Are You Guilty of ‘Planting Weeds’ in New York Stores

I like to think I'm up on new word meanings or phrases, even though I probably am not as knowledgeable as I think I am. I have to remind myself that I'm not young anymore, and it shows when I hear a word or phrase being said that means something else.

The latest is what it means to 'plant weeds.' First off, who plants weeds? Don't they just come out of the ground on their own? And why would anyone want to plant weeds?

Well, this has nothing to do with unwanted vegetation rising out of the ground and causing havoc in your garden or lawn. But it is something that I find annoying that is happening in retail stores around the county, even here in the Southern Tier of New York and Northeast Pennsylvania.

According to an article in the Daily Meal, "Planting weeds is the practice of leaving trash or random items around a store where they don't belong." I am sure you have seen this when shopping at a grocery or department store.

For example, someone grabs a carton of eggs, and for whatever reason, maybe on purpose or just because they decide they don't want the eggs, instead of putting them back where they were found, the person just places them on a nearby shelf, and walks away. That's what 'planting weeds' means.

Weeds, weeds everywhere! It makes me angry. Costco should make some policy for thiss type of behaviors. Suspension or something.
byu/ThrottleAway inCostco

I'll be honest, I've done it before because I was too lazy to walk back to where I picked up the item, BUT, I never have done that with a perishable item. The reason? Well, I found something similar that looked more appealing or was cheaper to purchase.

According to the Daily Meal article, it is especially annoying to store owners, managers, and employees because it is wasteful for items that need to be kept at a certain temperature.

Not to mention that it's more work for the employees to discard the item or if it's a non-perishable item, to have to put it back in its rightful place. So, what to do? Ban a person from the store if they are caught? Probably not. Who wants to police such a thing, and no store wants to lose a customer.

So, the next time you go to the store, whether it be a grocery store or a department store, and find something on the shelf that's obviously out of place, you will know it was someone 'planting a weed.' And now you are up to date on the new jargon...or are you?