . . a convenient way to frame the problem as 100% someone else’s problem. It’s not “simping” for Big Grocery to state that being in charge of culling and distributing “waste” food to the needy is not something they ought to be responsible for. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/150 "2023-01-16T21:20:11Z")
For that matter, it’s not “simping” for Big Grocery to say that trying to jam a couple hourly employees (who will likely be reprimanded) with a $800 loss in meat is a dick move. Even if you want to tell yourself that it’s totally cool because Big Grocery, man. > [@Eonwe](#): > > Why not the consumers whose purchasing habits make it profitable for the store to stock more than it will sell? That too. If you want to stop food waste in grocery stores, go buy up their brown bananas and nearly expired dairy. Seems more noble than $800 in prime rib that you’re totally gonna donate to, uh, veterans (and most food banks would rather have the $80 than a pile of meat that’s worth more for its quality than its actual distributable quantity). ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/151 "2023-01-16T21:23:30Z")
There’s now a [law](https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/food/2022/01/20/new-law-requires-grocery-stores-to-waste-less-food-and-feed-the-hungry) in California requiring grocery stores to donate edible food to charities. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/152 "2023-01-16T21:23:51Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Relevant to this discussion–40% of the food produced in this country is thrown out And you haven’t demonstrated _how_ this is relevant. Do you have a better plan than the underpants gnomes? Step 1. Disrupt by ruthlessly and selfishly exploiting pricing mistakes Step 2. ? Step 3. Social justice and food security for all ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/153 "2023-01-16T21:39:17Z")
Good, hope that becomes universal. Addressing food waste in the home–a percentage of that can STILL be laid at the feet of the manufacturers who put those totally spurious “use by” dates on their products. How many times on this very board have you seen the “OMG, my yogurt is two days expired, can I eat it or will I DIE???” threads? People have been carefully indoctrinated to believe that the arbitrary dates on their foods are a hard timeframe that must be adhered to lest disaster strike–and it’s just not the case. > [@Riemann](#): > > And you haven’t demonstrated _how_ this is relevant. It’s relevant because people are thinking some dude taking advantage of a pricing error is somehow going to bankrupt the grocery store when that’s very far from the truth. If those prime ribs hadn’t been sold at the wrong price they’d have been discounted heavily and if they STILL didn’t sell they’d be thrown out. All that shrink and spoilage is already factored into the shelf pricing so I fail to see how it’s different to take something off the shelf and not pay for it than to have it pitched into the garbage. Food wasted in this country could eliminate hunger and food insecurity with zero changes in farming techniques. But food is not considered to be a right but only available to those with the monetary means to purchase it. Ethically, I think this sucks. We have government cheese due to dairy price supports and when the warehouses are too full of cheese they simply dump the milk out on the ground rather than give it to people who could really use the help. Apparently, the dairy industry is not in the business of selling milk, it’s in the business of selling plastic containers. Like bottled water, another indefensible product. We have an entire branch of government whose entire _raison d’etre_ is to make sure American citizens are safe, fed, housed and clothed but they’ve completely abdicated on these responsibilities in favor of wasting their time renaming post offices and trying to figure out how to make women into incubators and worker production factories. I’m just pointing out that this sucks and also pointing out that the small number of rich people who own everything know each other and interact on the regular so if you make enough of them uncomfortable they’ll have discussions amongst themselves and perhaps slightly slow down the misery ratcheting machinery. In the meantime, people gotta eat and I will never notice or see anyone stealing food. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/154 "2023-01-16T21:49:54Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > people are thinking some dude taking advantage of a pricing error is somehow going to bankrupt the grocery store There’s 153 posts to go through but I don’t think I saw anyone actually make this argument. People have mentioned that grocery stores are relatively low profit margin, etc but has anyone actually claimed that this event was putting anyone in danger of bankruptcy? Or said this guy was wrong because he was going to drive the store out of business? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/155 "2023-01-16T21:51:06Z")
And i dunno the extent of it, but my local grocery store claims they have teamed up with an organization that connects grocery stores to food banks. From the grocery store’s website: > Food waste is a serious issue; what better way to fight it, and make our community healthier, than by teaming up with [bridge organization]? Since 2011, we’ve collaborated to reduce the amount of food that ends up in the garbage: We give them fresh groceries that would otherwise spoil, and they distribute them to thousands of people in need. I think the posters here who urge everyone else to throw away anything that’s past its “sell by” date because “why risk it” are a bigger part of the food waste problems than the grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/156 "2023-01-16T21:58:10Z")
Here ya go: > **[Definition of HYPERBOLE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperbole)** > > extravagant exaggeration (such as 'mile-high ice-cream cones')… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/157 "2023-01-16T22:03:22Z")
Hyperbole, Strawman, tomato-tomahto. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/158 "2023-01-16T22:06:52Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > The amount of food every grocery store throws out into their locked dumpsters could probably feed the entire homeless population for a couple miles radius but no, better to throw it out and let it rot than to allow people to live in slightly less desperate conditions. The store I work for _used to_ donate lots of food to local food pantries. Then someone got sick, blamed the food pantry and its donors, and their lawyers picked the store because the assumption was that the corporation had bottomless reserves. And that ended that. The corporation’s legal department decided the fiscal risk to the corporation was too great to continue to make donations. So that’s a problem, too. It’s not just about “make money”, it’s also about “not getting sued”. After all, donations are a tax deduction which helps the corporation, too. Except when the risk of getting sued outweighs possible tax benefits from donating. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > And before anyone trots out the spavined “But they can’t give it away because LiAbiLiTy!!!1!” that’s bullshit and I will expect some serious cites of this ever happening. Sorry - providing cites because you can’t be bothered to look them up isn’t worth me losing my steady income by disclosing details of my employer’s lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/159 "2023-01-16T23:47:28Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > All that shrink and spoilage is already factored into the shelf pricing so I fail to see how it’s different to take something off the shelf and not pay for it than to have it pitched into the garbage. Taking without paying is theft. Grocery stores don’t have managers in the back room laughing maniacally and twirling their evil mustaches as they throw out food. There is _zero_ incentive for grocery stores to waste food because they’re in business to _profit from sales_ and tossing stuff/wasting stuff/whatever you seem to think they’re doing with stuff is NOT profit. > [@Jophiel](#): > > There’s 153 posts to go through but I don’t think I saw anyone actually make this argument. People have mentioned that grocery stores are relatively low profit margin, etc but has anyone actually claimed that this event was putting anyone in danger of bankruptcy? Or said this guy was wrong because he was going to drive the store out of business? Could a mistake like that have serious repercussions for a mom-in-pop lever grocer? Sure. Bankruptcy? Only if the store was already on the edge. The problem isn’t _just one_ customer taking advantage, or stealing, it’s multiple people doing that. Just like one drop of water won’t cause a disaster, but a lot of drops in the form of a flood can, all the losses and shrink adds up over time. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248/160 "2023-01-17T00:02:47Z")
A grocery store would have to be in terrible financial shape for one guy taking all the prime rib they had in stock (for a fraction of its price) on one day to bankrupt the store. I don’t think that’s really on the table. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manager-was-livid-guy-takes-advantage-of-prime-rib-pricing-blunder-my-question-is-was-he-being-a-asshole/978248.md?page=9)