The stock joke about Whole Foods is that its name should be Whole Pay Check. Whole Foods can charge anything it wants to charge for an organic Caesar salad and as far as I’m concerned, this is America and they’re entitled to do it. It is when they do a bit of creative pricing with my salad (like not subtracting the weight of the container) then I begin to have problems.
In an article distributed on Reuters (June 25, 2014) entitled: “Whole Foods to pay $800,000 for overcharging California customers,” we learn that the natural foods supermarket chain is being hit with a hefty fine by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office.
According to the article:
“Problems included failing to subtract at checkout the weight of salad bar containers, giving less weight than shown on labels for packaged items sold by the pound and selling items such as kebabs and deli foods by the piece rather than by the pound as required by law.”
There were apparently other problems stemming from the fact that upon checkout, customers were charged full-price, while advertised prices were less.
Drifting in a sea of lost values
Whole Foods was once the epitome of values that characterized the natural foods industry; clean foods, ethical behavior and reasonable pricing. They got big; they went public and they became “corporate.”
Pure, “clean” foods, the very soul of the natural foods industry was allowed to drift a bit many years ago when Whole Foods discovered that customers wanted choices. I can find little fault with this strategy; it has apparently worked. The choices are usually delicious and if they’re not always organic or all-natural, I will concede they are doing what they need to do to fuel their expansion and to satisfy the needs of their shareholders. It is, after all, a business.
As for reasonable pricing, it is not for me to say what the guy down the street can afford. There are many retail alternatives. I am sure there are other stores that sell tofu that looks like duck and tempeh that tastes like ribs or whatever you might like.
But there are no alternatives to good ethics. It is or it isn’t. This is where the drifting becomes serious.
No shades of gray
By and large, most companies do a pretty miserable job of policing themselves. They put up plaques or HR comes in and gives a quickie course in customer service, but it never seems to filter down. Do I think Whole Foods is an unethical company? No, I do not, in fact I enjoy shopping there! I believe that there is a corporate smugness that takes over in any organization where the image is more important than the intent. Whole Foods, and a great many companies like Whole Foods have a great image. But what is their ethical intent?
The agreement to pay an $800,000 lawsuit is not something a company takes lightly and the charges leveled by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office were not done in a frivolous manner. They took a year to build their case; not in an afternoon because a new employee had made a mistake.
The pattern of over-charging took place across several departments at several locations. Perhaps some employees were lazy; perhaps some were ignorant or perhaps some were just mean. It makes no difference. Ethically, no one told them it is not right to cheat people or to overcharge them or to take customers for granted. There may be several shades of gray in books and movies, but not in real life.
Whole Foods needs outside ethical training – and badly. Why “outside?” It is because internally, management and staff may be basking in their corporate sense of image. An external observer could care less. I would look for intent.
I would like to think that anyone who shops at Whole Foods should “feel safe” that their transaction was ethical. I don’t much care as much about their selection or price, as long as it’s ethically driven.
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