For Econ 101 on Walmart Grades

[Beefman]

You will find numerous industry and internet references to maturity. (grade/classification / etc). As said before, maturity is a calculation in final quality grade determination. No, there is no beef quality grade called "USDA Grade A". It'd be extremely difficult to throw a conspiracy/fraud/misrepresentation net over the entire retail industry over a supposed conversaton you had with the local Walmart shelf stocker.

There is that conspiracy word again. You seem to be using it as a shield, beefman. Walmart is the largest retailer. Tyson is the largest beef producer. It is not a "supposed" conversation, it was a real one. Your conversation with the meat manager holding over his head select beef and promoting it the way you described is suspect. Did you let him know implicitly that you approved his business practices before getting that result? I acted, and am, a regular customer that just happens to know more than the average customer about beef, grading, and false advertising.

The beef industry can not be trusted to educate consumers about the industry practices as they are looking out for their bottom line. The USDA is not even enforcing existing provisions that allow customers a fair chance at "getting it right" at the meat counter.

You have spent your time arguing with me over the use of terminology when even you got it wrong. You epitomize the problem in the beef industry and show how the industry is being hurt by the control one segement has over it. Your side of the industry has been able to separate the average retail consumers into "knowledge" groups so you can take advantage of them in the marketplace with plain out and out misrepresentations and lies.

There is a lot of money spent on cattle in the breeding stock and in the feedyards trying to get what the market asks but the beef side of the industry seems to not care about tricking customers at the retail level into buying meat that is lower grading as higher quality cuts with misrepresentations and outright lies. It hurts the industry.

You have been exposed, Beefman.

Yep. You've sure got me there. I guess that makes you a winner, doesn't it. See you later. Oh.......by the way........

[Econ 101quote from the thread 11th District Denies "Harm to Competition" Require] "I keep thinking of Mussolini's definition of fascism: "Fascism should more properly be called 'corporatism,' since it is the marriage of government and corporate power." When was the last time we saw this administration do something that involved standing up to some corporate special interest in favor of the great majority of the people?"

Nice quote. Usually you give credit where credit is due. Does the liberal leftist columnist Molly Ivins mind you plagerizing her?

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=15418

Between her, and Jim Hightower, you do keep your liberal alligence at home. Isn't Hightower the one that spoke so highly of Howard Lyman, which OT referenced again recently?

Info like this makes me believe it makes no sense to debate you regarding Walmart's meat merchandising activities. They could donate half their inventory to every homeless shelter in the nation, and you'd still find fault with their dealings.

 

[Econ101]

You will find numerous industry and internet references to maturity. (grade/classification / etc). As said before, maturity is a calculation in final quality grade determination. No, there is no beef quality grade called "USDA Grade A". It'd be extremely difficult to throw a conspiracy/fraud/misrepresentation net over the entire retail industry over a supposed conversaton you had with the local Walmart shelf stocker.

There is that conspiracy word again. You seem to be using it as a shield, beefman. Walmart is the largest retailer. Tyson is the largest beef producer. It is not a "supposed" conversation, it was a real one. Your conversation with the meat manager holding over his head select beef and promoting it the way you described is suspect. Did you let him know implicitly that you approved his business practices before getting that result? I acted, and am, a regular customer that just happens to know more than the average customer about beef, grading, and false advertising.

The beef industry can not be trusted to educate consumers about the industry practices as they are looking out for their bottom line. The USDA is not even enforcing existing provisions that allow customers a fair chance at "getting it right" at the meat counter.

You have spent your time arguing with me over the use of terminology when even you got it wrong. You epitomize the problem in the beef industry and show how the industry is being hurt by the control one segement has over it. Your side of the industry has been able to separate the average retail consumers into "knowledge" groups so you can take advantage of them in the marketplace with plain out and out misrepresentations and lies.

There is a lot of money spent on cattle in the breeding stock and in the feedyards trying to get what the market asks but the beef side of the industry seems to not care about tricking customers at the retail level into buying meat that is lower grading as higher quality cuts with misrepresentations and outright lies. It hurts the industry.

You have been exposed, Beefman.

Yep. You've sure got me there. I guess that makes you a winner, doesn't it. See you later. Oh.......by the way........

[Econ 101quote from the thread 11th District Denies "Harm to Competition" Require] "I keep thinking of Mussolini's definition of fascism: "Fascism should more properly be called 'corporatism,' since it is the marriage of government and corporate power." When was the last time we saw this administration do something that involved standing up to some corporate special interest in favor of the great majority of the people?"

Nice quote. Usually you give credit where credit is due. Does the liberal leftist columnist Molly Ivins mind you plagerizing her?

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=15418

Between her, and Jim Hightower, you do keep your liberal alligence at home. Isn't Hightower the one that spoke so highly of Howard Lyman, which OT referenced again recently?

Info like this makes me believe it makes no sense to debate you regarding Walmart's meat merchandising activities. They could donate half their inventory to every homeless shelter in the nation, and you'd still find fault with their dealings.

Beefman, I googled the quote that I knew Benito Mussolini had made. Molly happened to paraphrase it. If you spoke Italian, I could probably get a friend of mine to quote it exactly as Mussolini spoke it.

I haven't ever talked to Molly Ivins, although I have read some of her articles. Whether she was a left wing communist or a right wing fascist I could not tell you. She did have the quote handy. In case you don't know, Benito Mussolini ruled Italy under the fascist government alligned with Germany during WWII. The quote was his. Molly's name attachment to the quote is incidental to it use by me and in the context I used it.

If in our society we gave Walmart so many financial breaks that we relied only on Walmart to donate inventory to every homeless shelter in the nation instead of doing that activity as social act or governmental act, I would expect Walmart directors to be voted on by all the people in the U.S. To otherwise would be fascist indeed.

You might ask Molly herself if she minds what you call "plagerizing". I think after reading who I was writing about and in what context, she might want to do a story on it herself.

Maybe she could interview you.

You might be right about one thing. It makes no sense for you to debate me. You show you don't know the things you should know about this business.

 

[agman]

Agman, if a company is going to assert that they are selling a graded product, shouldn't that product be graded by a FSIS inspector and be labeled as such? My label requirements are very strict!

It is graded by a USDA grading inspector RM. What makes you think it is not? Wal-Mart does not grade their own meat, you should know that. They do have guality control people in plants that supply product to thier specifications. That situation is so for most major end-users that I know of.

Agman, a plant's "guality control people", (I'm sure), can sort and grade carcasses as good are better than the FSIS inspectors. I'm not implying that SAM's isn't selling a 'choice quality' product, but am asking are they selling a " guality control person" sorted product to save the cost of FSIS grading?

I agree with Econ, that the industry is not very interested in educating consumers about our product. Savvy consumers educate themselves and more and more are coming to niche markets(and directly from producers) to buy their beef (and they have the money and are willing to pay premiums to get what they want).

Quality control differs from the USDA grader who only check for quality and yield grade. Packers have QC people in every plant at every stage of processing. Large end users also place their own QC in those plants that supply them product. That is a normal process for large end users in virtually any industry you might choose.

You are misguided if your think the industry industry does not advertise its own attributes to consumers. Is there not anything you and yours will not complain about?

 

[Econ101]

Agman:

Quality control differs from the USDA grader who only check for quality and yield grade. Packers have QC people in every plant at every stage of processing. Large end users also place their own QC in those plants that supply them product. That is a normal process for large end users in virtually any industry you might choose.

Econ: As they should.

Agman:

You are misguided if your think the industry industry does not advertise its own attributes to consumers.

Econ: They shouldn't lie or mislead about their product. Quality and yield grades are used in the purchase of the animals from feeders and cattlemen to discriminate in price for quality and yield. Consumers should have the same information and options when it comes to quality (yield is already inherent in the processed product as it is commonly sold).

Is there not anything you and yours will not complain about?

Yes, a little honesty and real integrity for one.

Is there anything these packers wouldn't do to cheat someone? And isn't there anything the USDA can do get some of that honesty and integrity back into the industry?