Annoying stickers on fruit, vegetabales
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 30,013
Annoying stickers on fruit, vegetabales
These little labels they attach on every apple, tomato, onion, etc drives me nuts. Why do they have to individually label each? I cut my finger half off last night cutting one off a tomato.
How annoying.
How annoying.
#3
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: IAD, and sometimes OMNI/PR. Currently: not far from IAD, but home will always be SAN (not far from the "touch my junk and I'll have you arrested" Memorial TSA Check Point) even if I'm not there so much these days.
Programs: UA, CO, Calcifer Award for Mad Haiku Skillz
Posts: 5,076
I hate that you usually can't remove the sticker from the skin of a pear without tearing the skin, bruising the pear, and exposing the flesh to oxygen which makes it go bad.
#6
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Cypress Hills Research Center
Posts: 5,295
Maybe instead they should spray a non- (or at least not very) toxic bar code onto each piece of fruit. They can also print the name of the fruit on each piece, but product labeling laws will require that they do so in multiple languages and at a minimum font size.
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: A metal nomad
Programs: Mucci des Delices Exotiques,Order of the Platinum Hairbrush,Her Royal Diamond
Posts: 23,728
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: About 45 miles NW of MCO
Programs: Acapulco - Gold, Panama - Red, Timothy Leary 8 Mile High Club
Posts: 29,246
It's annoying, but not more so than the fact that the average cashier doesn't know a cucumber from a zucchini or a potato from a jicama. At least the stickers keep the line moving instead of the constant call for a price check.
#9
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: CLT
Posts: 7,249
It's important to label the country of origin for foodstuffs. they conveniently use that as a bar code for checking out as well.
http://www.pma.com/resources/issues-...rigin-labeling
http://www.pma.com/resources/issues-...rigin-labeling
the U.S. country of origin labeling law requires retailers to notify their customers of the country of origin of covered commodities. Many fruit and vegetable suppliers already provide origin information on their products via a number of ways (Price Look Up stickers, labels, bands, twist ties, etc.), though there are some produce items (i.e. loose green beans) where a sign on the display would be needed to convey the origin declaration due to the item being unable to carry a sticker or other labeling mechanism.
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Redondo Beach, Ca
Posts: 30,743
If the sticker is necessary, do they have to attach it with crazy glue? I am tired of gouging my apple, tomato or pear to remove them. Or gouging myself as Ian did.
Use a lighter glue and leave a large enough portion unglued so there is something to hold on to to pull it off.
Use a lighter glue and leave a large enough portion unglued so there is something to hold on to to pull it off.
#11
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AAdvantage Lifetime Gold/Some Years Platinum
Posts: 995
FWIW, at least in the US, those labels are required by law to be edible. Probably don't taste all that great, but beats slicing your finger off.
Handy tip: Use Scotch tape to remove the labels. Cover label with tape, then pull the whole assembly off.
OT: I agree - Bozos that rush into the elevator while you're trying to exit are far more annoying than these labels.
Handy tip: Use Scotch tape to remove the labels. Cover label with tape, then pull the whole assembly off.
OT: I agree - Bozos that rush into the elevator while you're trying to exit are far more annoying than these labels.
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 30,574
How early are you pulling these stickers off? I usually pull them off when I'm about to eat it...my pears don't go bad that fast
#13
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
I can tell a cucumber from a zucchini, but I admittedly can't always tell the difference between yellow onions vs sweet onions vs the organic variety of either. And there are some apple varieties that are harder to distinguish between.
And if I'm going to pay a premium for one of those, I don't want to end up with something else.
#14
Join Date: May 2007
Location: IAD
Posts: 2,060
I was once asked by a fellow shopper to point out the fennel to him because his wife would kill him if he bought the wrong thing. Fortunately for him, I actually did know what fennel was.
I like Wegman's system of having the shopper weigh and label their own produce. They have little signs near each display of food that contain a four or five digit number. You put the food on the scale, type in the number, press print and slap the label on the bag. The clerks almost always thank me for doing that, so I guess there are some customers who don't use the system. Can't understand why, though. It's easy and efficient. And no icky sticky labels on the fruit!
I like Wegman's system of having the shopper weigh and label their own produce. They have little signs near each display of food that contain a four or five digit number. You put the food on the scale, type in the number, press print and slap the label on the bag. The clerks almost always thank me for doing that, so I guess there are some customers who don't use the system. Can't understand why, though. It's easy and efficient. And no icky sticky labels on the fruit!
Last edited by jcwoman; Apr 22, 2014 at 1:37 pm
#15
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
I was once asked by a fellow shopper to point out the fennel to him because his wife would kill him if he bought the wrong thing. Fortunately for him, I actually did know what fennel was.
I like Wegman's system of having the shopper weigh and label their own produce. They have little signs near each display of food that contain a four or five digit number. You put the food on the scale, type in the number, press print and slap the label on the bag. The clerks almost always thank me for doing that, so I guess there are some customers who don't use the system. Can't understand why, though. It's easy and efficient. And no icky sticky labels on the fruit!
I like Wegman's system of having the shopper weigh and label their own produce. They have little signs near each display of food that contain a four or five digit number. You put the food on the scale, type in the number, press print and slap the label on the bag. The clerks almost always thank me for doing that, so I guess there are some customers who don't use the system. Can't understand why, though. It's easy and efficient. And no icky sticky labels on the fruit!
And the Wegmans method wouldn't stop people from labeling organic produce with the cheaper non organic code ... or stop people/employees from mistakenly mixing fuji apples in with the gala apples.