If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if you pulled back the shiny hippy veneer of Whole Foods and saw what was squiggling underneath, now’s your chance. A Whole Foods worker just cc:’d their resignation letter to the entire company, and it’s quite the mangum opus. [More]
Portland (The One In Oregon) Jumps On The Plastic Bag Ban-Wagon
By July 22, 2011
In recent years, a growing number of cities all over the country have been moving to put an end to — or at least curb — the use of plastic shopping bags. Last night, in a unanimous vote, the Portland, OR, City Council approved legislation that bans the use of these bags at larger grocery stores and big-box retailers. [More]
Supermarkets Manipulating Multiples To Get You To Buy More
By July 19, 2011
Supermarkets are rolling out the apparent discounts more than ever. Ten for $10! Five for $5! And shoppers, thinking they’re getting a deal, are gobbling it up. Never mind that you can get the same price if you just bought one of the items. [More]
Grocery Store Lures Customers To Spend More With Scent Machines
By July 19, 2011
How many times have you been hungry, gone shopping and ended up with three packages of donut holes you really didn’t need? A grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. is taking advantage of grumbly tummies with scent marketing, as way to get consumers to spend more at the store. [More]
Buy Groceries From Giant QR Code Wall In Subway Station
By July 7, 2011
As you wait for the subway to arrive, thoughts of errands drift through your head. Pick up medicine from the pharmacist, get package from the post office, and go get the groceries. In South Korea, Tesco has been experimenting with a system that lets you take care of that last one, right while you’re on the subway platform. It’s a wall-length billboard with photorealistic images of essential supermarket supplies. You take a picture of each item you want, grabbing its QR code, place your order, and Tesco will deliver it to your door. [More]
Get Supermarket Club Discounts With "Jenny's" Phone Number
By July 7, 2011
Just because you’re buying groceries out of town doesn’t mean that you can’t get a shopper’s club discount at the supermarket, or have to go through the process of signing up for a member card. Instead, when they ask for your phone number, give them “Jenny’s.” [More]
These Kroger "Build Your Own Sixpack" Signs Are In Conflict
By July 7, 2011
Karl was surprised when he saw this printed-out sign on the beer case at his local Kroger. It informed him that it was “unlawful” for the store to sell singles or six-packs where you get a six-pack box and fill it with a variety of beers of your choosing. He was surprised because just a few away were several shelves of beers underneath a giant sign that loudly advertised “Mix a Six, $8.99, Pick your style!” [More]
Turkey Hill Ice Cream Is Somehow Both "New Flavor" And "Original Recipe"
By July 5, 2011
In a kind of weird labeling paradox, this Turkey Hill Homemade Vanilla ice cream is simultaneously “New Flavor” AND “Original Recipe.” Reader GR scratched his head over it and sent it in using The Consumerist Tipster App. It’s new, but it’s original, but it’s new, but it’s the original… The logic loop continues ad infinatum until all worlds collapse and the universe reaches a state of perfect entropy. I’m afraid for GR to open it; he might find Schrödinger’s cat inside. [More]
Packaging-Free Grocery Store To Open In Texas
By June 27, 2011
While there are plenty of farmers’ markets or bulk spice shops you can go to buy fresh goods with zero packaging, some entrepreneurs in Austin, TX, are aiming to open what they say is the first 100% packaging-free grocery store in the country. [More]
Get $15 In Rice Krispies Cereal Class Action
By June 27, 2011
You don’t have to show a proof of purchase to claim $15 in a class action lawsuit against Kellogg. Just be someone who bought Kellog’s Rice Krispies or Cocoa Krispies between June 1, 2009 and March, 1 2010. [More]
Gizmo Eliminates Supermarket Checkout Lines, Lets Shoppers Scan Their Own Stuff
By May 27, 2011
In the future, there might be no checkout clerks at the supermarket. WSJ reports on how a device at Stop & Shops and Giant supermarkets in the northeast is eliminating checkout lanes and increasing store sales. It’s a “ScanIt!” and it’s a handheld device that shoppers use to scan their own groceries as they put them in their shopping cart. When they want to pay, they just plug it into self checkout station at the end and settle the bill. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Odwalla, Reducing From 15 To 12 oz
By May 20, 2011
Myron Reducto is at it again, turning his Grocery Shrink Ray Gun on Odwalla juice, zapping it down to 12 oz from 15. The price is the same Odwalla has lowered the suggested retail price for the bottles, but some retailers have opted to keep the price the same. Like other food packagers, Odwalla is combining the shrinkage with a packaging redesign that it hopes will get more press. In this case, they are simultaneously rolling out bottles that are made from 100% plant based HDPE plastic. [More]
Snake Oil In The Grocery Aisle
By May 16, 2011
One of the biggest trends in food marketing are so-called “functional foods.” These days it’s not enough that food imparts nutrition and makes you not hungry, it has to perform jumping jacks. Yogurt for your digestive system, milk for your brain, and crisped rice cereal for your immune system. Food packagers don’t outright say that they cure or prevent disease, they can get away with using words like “supports” and “promotes” to make their claims, as long as there’s a little bit of believable science to back it up. But are they really about health, or hype? NYT investigates. [More]
Walmart Tests Out Its Own Version Of Fresh Direct
By April 28, 2011
Walmart is testing out “Walmart to Go,” an online grocery delivery service similar to Fresh Direct. As the nation’s hugest grocer, Walmart brings some big guns to the table, the most important of which is the price gun. [More]
Is Walmart Or Target Cheaper?
By April 25, 2011
Ok, so the official studies are telling us that Target is now actually beating Walmart on price, but is it for real? Rob Cockerham decided to put the superstores to the test. He shopped for the identical shopping list and compared the final tally. Who won? [More]
Is Sugar Killing Us?
By April 25, 2011
Is a packet of sugar a sweet dose of death? A big article in the New York Times Magazine recently explored how sugar might be a secret scourge destroying our health. And for the purposes of this discussion, there is no distinction between regular sugar and HFCS – for these researchers it’s all toxic. Why? [More]
SnackWell's Ups Snack Pack Calorie Count From 100 To 150
By April 22, 2011
SnackWell’s, the nonfat low-cal line of snack food introduced in 1992 but hasn’t advertised in the past five years, is increasing the size of some of its new snack-packs higher than the previously holy 100 calorie level. Some new varieties, like the “fudge drizzled caramel popcorn” are 130 calories. Pouches of Fudge Crème Brownie Bites tip the scales at 150 calories. A benchmark has been breached, people. [More]
Lawsuit: Campbell's "Regular" And "25% Less Sodium" Tomato Soup Both Contain 480mg Of Sodium
By April 18, 2011
Here’s a trick question: How much sodium does Campbell’s “25% less sodium” tomato soup contain compared to regular Campbell’s tomato soup? Would you believe that both contain 480 mg? And that the first one costs more? Four NJ housewives couldn’t, and a federal judge has ruled that their lawsuit against Campbell’s over what they call misleading labels can proceed. [More]
