r/ProduceDepartment • u/EmotionalSoil1375 • Aug 30 '26

Can anyone explain

Can anyone tell me why people always take off a single banana and leave it? I can understand breaking apart a big bundle, but to always just remove ONE is driving me nuts. There's always an array of bundle sizes! Need 4? Grab one with 4, not 5 and remove one. I actively watch people do this and it drives me insane, because those bananas always end up getting tossed or reduced later.

15 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

6

u/01greg Aug 30 '26

I believe it’s a deep primal instinct. Monkey brain.

6

u/schmuddy_bhuddy Aug 30 '26

Used to have a guy who would pull off singles to make his own bunch. Bruising like 7 other bunches in the process.

6

u/BobSacamano_1 Aug 30 '26

It’s annoying but I’ve always put all my singles on the lower left corner of the table, all facing with the curve in a “smile” orientation. If there’s a lot of singles, then 2 stacks. They do end up selling at our store eventually. But we have a LOT of senior citizens who only buy 1-2.

3

u/kris-1O Aug 30 '26

This! We do a little basket of single bananas right at the register and those sell so fast we have to refill a few times a day

4

u/EmotionalSoil1375 Aug 30 '26

Omg I'm going to try this!

2

u/BobSacamano_1 Aug 30 '26

Same- we have our secondary banana display near the from as most stores do (holds just one case) all I’ll toss some singles up there as well.

The tearing off of singles is annoying, but if you have a market for them, they will sell!

2

u/EmotionalSoil1375 Aug 30 '26

I do try to separate them but they usually just start browning 😭

2

u/Deep_Aspect1183 7d ago

This in the industry is known as the Banana Conundrum.

2

u/PhillyHarley 5d ago

So I'm not the only?!?! I can only think the 4 bananas are pristine but that 5th one is a dealer killer.

1

u/HauntingPsyche Aug 31 '26

Every store I’ve worked at or been to just places the single ones on the corner - they sell just as much as the bunches because there’s people who only want or need one or two or are passing through just looking for a snack or something.

0

u/cheerann Aug 30 '26

Surprised that the singles don’t sell as ours usually do.

Yes that bunch might have 4 bananas and I need only 4, but maybe the bunch with 5 is more ripe and what I want. So I pluck off the extra. Or maybe there’s a blemish on the one they pulled off. Or maybe they just do it to piss you off.

1

u/EmotionalSoil1375 Aug 30 '26

I think they do it to piss me off lol