'managers specials' in grocery stores

18 years ago

Our town has a rather pathetic supermarket. It is just okay, and there is a grass roots movement currently underway between the town and the store executives to improve the store. One of the suggestions I made in a letter was to stop offering less fresh fish as a managers special. The way I see it, if it qualifies for a price cut, it should be tossed. I think a store has one chance to win you over to their fish market. One off purchase and you may not give them a second chance. Am I too narrow minded here? I mean I buy over ripe bananas and day old bread, but fish? Yech.

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Comments (20)

sheesh
18 years ago
I've never seen manager's special fish, but I think it must be good or they couldn't sell it. I buy lots of "Managers specials" from the meat dept. It would be pretty easy for the health dept. to track a community's illnesses to the fish monger. However, since I have no faith in merchants who want to make a buck, maybe they'd take the risk. Have you gotten some bad fish?
bunnyman
18 years ago
Perfectly good... dog food.

: )
lyra
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booberry85
18 years ago
I've never seen the fish on a manager's special. I think I would avoid it. However I have bought the meat there on the manager's special and promptly put it in the freezer. I've never had a problem with it.

I'm glad to hear they're going to do something to spruce up that store!
lowspark
18 years ago
Oh, you mean like "whoops! we caught too much"? I've seen "whoops! we baked too much" day old bread marked down, and the meat department has mark downs which I call "whoops! we butchered too much", and bananas in a bag which I call "whoops! we picked too much". Fish I haven't seen. I'm not sure I'd buy it either!
sally2_gw
18 years ago
There used to be a store near me that would knock you down with the smell of fish as soon as you walked in the front door, and the fish was in the back corner. I don't know if old fish is any more or less dangerous as old beef or chicken, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem as forgiving.

"...since I have no faith in merchants who want to make a buck..." I don't understand this statement. What's wrong with merchants earning a profit just like office workers or truck drivers or doctors, or anyone else that works for a living? I hope you meant dishonestly making a buck.

Sally
triciae
18 years ago
We have fish specials at both of our town's grocery stores. However, we live right on the coast & the fish is fresh daily. I've frequently purchased when on sale & haven't ever had a problem. If I lived in Denver or Cheyenne though...I'd probably question the freshness.

/tricia
Lars
18 years ago
It depends on the fish. We have frequently had King Crab legs on special, but we all know that they were cooked on the ship and flash frozen before getting to our market anyway. King Crab is one of the few seafood products I will buy after it has been frozen, although I have also bought frozen shrimp and frozen crawfish. Everything else pretty much has to be fresh.

I've noticed that the selection in winter is very different from what I'm normally used to at the regular market, and so I've been going to the Santa Monica Seafood Market (which is quite large) for fresh seafood, since they have the best selection. They don't have any wild caught salmon this time of year, and I'm considering buying canned salmon, which I think has an acceptable flavor for certain recipes, especially salads.

Back to your issue - I will buy fish on special if it appears to be marked down due to large inventory, which does not mean that it is old. Sometimes the supply is large, and therefore the price goes down. I always check the "use by" dates and also check how the fish looks. Have you noticed particular patterns in the specials for fish? It could be that the store is using marked down fish as an incentive to get people to come to the store, depending on how it is advertised. This could simply be a marketing ploy, but don't take my word for it, since I did not do well at all in my marketing class - in fact I failed my first test. But I blame that more on the test than on myself.

Lars
scotland1
18 years ago
We often have fish on manager's special. Generally, it's going to expire in the next day or two and they want to sell it before they have to throw it out. They can't sell it past the expiration date. If it doesn't have a strong smell and I'm going to cook it that night, I buy it.
changeling
18 years ago
UUUUMMMMM, Fish is good when it is fresh, that's it!

Cosco was selling a brand of flounder that I bought, It was so dam freezer burnt because of the handling practices that to me it was not palatable (it totally sucked). I kept thinking this will change and i just got a bad batch, after 3 bags of this crap I just took all 3 back to the store for a refund expecting an argument witch I didn't get but the woman about 2 people up in line said it all in a very LOUD voice. Evidently she had been burnt more than once also but didn't look at things as calmly as I was trying to do!!!!!!
She was right, I was being to mild!!!!!!!

This is why I now buy frozen fish that has been individually frozen in a vacuum packed container like Talapia from China.
The cost of individual vacuum freezing is minimal on a commercial scale, however it does cost a penny or so, that's why it is not done in this country! Think about it!
donnar57
18 years ago
There's a store in Mira Mesa that just knocks you over with the smell of fish when you go into it. When we had a Filipino house guest, we took her over to that store so she could get some of the things she likes - and I almost had to leave the store.

One of the best specials in a store in the Lower 48 was on King Crab Legs from Alaska. My husband enjoyed those!

DonnaR/CA
User
18 years ago
There is a big difference between a marked down special and a store or Managers Special. Something that is marked down usually means that it is nearing its best before date and they want to get rid of it. But Managers specials are planned specials so it is possible to find seafood on special. But it is fresh and brought in on purpose to sell at a better price than what it is normally sold at. Live Lobster is usually $12.99 or $15.99 a pound, but it will occasionally be on special for $9.00 or $10.00 per lobster. That is when I usually buy them. The same goes for quality meats. I bought a beautiful Prime Rib a few weeks ago for $7.99 a pound instead of $13.95 a pound. It just happened to be a store special that week.

Ann
rachelellen
18 years ago
Very little fish in the grocery store is really "fresh". Just think about what has to happen between catching and your table. Once caught, the boat must get back to shore. Then the catch must be unloaded, cleaned, packaged for transport, loaded onto the truck or plane, driven or flown to one destination often to be unloaded, reloaded, and started on a second...or third...leg of the journey to your market.

Once there, it is unloaded, stored, and a portion of it displayed for sale, where it sits, often under questionable temps...busy market? How many times does that display case get opened? How warm is the air going into the case?

At the end of the night, what's left goes back into the walk in and comes out again the next day, or the next, or the next.

Then, you buy a piece. Hopefully you cook it that night, or perhaps you are buying it for tomorrow.

Personally, unless I catch it, I'd just as soon buy fish that was flash frozen on the boat. When I lived in the SF Bay Area, I knew what fish were caught locally, and would buy them whole, so I could see the eyes and gills. But living 2 hours from the coast, I've gone mostly to flash frozen except for the rare occasion I can buy it live.
fedup321
18 years ago
Speaking of fish.....Our local Food Lion had Fresh Catfish Nuggets on sale this past week for .99cents lb, They were half frozen and we cooked part of them tonight and froze the rest. Good taste....not as good as caught on a hook a hour before at the local river. Which brings me to point of this rambling. How the HECK are they fresh when the sticker on the package said they were from China?? Any Ideas from you folks on how old they really are??

And another thing which burns my butt,(besides a candle about waist high) is store ads and the Specials..Ours run from Wednesday to Tuesdays...LETTUCE was .88cents today and 1.79 a head the next day. Same old brownish turning leaves as the day before because there truck doesn't run until Thursdays!!

Had to buy a bag of Pecans for some Brownies for wife, our tree did not produce any this year. Expiration date on package was May 2009. Had to throw the whole pack away because of the rancid tase. I did send the pack to the company as they suggested and complained!!

Sorry, Just venting..but just how FRESH are we getting?

FEDUP.......
pkguy
18 years ago
If it comes out of the water I don't eat it period, never will and never have in my 5 plus decades and I'm not about to change now LOL
mandogirl
18 years ago
I like getting the flash frozen vacuum sealed fish fillets from Trader Joe's. These taste fresher to me (quite delicious!) than the supposedly "fresh" seafood at the grocery store. I heart TJ's! ;-)
User
18 years ago
PK!!! Tell me it isn't so.....

I love perch, love it, love it, love it...pickerel too ! Can't find it here easily and when I do, cha ching , cha ching... and there you sit in the middle of perch and pickerel heaven! There ain't no justice in the forest! LOL
pkguy
18 years ago
The one and only time fish ever touched my lips I was perhaps 4 or 5 years old and we had fish sticks with breakfast. I took a bite, spit it out and that was it. I honestly have never tasted any fish or seafood since and won't. I can't even stomach the smell of fish cooking. That being said my partner being a Newfie loves all sorts of fish and seafoods. I don't partake.
User
18 years ago
I buy managers specials on beef all the time, it's about the only time I buy steaks, but fish - I don't think so. Fish is too expensive, so I don't buy it, but I don't think I'd buy fish that was at or past it's "sell by" date - too risky.
Lars
18 years ago
Pkguy - that means more fish for me!!

I think Ann got it right about manager's specials promoting a special deal the market has on fish that day - generally due to excessive supply (I think). Fish that has been marked down from a previous price is something I would never buy, but just because it is a manager's special doesn't mean it is old - it just means that the market got a good deal on the supply.

Lars
sands99
18 years ago
I'll also agree that "Managers Special"s generally mean they have an opportunity to buy more of a product and then offer that windfall in turn to the consumer.

Many supermarkets also have "last chance" bins/areas where they put items that have dates that will expire that day or the next day where you can get items for a fraction of the original price.

I've taken advantage of both situations never to my detriment thus far.

'managers specials' in grocery stores

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