"Shortcuts - The Paralyzing Problem of Too Many Choices" - NYTimes.com

This is a really fascinating article that sure makes sense to me.

I wonder if there is not a need for a How to Buy Your Food for Dummies? That is not at all to suggest that people are not smart enough to make the decisions that are so important to their lives. Rather, it is to agree with the core thesis of this article which is that studies are showing we don't do real well when confronted with many choices.

How to simplify and improve the process?

In France, I shop a good deal of the time in a store that is a subsidiary of a large supermarket chain. They only sell - or pretty much "only" - products that carry their own brand name. There are still many choices, but I have enough confidence - wrongly or rightly - in their choices to feel very comfortable buying what they offer. I feel somewhat the same way when I see store brand merchandies here in NC too, again, whether I am choosing well or not.

Imagine being able to go into a supermarket with a shopping list of things you want to buy, indicating in advance the priority order of the best options in terms of what French call "qualite-prix" or a combinaiton of quality and price.

I rarely - if ever - see anyone helping me decide at a Harris-Teeter or Food Lion - which is the best bag of carrots to buy today if you think that organics are too expensive and yet you'd prefer to have them if you can. On some days, using your criteria, organic carrots might be a better deal when combining tests of quality and price. On other days, given that one may not be organic-at-any-price, the regular carrots might be better. There are other options, too, often, including frozen, that need to be factored into the choice.

But imagine in real time that a guide that you programmed was taking on board both product information (up to date) and price and giving you today's priority order of purchases assuming the items you want are in the store when you get there?