With regards to grocery chains in Quebec, IGA normally finds itself on the extra bougie finish of the grocery store spectrum. And folk who store there know their costs aren’t precisely Super C territory.
However a location on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine is taking issues to a brand new stage, and individuals are shedding it.
A client who visited the IGA in Fatima not too long ago got here throughout particular person Savoura hothouse tomatoes, every one sealed in its personal plastic container and wrapped in cling wrap.
A photograph of the show hit the Facebook group Spotted Service de Marde (an online web page devoted to dangerous service experiences with corporations) on Monday, April 20, and inside 24 hours had tons of of feedback piling up.
The kicker: some individually-wrapped tomatoes had been priced at over $5 a bit ($14.99/kg).
For context, hothouse tomatoes, sometimes grown in temperature-controlled environments, are dearer than the typical tomato. Nevertheless, they are often bought for $8.80/kg at Metro and Maxi respectively.
On this case, IGA’s packaging alone was sufficient to get folks going. And the worth despatched them over the sting.
What individuals are saying
The (principally French) feedback ranged from outrage to flat-out mockery. Listed below are a couple of highlights:
- “Neglect the packaging — $5.07 for one tomato. No thanks, I am going to cross.”
- “$5 for a tomato, come on!” — to which another person replied they’d purchased the identical tomato for half the worth at Walmart, including: “So right here we’re paying for the packaging and the worker who wrapped them.”
- One particular person had a concept about why they’re packed individually: “To ensure they do not scan them beneath a less expensive code, if you happen to ask me.”
Not everybody was livid, although. Some made mild of the scenario.
- “At $15 a kilo, they may as nicely defend them by wrapping them,” joked one commenter, whereas one other recommended IGA ought to go all in and add bubble wrap and a safety tag.
- “Natural? I hope!!!”
Many identified the irony of a grocery retailer embracing single-use plastic at a time when paper bread bag ties, cardboard straws, and picket forks have grow to be the norm.
What the shop says
MTL Weblog reached out to the IGA location in Fatima for remark.
A retailer consultant obtained again to us an stated the tomatoes had been packaged and priced incorrectly:
“After verification, we will verify that this was an inner communication error, each when it comes to the show and the presentation of the product. The tomatoes had been individually wrapped by mistake, and the unit worth displayed didn’t replicate the unique intention.”
The shop has since adjusted the worth of the produce merchandise.
“As quickly because the scenario was dropped at our consideration, the required corrections had been rapidly made in retailer,” the consultant added. “We acknowledge that this example might have precipitated confusion and now we have since taken the required steps to forestall such a scenario from recurring.”