December 5, 2024 • 4 mins
Supermarket shoppers using a “brown onion hack” to reduce their grocery bills are being warned it is theft.
The 'brown onion hack' involves putting more expensive fruit and vegetables through the self-checkout as “brown onions” to save money.
Brown onions are currently selling for $1.49 a kilogram, compared to oranges for $5.
Matt Heath and Tyler Adams were talking about it when Jason Walls was waiting to talk politics - he shared his own supermarket challenge.
LISTEN ABOVE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk sed Be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
iHeartRadio, Brown onions and supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
So there's this new trend going around social media circles,
TikTok and the like. It's called the brown onion trend,
as you said. So one shopper who remained anonymous when
speaking to media, she sayes she puts all of her
fruit and vegi through the self checkout is brown onions
to save money because brown onions are about a dollar
twenty akilo.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
So she's calling it a hack. Yeah, it's theft.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's clearly thick.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You haven't hacked the system. You've lied and bought something
for less than it's worth.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
That's theft, right, absolutely, absolutely, But follow up question because
he's been a mass of frise in the self cheeckout
at supermarkets. And I love self cheek out because I
don't have to worry about, you know, being behind someone
who just wants a chat with the super checkout operator.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I hate it because I want to chat with the
operator iland human.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I'm talker. I want human contact.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You do love humans.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
I want to make someone stay better with my excellent chat.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
If you're going to have more self checkouts in your supermarket,
is is it just the fact that you're going to
have to pot up with people who are going to
try and rip you off.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Right, So as the supermag you have to factor in
because you're not got eyes on everyone that comes through
and what they're buying, that you're going to lose a
percentage of it. You're not gonna have to pay wages yep,
which I said think is terrible because I think we
need to we need to hire people in these positions.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Pay wages, so you're going to lose that money and
theft effectively.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, that's the cost benefit analysis. I think they call
it in the game.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Okay, so what do you think where do you sit
this morally?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Then? So you say that they just serve them, right,
people just steal for them, it serves them right.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, yeah, it's a good point when you raise it
like that. I mean, clearly it is theft, but I
think you know how you measured it before that. If
you're going to lay off your checkout workers and you're
going to install these machines to make it convenient for
the customer, as well as cheaper for you. Then you've
got to expect some breakage, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean you probably do, but it doesn't make steering. Well,
you know you are stealing. You're paying brown onion prices
for more expensive stuff and stealing the difference. Yeah, that
doesn't make that okay. Just because the supermarkets don't have
eyes on you. Yeah, I mean because you could say, well,
look i'm down, we'll get into this. Actually, because you
(02:25):
could say, hey, they didn't have anyone corridor down the
corridor looking at me, so it's okay for me to
shove one kg block of cheese down my pants.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's their fault because they were watching me.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We're talking to news Talks ZB Political edit today Jason
Wolves get a.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Mates, Oh good afternoon. I'm interested in that chat. I
am very much a person at the supermarket sort of guy,
like if I have a couple of items, I'll go through.
But I always, and in a way that's completely within
the realms of New Zealand's law, try and beat the
system at pack and save every single time, because you know,
excuse me for the tangent here, but you know how
they'll put everything into the trolley and then you go
(03:01):
somewhere else and you have your own bags and put
your items into the bags. I always try and pack
them as I oh. So it actually takes a bit
of skill and focus because you've got to be faster
than the person working at the checkout operator now, and
it is usually it's okay if there's somebody that's kind
of new, because they're going through and just moving things about,
and you grab them quickly and put them into your
(03:22):
separate bags. But if you get somebody that's been there
that's been a veteran of about fifteen years, and I
have a nemesis at my local pack and save. She's
got the fastest hands.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
In the West.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
She goes quick. A little hack is that if you
if I get my chickpeas or shear seeds or something
like that, put them in the bags you know where
you self serve, but don't put the number on so
that way they have to stop and actually look up
what it is, and you can use that time to
put things that you've had to put the side of
the supermarket trolley into the bags while they look it
up in the system. So that's my little completely legal
(03:52):
hack about how to beat the system at back and
say that's.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
The Jason Walls supermarket challenge.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I've been wanting to get that off my chest for
some time now, and I'm just waiting for it to
the right time for it to come up.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So Yes, well solved.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
For more from Used Talks, it'd be listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk sed Be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
iHeartRadio, Brown onions and supermarkets.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
So there's this new trend going around social media circles,
TikTok and the like. It's called the brown onion trend,
as you said. So one shopper who remained anonymous when
speaking to media, she sayes she puts all of her
fruit and vegi through the self checkout is brown onions
to save money because brown onions are about a dollar
twenty akilo.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
So she's calling it a hack. Yeah, it's theft.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's clearly thick.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You haven't hacked the system. You've lied and bought something
for less than it's worth.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
That's theft, right, absolutely, absolutely, But follow up question because
he's been a mass of frise in the self cheeckout
at supermarkets. And I love self cheek out because I
don't have to worry about, you know, being behind someone
who just wants a chat with the super checkout operator.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I hate it because I want to chat with the
operator iland human.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
I'm talker. I want human contact.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You do love humans.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
I want to make someone stay better with my excellent chat.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
If you're going to have more self checkouts in your supermarket,
is is it just the fact that you're going to
have to pot up with people who are going to
try and rip you off.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Right, So as the supermag you have to factor in
because you're not got eyes on everyone that comes through
and what they're buying, that you're going to lose a
percentage of it. You're not gonna have to pay wages yep,
which I said think is terrible because I think we
need to we need to hire people in these positions.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
But you're not going to.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Pay wages, so you're going to lose that money and
theft effectively.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, that's the cost benefit analysis. I think they call
it in the game.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Okay, so what do you think where do you sit
this morally?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Then? So you say that they just serve them, right,
people just steal for them, it serves them right.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Well, yeah, it's a good point when you raise it
like that. I mean, clearly it is theft, but I
think you know how you measured it before that. If
you're going to lay off your checkout workers and you're
going to install these machines to make it convenient for
the customer, as well as cheaper for you. Then you've
got to expect some breakage, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean you probably do, but it doesn't make steering. Well,
you know you are stealing. You're paying brown onion prices
for more expensive stuff and stealing the difference. Yeah, that
doesn't make that okay. Just because the supermarkets don't have
eyes on you. Yeah, I mean because you could say, well,
look i'm down, we'll get into this. Actually, because you
(02:25):
could say, hey, they didn't have anyone corridor down the
corridor looking at me, so it's okay for me to
shove one kg block of cheese down my pants.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's their fault because they were watching me.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
We're talking to news Talks ZB Political edit today Jason
Wolves get a.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Mates, Oh good afternoon. I'm interested in that chat. I
am very much a person at the supermarket sort of guy,
like if I have a couple of items, I'll go through.
But I always, and in a way that's completely within
the realms of New Zealand's law, try and beat the
system at pack and save every single time, because you know,
excuse me for the tangent here, but you know how
they'll put everything into the trolley and then you go
(03:01):
somewhere else and you have your own bags and put
your items into the bags. I always try and pack
them as I oh. So it actually takes a bit
of skill and focus because you've got to be faster
than the person working at the checkout operator now, and
it is usually it's okay if there's somebody that's kind
of new, because they're going through and just moving things about,
and you grab them quickly and put them into your
(03:22):
separate bags. But if you get somebody that's been there
that's been a veteran of about fifteen years, and I
have a nemesis at my local pack and save. She's
got the fastest hands.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
In the West.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
She goes quick. A little hack is that if you
if I get my chickpeas or shear seeds or something
like that, put them in the bags you know where
you self serve, but don't put the number on so
that way they have to stop and actually look up
what it is, and you can use that time to
put things that you've had to put the side of
the supermarket trolley into the bags while they look it
up in the system. So that's my little completely legal
(03:52):
hack about how to beat the system at back and
say that's.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
The Jason Walls supermarket challenge.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
I've been wanting to get that off my chest for
some time now, and I'm just waiting for it to
the right time for it to come up.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So Yes, well solved.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
For more from Used Talks, it'd be listen live on
air or online and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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