Why do produce guys baby apples and baggers don't?

Here is a column that is close to the heart of produce managers and grower-shippers. From The Manteca Bulletin in Georgia. I won't reprint the entire column but here is an excerpt that surely will whet your appetite:

Ambrosia apples are without a doubt the best tasting apples I’ve ever had.

They have a honey-like taste and are crisp as they are firm like a red apple.

They don’t come cheap. At $2.99 a pound, my weekly habit of at an Ambrosia a day costs $10.94 or about a tenth of my weekly food bill.

The supermarket produce guys take super care handling apples. They understand why they come packed layered between cardboard shaped to minimize them being jostled about and getting bumped. The reason is simple. Bruising isn’t good for an apple. Once it occurs, it accelerates its deterioration.

Nothing frosts me more than paying S1.35 or so per apple for a week’s supply and five days after I’ve bought them the apple is partially ruined thanks to a bag boy — or cashier — that believes speed is everything. If I wanted to throw $1.35 away, I’d toss it in the trashcan outside the store’s entrance.

TK: Kudos to managing editor Dennis Wyatt for taking on the issue of produce abuse by otherwise well meaning baggers. This column should be copied to to the inbox/mailboxes of store managers across the fruited plain.