But they are already avocados, packaging or etching is completely avoidable…
But how are you supposed to know it's an avocado if it's not laser etched??????????????? /s
Agreed, but since they're not avoiding packaging or etching, etching is better.
Personally, I'd rather see them etched wit guacamole recipes.
Many people forget that a store can have two types of avocados priced differently that then needs to be distinguished from one another at the checkout. It could for example be organic Vs conventional. Or for apples there are many different types that can all look the same. I find this type of tech pretty cool. I would love to see variations of it. Maybe editable wax ink or something like that
Around here we just have little stickers on the produce with a code number on it. Most produce is just stacked with no packaging. You collect as many as you want in a bag. At the check out, the little code number can be used tell what the exact variety is.
This seems a lot simpler than lazer etching to me, but idk, maybe that is really cheap and easy too?
It's also about the fear of people just moving stickers around. I personally think it's probably only a very small amount of people who would actually do that so the cost of preventing that is not worth it.
I can inform you that laser edging is much cheaper and way faster than stickers. Lasers are cheap and you don't have any consumables you need to keep buying like stickers.
Seriously, I feel like this could all have been replaced by a paper sign...
Some markets that use signs also use a dot or two from a colored pen on the differently priced avocados (organic, large, etc.) to distinguish them at checkout.
How do you scan them at checkout? Yes you could do manual entry/lookup. That could be said about everything though.
4770, most cashiers knows that code by heart
This thread seems to be populated by competent people. I would like everyone to step back for a moment however and consider how many incompetent people exist.
Think about self-serve checkouts, and how despite items being clearly labeled and the machines having item lookups, people still struggle constantly. Now imagine how many more people would struggle without the label.
Think about the employee wrangling the self checkout dealing with increased frustrated customers. Think about how fickle customers can be, throwing up their hands at a minor obstacle and deciding to just buy avocados from now on from the store across the street that still uses stickers. You know these people exist. You know they exist in number. So do markets, so the laser etching is mitigating the problems they'll have from removing stickers.
I’ve never seen avocados in a box. Is that a common thing outside of the US?
Come to Denmark and you'll be seriously shocked by how much plastic is used for food packaging. It's insane and I hate it so much.
The US has its own share of overly plastic packaging. I have occasionally seen individual vegetables shrinkwrapped. It’s just not the norm.
I saw a pre-peeled orange for sale at a convenience store. It was wrapped in plastic wrap. Like, why‽‽‽ They literally grow their own wrapper....
It happens to cucumbers relatively often but other veggies are just so weirdly shaped from a packaging standpoint that I don't think they see it as worthwhile
Cucumbers have much better shelf-life when shrink-wrapped. It ends up a debate of which is worse between food waste and plastic waste.
You know what’s even less packaging? Not putting them in a box
And not etching them as well.
Dunno why you got downvoted for this. I don't see why they'd waste energy etching them when they can just label the tub they're displayed in.
I once laser engraved "help I'm a banana" on a banana.
Death to non-compostable produce stickers. If lasers are what it takes, I'm all for it (not sure if that's really what's going on here though).
Death to non-compostable produce stickers.
God I hate those. They constantly end up in the compost despite my best efforts. God only knows how many of them are part of the soil in my garden now.
Archeologists of whatever species comes after us will be excited to learn about your food choices
I feel like other grocers have already solved this problem by just not putting barcodes on the produce at all, and having the item manually punched in at the register while it's on a scale (if it's sold by weight and not per item).
You know what other option is popular and much more common than packaging or etching. A tiny sticker, made out of recycled paper.
Better yet biodegradable paper and glue so you just throw all the shit in a compost bin!
You dont even need the sticker. They are avocados and are distinct and easy for a cashier or moron at self checkout to figure out how to ring up.
Rice paper, IIRC, with edible ink and glue
What? You guys wrapping avocado individually in a paper box? Why?
I dunno. Supermarkets near where I live sell avocados individually out of a big plastic tub under a sign saying AVOCADOS in case you can't tell by looking.
I've never seen Tesco sell avocados like this before, normally they're just loose in a box or something
Why are single avocados packaged in any way?
Ah yes, putting company logos directly onto our food. Just what I've always wanted.
If it saves on waste, I say go for it
I hate removing those stupid stickers before throwing them in the compost.
Bananas take really well to laser engraving.
They use this technique for a while now to mark organic fruit and veg in my (german) supermarket. Where they used packaging previously to distinguish them from regular, cheaper produce, they can omit that now. I like it.
Was about to say this. I was a bit surprised my ginger had a logo lasered into it the first time I saw this
I would totally eat Laser Avocado Doritos!
Laser all the foods!
Would be cool to Lazer the Barcode on it
I believe this has been tried, but is difficult to do with most produce because the shape changes as the fruit ages on the shelf, making the barcodes unusable.
Or buy things without packaging when it is available like for avocados
they could etch an advertisement on them to subsidize the cost.
Or "you could have bought a house"
Isn't that using way more energy..?
Eh... I dunno. You'd be comparing the power consumption of the laser etching machine to the energy cost of shipping oil to make the plastic to make the label, shipping the raw plastic to a facility to actually print the labels, making the adhesive, then (probably) shipping the labels and adhesive to the packing plant and then adding in the power of the machinery to that actually sticks the label on.
I have no real numbers here but I could see zapping a avocado with a laser being the more energy efficient one.
Energy and packaging are orthogonal concerns, but we should be aware of both of them.
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