The thumb on the butcher's scale

Check your recipes: How many of them call for a pound and a quarter of ground beef?

Pictured above is a representative package of ground sirloin priced at $4.79 per pound. At Royal Ahold's (no kidding) Stop & Shop in Hudson, MA., there are no packages of ground beef, sirloin ir otherwise, that weight in at one pound. If you want a pound of $4.79/lb ground sirloin it is going to cost you $5.99.

There are a couple of guys in white coats, slightly stained with the marks of butchering, but they are hardly butchers. There is a sign, prominently displayed. If you see the guys packaging meat, then you see the sign: Now hiring $8/hour.

At $8/hour, these guys cannot afford much of the hamburger they package can they?

Stop & Shop aren't the only Royal Aholds that are forcing customers to buy more than they want.

Go to family owned Kennedy's Market in neighboring Marlborough and order a pound of ground beef. See if you get a pound. Order a pound of anything and see if you get a pound.

Shouldn't the markets we buy our food from be working on ways to serve customers better than the competition? Why are they working instead, to force their customers into buying more product than they want?

Aholds.