Over the years, many types of businesses have found new ways to charge their customers for convenience. From the convenience of a ride share to food delivery and easier-to-make foods at the grocery store.
One grocery store has taken it a step further. Known on TikTok for folks criticizing its self-checkout, or questioning the reasons behind discounts that appear to be higher than the original sale price, Australian grocer Woolworths has come under fire from one customer who has taken to the platform to express frustration with the idea that avocados closer to ripening are more expensive on the store’s website.
In a video posted to TikTok, showing the listed price difference between regular avocados expected to ripen in two to four days and “eat now” avocados expected to ripen in one to two days, a customer expresses her frustration with the idea. The 30-cent difference is perplexing for poster Brooke (@justanotherbusymum), who captioned her video saying that the whole thing was “a bit of a joke.”
“What do you mean it’s 30 cents more for the same type of avocado that’s ripe sooner?” she says in the video.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the poster as well as to Woolworths via email regarding the video.
@justanotherbusymum Well this is a bit of a joke #fyp #fypシ #foryoupage #viralvideo ♬ original sound – Brooke 🌸
Some viewers pointed out that the “eat now” marketing of avocados was simply a way to charge customers more for older produce while reframing it as a convenience.
“They really said we’re gonna charge you a premium for older produce under the guise of convenience,” one commenter wrote.
“One could argue they should be cheaper since there is a small window that they can be eaten once ripe,” another said.
“So Woolworths now charging an extra 25% on produce’s natural ripening process?” a further viewer quipped.
A few viewers wrote that they had noticed a difference between the avocados’ price in-store as well and were paying no heed to this eat-now pricing.
“Yep noticed this the other…except it was $1 difference in store,” one commented. “I just manually selected avos and got them for the cheap price.”
“I don’t mark it on self serve as ‘eat now’. whoops.” a second added. “I didn’t even notice that was an option.”
“How would they even know? is it judged at the checkout?” a third asked. “Do they rotate the stickers every 2 days when new ones are ripe? I don’t understand.”
