Yuengling Is Dangerous

In preparation for a July 4th BBQ, we went to Harris Teeter to buy a case of beer. I should have known that not going to Wegmans would be a mistake. Anyway, we brought the case of Yuengling to the register, and that’s where the story gets interesting. The cashier picked up the case of beer to scan it, but she wouldn’t let go. Um, even though I hadn’t paid for it yet, I thought to myself, don’t take my beer, cashier!*

However, she wasn’t actually taking the beer. Somehow, she got her hand stuck in the cardboard box handle. She panicked and yelled for a colleague to come over. He arrived, assessed the situation, saw the fear and rage in the cashier’s eyes, and raced back to customer service to get a pair of scissors. He may have even run carrying a pair of scissors during his quick return to the register. That is even more unsafe than picking up a case of beer by the handle!

So Harris Teeter guy prepared to cut her hand out like he was using the “Jaws of Life.” Unfortunately, he was about to cut where the cashier’s fingers were located. She quickly stopped him to make sure the cut took place on the side away from her fingers. At this point, the manager came over and announced to the cashier that she (meaning the cashier) would do anything to get out of work in a jokingly, but probably some truth-in-the-joke way. Finally, the original Harris Teeter guy made the cut and the cashier was free. I believe that this was on the same level of Baby Jessica’s rescue from the well.

The cashier, apparently in pain from getting her fingers pinched, could not go on with our transaction. Did I mention that we didn’t have a full shopping cart? All we bought was one case of beer. The manager apologized to us and offered to get us a new case of beer with the handle completely intact. Not a free case of beer, just a difference case of Yuengling. We declined this offer because, honestly, we just wanted to pay, get the heck out of there and laugh safely away from the cashier.

It was truly an odd experience. I originally thought we were on some type of Candid Camera, but soon realized that the cashier was actually stuck. It was difficult to remain supportive yet attempt not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. You’ll be glad to know that after I paid for the beer, I successfully carried the beer to the car and BBQ. Oh this is the beer. Pretty scary, huh?





* The “Don’t Take My Beer, Cashier” phrase should be on a T-shirt. Get Fresh Designs should be on this immediately!

The "Does Wegmans Rule" Experiment Results?

Now that the "Does Wegmans Rule" experiment is complete, we (lacochran & I) thought it would be nice to share the results. For those of you new to this challenge, we asked for volunteers (here and here) to take a checklist to their local grocery store and price the following items:

- 1 dozen large eggs
- 1/2 gallon Bryers vanilla
- 1 pound of bananas
- 1 head of romaine lettuce
- 1 box of San Georgio Spaghetti
- 1 1000 sheet roll of Scott toilet tissue
- 1 cup of Dannon Light ‘N Fit yogurt
- 1 12oz. can of Spam luncheon meat

We figured that this would give a wide variety of products that are commonly used. Well, except for Spam because Spam is funny and makes us think of Monty Python.

Our gracious volunteers visited these stores:

- Wegmans in Fairfax, VA
- Harris Teeter – Herndon, VA
- Shopper’s – Alexandria, VA
- Greenbelt Co-op – Greenbelt, MD
- Giant – Alexandria, VA
- Giant – Reston, VA
- Safeway – Fairfax, VA
- Kroger – Atlanta, GA
- Publix – Atlanta, GA

On to the results. We prepared an elaborate spreadsheet and a 20-page PowerPoint presentation to share, but we couldn’t quite figure out how to post it here. Maybe we’ll publish it as part of our dissertation: Sean Learns the Difference Between Iceberg and Romaine Lettuce. Back to the premise of our experiment, does Wegmans rule? The answer is yes. We took the total of the eight items at the DC area stores, and with a total of $12.93, Wegmans had the cheapest prices. Shopper’s finished in second at $13.25 and the Greenbelt Co-op earned the bronze with $13.34. Safeway was the most expensive at $18.09, although we think that the toilet paper priced was possibly a 4-pack and not an individual roll. (If one roll is really $3.35, we’re never going there again.) Even adjusting the price of toilet paper to $1, the total of $15.60 was about $1.35 more than the next most expensive store (Harris Teeter - $14.16, note: they did not sell individual rolls of Scott toilet tissue at Harris Teeter so we plugged in an assumption of $1 for comparison purposes).

What about Atlanta you ask? We say it is a city in Georgia . Oh, you’re wondering about the prices. Both Krogers and Publix do not carry 1000 sheet rolls of Scott toilet tissue or boxes of San Georgio spaghetti; however, if we add average price of each to the total, Kroger would actually be the cheapest at $12.29, largely due to Breyers ice cream being on sale (only $2.27). Kroger does have the most expensive eggs at $2.29 but Spam is apparently cheaper in the South ($2.29 – Kroger; $2.09 – Publix; between $2.49 [Wegmans] and $3.35 [Safeway] in the DC area).

In case you were wondering, the prices at Giant in Reston and Alexandria were exactly the same.

We were hoping people would document hilarious anecdotes about their secret shopper expeditions but by in large... not so much. Apparently, this is pretty serious stuff. So, we release you from your official obligations as secret shoppers and invite you to create a clean up on aisle 3 incident of your choosing.

So that’s about it. Thanks again to everyone who participated, to DC Blogs for linking to us and to Swapping Tales (aka The Abbot aka abbotofunreason) who created the incredibly cool badge.

A special thank you to lacochran for not laughing (at least that I know of) at the original idea of the "Does Wegmans Rule" Experiment and for truly organizing most of the challenge!