Stalk snappers beware: You could be charged double
For vegetable growers, greengrocers and supermarkets alike, it’s one of the most frustrating habits of shoppers.
They say that by doing it, it not only deprives them of income but also takes away the delicious flavour of the produce.
Once store is so tired of it that its owners have gone beyond simply shaking their heads when customers are out of view they’ll now charge customers double if they do this dastardly deed.
So what is this habit that has caused so much frustration?
Snapping off the stalks of broccoli and dumping them before they head to the cash register.
Some shoppers believe that by taking off the stalks, they save a few cents but grocers are tired of it.
A greengrocer in Sydney’s inner west took the liberty of posting a blunt message for those who thought it was an appropriate practice.
“Do not remove broccoli stalks,” it read. “Otherwise be charged double”.
The sneaky habit is so common, that grocers are finding an abundance of stalks at the bottom of broccoli crates.
“I always break it off and leave it,” one stalk snapper told news.com.au said, despite acknowledging the amount saved was not huge.
“It’s not about the cost, it’s the principle of being forced to pay for a stalk that won’t be used. Similarly, at the butcher I always ask that any excess fat is trimmed off.”
Another was equally unrepentant: “You get charged by weight so everyone breaks off the bits they don’t eat to get more bang for their buck.”
But a Sydneysider on team stalk said the practice “did her head in”. “Almost all fresh produce has a certain amount of waste – peel, core, seeds – that isn’t used but you still have to pay for it,” she said.
“You don’t go around leaving banana peels behind or the seed of an avocado. It’s just life.”
One shopper pointed out that supermarkets used to have bins in the fresh produce section where you could dump cauliflower leaves and other unnecessary veg accessories before paying for them. And pineapples have long been sold shorn of their spiky leaves – so why not sell broccoli with its stem detached?