Recently, “America’s Healthiest Supermarket” Whole Foods, has come under fire after an investigation revealed that the grocer overcharges their customers. The social-verse erupted when the news broke. Villagers manned with cellphones, laptops and tablets took to Facebook and Twitter to express their outrage towards the store that has been so lovingly nicknamed as “whole paycheck”:
“I like Whole Foods, but I don’t like spending my whole check. I’ll stick with Trader Joe’s or Natural Grocers.
Who’s offended that Whole Foods did this?!? Let’s ban Whole Foods!!!!!!!!!!
Their prices are outrageous.”
(These are real comments.)
On Wednesday, CEOs issued an apology via their YouTube account with co-CEO Walter Robb saying “straight up, we made some mistakes. We want to own that and tell you what we’re doing about it.” Here’s a few things you might have missed if you A.) failed to actually read the investigation B.) have never shopped at Whole Foods and C.) enjoy the act of blindly-rage commenting on Facebook:
They were also guilty of undercharging customers. The investigation found that Whole Foods was guilty of overcharging for pre-packaged items priced by weight such as fresh squeezed juice, salad bars, fresh made sandwiches, bulk items. In addition, to overcharging by a small percent Whole Foods has undercharged you for your precious Goji berries
They pay their staff well. Crew members, cashiers, stock and many of Whole Foods employees start out with an average hourly salary of $11. This is higher than most grocery chains where cashiers may make only minimum wage or at best $9/hour. Crew members at Whole Foods who work 20+ hours a week are eligible for health benefits, retirement plans and more.
The investigation didn’t say anything about the other grocery items. Many people are so enraged they are forgetting the investigation didn’t say anything about the thousands of other products Whole Foods markets and sales. So while you feel justified by this investigation to not shop at Whole Foods because you thought it was ridiculous to pay $7 for a loaf of gluten free bread, Whole Foods may not have jacked that price up. In reality, that $7 price tag is probably more accurate than you think.
I’m willing to pay more for a grocery store that pays its employees well. In America we complain about everything without considering why some things are they way they are. We’re not satisfied that minimum wage is $7 but then we refuse to shop at the supermarket that pays its employees $11. We complain that a majority of our products are manufactured overseas and there are no jobs but we neglect American brands due to expense. Maybe it’s time we took a closer look at our objections and consider the consequences of judging first without doing research.
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