February 04, 2004
Shopper Scorned
Forgive me, readers, for I must rant.
The pork chops I meal-planned (verb, indeed) for dinner this evening were rotten. I lashed out at the grocery store...and removed them from consideration for my business for the next month. As I have done before. What I said:
Today is February 4, 2004. This is just another day, but it is also the day my household is slated to eat pork chops and green beans. For, you see, I purchased said items last weekend at your Maryland Heights store, and the pork chops, as you can see, clearly state "Sell by 2/4/04." Today is 2/4/04. The pork chops were properly refrigerated for the duration of their stay in my home.hln
Sell By, I have learned but obviously am a bad customer for I have not fully taken to heart, really means "ingest a few days before, preferably two at least." Your store has coined its own meaty euphemism, and, frankly, I'm quite tired of it.
No pork chops for my family this evening. These are rancid enough that your meat packaging department should have known better. One whiff, and I traded cellopane removal for photograph procurement. This has happened often enough and with a wide enough variety of meats (though primarily pork and chicken) that you have lost our business for the following month. It's happened before, and perhaps this time I'll not return. Your "Pride of the Farm" is now my "Pride of the Trash Can." Your $5.19 sticker price - unearned.
Am I angry? Yes, I'm angry. This has happened at three of your stores in the St. Louis area, multiple occasions. When I moved here almost 6 years ago, I lived near the Ladue Crossings store. Twice I tried to cook meat on the "Sell by" date. Bad idea, Customer. It occurred with chicken from your Breckenridge Ridge store, and I never returned. I live near the Dorsett and McKelvey store now, and have done 80% of my shopping at that store since my move to Maryland Heights almost 4 years ago. My average in weekly grocery expenditure is $150. In my former month boycott, you lost approximately $600 of my money. Small (but hopefully not rotten) potatoes, I'm sure.
When I was in graduate school in Columbia in the mid 90's, Schucks was the QUALITY store in town. Things change; Dierberg's is already making the cha-ching noise.
A former customer,
Heather Noggle
[address removed]
Posted by hln at February 4, 2004 08:24 PM | RANT
Gross.
Posted by: Melssa at February 4, 2004 08:37 PMOne of the many benefits of marriage, fellows.
Were I yet a bachelor, undoubtedly I would have eaten this.
One point of contention, honey. Does that $150 include our alcohol budget allocation for Schnuck's?
Posted by: Brian J. at February 4, 2004 10:09 PMBrian J - ewww.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at February 5, 2004 01:51 AMI know, $50 a week is a little low for alcohol, but we're paying off a coupla cars and a mortgage.
Fifty thou year will buy a lot of beer, or a little less beer and a house.
Posted by: Brian J. at February 5, 2004 06:02 AMThere are a LOT of stores who repackage their meat and change the sell-by dates. I would not be surprised to see that they're one of those stores.
I wouldn't return, period. No more chances - nowhere in the chain. You've been suprisingly forgiving!
Posted by: Jennifer at February 5, 2004 06:58 AMMay I recommend finding a good butcher to buy your meat from. Honestly the quality is so much better, packaged grocery store meat is nearly inedible by comparison.
Food is the one place I don't scrimp when it comes to quality. I had to do that when we were first married because we didn't have enough money to eat otherwise. Once my husband was earning a real paycheck - food was my first upgrade and has remained so ever since.
Posted by: Teresa at February 5, 2004 06:21 PMI have even explained the concept of salvage meat to Heather. That's when certain lower-end stores (such as the one for which I worked to pay for my college educatationalization) buy meat as it expires at a great discount to put it on their shelves for a couple of days to make a couple pennies on it before throwing it out.
Or why one should never buy the meat with the "Save $2.00 now!" coupons on it.
And why should avoid the sausage home-made right there in the store. Those aren't the finest ingredients available.
Posted by: Brian J. at February 5, 2004 07:31 PMTheir chicken is like that. I always get liquid salmonella on my hands when I buy it packaged.
Now I go straight to the Schnuck's Butcher at Hilltop Village.
But I'm seriously thinking about the Dierberg's a mile down the road.
Posted by: TheYeti at February 6, 2004 04:50 PM
