Produce stands--buyer beware!

Pursuing the RV lifestyle takes energy and some of that comes from good food. We've all seen the cost of groceries take frightening leaps, and RVers aren't immune. But our mobile lifestyle can make it easier for us to look for bargains. Where can you find great buys on produce?

Many folks swear by road-side markets and fruit stands. Fresh fruit! Good quality! Low prices! On and on go the Hosannas. Is it really so, Billy Joe?

We've been doing a bit of traveling through the Northwest and our take on the produce bargains is a mixed bag. In terms of freshness, our find is that the "at the farm" or "operated by the farmer" stands are indeed the best choice for fresh produce. In a lot of cases the price is better than anywhere else.

On the other hand, we've shopped a fair number of "produce markets" stuck up beside main highways in temporary tents (and some more permanent structures) and have been appalled by the high prices. On an expedition to put up canned green beans we hit two produce stands; they both offered us discounts for full case purchases. We settled on the one best rated in the area by Yelp! reviewers and paid a dime less per pound than the nearest competitor, meaning we whipped out $1.39 a pound for green beans.

Shame on us! When we got the beans back to our roaming canning table we found we couldn't snap the beans, as non-crispy as they were--each had to be cut with a knife. The inside of the beans were pretty hollow, and obviously the whole batch was a bit late coming off the vine. Still, we felt that somehow we'd managed to beat the price of canned beans a bit.

Alas, our thinking was wrong again. A visit to a nearby Winco store found much better quality fresh green beans for less than a buck a pound. Prices too, on fresh fruit, suitable for canning were less there than at the stands.

A couple of lessons for us: If you buy base "case lot" then open the case and inspect the contents--don't just take the word of the seller. If you have access to the Internet, you might even do well to look up produce sellers and give them a phone call to get a handle on prices--and then check against discount grocery stores for a comparison. We did the same ourselves when planning a run at fresh fruits in Central Washington--we've lined up a produce vendor in the heart of peach and pear country whose prices are in line with what we consider reality.

photos: R & T DeMaris

"Swipe fees" may swipe more from your wallet

xJason.Rogersx on flickr.com

A deal that's sweet for retailers may sour you if you're in the habit of ringing up your credit card. Credit card companies and sellers have been duking it out over fees card companies charge retailers. Now in a proposed settlement, the losers of the fight could be card users.

The issue revolves around what's called an interchange fee. Typically card companies charge retailers an average of two-percent per transaction. Grab a quick meal at Denny's for $20? Charge it on your credit card, and the restaurant pays the card processor 40 cents. Multiply this by the millions of transactions that consumers run on credit cards and you'll see somebody's making big money.

The retailers filed a suit against the card processing companies, charging that the card processors were artificially inflating the interchange fee. When the dust settled, the banks agreed to pay back $6 billion, temporarily reduce the interchange fee, and allow retailers to "stick" the consumer with the fee. Previously, two of the giants, VISA and Mastercard, would not allow merchants to 'pass along' those fees.

If the settlement is approved this doesn't automatically assure that you'll be seeing the fee added to your purchase price. Ten states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas) prohibit the passing along of so-called "swipe fees" to consumers. Some retailers fear the negative feedback from consumers and will simply "pass" on passing on the fees. Others may offer cash discounts, rather than infuriating credit card customers. And if you run your purchases on your debit card, the issue is moot--swipe fees won't apply to these purchases as far as the consumer sees them.

If some merchants decide to do the big pass-along, things could look a bit different. For RVers who are accustomed to pumping 100 gallons of fuel into their motorhome, and additional $8.00 on top of the fuel price could be a bit of a sting. It could be a while before we know the extent of damages. The matter may not clear the court system until the end of 2012.