All torn up inside over labels.
Torn label.
I buy wine at supermarkets. Not all of my wine, but whether I am doing full-on grocery shopping or if I get sent out to pick up anything from tomatoes to toothpaste, I like to poke my head into the wine section.
The two supermarkets near me - Ralph’s and Albertson’s have pretty good wine sections. Albertson’s has a good selection of Central Coast wine, so I like to see if there is anything I might like to try and possibly write about. The Ralph’s near me is one of the test stores for the chain’s Wine Steward program. The stewards are generally helpful and they taste the wines they stock. There is even a large, walk-in, climate-controlled cellar where they keep the pricy stuff. Both stores will occasionally have some obscure import for under $15 - like the $9 torrontés I found at Ralph’s (which turned out to be a dud).
I like to pick a bottle with a label in good condition. This may seem silly, trivial and possibly indicative of OCD tendencies. But I like labels - if only for the sake of having a visual reference of the wine if decide to buy it again. I may also need to peel and scan the label if I choose to review the wine.
So after picking through the bottles, I make my way to the register. Most cashiers do not share my appreciation for an unscathed label and roll or slide the bottles past the bar code scanner and over to the conveyor belt. Sometimes the labels get torn or scratched. If I know them, I’ll tell the cashier that I like to keep my labels from getting mangled and they are happy to be more careful next time. With others, it’s clear by their demeanor that I should cut my losses. Last night, I had such an experience.
This mishandling and carelessness are not limited to grocery store chains. In my experience, one of the worst and most consistent offenders is BevMo. It almost seems as if the stockers make it a contest to see how many labels they can slice with one stroke of a box cutter. If the bulk of your store’s inventory is wine, you should establish a company culture which recognizes that the presentation of your goods counts.
I don’t think that I have an unrealistic reverence for the label. If I am buying a bottle of wine, I’d like it to look presentable. The label is as much a part of the product as the bottle and the wine inside. If customers make their purchasing decision based on a label’s appearance, then it makes sense to present a store’s goods in their best form, no matter the price of the wine. The bottle should be kept in that state by employees until it leaves the store with the customer.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Arthur - bravo. A lot of thought, effort and cost goes into generating our wine packaging. We recently switched our label stock – we gave up some “touch” to gain scuff and tear resistance. But nothing I can do – short of etching the label directly onto the glass and coating it – can stand up to deliberate mishandling by a determined stock clerk.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
A second bravo. Glad to know I’m not the only one bothered by this. It’s like the waiter that rips the whole foil unceremoniously off the bottle. We care so much about the package. We choose ink and paper to reduce abrasion to the label during distribution. We baby the product and package at the winery. Consider the number of bottles we relabel because the labels are a 1/16 inch low, high, or not centered perfectly against the back label? That’s why it is so jarring to see how the wine is treated at the store. As a buyer I get this subconscious feeling that I am being ripped off because I paid 50 bucks for that wine and yet, the clerk is treating like it like it is fit for the recycling bin. Maybe it wasn’t worth the $50 I am thinking?