Audio By Carbonatix
Grocery store prices aren’t letting up. According to recent reports, Americans are now spending over $900 a month on groceries. That’s a 23% jump compared to five years ago.
Now, take someone earning the median wage in Alabama—around $4,106 a month, according to ZipRecruiter. That means one-fifth of their paycheck is gone before rent, gas, childcare, or anything else is even factored in. So, say you’re shopping and notice an expensive item, like steak, is labeled as something much cheaper. Is it wrong to go ahead and buy it? Or are you supposed to let someone know?
That’s exactly the dilemma TikToker @surroundedbysilos faced when he stopped by the meat section at Publix.
What Happened At The Meat Section In Publix?
The Alabama-based shopper spotted several packs of ribeye steaks that were mistakenly labeled as ground pork. Instead of the usual price tag, each two-pack of steak was marked around $6.
“I’m here at Publix right outside the meat department,” he says in the video. “And they’ve got a deal on ground pork.”
He pans over to the five packs in his cart. “Look at all the ground pork that I’m getting,” he says sarcastically.
A few moments later, he walks back to the meat section. “We’re gonna have to go check and see if they have any more ground pork,” he adds, before noticing the mistake had already been fixed.
“At least we got some, so that’s a good thing,” he says. “We’re gonna be eating good in the neighborhood.”
How Could This Have Happened?
It was most likely a labeling mistake. Meat department employees often print labels manually, and when things get busy, it’s not unheard of for the wrong sticker to go on the wrong product.
It might have been caught later by a staff member doing rounds—but not before a few customers got lucky.
Are Customers Required To Say Something?
In most jurisdictions, customers aren’t legally obligated to alert employees to a pricing error. The legal burden is generally on the store to ensure prices match products.
According to FindLaw, consumers can even argue that they should pay the lowest price advertised.
However, if a store can prove a customer knowingly exploited a pricing error with fraudulent intent, there could be consequences—but in practice, that’s rare and usually reserved for larger-scale fraud.
Most shoppers don’t seem to feel bad about walking away with the deal.
Commenters Beg Him To Take The Steaks And Run
In the comments section, users were almost unanimously on the “take the win and run” side of things.
“As former Publix employee TAKE THEM every time and do not feel bad about it,” one person said. “They have plentyyyy of money to spare. If you only saw how much they threw away at the end of the night no one would feel bad.”
“Self checkout day,” another added.
“My dad used to be a butcher at a Publix and his coworker did this when he knew a friend was coming in,” a third shared.
Still, not everyone agreed.
“I would tell the meat department. To me not saying anything would be the same as stealing. I would feel ashamed of myself,” one person commented.
BroBible has reached out to @surroundedbysilos and to Publix via email for an official comment.
Content shared from brobible.com.