.@wholefoods bait & switch: pre-cut fish sold at significant premium to unsuspecting shoppers. I’m a whole foodie, but this practice is deceptive - tricked my wife, and tricked my mother-in-law, who returned from the store yesterday so pleased about the great price for halibut: $7.99 a pound.
No, actually — the price was $7.99 per *6 oz. piece*. The five pieces they wrapped up when she asked for “about two pounds” totaled $40. The actual price per pound was $22, or about 20% more than the non-pre-cut halibut they display non-adjacently.
So, for the hurried, unsuspecting Whole Foods shopper seeking fish counter bargains, not only are they not getting the rock bottom price as ‘advertised’ (90%+ of the product on display is sold by the pound), they are actually paying MORE to have fish cut into little pieces. The grift is quite successful, using our small family as a test case. I almost fell for it a few months ago (I had a “let me get this straight” moment with the fish monger) but my wife was duped by ‘cheap’ salmon a few weeks later, and my mother-in-law took the bait yesterday.
Two out of three ain’t bad.
