No matter how hard you try to be a wise consumer, the stores have you stymied.

Have you tried to compare prices on food items lately? The food's price sticker on the shelf is supposed to include information that will tell you, for example, that the item is, for example, $x.xx per pound or $x.xx per pint.

The problem is, the store will often use different units for examples of the same item., The other day I found that various jellies at my local Key Foods were labeled by the pound, while others were listed by the unit -- yes, it said "$2.79/unit." That is of no use to anyone, since that's the price already on the jar: $2.79.

Then, to add insult to injury, one $3.29 brand was listed as $32.90/100." Useless.

In the end, this helpful information is merely baffling, and it is impossible to compare unit prices on many items without a calculator and conversion charts.

Also, the calculations on these tags are often just plain wrong. When I encounter one like this, I have been known to write "WRONG" on it in magic marker. If you see one of these, you'll know who it probably was.

NYC

So the latest is that they are making new announcements in the subways.

First, quite often they'll tell you the time, which just about nobody wants to hear in the subway, because it just reminds you how late you are.

But more ridiculous than that is the now-common announcement that "there's an uptown train approaching Fourteenth Street" (or whatever stop you're at).

What I REALLY need to know is when there is NO train approaching, when I'll be waiting there for twenty more minutes, so I can make the decision to use a different train route or a bus or go get a cup of coffee upstairs or just throw myself over the third rail.

If they know the train is close by, why do they find it impossible to keep us informed about delays, especially the ones they cause with construction?

I am constantly offered evidence that there are few brains are working at the MTA.

NYC