I was shopping as a normal life function at a grocery store that I have shopped before and will again. This store is one that is all about customer service and does not ask for names or ask for product date checks. It's timings and feet to greet for this high customer service grocery. They have a sappy question for every department that changes.

I had other people with me, so it could not appear as a shop for this customer. I picked up some hot dogs that had a digital coupon for $2 off and were also on sale, and as I ALWAYS do now, I checked the date on them. They were a week expired!

I reached in the back for them to get the freshest ones. Then I grabbed one from the front and they were almost 2 months out till expiration. The stock person was not rotating and just fronting new stock over old stock

Being a normal shopper, I went to the customer service desk and asked for the store manager. I handed him the expired product and he thanked me. He then hit the intercom and called someone out by name and asked them to meet him in the back of the store. I could tell by his voice he was *VERY* angry.

I think I can shop this location next month if it is shown, as it will not be on a report. I have a funny feeling the store manager thought he was being shopped and was very upset by my finding.

The fact that the manager will not find a shop report with this on it will make me a non-shopper in his eyes when I am shopping there now.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2014 07:38AM by scanman1.

Scanman, you might remember my full time job is for that same grocery store chain. I wouldn't have identified you as a MS. I would have just figured exactly what happened: you were shopping for the hot dogs, spotted the out of date, and wanted to bring it to the manager's attention. It doesn't happen often at my store, but when it does, I always appreciate the customer's mentioning it. I hope the store manager gives the grocery manager hell over his stock clerks not rotating product properly! It makes our company as a whole look bad, and that's not okay by me!

Plenty of customers check expiry dates. I do it myself when I'm shopping, especially for milk, bread, and salad bags. I figure it's smart shopping to choose the products with the longest shelf life once they're home!

I try to always check dates. It always happens that if I forget to, I'll pick up something that expires the next day and then I usually end up tossing most of it because I can't use it in the week that's left before it sours.

I bring out of date to their attention, as I am sure most customers would. I showed an employee a Sam Adams box that had a date that was several months past, and he tried to say that was the day it was brewed. I then pointed to the words "best by" just above it. Why would you try to fake me out on this? Sam Adams is pricey-people are paying for freshness and quality. I personally do not drink it, but my husband would notice if the taste was "off".

I found an out of date product at a convenience store (gas station shop)

Mayonnaise...over 9 months expired.

I snapped a picture of that one fast.

This is so dangerous I think, since it contains egg.

I once found an item on a shop that was over a year expired. The worst part was that if was in the freezer section, which usually has products with a long shelf life. Still wonder just how long it had been in there. The manager was shocked.

I have heard from a professional chef that it is almost impossible to get sick from commercially made mayonnaise because it has so many preservatives in it that it is a base and will almost never spoil. He said it's loaded with preservatives because of the eggs, to keep them from spoiling. Otherwise it would have to be shipped refrigerated.

Edited to add...Not that I'm going to try it.


Canuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I found an out of date product at a convenience
> store (gas station shop)
>
> Mayonnaise...over 9 months expired.
>
> I snapped a picture of that one fast.
>
> This is so dangerous I think, since it contains
> egg.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2014 04:19PM by James Bond 007.5.

jroby1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I bring out of date to their attention, as I am
> sure most customers would. I showed an employee a
> Sam Adams box that had a date that was several
> months past, and he tried to say that was the day
> it was brewed. I then pointed to the words "best
> by" just above it. Why would you try to fake me
> out on this? Sam Adams is pricey-people are paying
> for freshness and quality. I personally do not
> drink it, but my husband would notice if the taste
> was "off".

Beer is a tricky one. Some brewers mark their packages with the date it was brewed, others use expiry dates. I'm not a liquor specialist, so I don't remember which brewers use which. But DUH, you'd think he could use the "Best By" wording like I do!

Another tricky category includes items produced in Europe (and possibly other places outside of the US, but I notice it mostly with European products). They use a DD/MM/YYYY format. So 03/12/2014 would be December 3, not March 12. In some of our stores, we've posted signs to that effect in the ethnic aisle.

Actually the Hot Dogs were Oscar Mayer and they used the "dd mmm yy" format with the dd= numeric day mmm = three digit month text and yy= two digit year format. The dot matrix printer used on the end of the package near the resealable ziplock were very small and I had to squint to see the date. The manager had a hard time reading it as well and had to whip out his readers. His facial expression changed as soon as he did crack the date information though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2014 04:45PM by scanman1.

I almost always check expiration dates on virtually everything. I've found way too many out of date items at all sorts of places. It's especially true when a new store opens in a particular area and the other stores haven't adjusted to the new buying patterns of customers yet. They tend to overstock and product goes bad quicker.

That said, I've also been known to buy and entire cooler section of ground sausage when the sell by date was the date I was in the store. I contacted the meat manager and offered $1 per roll. He gladly accepted. The sausage was promptly put into my deep freezer when I got home.