Big Brother Is Watching! (a little whine with my cheese)

Stopped in Schnuck’s this morning on the way back from Farmers’ Market. Nan had to pick up a few things so I wandered around a little. One of the things I always check for in any grocery store is Rice-A Roni’s Red Beans and Rice. There was one box and interestingly the price tag thingy on the shelf carried a large red tag noting that, “This item is discontinued.”

So what else is new?

Several years ago the son of one of Nan’s friends worked as a computer programmer at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, AK. One of the tidbits of interesting information that he passed on was the fact that Wal-Mart’s computer program tracked all of our (collective “our”, there) purchases. Not only for inventory control but also to force-feed us what we might want.

Have you ever paid any attention to those oddly stocked Kiosk thingies that you have to autocross your cart around? There’s a method here. If you see a cardboard rack in your way, filled with pickled pig’s feet and riding lawnmower batteries, don’t worry. It’s that the computer has just taken note that 37.8% of all shoppers who purchased lawnmower batteries also picked up some pickled pig’s feet. Now they can encourage the other 62.2% of us to get in step and conveniently find our pig’s feet right there with the batteries.

Naturally, for those of us half-empty "glassers" who wear the title of curmudgeon, we now are certain that they have taken the computer information to a higher level. Everyone else is out to get us, so why should Wal-Mart (or any other retailer) be different. What I’m talking about here is that as soon as you discover something you really like; notice how quickly it disappears?

For example, years ago I decided that Head & Shoulders shampoo was going to be my shampoo – forever. It came concentrated (tiny dab was all you needed) in a toothpaste type tube that didn’t squash up like the toothpaste ones and even came with a little clip-on thingy that would let you hang it in the shower. The whole thing was compact for traveling also.

Now this was back before their computer program began to run our consumer lives, so I was able to enjoy a few years of use. Sure ‘nuff, as soon as the computer was rebooted after the software was installed, the concentrated tubes of Head & Shoulders became scarce. For a while I would search around and maybe find it at Kroger’s or Target. Eventually those places also jumped on the computer bandwagon and I could only find it available at places that specialized in discontinued or out of date inventory, such as Bargain Barn, Big Lots and such. Finally it dawned on me that it was not coming back, and I started buying up all of the available stock when I found some. Naturally, this didn’t last forever and I was reduced to buying the liquid Head & Shoulders.

Of course this stuff only came in a large plastic bottle that wouldn’t fit in my travel bag and was awkward, at best, to keep in the shower, necessitating the purchase of some small plastic bottles for my travel kit and a pump bottle for the shower – both filled from the original container.

Ah-ha! I beat their system.

But no!

The computer program tracked my purchases and the packaging for Head & Shoulders was again changed, this time accompanied with a complete change in the formula for the shampoo. The new stuff was almost worthless in comparison, forcing me into many months, if not years of experimentation, searching for a new shampoo.

Somewhere along there it dawned on me that “they” were using the computer programs, not only for tracking what was purchased, but who exactly was purchasing it. Now they had developed the ability to “mess” with us, and began to exhibit great delight in doing so.

Many of my favorite items have since disappeared from the shelves; the latest being Red Beans and Rice from the Rice-A-Roni company. Why Rice-A-Roni? Well not all of us like garlic in everything from mashed potatoes to dinner rolls (pay attention, Applebee’s) so, through some semi-costly trial and error, I discovered that only Rice-A-Roni packaged the garlic-heavy seasonings in a separate pack that could easily be tossed away, allowing the rice and beans to be cooked with the seasoning of my choice – not theirs.

Now about a year ago, I noticed this was becoming hard to find. Our grocery shopping trips to Wal-Mart would be followed by a quick stop at Kroger’s where we picked up several boxes of the beans & rice (usually all they had on the shelf.) Eventually, this required an additional stop at Schnuck’s as Kroger’s also joined in. I was finally forced to email Rice-A-Roni to ask what the heck was going on. They were kind enough to respond that all was well in the production of their Red Beans & Rice and that I should complain to the grocery store manager. They were not, however, kind enough to send me a free case of the stuff.

Next time at Schnuck’s, I did catch the manager and had him order a case for me. This case has served well, but noting only one left in the pantry prompted this morning’s search at Schnuck’s and the resultant discovery that they (at least) have decided that it has been discontinued.

What to do?

What to do?

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