Due to unforeseen circumstances, we must limit corn purchases to 8 corns on the cob per family.

Things that have gone through my mind since then include:

• “Corns on the cob”?
• Presumably the circumstances are a smaller-than-expected supply of corn.
• 8 is a large number. Do so many people usually buy more than 8 cobs at once that they had to limit it at 8?
• Even if they’re short on corn, why limit people? Just sell out of corn and be happy you had no corn left.
• Or, if people are buying so much corn, raise the price of corn already.
• Maybe they advertised corn at a really low price, and don’t want people to come in from across town to get cheap corn, only for there to be no corn at all.
• In fact, maybe corn is their loss leader, and they were losing too much, but they still want to do a bit of loss leading to get people to do the rest of their grocery shopping there.
• Maybe they priced the corn so low as a loss leader that restaurants or even other grocery stores decided it was better to buy corn at retail than from their regular suppliers, and were buying dozens of cobs — which would mean that the circumstances aren’t a smaller-than-expected supply, but an unexpected (source of) demand.
• April corn is a pretty crappy loss leader. Tough, tiny, insufficiently sweet kernels.

And yes, indeed: 8 ears for $2.

“Corns on the cob”?