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The supply chain has improved significantly due to technology. There's a lot less "expired" meat than there used to be. Excess meat is auctioned off before it even leaves the warehouse... so it's off the grocer's hands before the expiry date comes by.
Stores like Dollar General purchase this excess meat and sell it at a discounted price before the expiry date.
People take purchases back to the store to be reimbursed? Canned goods? I've taken an item back which was faulty, but that's all. Can't imagine returning whatever I bought from the grocery store because I may no longer need it.
I know, right?? In the last few years I have only returned purchases to a grocery store a handful of times. One was when the sealed neck of a salad dressing bottle broke when the bagger dropped it into the bag and I noticed it when I got home. I took it back immediately. The other times was when I bought berries and used them the next day only to find mold in the middle of the package. (Now I check.)
But taking stuff back because you didn't NEED it? NUH UH! I freeze perishables and eat my way through the non-perishables. A couple of times a year I clean out my pantry and donate unexpired, unwanted non-perishables to a local food pantry.
People who abuse a store's return policy are only helping to make everything more expensive for the rest of us...not to mention contributing to inexcusable waste.
They still mark it down in the areas of KS where we have lived. You have to know when to go and be able to get there before everyone else. This goes for fresh veggies, fruit and fresh bakery items also. The money you can save is amazing and I have been shopping this way for over 30 years. I have read a couple of times that it isn't healthy to buy "marked down" items but that has not been my experience at all. I think the people writing the articles must have been trying to discourage others so they could get a shot at the bargains! Never believe that in one's pursuit of being debt-free that every dime doesn't matter!
There is one chain grocer near me that never marks down meat. Don't know if that will change since they are not selling their meat like hotcakes anymore. Another grocer routinely has marked down items, mostly beef. I've taken advantage of that when I'm cooking it the same day.
Locally, it gets marked down and then if it doesn't sell, just before the date expires, it is frozen and donated to the food bank.
The stores seem to be pretty efficient at just ordering what they can sell, so there isn't a lot of excess to be marked down.
Yep. Talk to anyone who works with a food bank and they will tell you increased efficiencies in the grocery supply chain over the past 15 to 20 years have really put a crimp in their pantries.
I check the cheap meat bin every time I go to the store. There are multiple markdown areas, meat, deli, baked goods, dairy case, and misc. I check all of them! I plan to be flexible and what's for dinner sometimes changes if there's something good in the cheap bin!
I also buy and freeze. My last real score was almost 10lb of bacon for $20. It was in several packages and they went straight in the freezer! It's all gone now and I look for more all the time.
Yep. Talk to anyone who works with a food bank and they will tell you increased efficiencies in the grocery supply chain over the past 15 to 20 years have really put a crimp in their pantries.
I work for a food pantry. I think it depends, we do get a lot of bread tho'
I'm pretty sure that they throw away anything that requires refrigeration, and 'exposed' items such as fruits, veggies, and baked goods. But anything sealed tight. Like canned or bottled items go back on the shelf as long as the seals are not tampered with and the sell by date is within it's margin.
I have talked to several employees of a local Walmart and someone who works at a grocery chain. They are not allowed to put any returned foods, whether sealed in cans or 'exposed'. This isn't company policies, it's a law.
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