Customer Sues Whole Foods Over Prices
(Newser) A blistering report alleging overpricing at Whole Foods in New York City has brought the chain more than just bad publicitynow it's facing a lawsuit from an angry customer. Joseph Bassolino filed his suit today in state Supreme Court, one day after city investigators accused Whole Foods of systematically overstating the weights of packaged goods and thus overcharging, reports NBC New York . A quote from the city's Department of Consumer Affairs provides a taste: "The overcharges ranged from [80 cents] for a package of pecan panko to $14.84 for a package of coconut shrimp," says a statement .
"Our inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers," adds DCA Commissioner Julie Menin. Whole Foods denies the allegations, which resulted from an undercover operation in the fall in which investigators weighed more than 80 types of products throughout the chain's eight locations in the city, reports the Daily News . Whole Foods "never intentionally used deceptive practices to incorrectly charge customers," says a spokesperson. Still, a city investigation is underway, and Bassolino hopes to turn his lawsuit into a class-action one so others can join.
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I thought people shopped at Whole Foods so they WOULD pay way too much for over-priced food? Isn't that the business plan?
It used to be. People used to call it "whole paycheck".
However that's changed a lot-- they've been forced to because of competition.
When they first started, they were the only place you could get many natural/organic items except for local health food stores, so they didn't have much competition. But as more and more Americans starting becoming aware of the relationship between the types of food they were eating and health, more & more competing heath-focused supermarket chains opened up. WFM ("Whole Foods Market" began to face stiff price competition, so they had to lower prices to survive.
They also now have two store brands (1 organic, 1 non-organic) which are competitively priced with other markets.
In fact, organic food is usually cheaper in WFM than in regular supermarkets.
Recently, Costco, Kroger and some other major chains have added large sections of natural/organic food.
P.S.
1-I do almost all of my food shopping in Whole Foods because their quality is higher than other healthy food chains. Also, I save money shopping there!
2-I never buy packaged goods (except for a few Whole Foods store brand items: organic whole wheat pasta, organic spaghetti sauce, and organic unsweetened Almond milk and Soy milk.). Everything else is generally unprocessed and in it natural state (meaning no labels listing ingredients).Also nothing in cans (to avoid BPA).
We go there, but I never buy anything but their bulk salted cashews and macaroni and cheese when they have it on their hot bar. I got spoiled in L.A., first of all because there were 1/2 a dozen of them but mostly because the Whole Foods in Venice was HUGE and they had incredible Baklava and shredded beef and other great stuff. They finally opened one here in Palm Desert and it sucks!!!! I was so looking forward to it and it's less then half the size of the one in Venice and they don't even HAVE a hot desert bar, plus they don't sell Baklava OR fudge!!
We do have a Bristol Farms but they're not any better then the whole foods except they have better cheesecake and cakes and such. Fortunately I did find a good fudgery, so I'm not without good fudge.
In the past, I suppose the stores in places with larger populations might get larger stores. However, opening smaller stores now is deliberate. Here's why:
In a business, profits are the money you take-- minus expenses. In the grocery business, one of the large expenses is rent. Of course larger while larger store take in more money, they also pay more rent. In the grocery business, one indication of profitability is a ration: the amount of money taken in per square foot. (They have a name for this and there are other details-- but that's the basic idea).
The company found that larger stores usually make less money per square foot. (If you're interested I can explain why this is so, but its really off topic here).
So-- I believe they have this as a policy-- smaller stores.(perhaps there are exceptions-- I would imagine in really large cities they might still want to have one that's really big so they could carry a huge selection, plus more exotic stuff.
Actually might give the impressions its just WFM. But it looks like they later found some ther grocery chains that allegedly did this as well:
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All I know is that I really looked forward to going to the one in Venice and this one is rapidly losing us as customers and my wife has to drag me there. There are too many other good upscale grocers (Bristol Farms and Jensen's)in the area and dozens and dozens of other grocery stores that sell pretty much the same thing for less., plus a lot of mom and pop places in the resort areas. The fudge place I go to is a mom and pop style shop.
Now we've got 2 sayings : "faster than a NY minute. " &
"lighter than a NY food package ."
I I wonder if I'm getting screwed on the weight of my cashews.I love cashews, but don't want to pay more then I have to. Also they advertise as whole cashews when a large number of them are broken or pieces. I should point that out thenext time I'm in there abd in a pricky mood.
Vendors can charge whatever they advertise the price to be, but if they short the weight, or add an extra charge that exceeds the advertised price without notice - THAT'S FRAUD.
WFM has a bulk section. (Things are generally cheaper if you buy them from the bulk bin because you don't have to pay for packaging). You Place a thin plastic bag under the bin, and let as much as you want into it. Then weigh it on the nearby customer scale. (After all this publicity, I doubt they would have scales which are inaccurate).
Another advantage of bulk is that you can buy as much or as little as you want.
Bulk bins are transparent-- you can see if they are broken. (Personally I don't care because they all are broken after chewing anyway
And if you have any problem (ex: broken Cashews that are packaged & are advertised as whole) bring them over to the WFM Customer Service desk-- they are very helpful.
Here's a very good article (with pictures) about buying in bulk:
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I should start weighing them. I never do. I just write down the sku number on the tag and take then to the cashier.
My wife takes a small electronic hanging scale with her when she goes grocery shopping. The vendors can't short the weight on her. It measures 0 - 10 kg in 5 g increments.
Smart move.