Dear Customers,
I’m sure at some time in your life, you’ve purchased something that didn’t quite live up to expectations. There are multiple degrees of this – from mildly annoyed or disappointed to downright livid! Without going into specifics and mentioning a specific company, suffice it to say that it’s happened to me before and I’m sure it will again.
Like the time I saw a pair of rechargeable pruning shears on a pop-up ad on my phone, “just squeeze the trigger and branches up to 2” thick are neatly cut”. Since both my wife and I have some arthritis in our hands and we both love gardening – I thought this would be the perfect surprise gift for her so I quickly clicked on PAYPAL and decided to keep the purchase a secret until I could actually present her with it. Some weeks went by and then, one day in the mailbox was a small package with Chinese characters on it!
Inside the box was a simple pair of pruning scissors – just like the other four pair in my greenhouse! No charger, no cordless feature – just straight old, overpriced scissors! I’d like to say that “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice shame on me!” was the order of the day here, but unfortunately I’ve been bitten more than that one time. I guess that’s why I’m so adamant in our meat advertising.
As I’ve mentioned in this column before there are several “grades” of beef (or qualities if you prefer). Each is graded by the United States Department of Agriculture. They’re graded by criteria such as age of the animal and fat marbling. The younger the cow and the better the marbling, the higher the grade. I used to hear customers complaining that “your steaks are $6.99/lb. and I can get them over in Brafferd for $4.99/lb.” Not being aware of the difference in grades, the customer was comparing apples to oranges.
Costa’s meat department has become the go to place for fine meats in the area. Along with our regular weekly ad, we run monthly Bonanza’s and frequently have special “Facebook” sales on the weekends. Every cut of meat we sell will be properly advertised and labeled with the grade so that you can make an informed decision. I insist upon it!