For the past few years I have purchased my boneless skinless chicken breasts from places like Albertsons, Costco and every once in awhile even Walmart.
The last few times I have come home from Walmart with a package of chicken breasts I got this feeling like something just wasn’t right.
The styrofoam package and the little juice-soaker-upper thingy (I know… real technical) felt almost as heavy as the chicken breasts inside. I had this nagging feeling that I was getting ripped off.
So last week when I brought home another package of chicken from Walmart I decided to go with my gut and actually weigh the chicken and package.
In the store the price said $2.09 per lb. That’s an okay price – I usually get better deals at Zaycon.
Here is the package I brought home.
I paid $10.74 for the package. It says there is 5.14 lbs of chicken inside. At $2.09 per lb the price is correct.
So the first thing I did was to set the whole package on the scale to see if it was 5.14 lbs.
Ummm…nope! It weighs 4.938 lbs. So right there the price is off. I measured a few other items to make sure my scale was accurate first and it was.
I did read on the packaging it says “Contains up to 15% natural chicken broth.” I was assuming that it was injected into the chicken breasts or something, but I noticed a TON of chicken juices in this package. I think that is kind of weasly, don’t you?
Next I decided to take out all the chicken and see how much that weighed by itself.
This is all the chicken in the package. I tared the scale and then put the chicken on the scale.
3.97 lbs.
I knew it. Oh the humanity. I was irritated and annoyed at this point. I should have only paid $7.92 for this package at $2.09 per lb.
Still, I wanted to weigh just the package and juice-soaker-upper thingie.
This weighed almost exactly ONE pound.
So…that $2.09 per pound price is now $2.71 per pound.
Sneaky sneaky packaging.
I feel cheated. Duped. Bamboozled (yeah, I just went there. ) I wanted to run to my computer and share this all right away. But I was nervous. I mean posting online that I was ripped off at Walmart? What if I got the Oprah treatment? (sued)
Well, just in case, I will leave this little disclaimer…this problem may have only been at my local store and not chain wide.
One Week Later
I bought chicken again, this time I happened to be at Winco. The chicken was priced at $2.09 per lb again.
On the package it says it should be 4.04 lbs, but it was actually 4.15 lbs! Way to go Winco…you actually considered the weight of the packaging!
When I weighed the chicken it was spot on at 4.04 lbs. Their styrofoam package was not nearly as heavy as the Wally world one. Sheesh.
So anyways, I was going to say to always avoid these kinds of packages and just go for either the frozen bags at Costco or fresh from a deli. But Winco surprised me that they actually are honest in their policies of weighing the meat. (Big slow clap for Winco!)
As for Walmart – I didn’t call customer service or complain to them in store. We ate the $3.00 lb. chicken and it was tasty. No problems in the quality of the product, the problem I have is the jacking up of the price because of the packaging dishonesty.
I plan on going in again with my scale and see if it happens again. And if it does I will complain.
So watch out for chicken cheats and always try to get what you paid for because if you’re not careful you may end up paying over two dollars for a piece of slimy chicken juice packaging.
Oh and question everything my friends. If you feel something is wrong, it probably is.
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Reta says
I hardly go to Wally World,but it’s good to know,I do go to winco sometimes.
Won’t be buying anymore from Wally World anymore,mostly food.winco is
A good store,a lot of good deals.i shop at Costco more though.
its bad enoughThe price on everything,then have to add to the soaking,and fat.
just isn’t rite,
Maybe someday people will be honest enough and try doing the rite thing.
Marie says
Here in New York every county has a Dept. of Weights and measures. The are responsible (among other things) for the accuracy of the scales in the supermarkets. If they find that the actual weight of a package doesn’t match the label, the store can be fined (and usually is). Same goes for gas pumps. If your state or county has such a department, report that Walmart to them.
Sarah Butler says
Good post! Sometimes vigilance will pay off either by finding a new place to shop or informing the store so they can change their practices. It does go the other way, sometimes, though – I was newly married and in my first apartment, and money was tight. We had very little grocery money and I had coupons like crazy. I made a trip to the store and checked the meat section for anything marked down. Imagine my surprise when I found a TBone priced at $0.07! Not marked down! And another. And another… and still another. A total of 8 steaks at $0.07 each! I put them in my basket and continued my shopping. At the register, I said to the cashier, I don’t know if this is right, and brought her attention to the prices. She said, “I have to sell them for what it says,” and they rang up at $0.07 each. She assured me that I was not in the wrong, and that this purchase would be used to “re-school” the butcher employees – apparently whoever was in charge of packaging had ONLY weighed the Styrofoam & soaker-upper pad!!
Heather says
Wow, that is incredible! How lazy and dishonest. I usually buy whole chickens, which is less packaging at least. Of course, the best bet is to buy from a local farmer!
Heidi says
I was so glad to see this post – I noticed the same thing myself when I purchased some chicken breasts there – I thought it was just me. All the same, I vowed never to buy meat from Walmart again. And I don’t think complaining to the store would have done much good – what are you supposed to do, package the whole mess back up and take it back? Ick. I certainly think they would have refused a refund, since you probably went ahead and used it, because I bet you didn’t want to waste any more time, money and energy to take it back. Bravo on Costco meat – it’s all we buy.
Leisha Evans says
We all have to shop where we can and buy what we are willing to eat or think we will eat..
I learned to weight my items sometime when I was young so I knew what I paid and how much I got for those items.
I personally looked around and found a locale farmer who does their own packaging and I happen to have a locale grocery store that caters to customers who like air chilled chicken so I buy from both I live in a city surrounded albeit less farmland than before but sill farmers who feed us what we want. Yes I pay more than $ 2-3.00 per pound but I do know where and how my chicken was prepared prior to reaching my grocery bag.
I think this is one more reason to bring home eco-nomics back to school. And let no food or distributor company control what is taught in the home -eco-nomics class.
April Lynn Penney says
My mom has worked for Walmart for 19years now. When she started she was a temporary part-time seasonal employee. The company has changed alot since Sam died. He did care much more about the individual than the bottom line. They used to package and cut their own meat. The children decide it would be cheaper to outsource the department and go with prepackaged products. People are right when they say that Walmart no longer cares. Sam’s own children are responsible for the move away from what was once all about the blue collar customer and employees. Now it is all about the bottom line. I have grown up with Walmart playing a major part of my life and I have watched as his children do everything in their power to run the ship straight at the reef sooner or later they are going to bottom out or cause the unpatchable hole. Either way bad policy always has a way to come to light.
Sandrine Love says
I would caution folks from eating boneless, skinless chicken breasts regularly.
From our educational materials:
“I want to highlight the fact that we need vitamin A for protein assimilation. What happens when you eat protein powder or lean meat or egg whites without the yolks, or skim milk? There’s no fat, there’s no vitamin A, so your body goes to the liver to get the vitamin A stored there and pretty soon you run out of vitamin A. A high-protein, low-fat diet is the quickest way to become depleted of vitamin A, and that’s when you start to see auto-immune diseases and chronic fatigue, the kind of problems that the medical professionals just do not know what to do about. Remember that the traditional cultures never ate lean meat. It is not hard to get adequate protein in the western diet.
You do need some good-quality animal protein, but that’s the easy part, especially in America where we are not lacking for protein. What we are lacking are the fat-soluble activators.”
Hans says
All you need to do is eat real butter instead the artificial crap. Have a serving of beacon once a month and you don’t have to worry about vitamin A.
Andrea says
I have switched to organic meats. When I can’t get them from a local farmer, I buy ground beef and whole chickens from Costco. I have been very pleased with the quality. I live next store to a chicken farmer (whose farm is about 5 miles away) and they have told me horror stories about Tyson and the processes they use to grow and process the chickents. All the corporate chicken farms and processors use the same thechniques. If you think you are getting treated well because the price is the same on the lable as on your scale you are sorely mistaken. They are cheating you by taking unecessary risks with your health.
Cathy says
Agreed!
Kathleen Morgan says
ewwww…all the more reason not to even eat meat
Angel says
I stopped shopping at Walmart years ago because they mostly employ part-time employees so that they don’t have to pay them benefits. Also most of their items are imported and not made in the USA. I figured a company that makes billions of dollars in the USA should treat their employees better. They also have millions of workers in other countries that work in inhumane conditions. I refuse to spend my money in that place.
Lee Ann says
Angel- not sure where you shop but EVERY store uses part-time employees and it’s only going to get worse under the “Affordible Care Act”. Also, Target, K-Mart, etc. is full of imported products made overseas in countries that don’t treat their workers well. Let me tell you, even the clothes that you purchase at upscale stores like Ann Taylor, Macy’s, etc are made overseas in so-called sweatshops.
James says
They say that every Walmart costs the taxpayers about $420,000 per year in welfare. I try to shop at Costco and Stop & Shop, which do offer their employees benefits, some even to the part-time ones.
Lee Ann, you should read up on the Affordable Care Act before you criticize it. Obviously, your state is not participating in the health care exchanges, or you’d see the benefits like I did.
Traci says
James, as for your mention of reading about the benefits of the “affordable care act” better known as OBAMACARE…This is what this so called “great benefit to our nation” has done for my husband and myself. We had GREAT insurance! We were paying $75.57 a week for a family plan, no co pay at doctor, deductible of $500 for ENTIRE family, included dental and vision, and I could see any doctor I wanted. We got a notice from my husbands employer that stated, “Due to the requirements that now need to be met as required by Affordable Care Act, there are some changes to your insurance policy”. WOW was there!! We would have to now pay $167.97 a week for a family plan, co pay of $45 at the doctor of their choosing, a deductible of $1500 per PERSON, no dental or vision. So now, tell me how is this affordable?? We were barely scraping by before this disaster and we had health insurance. Now? We had to cancel the insurance as it was either pay the high rate or eat. There was no cutting back anywhere else, we don’t go out, we don’t buy anything we don’t absolutely NEED and we have minimums on anything else we have to buy, ie car insurance is general liability only. Seriously, obama created this disaster that americans are feeling in their pockets and I don’t care if the irs will charge a fine for not having insurance. We are taking the amount of money we were paying before this disaster and sticking in a safe place. When disaster occurs for us and we need to pay for a doctor, at least we will have some money to do it with. As for obamacare and seeing what it would cost through it for our insurance needs, that is an entirely different response from me and I don’t think it would appropriate for me to comment about it on here, suffice it to say, it would cost me more money per week that what we would pay through hubby’s employer. obamacare = financial ruin, and hopefully ruin for all the liberals that voted for it!!
Carol says
sorry about our health insurance, but totally agree with you. It is happening to us all.
Hans says
You got a bargain/ come on plan before that lots of the insurance put in place as bait and switch. they knew the plan did not comply with future requirements but hey sold millions of them anyhow knowing that millions will be pissed off. To bad you got caught up in that scheme, but don’t blame the ACA for that, blame your insurance company that knowingly sold you a cheap and in some ways inferior plan. My insurance plan cost went down and the coverage better…I can’t complain.
Lauren says
Sorry, I worked for ten years in benefits administration. Many of these companies have had the same plan for years, long before the Abominable Care Act went into effect. I have read the law. I have seen the effects. I have been affected by it.
The law specifically required maximum benefits as well as minimum–many plans covered too much (spread the wealth, remember?) and had to be eliminated on that basis.
Blaming it on the insurance companies is the bait and switch.
Cathy says
I agree….I refuse to spend my money at Walmart…buy fresh, buy organic, and above all buy local 🙂
Hans says
Unfortunately buying local does not protect you from illness. Remember the people that bought the melons in Colorado at the farmers market bought organic, bought local and died / got sick anyways anyways with thousands sick throughout the country when they used contaminated water to grow their melons.. Sickness and dead can reach you if you buy local of from a thousand miles away.
Sandy Albrechtsen says
I never buy meat from Walmart. I have also noticed the water in hamburger and figured that the same practice followed throughout the meat department. I don’t care that the meat comes prepackaged, they pay for inferior quality in order to have the lower prices. The quality is poor throughout the store. In fact I seldom buy anything there except paper goods, pet food and OTC.
Mike says
Stop eating meat. . . it’s cruel, filled with harmful preservatives, half of them time it’s old. . . etc. . . it’s just not good for you.
Abby says
How is eating meat cruel?? That’s what the good Lord put it here for. To feed us. And I don’t disagree about the preservatives etc… But if you buy natural, free range, grass fed meat,which is the way it’s supposed to be, then it’s not. Everyone’s titled to their opinion and I’m by no means trying to discount yours… I just don’t see how it’s cruel when that’s what they were meant to be for.
Jannelle Hurney says
She could have purchased healthy, pastured, organic chicken for what she spent!!
Hans says
Remember you would still swing from tree to tree if it would not for the ability of early humans to a) eat meat and b) cook hat meat that in return provided the energy needed for brain development and the advancement of the human race.Humans are omnivores and need the energy and nutrition from meat for proper development. Look at the studies of children brain development and cardiovascular development and the slew of problems societies that grow up vegan have.
Kim says
I’ve actually had that same problem at other stores, one in particular was so consistent about not taring the scale with the package and it was the only grocery in a reasonable distance. I contacted the store manager several times, it didn’t improve so I contacted the state attorney general who promptly contacted the store to resolve. I got a response from the state that it was a training issue but
Larry Walewski says
Man, I bet stores just love blogs. People will take the time to write lengthy accounts of all their problems, complete with pictures and then they won’t feel the need to actually come back to the store to complain to get some real meaningful resolution, the only kind that will actually make a difference in their policies. Unless I’m mistaken, Walmart has a complete satisfaction policy. If I had felt strongly enough to want to make a blog post about the problem, I certainly would have felt strongly enough to hold on to my receipt so that the next time I returned to Walmart I would have gotten a COMPLETE refund for the product. That’s how you could have saved some money. I mean, it’s all good warning your readers about this, but if you aren’t going to do the only thing that’s going to make a difference in their policies and your wallet, what’s the point?
Eliz says
Larry, Walmart doesn’t give two hoots about what their customers think or customer service. I can tell you this from my own experiences with them. If you go into the store, they would only offer you another package and to call corporate. If you contact corporate they either never call or write you back, or you get an excuse not a solution or apology. Walmart is big, they don’t care what one customer thinks or says because one customer can’t hurt them and they know it. The only satisfaction policy Walmart is interested in upholding is the one that works out best for them.
Brett says
While not a big fan of Walmart, this is just opinion without citing particular incidents or producing some proof. It seems to me like it’s just ‘cool’ to hate big businesses like WM.
larry says
well I am a assistant manager with Wal-Mart and have been for 13 years and I promise you our policy is to make every customer 150% happy no matter what and yes I have sent many customers the card in mail or paid them for there gas to come in depending on circumstances so if your store don’t care call your stores district manager Wal-Mart cares about yes even one customer all customers that come in our store and talks to management starting with the csm’s on the front end on up is very happy when they leave our store and yes the meat comes in prepackaged and impossible to recheck without opening every one I would have to hire 10 people just to do that in my store if that would even be enough
Allison says
You don’t have to take the chicken out of the package to check it! That is silly. You can simply put your packaging on the scale and zero it out, then put the whole chicken package on. Most good scales have a memory setting so you could program it to remove the packaging amount. You could also get a good idea if it was off by just putting it on the scale and checking how close the number is to that on the package. As the writer did and knew it was off. Also, it would take someone an extra 10 seconds to have a scale next to the to check a couple of packages in each box, not 10 people. As a manger you should know this.
Kathy says
I appreciate her taking the time to do the post. It is not something I would have ever thought of checking. At an overcharge of almost $3.00 on one package. Who knows how much I have flittered through my fingers over the years not paying attention to how a store does their weights, That can add up to a lot over time and a blog telling me to pay attention is a service to others!
James says
On the plus side, Larry, putting it in a blog lets the rest of the world hear about it. I might go to Stop & Shop with a digital scale this week and see how they handle things.
Dave says
Walmart is great for this. We purchase their 98/2 ground beef and the 1lb package is never one pound of meat. I somewhat agree with the earlier poster that there is human error here somewhere along the process but I would not be surprised if this was also intentionally done. The amount of money that they are saving adds up exponentially.
jules151 says
First, I will tell you that I work for a major supermarket company in the Northeast. My job is Pricing Coordinator. What they are doing is against the law in my state (Massachusetts). The tare of the packaging must be subtracted from the actual weight of the product. This could be a hefty fine for the company if they are caught. Don’t bother contacting Walmart directly. I would contact your state’s Weights And Measures Department and have them investigate.
Marsha Schultz says
Absolutely, contact the Weights and Measures Department for your state to investigate. Don’t contact Wal-Mart directly. This is important because Wal-Mart has been caught and fined many times for doing this very thing.
Christine Tolhurst says
Weird. I find the opposite to be true between Walmrt and Winco’s chicken here. Winco’s is absolutely disgusting and usually full of liquids in the package to the point where it is leaking out all over. YUCK!
Chef Beth says
You should call the manager of the store & let them know their meat department is being dishonest. If it doesn’t get you any satisfaction then call the corporate office. They obviously included the packaging in the total weight. Someone either wasn’t instructed properly on how to tare the scale or they are just being lazy.
Liz says
Walmart does not package their own meat it is all shipped in, I know this because my husband was the meat department manager for walmart for over two years all they do is unpack it and put it on the shelf hell its already weighed and priced when they get it
mike says
This does not in any way relieve Wal-Mart from its responsibility of verifying weights and measures on packaged meats like this.
Carla Phillips says
I quit buying meat from Walmart years ago. I was purchasing ground beef and when I browned it and there was water when it started to brown I realized I was paying for water. I was paying for water! No more — I purchase meat from a local grocery store and don’t feel like I’ve ever been cheated.
Diane says
Carla, all meat has some naturally, occurring water in it. God put it there. Think about all of the water you drink everyday (if you don’t drink enough water, you become de-hydrated and your muscles cramp). Ground Beef is basically ground muscle (think about it). As for water in your ground beef, each breed of beef is a little different in their genetic make-up, so it will vary from breed to breed how much water is in the meat.
Hans says
Nature put it there, god is just a fairy tale
Karrie says
Sorry Hans, God is real. 🙂 You just don’t know Him yet.
Zoe says
Oh boy, the fruit loops are coming out.
Karrie says
🙂