Peaches

There’s nothing that says summer quite like fresh peaches. They’re sweet, juicy, and down right refreshing. It’s so much fun watching Ellie (our 2 year-old daughter) bite into them and slurp the juices while it cascades down her chin, chest, and all over our couch. Probably not the greatest idea to let her eat peaches on our couch, but hey, that’s not the point of this article!

The point. Right. So my Wife. Again, not a great way to start off an article, but my Wife is craving peaches (due to the procreation process) along with the usual pickles & ice cream. So what do I do? I try to earn some husband points by getting the biggest box of peaches known to man from Costco! This will surely earn enough points for a round of golf with the boys…..maybe even a beer after. 

Hey honey, look what I got! 

Those things are huge!   

I hand her one and she bites into it. As I wait for her reaction, I see her eyes squint and she leans over the sink to spit out what she just bit into. 

Those are super chalky!

Deflated, but optimistic I suggest she try another…..hey man, my golf game depends on these peaches!

I then pick one up and bite into it. I can’t say I would describe it as chalky, maybe more cardboardish. Ya, that’s it. These peaches taste like cardboard. But they’re huge….probably GMO. Hmmm.

Just thrown them out and go buy some local ones she says.

Feeling like I actually may have lost points, I quickly jump in the truck and head out to the produce store to buy some redemption peaches. As I begin putting peaches in the shopping bag I notice they’re much smaller than the GMO Costco peaches. Hmmm. Weird. I’ve never been one of those anti-GMO people. Not like Alison’s friend Lisa. She’s a little overboard with that stuff. Wait. Maybe she’s onto something. Do I want Ellie eating GMO stuff?

Hmmm. What can I do with these GMO peaches? I guess I’ll toss them in the compost. Hmmm. I hate wasting food though. Should I return them to Costco? They probably won’t take them back. Well whatever, maybe I can just chat with the merchandiser.

Before heading to Costco, I put all the peaches in a bag along with one of the local peaches I bought at the produce store. My thinking is to have a taste test with the merchandiser to convince him/her that Costco shouldn’t rep cardboard disguised as peaches. Being that it was a Sunday, I really didn’t expect to meet with a manager at all.

Fortunately Tara was in the building! Front-End Manager and previous Produce Manager for Costco Willingdon. Which happens to be the largest produce section in all of BC…..which you already knew. So why am I telling you this? Anyway, that’s not the point. As mentioned, I really just wanted to eat some peaches with her. Kind of like the Pepsi challenge. After-all it was a hot summer day today!

Tara and I had a lengthy discussion about peaches. We spoke more about peaches than I could have ever imagined. I learned from Tara about the Costco quality measures when it comes to produce. As it turns out the the quality standard for produce is size. Size I ask? Yes, size matters. I had a good joke that I can’t disclose. As I turn to look at the checkout lanes, I ask Tara if all these people would prefer abnormally-enlarged-cardboard-flavored peaches or peach tasting peaches? Her reply was simple. Peach.

So that being said and the fact Costco is known for quality, then why in the world is size considered a quality measure? I mean sure, size matters for say a watermelon or a cantaloupe but a peach? Instead of combing through the Costco quality standards handbook I asked Tara if she was interested in trying to make an incremental change? She thought it was a great idea, so this is why you’re reading this long-winded article. Sorry about that but this is my style of writing!

I’m a former manager of Sims Metal Management and one of our global policies was ‘continuous improvement’. I’m proud to say that I was actually a contributing committee member. I’m sure Costco has something similar, so perhaps this can lead to a new quality criterion with regards to produce.

Tara mentioned size was one part, but the quantity is another. The peach vendor must have the ability to provide the volume necessary for Costco seeing as though these orders are significantly larger than typical grocers. 

So let me get this straight? You need abnormally-large peaches and lots of them? Well. I guess Costco accomplished their goal with this order! The only problem is that at the end of the day the customer buys a peach for the flavor and not the size. It’s impractical to think that a merchandiser needs to taste every piece of fruit but in this case there might be a better opportunity by deviating from the policy. Or maybe developing a local fresh fruit policy?

British Columbia has some of the best peaches in the world. Sure, the local growers might not be able to fulfill a Costco-sized order but I can guarantee their peaches will taste light-years better! So instead of focusing on size, think flavor. Now you can put up a huge sign that says NON-GMO LOCALLY GROWN PEACHES. 14% margin? I would venture to say you can boost your margin to 24%. The local farmers would be more than happy to lock in an order with the largest consumer in the world!

Sure I feel sorry if the GMO growers lose the Costco account but let’s maybe think about that for a minute. Who are the GMO growers and why do they produce such huge-flavorless peaches in the first place? I’m willing to bet dollars to doughnuts these growers used to grow regular peaches until Costco implemented their size standards. Hey who knows, maybe Costco began the GMO revolution. I’m not here to point fingers or anything like that, I’m just saying that we as human beings are ultimately responsible for the well-being of our fellow humans. Those in the produce business should actually be held to a higher standard. You’re selling sustenance that directly affects the health of other humans and in the case of Costco that’s millions of humans!

I know you’re going to point to the shareholders at the end of the day and say hey we’re just trying to maintain our 14% margin. I would think if you hold a conference call for your shareholders telling them your new produce focus is on flavor and not size they’ll agree that it should have been that from the beginning! 

So it means that you’ll need more local produce buyers in each city/state/province rather than centralizing everything on the East Coast. So will that drastically affect a share price that’s been ascending for the past eight years? What about all the great PR that comes with job-creation for let’s call them ‘local flavor buyers’. So how many stores are there? Say 1000 stores for even numbers. That’s 1000 new jobs! Forget about the share price decline, it will likely get a boost from the economic stimulus!

So what’s the point? I guess the point is humanity. I want my daughter and her future sister/brother to eat flavorful & nutritious food that isn’t pumped with chemicals and doesn’t taste like cardboard. I would think 9 out 10 parents would agree…..and I’m sure that 10th parent filled out the wrong answer!

RESPONSE FROM COSTCO:

Thank you for the letter Brad, I know Theresa has responded to you and I will follow up with our Produce department with your concerns as well as the rest of our Merch and Management team.