I don't know that people necessarily "buy" by the
pound, as much as the stores still advertise the price
per pound as the primary price. Fruits and vegetables
are mostly sold in supermarkets where the customer
selects and bags it themselves. Personally, I never
go into the store with the idea of buying a certain
mass of produce, I normally buy produce visually or by
quantity (ten apples, eight bananas, or a bag of
potatoes. Deli meats are usually priced per 100 g,
and very often that is the only price displayed. Some
stores will still display a price per lb, but it's
becoming less common as more and more people are
ordering their deli meats in grams. Dual pricing kg
and lb is a bit more common for butcher meats.
So, what you are saying is that the price per pound is not common and more
the exception then the rule. This particualr store is just one of the
dinosaurs still hanging on to obsolete practices. Metric haters will see
one store like this and proclaim it is universal. Thanks Stephen for
letting us know that the practice isn't common so when the imperialists
claim it is, we will know the real truth.
I can understand why stores are dropping the pound pricing. It is a useless
nuisance. If people haven't adjusted to kilograms by now that is their
problem. It is also a costly addition that serves no useful purpose.
Chances are you pay more for products to be priced in pounds. The store has
to pay someone to contantly translate pricing and amounts. Then there is
wastage. Something is always left over when you buy bulk in kilograms and
try to sell in pounds.
Obviously, in the cases where a person goes to a
proper butcher shop, or to a produce vendor, and they
ask for metric quantity they will be able to see how
much of that quantity
In reality people are not experiencing a problem.
You could ask for a
pound, and get a pound.
You'll get approximately a pound, since the scales
used to calculate the price are metric scales. You'll
get anywhere between 450 g and 500 g, in reality, and
you'll pay for the exact amount you purchased.
You can ask for a pound but what you see on the display is whatever the deli
attendant decides to give you. If you never bothered to learn grams then
you are at the mercy of the attendant to give you what you asked for and not
more or less. When you get home, you can have someone translate the label
descriptions but it is too late to complain once you paid for the product
and left the store.
People who refuse to adjust to the metric reality are experiencing problems,
but they don't dare complain otherwise they may appear to look stupid.
You could ask for half a
kilo and get 500g.
It will be much easier, of course, to be more precise
in this case since the scale will be displaying the
mass in grams.
>
>However, if any of us went into the same store, we
could ask for any amount
>in grams, even something like 656 g, and not have
the attendant do anything
>more then weigh it exactly as we asked for it.
Take it from me, from a country where metric can get
used in stores and as a
neighbour to countries that are almost fully metric
- this DOES NOT happen.
If I go into the deli and ask for 200 g of sliced ham,
very rare will it be 200 g, exactly. It will either
be slightly under 192 g or slightly over 207 g. But
the scale calculates the exact price.
The point was that no matter what amount you ask for in grams, either in
Canada or the UK the attendant need only process your order without
hesitation. Of course you won't get exactly 200 g if you asked for it, but
if you asked for 7 ounces, the attendant would have to hesitate to figure
out what that is in scale units. Then as a customer you would be unsure if
you are getting what you asked for since the numbers on the scale and the
receipt don't reflect your request.
It is like going to a lawyer to have him draw up a contract. You detail
everything in English, but the law requires all contracts to be in French.
When you are shown the contrat you aren't sure if it contains what you
requested. If it is signed, parties could be agreeing to something not
originally intended.
(snip)
>The continued use of pound pricing is designed to
keep people from
>adjusting to kilogram price so they can easily
cheat the customers. The
>perfect means to cheat a customer is to price it in
one unit and conduct
>the sale in another.
My opinion is that it's because the price per kg is
larger than the price per pound, and therefore seems
like a higher price. If all stores had to display
only the price per kg, then it wouldn't be an issue
since it would all be comparitive. But as long as one
store can display the price per lb, it will default to
that since the stores that only display a price per kg
would feel that they were losing business to the
stores advertising a price per lb.
They could price per kilogram and per hundred grams with the hundred gram
price LARGER then the kilogram price. People would see the 100 g price and
think the products are a bargain. Something selling for 1.99 per kilogram
would also be advertized as either 19.9 ¢/100 g or 20 ¢/100 g. There are
many ways to use the "which unit looks cheaper" to your advantage.
