Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Type I versus Type II Grocery Shopping Errors

Over the years, we've pursued various approaches to grocery shopping, from shopping together to alternating to finally me doing 98% of the shopping.  While it was nice to shop together when we were first married, I much prefer one person doing all of the shopping.  We run a pretty tight shopping list regimen, but there are some staples that I just monitor in my head (bananas, breakfast juice concentrate, Teddy's provolone) and buy when I know we're out.  That's hard to do when we alternate.

Results of a Type II Error
Still, with a good list and a limping-along brain, it's possible to make mistakes.  I've decided that I prefer to make what I call a Type II grocery error rather than a Type I.  I define Type I as not buying an item we need and Type II as buying an item we already have stocked.  When we were young and poor, fiscal caution would make a Type II error slightly more painful.  Now, I prefer to just put the extra in the pantry and know that we'll use it eventually.

4 comments:

Paige said...

You forgot to mention one of our phases of grocery shopping, the one when I did 98% of it. I used to stop every Monday, faithfully, on my way home from Pressley Ridge. Remember?

JFo said...

I do not remember that. I was boring myself with all of that historical material. Heaven knows the readers (except you) fell asleep partway through the paragraph. I really just wanted to define those grocery errors and move on.

If you were at Pressley Ridge, I was in graduate school and then working at the City, huh? Was that routine born of night classes?

Azure said...

When I was in law school, I did all my grocery shopping at the 7-Eleven on the same block as my apartment. (See, Californians do sometimes walk places!) Boyfriend Stan was appalled and since has done all of the grocery shopping.

What's your ratio of Type I to Type II errors?

JFo said...

Azure, unforch, I still make about three Type I errors for every 2 Type II errors.