Fruit vendors here put a premium of a 10% add on to the price of the fruits if the customer is selective, i.e. if you choose the fruits you want. Let’s say you will buy a kilo of mango, the vendor will just pick about 4 or 5 pieces in random for weighing. But if you will choose which specific mangoes you like then you have to add 10% to the price. This practice is prevalent in the city. But sometimes it is wiser to choose and pay the add on because buying fruits by random usually gets you some rotten fruits and it is disgusting when you come home to discover it. Choosing the specific fruit is best, you get the quality you want… at a premium.
I never shop by myself. I always go with my wife when she does some shopping. She's a good buyer. When she wants to buy some fruits she's the one who selects the best fruits in the display and when she's through that's the time that she will ask for a bargain. If she gets the best fruits, she haggles the price a little. By the way, I don't the idea that there is an addition cost for the best products sold therefor.
I always like chosing my fruits myself since I have had bad experiences when venders chose them for me. As you mentioned I end up with rotten choices so my money would be wasted anyway. I don't mind paying a little extra to get better quality as it's worth it instead of receiving rotten fruit.
That's really surprising to know @Alexandoy, as I shop a lot and never came across with that increase on price. I get to pick my own fruit, I even weight it myself, and all I have to do at the end is pay. No way I'd buy fruit if I didn't picked it because some fruit is not in the best conditions.
Very true, it's really surprising. I have never seen anything like that. In fact this is the only reason why I do not buy vegetables and fruits directly from farmer's shops. I do it in super market where we are free to pick the item we want. Otherwise they may give rotten fruits and vegetables and you know we can't see them doing that. They are expert in this field. But charging something extra just for picking fruits is somewhat really absurd. I think you should avoid those sellers and go to super markets. When their products are no more in demand they will be forced to change the rules. I am sure it is also illegal to increase prices based on this.
Yeah, maybe they don't give rotten fruit (in some cases they do), but I like my fruit and vegetables in a particular way, so I do like to pick them. Paying extra for us to select the fruit has to be something from another culture, I hope my country doesn't import that habit haha, with would be a bad one.
This is a malpractice where vendors are forcefully compelling the customers to buy sub-grade items. They could keep the price according to their margin, but this is typically an unfair mode. Here, we can choose and pick things even from the petty vendors. Thankfully there's no such awful restriction.
Great choice of words right there @moondebi and I totally agree with that, we should not be forced to buy pieces of fruit that are not in conditions, and what other reasons are there for vendors not allowing us to choose if not to give us bad quality fruit? Really strange restriction true.
When I am shopping for fruits it is actually a pretty calculated effort. The fruits that are choice or top shelf or what have you sometimes are the same as the others, you need to do a little inspecting.
My two choice fruits are apple and orange. I see this two fruits as not just food alone but also medicinal. Actually these fruits are rich in substances referred to scientifically as antioxidants. Antioxidants are strong agents which help our system fight disease causing radicals in the body. They can also act as anti ageing substances.
This practice is sometimes is alao adopted here but it is not a standard method and therefore people would ignore that seller if he hikes up prices for just selecting fruits. People would rather turn to supermarkets where one can get them on choice based for same price.
In some markets locally on Oahu we have packaged veggies and fruits. They sell it at a bargain so I bought it. One of the item in the package was not showing and it was spoiled so I'd rather pick my fruits and get the ones I like. Though once I bought bananas that had a black streak in them and couldn't eat them. I just paid for it and brought it home to find the black streak, so I essentially gave the market the money and threw out the fruit. Even eggs I check by opening the carton to check it before I buy it, so I'd really rather do that pick my own fruits rather than letting others pick it for me. It's not fair to me that you have to pay more for picking your fruits.
That happens in my country too @Krissttina Isobe, but before I buy those packaged fruits I turn the package around a few times to make sure the fruit inside is ok. When we are talking about strawberries I do the same, as nothing worse than buying a box of them and see they are not good to be eaten.
I am surprised to hear that you have to pay more for choosing to make a selection of the fruits you'd prefer from the lots. In my location I'd normally go to nearby groceries or the big malls to get fruits. There I make my selection without any interference from any vendor. After picking my choice fruits I go straight to weighing section then to billing and finally check out.
When it comes to choosing the fruits that I want to buy, I never give up the opportunity to always be able to choose all of them on my own (I feel better choosing what I want). I always listen to the sallers (which usually always indicate the most expensive products), but I never let myself be influenced by them. In the end, I only buy what I want.
@Alexandoy Fortunately, though I work and do marketing in cities, I haven't experienced this. I don't know if this is prevalent but it's illegal and people will usually complain if this practice is being done on a massive scale.If a vendor starts picking fruits for me, I'll start picking fruits for myself and have it weighed. I'll pay the exact price of the fruit and if the vendor refuses (which I doubt), I'll walk away and tell the authorities about it. Most fruits are expensive and vendors will generally prefer to sell fairly than discourage people not to buy because of the price. For that reason, I avoid buying fruits randomly. I save a lot by going to a night market every Saturday night (9pm) after attending Church service. The vegetables and fruits cost half of what I would otherwise pay if I have to buy them in my area.
The fruits vendors I normally like patronizing are those selling apples. I think it's easy dealing with this set of fruit sellers in that they will just tell you how much an apple is cost. One thing all the fruits look same in size and similar in all ramification such that there won't be much need for too many selections before buying. I like to always have my fridge stock with apples simply for the health benefits.
@tonyb I love appeals but unfortunately they are very costly here so I buy apples very rarely. Usually I satisfy with cheap but nutritious fruits like guava, mango, pineapple, watermelon etc. which are available in plenty here. I haven't seen any place here that sell apples as individual units. I buy them by weight and sometimes they tactfully include rotten apples in the lot. Nowadays I shop in hyper-malls where we are free to select the fruits we want. It may be somewhat costly but we can have quality products.
