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from the well,-that's-certainly-different dept.
AlterNet reports
Forget plastic bag bans. Berlin is now home to a supermarket that's gotten rid [of all] disposable packaging. Original Unverpackt ("Original Unpackaged") [Google translation], which opened Saturday, is more of a shop, to be exact, but its 350-some products -- including from fruits, vegetables, dry grains and pourable liquids like yogurt, lotion and shampoo -- are dispensed into refillable containers. (Some liquids come in bottles with deposits on them, which is already standard in Germany).
The shop, backed by crowdfunding, is a creative experiment in a new kind of shopping, one that takes the ethics of stores like Whole Foods to a new level. It sells mostly organic products, each of which is labeled with its country of origin, and eschews brand names. Sara Wolf and Milena Glimbovski, the duo behind the project, were driven by the slogan[1] "Let's be real, try something impossible."
It remains to be seen if the store's scalable -- and whether it will catch on with the public. One "group of Germans" interviewed by NPR Berlin[2] complained that the store "looks too pretty and nice, and too bourgeois"; CityLab characterized such sentiments as reflecting a sense that "living a supposedly pared-down, less wasteful life is essentially a lifestyle hobby for people with enough spare cash to play at green dress-up." But while many of the products offered, perhaps because they're organic, tend to skew toward the pricier end of things, others are equivalent or cheaper than standard supermarket fare, one German newspaper reports [Google translation]. And a virtue of the fill-your-own-container model is that customers can purchase ingredients in exact amounts, meaning they don't have to overspend for food they don't need.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by silverly on Monday September 22 2014, @12:35AM
So we as a consumer don't need just get a box of $foodstuffs. But we fill a container of $foodstuffs? Thats not too bad, i can stock up on heaps of almonds.
But my only question is why stop there. Why not just let the people grab their $foodstuffs directly from the dirt!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @12:37AM
Mostly likely if we had to go from farm to farm, the cost in gas alone would outweigh the benefits.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @01:06AM
I used to live close to a co-op that was all bulk food -- bring your own containers or bags. Some members brought in used paper bags (perhaps originally from supermarkets) that were available if you happened to forget your own.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Monday September 22 2014, @10:59AM
Here in sweden we have (or had? havn't seen it in a while) a thing called "självplock" (self-pick) which is pretty much that, it was very popular for strawberries (to be honest I've only seen it for berries, apples and peaches)..
The method was that you came with a couple of buckets, they weighed and tagged the buckets, assigned you a stretch where you were allowed to pick, and when you where done you went to the register with your buckets and got them weighed (and subtracted the bucket weight) and payed for the produce.
(Score: 1) by silverly on Monday September 22 2014, @12:00PM
Oh wow, that sounds pretty awesome.
Honestly, all funnies aside having stuff unpackaged and allowing the consumer self pick is the way to go.
Anything that keeps the food fresh and cutting out the middle man is good in my eyes. I like being able to control how much i consume and when and of what.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday September 22 2014, @12:34PM
Locally we have those and they simply charge volumetric. An empty labeled basket costs $X.YY and they don't care if you put in one raspberry or overflow it or fill it with rocks after they've made the sale. Lowers their labor cost, if nothing else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 22 2014, @03:26PM
Called "you-pick" in the US. Also for fruits and berries mostly, but there are places you can pay to go shoot an elk for your freezer.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Monday September 22 2014, @05:08PM
Lots of places do that in the US too. Of course you're not gonna see it if you live in NYC or something, but drive down any rural highway and you'll see one every few miles. Been maybe ten years since I've been down those roads, but I clearly remember at least three on the route we used to take to my grandparents house in Pittsburgh -- a distance of about 60 miles. These days I'm living in Providence so there's not so much of that. Although I do know of three different farmers markets within ten miles of my apartment, so that's good too...
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Tuesday September 23 2014, @01:09AM
In Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland, you still see them every 10 miles or so.
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(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday September 22 2014, @01:12PM
There are pick you own farms all over the USA. The problem is they are usually out in remote rural areas and driving to them is not practical and inefficient. Apple picking farms are the prime example and many feature other fruits and berries or sell local produce from other farms (fresh honey too!). But most of the people who go to these farms are city folk such as myself and the drive is usually an hour or more. So in the end it is more efficient to go to a farmers market where a single truck brings in all the goods for local distribution. Go to a farmers market or locally sourced food co-op instead.