--- Daniel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > 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.
No. For produce and meats (except deli meats), both prices are usually displayed and the price per lb is in much larger print. The scales used to calculate the price weigh in kilograms, and they obviously use the price per kilogram to calculate the price. Very few stores will display only a price per kg on produce and meats (although there was a very good butcher near where I used to live who did just that). Since produce and meats must be officially labelled with the metric price, the scales weigh in kilograms and the price per kilogram is used to calculate the price. Deli meats are sometimes displayed with both the price per lb and price per 100 g. But it is becoming more common to just see the price per 100 g, as more and more people are ordering metric quantities of deli meats (and the price per 100 g appears less expensive). > 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. > 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. At the same time, since you pay for exactly what you receive, there is no benefit for the store to give you a significantly different amount than what you ask for. The store makes no more money since you only pay for the amount received, and what they will do is potentially lose a customer. If someone asks for a pound of something, they will normally be given 450 g or thereabouts, and they will pay for 450 g (or whatever amount they were given).
