Get smarter at the supermarket with these tips from grocers.

1. "Don't buy anything with more than five ingredients (too processed), with ingredients you can’t pronounce (too processed), with anything artificial (tastes bad), with a cartoon on it (direct marketing to children), or with a health claim (misleading)," says Nestle.

2. Check sizes. "Stores are constantly trying to repackage things to make them sound like better deal," says David Livingston, a supermarket industry consultant. "The new Jiffy peanut butter container looks the same, but it actually has less peanut butter inside. Ninety-five percent of customers don't watch this kind of stuff."

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3. Paper? Plastic? We don't really care. But asking us to double-bag…that's just wasteful.

4. Dig and reach for the freshest produce. Older merchandise gets pushed to the front of the bin and spread across the top to encourage customers to take it first.

5. This isn't a social service agency. "The purpose of grocery stores is to get you to buy more food, not less," says Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat (North Point Press). Only 14% of consumers overall stick to just the items on their shopping list.

6. Very few people really like the "loyalty card" program, and it's expensive for us to run.

7. The kid at the cash register or the cart collector in the parking lot is making minimum wage at best. The buyers for the store and department managers earn bigger paychecks.

8. Attention, shoppers: Don't start your shopping just as we're closing. We just want to leave. It's been a long day.

9. Watch out for gimmicks. They are intended to get you into a store more frequently and to keep you away from competitors.

10. The person who supervises it all has a tough job; they're just a big babysitter.

11. Thanksgiving is our least favorite holiday.

12. Bring back your recyclable cans and bottles, but wash them out first. Don't bring them in with soda still inside—it's not sanitary, and it's disgusting.

13. Dealing with perishables, such as seafood and produce, is tricky business. "I always say we have to have everything that the customer wants, but maybe they don't want it today. Maybe they don't want it tomorrow. But we still have to have it here," says Nizzardo. "Perishable items are where supermarkets loose the biggest amount of money."

14. Signs of a store in trouble: Stocking fewer perishable items, storing non-perishables in refrigerated cases to make them look full, and "dummying up" shelves with empty boxes. If we were offering the best prices and highest quality, wouldn't there be more people shopping here?

15. I'm not getting rich here. After-tax net profit for the grocery industry is less than 2 percent, and by the end of 2013, the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group, predicts annual average wages will be just $18,000.

16. If you get in the 10 items or less line with 25 items, don't be surprised if you are asked to leave. If you have 12 items, not many people will care.

17. Watch those shopping-cart handles. They're covered in bacteria, says food-safety consultant Jeff Nelken. Use a sanitary wipe if the store provides them. Finicky shoppers can even patronize supermarkets that send their carts through a cart wash.

18. Skip the center aisles. That's where you'll find the junk food, like sodas and snack foods.

知曉若干規則，當聰明消費者

1、以下商品“雀巢”主張“手下留情”——多于5種配料的（過分加工），成分標注不明的（加工處理過于復雜），人工添加的（不對味），帶有卡通圖片包裝的（針對兒童市場），宣稱有保健作用的（誤導消費者）。”

2、留意“凈重量”。“超市經常重新包裝商品再拿出來賣，從而得到有更大的收益。”超市經營顧問David Livingdton說，“貨架上擺滿的Jiffy花生醬都看似一樣，但實際上有些瓶子里面的花生醬卻稍微少一些，這些細微的差別有95%的顧客是不理會的。”

3、紙袋還是膠袋？我們才不關心。但要求我們用雙層購物包……那就太費錢了。

4、搜刮新鮮制品。通常舊貨都會被擺在貨架的最外頭——讓顧客最容易抓取的地方。

5、這里不是社會服務站。“食品店的最終目的就是盡可能地讓你多多消費，而非小花費。”《應該吃什么》（北點出版社）的作者Marion Nestle說。只有14%的顧客會按照他們的購物清單消費。

6、極少數人真的喜歡“積分卡”計劃，對于我們老說，實行起來也是耗費過大。

7、收銀員和停車場的推車管理員最多只領取法定最低限度工資，而能夠領取較大數目薪水支票的是采購員和部門經理。

8、注意了，顧客們：別在我們要關門了才來購物，我們只想下班回家，這一天有夠累的。

9、小心“大減價”，它只是使你勿近競爭對手的伎倆，誘惑你常來自家光顧。

10、超市主管是個艱巨的職務，他們跟保姆沒什么區別。

11、感恩節是我們最討厭的節日。

12、回收空瓶空罐時，請先把它們清潔干凈了，別拿來里面還帶有殘渣的——這樣很不衛生，太惡心了。

13、處理易腐類食品是個棘手的問題，例如海產食品。“我們常強調我們的貨品要順應顧客的需求，但顧客需求卻是不定時，今天他們需要買些海鮮，也可能明天。但我們必須得每天供應海鮮。”Nizzardo說，“易腐類食品使超市虧損最嚴重。”

14、一家商店開始走下坡的跡象是：易腐類產品入貨越來越少，非易腐類產品堆積在冷凍柜，還有空瓶子出現在樣品架上。如果我們能供應物美價廉的商品，怎么會沒人幫襯呢？

15、食品店經營者可不是有錢人，這個行業的稅后凈利潤僅僅為2%。根據行業組織“食品市場協會”的預算，到2013年末，超市的平均年產額僅為$18,000。

16、買夠10樣或少于25樣東西就好離開了，即使你買多兩樣，也沒人在意的。

17、“小心那些購物推車的手柄，他們沾滿了細菌。”食品安全顧問Jeff Nelken說。用清潔抹布擦一擦，如果超市有提供的話。講究的顧客甚至支付清洗購物推車的費用。

18、請略過通道的中樞，那里全是垃圾食品，像汽水啊，零食啊什么的。