Is it bad manners to pick up longer expiry date product from the shelf?

Come on, I know some of you have done it!
Personally I have, and seen a lot of people doing it as well.
I was buying a milk from Woolies and witnessed that one of the person was reaching her hand
to pick up the one that had longer expiry date that was behind the "shorter" expiry date ones.
Although I don't think it's illegal or anything,
I just want to know what do you guys think about it.

Do you think it's bad manners to pick up the items that are behind the shelf, which has a longer expiry date?

Poll Options

  • 8
    Yes, it is bad manners. You should not do that!
  • 839
    No, it is not bad manners. I do that all the time!
  • 9
    It depends on your consciousness. If you feel bad about it, then don't do it!

Comments

      • +4

        So we should pay the same price and take items with shorter shelf lives off the shelves so we can do the supermarkets a favour?

        Airlines have even lower margins and a worse return on assets than supermarkets. Maybe we should all start buying fully flexible fares and stop buying sale fares because the airlines make more on the flexible fares. I feel sorry for their thin margins.

        When I think of recipients of charitable acts, Coles and Woollies aren't at the top of my list.

        • I never said that.

          Airlines make a killing when fuel prices are in their favour.

          You’re not helping Coles or Woolies. They have giant databases of waste and discounts. They will just raise prices to cover these costs.

          You are helping fellow shoppers by keeping prices down.

          Alternatively, buying the shortest date disadvantages the supplier as less wastage means less turn over - BUT every store I know will always try to pin wastage on the supplier so either way the supplier always loses.

      • These guys are BILLION dollar companies that have had numerous bullying claims against them. They deserve no sympathy.

        Do you think those automated self service checkouts are there as a favour?

        • When wastage goes up, the price goes up or the line is removed. The cost is passed on to the consumer, either with higher prices or less choice.

          As you implied, supermarkets exist to turn a profit. This issue has nothing to do with bullying or self-service, just profit.

      • Some individual supermarkets clear a few million dollars a week in profit.

        I have no idea why you're commenting again and again inferring that supermarkets are entities we should be showing "understanding" for the terribly tough business they're in. I mean give me a break lel.

        • I'm not. Please don't put words in my mouth.

          I'll try again.

          Supermarkets are businesses. Their sole purpose is to make as much money as possible.

          Off and discounted food reduces this profit. So they raise the price to cover this cost.

          They don't lose. The consumer dose.

          I am sorry that this reply is a little patronising. There are three comments above that say the same thing but more respectfully.

        • @This Guy: >Please don't put words in my mouth.

          I didn't.

          So they raise the price to cover this cost.

          No they do not: they adjust the variables they control, price and logistics, so that the number of items with shorter use-by dates is reduced as much as possible.

          But sure go on pretending as if supermarkets have no control over the price and logistics and so they leave themselves to the mercy of the rude shoppers who refuse to take the bad deal and raise prices for everyone else.

          I suppose now your going to argue that you've never seen short dated products on special and that if you have it's just an exception and usually they remain the same price and the supermarkets are forced to take the same number of items the next time so prices will go up because people are not happy to take the worse date possible to support your argument now right?

        • @Diji1:

          "So they raise the price to cover this cost."

          "No they do not: they adjust the variables they control price and logistics"

          We are saying the same thing. I simplified because "There are three comments above that say the same thing but more respectfully."


          As for the rest, I didn't write any of that. You did. I'm happy to keep disowning your comments if you want to keep attributing them to me.

          Sorry this is snarky. I don't want to burden you with a wall of text.

        • +1

          @This Guy: I think you two are pretty much saying the same thing. You are simply saying that the supermarkets wouldn't be on the losing end (they'd incrase the price or do other things to absorb the overhead expenses) and somehow Diji1 took it as you saying that supermarkets are on the losing end because of the wastage.

          Yeah, supermarkets are not dumb. They have databases of what happened and what's likely to happen. The price that it is on probably already reflect the wastage. Overhead expenses are still an expense, supermarkets would probably increase price on products that they can increase the price on or do other things to absorb the overhead expenses. Though, I do see your point about loss on profit. Since supermarkets would require a lot of investment, loss in profit could mean that it becomes less attractive option for an investment (oppotunity cost, basically).

        • @This Guy: I work at woolies and i have to say @Diji1 is right. Wastage does not entirely affect increase or drop in price. For example at my store the bakery section, at the end of every night we would throw them away despite the shelves being full or half full. You don't see them "increasing" the cost of it to cover their lost. In fact, i believe that they wouldn't be able to increase price on items OVER their SRP. They need to consider that price plays a factor for us consumers in purchasing products with them. If their price is higher than for example Aldi, people will start shopping at Aldi instead of Woolies/coles or other major retails.

          So like i mentioned, wastage would not "increase" the price of items in store due to pricing competition. For them to make up/cover the loss they would endorse more sales by announcing to customers about the current deals and everything (at least in my store).

          Also clearance items are actually decided by the store/duty manager. They have the option to put items that seems to be almost expired or not physically in good condition (cereal boxes that are crushed but still has a long expiry date) on clearance.

          Again, this is based on my knowledge and experience. I could totally be wrong but that's atleast how my store works.

        • +1

          @piggiepanda: I think you are slightly missing the point. He's referring to the pricing at headquarters level sort of thing. Price that is set by the Coles or Woolies or whatevs. What I think he's saying is, the overhead expenses relating to damaged goods, expired before sales, etc etc would all be considered in the cost, which then would've been cooporated into the price (since price is directly related to cost) and other strategies. While they cannot increase the price on certain goods, like bread, milk, that are price elastic, you could increase price on price inelastic goods, those goods that do not change in demand as much as the price change given the competitors' price. Or you could implement a strategy where you basically make a loss on certain goods, but since people shop at your place for other goods as well, you make profit overall. There would be a lot of strategies that I could not be bothered to think (as I am not paid to do it). They'd know these information needed from the data they've collected, sales information, competitors' price etc. This is from my basic knowledge on accounting and economics, it would be complex with a lot of variables everywhere, but with enough information and enough processing power, I think it's calculatable.

          In short, the supermarkets (headquarter level of course) wouldn't be dumb enough to make a loss on sales from almost predictable losses like damaged goods, expired before sales, etc.

    • Exactly. That's why Wooli & Coles have reduced price for products with short expiry date.
      Put it this way, why should you get products with shorter expiry date but the one walks in to the store after you get products with longer expiry date?
      Hypothetically, if no one picks the product with longer expiry date, stores will have more profit for less reduction of price or waste. Then the need of production will be slightly reduced, so some guys somewhere in this world will lose their jobs. Unless you argue that producers will let the profit go and donate the surplus to poor countries or families.
      Well I guess its too much. My point is I always find the freshest product.

  • +3

    if you wanted the longer expiry, get in and get it before i do.

    people who have a sook about this ought to get something more worthwhile to cry about

  • If I eating buying for the day, I will grab whatever. I do check the meat milk etc for coldness though. If I plan to have it in the next few days, Ill grab the longest lasting one.

  • When buying milk I always pick the one with the furthest use by date. No harm in doing so I think.

  • +6

    It depends on your consciousness. If you feel bad about it, then don't do it!

    I usually don't shop for milk when I'm so tired (or drunk) that my consciousness is affected.

  • +1

    Near expiry date, most the times, will be discounted…

    I am paying for a full price product, therefore, i have right to choose the shelf life…

    Sometimes even i bought the long expiry date, i can't even finished it before expired…

    so, in the end, i am always choosing the longest expiry date…

    i have a low income, cannot find "a job with a good pay", have to really spend my money wisely, hopefully one day n the future, use my wisely savings to "buy property"… i am unable to withdraw my super until i reach certain age, unlike other teen which can withdraw to buy a BMX :S

    Therefore, spend money wisely, and buy a longer expiry date product, to avoid expired before finish consuming it, so i am 1 step closer to buy property

    • +2

      You'll never buy property in Sydney.

      • +2

        Unless he gets into the Liberal party.

  • +9

    I guess it's OK for savages and gypsies to take the long dated expiry milk but for an Oxford man like myself, no thank you, good sir!

  • +1

    One other thought on this:

    As a consequence of always looking at the best before dates on fresh things, I sometimes spot ones that are WELL out of date (have obviously been left on the shelf by mistake). I always hand these to a staff member, which I think (hope?) helps other customers and the store.

    That said, once the item is in my house I'm not as much of a 'best before' nazi. Eg I'm not exactly going to throw out milk if its technically one day out of date, but still smells and tastes fine. The sniff test normally works well, plus knowing in general what the look/texture of various fresh foods should be (well, I'm learning with this- the wife is much better at it).

    Good poll question though, OP. Results are pretty much what I would expect.

  • Taking this a bit further, I wanted to get your thoughts on the following scenario.

    I was in a fruit shop at Westfield the other day, and there was an old man who was swapping mangoes from one box to another, and ended up taking his 'preferred' (hand-selected) box of mangoes to the counter.

    What does Ozbargain think of this behaviour?

    • Hmmm. I guess it could be considered checking / testing fruit and veg before buying, taken to the extreme. I'll readily admit to checking loose fruit and veg before buying, and plenty of other people do too, so I couldn't honestly say that the old man in your example was doing the wrong thing.

      Just another reason why you should always wash and / or peel store-purchased fruit and veg.

    • +1

      I do this with eggs…

      I'll open a $2.79 carton of a dozen Cage Eggs and swap them with the most expensive Free Range eggs.

      That way I can be cheap but still have a clear conscience that I haven't been indirectly cruel to animals.

      XD

      • +1

        this is stealing, you took the product that you did not pay for no matter how you want to justify it.

        • +1

          Really dude!? You really think I do that? ¬_¬

        • +2

          @Scrooge McDuck: you are Scrooge McDuck after all ;)

      • +1

        What you do is disgusting because:
        - You cheat the store, the person who buys the swapped carton after you, your family who think you are a good husband/dad, yourself when you think it's OK to do that.
        - You Duck eat eggs?!?!?!

        Just don't do it! Please!

      • +5

        I try and fit a 13th egg into my carton! rofl!

        • +3

          Try cracking them and pouring them back into the carton. Should be able to fit in a few more that way, you can't even eat the shell right?

        • +1

          @Scrooge McDuck:

          That's not a bad idea! First, I'll need to "borrow" some of their Glad wrap to create a leak-resistant carton… such a genius! Look out for me on the news tonight! hahahhaha! :D

        • @Scrooge McDuck:

          if you haven't got a compendium of eggshell recipes memorised by now you don't belong on OzBargain.

      • +6

        Lay your own eggs you bloody duck!

        • You do realise that I'm male?

        • I think he would, but he's a he..

        • @waterlogged turnip:
          You mean all ducks can't lay eggs?
          Thats the last time I watch Tom & Jerry! What other tomfoolery have I been unwittingly subjected to!

    • If he selects the best loose mangoes then it is definitely OK. But if he open two boxes and swap mangoes then it's not. That's cheating.

      • But if he open two boxes and swap mangoes then it's not. That's cheating.

        I can't tell if you're joking or not. Cheating?

        • According to Longman Dictionary, "to cheat" [verb] is to behave in a dishonest way in order to win or to get an advantage, especially in a competition, game, or examination.

          -> "cheating" [noun]

          Sorry if I misused the word?!

    • You've obviously seen my dad… (but Westfield is a bit too upmarket) whooeee slaps thigh he does this at the markets all the time!

    • It seems a bit extreme, but I think it's OK as long as the box is priced by number of mangoes, rather than weight. On the premise that it's done by number of mangoes, I don't see how it's really that different to all the mangoes being out in a tub and you selecting them individually to put in your trolley, in which case you would obviously pick the best ones.

    • I don't see anything wrong about it.

      (…looking with love at his box of mangoes)

  • It depends. If there is less than 3 days on the expiry I'll take milk from the back.

  • +1

    If you do it in front of workers they give you the biggest dirty look

    • +1

      They should be thanking you for providing them with all those hours of re-tagging items which become short-dated. Don't they realise their register hours just got taken by machine running XP? When I worked in fast food I was happy people didn't clean up after themselves.

  • +8

    Its fresher if you take it from the back.
    According to Woolies and their slogan "The fresh food people", they are encouraging you to grab stuff from the back which has longer expiry date, because they want you to have the fresher produce.

  • +1

    No, it is not bad manners. But if I am going to use it right away, then I pick something from the frontline.

  • +1

    why is this bad manner? this is a sensible thing to do. You paid for the item fair and square. Is it bad manner when you ask for/ choose a good seat in cinema or on the plane, this is just getting best value for your money.

  • It's bad manners serving food that has gone off to your family, or throwing up all over the place because you have eaten some yourself.

  • Some items are actually better when they are close to their expiry. Sausages are one of them, I know a couple other but just can't get them off the top of my head. Can anyone think of others?

    • melons :)

      • Bananas

    • +1

      Avocado

    • Hmmm, could you possibly elaborate why sausages are better when they are close to their expiry? Might try getting them when they are on discount if that is true (never though they'd age like a wine).

      • They have a fair amount of rice cereal which takes time to incorporate.

  • @voolish:
    Wine? The longer it is stored the better it tastes.
    Some fermented products.
    Some kinds of cheese.
    Some types of sauce that are made from fish, shrimp, etc.

    • +1

      Ah cheese, that's what I was thinking of, brie is great just before it expires.

      • I always lol at marked down brie. It is at its peak!

  • +1

    It's definitely not bad manners to look for a longer expiry date. However it's bad manners for the supermarkets to stack the shorter expiry date at the front of the shelves because the unsuspecting buyers are actually getting ripped off paying full price for something that was about to expire soon.

    All of these soon to be expired products should be sold at half price. Drinks, chocolates and biscuits just to name a few. Bread usually lasts 5-6 days. Would you pay full price for the same bread that is about to expire in 1-3 days?

    • +2

      I don't quite agree with this, what they are doing is sensible in terms of stock rotation. Having said that, they should also be keeping track of how long until expiry and discounting as required to move the old stock.

      • I think I need to clarify what I mean by 'shorter expiry date' in my first sentence. Evidently I was actually referring it to 'soon to be expired' at the end of my first sentence. Bread and milk was what I had in mind at the time of writing. I generally have no problem with shorter expiry dates if it expires in months or years.

        So I totally agree with what you said.

    • What you are saying is illogical.

      Product A: Goes off in 11 days (this is fresh from the supplier)
      Product B: Goes off in 6 days

      In most cases, if they don't stock rotate Product B will simply go off.

      Offering a discount on a product when it has 6 days left is not worth it and simply waiting 3-4 days so they can discount it is pointless.

      • What if Product B goes off in 1-3 days? Would you still stock Product B in front of Product A which goes off in 11 days and hope someone is stupid enough not to check and buy it?

        I buy bread every Sunday that lasts my kids Monday through Friday. The longest expiry date is mostly on Friday but sometimes on Thursday. There is no way I am going to pay for a loaf that expires on Tuesday or Wednesday for the same price. Yes, I got caught out once for not checking. That half loaf of bread went straight into the bin mid-week and I wasn't happy.

  • Quite the opposite when it comes to ripening cheeses such as triple cream brie.

    I actively seek out the towards expiry and, even better, supermarkets mark down the cheeses when they are at their peak :-)

  • +2

    The Opening Post surprises me. I thought most people would do this. I would be more surprised if someone just grabbed a bottle of milk without checking the expiry date.

    I do this for everything (especially milk because they have a short shelf life) to ensure that I have the maximum time to finish my food before it spoils. Sometimes an item that you consume regularly is on sale so you buy in bulk to save money but at the same time, you want to ensure you buy the right amount with the longest shelf life.

    If you're paying the same price, why wouldn't you pick the best product for that price? Same applies to fruit and veggies.

    • Not only those reasons, but I believe it's better for your health to consume fresher products.

  • +4

    It's not a bad manner at all. Bad manner is when you take a stuff put it in another shelf especially cold things.

    • +2

      Dunno why you got negged. +1 from me.

    • +1

      I've seen fish and other perishables in the cold drink section (you know, those ones right next to the self service thingy) of woolies.

  • +14

    From someone who has stacked shelves at Coles/Woolies, never take the product at the front. Things like milk and yogurt can be left in isles by customers for an hour or more, then staff just plop it back on the shelf. You also see people sneezing and coughing while getting items. Sure once is nothing, but maybe that product has been at the front for a whole day? Fridge is warmer too. So basically the product at the front is festering with germs and probably rancid and most definitely will cause cancer/miscarriage/alien invasion.

    • Also, don't buy opened milk or yoghurt :-P

      • +1

        What about staring at the Sun? Should we not do that either?

        • Sure, not if you're not using protection.

        • @muncan:

          "Always use protection."

          Got it!

    • I always try to take dairy items from further back in the cabinet because of the variation in temperature.

    • The funny thing is that I would be more concerned about the stuff at the back. That's where stuff that isn't supposed to be put back at all (cold items left out of fridge for unknown amount of time or longer than allowed by cold chain), gets put back - so that it will feel cold by the time customers come to buy it.

  • Not bad manners at all! I'm paying for this product, I want the freshest they can offer
    if I get a close to expire date, I want a discount 😊

  • +5

    I work at coles (can't get a job in IT with my 30 years of experience)

    There are a couple of comments about why we put new stock with old on the shelves. We don't let them run right down otherwise we would be getting non stop requests from customers for missing stuff, plus it looks bad, plus its really inefficient to keep checking and fetching single products. So we keep shelves topped up, so there is often a mix of old and new dates.

    I personally look for latest expiry. But a couple of things to consider:

    • Everybody pays for the stock that is thrown away - and there is tons of it binned every day
    • when rummaging around for better dates or fresher produce, lots of stock is ruined when perishable because people literally throw the stuff they don't want back, or don't care about the packets they push around looking for the 'prize' - and of course sometimes they don't find anything newer.
    • A lot of coles staff are not the brightest and place the newer stock out first. This means sometimes the stuff with newer dates has started to deteriorate on the shelves, be it fresh produce, or subject to the heavy handed handling mentioned above.
    • Don't rely on mark downs. I throw heaps away because the use by/best before has been reached or passed. It is a time consuming job, often forgotten about or not done too well.

    So remember, when there is just a couple of scabby looking items left, it is often your fellow customers' lack of consideration for what they did to my pristine, perfect product displays.

    • +1

      ya, pisses me off to no end seeing people treating food with contempt

  • +2

    You are paying the same price so may as well take the one with the longest shelf life. if you want milk with low shelf life buy it when its on special. you can get better quality milk that way. we have recently switched to the maleny dairy full cream or one of the farmers own unhomogenised… MUCH better than the over-processed and ordinary tasting milk that woolies and coles are dishing out at $1 per litre…

    • Interesting, I didn't know they even produced unhomogenised milk. Does it separate into layers while it sits in your fridge and leave you with creamy awesomeness at the top?

      • +1

        Hey it sure does. Big layer of cream at the top. Have a look out for the gold top one at woolies, not sure if coles carries it. Not that much more expensive though and tastes so much better.

  • +3

    Why would you buy something if you don't think you'll eat it in time? Coles throw out so much food, feel ashamed for them, not for yourself

    • For people like myself who live alone, there's usually always leftovers from everything I buy. Some things, I can buy smaller portions of, but if I find that i need the same thing the following week, i'd like to have it there in my fridge already if possible. It gets annoying to make my way to the supermarket if I'm cooking and i'm missing one ingredient. And it's obviously cheaper to buy "bulk". That's the reason I'd prefer an expiry date that's as far as away as possible….

      • +2

        whats your address, ill eat your left overs… problem solved

  • You pay and you have right to choose from available products.

  • +1

    You need a thread for this?

  • With all this crazy "big data" technology available to us, we should surely be able to price individual products… so the milk could cost anywhere between $1.87 - $2.63 depending on its "freshness". $2 would just be an "indicative average price." Kinda like what Kogan does with demand…

    (I'm joking. The way some people are talking about freshness here, it's like as if Woolies is the Almighty Father, Milk is the Son and Freshness the Holy Spirit…)

    • I've had that thought myself, it's the fairest way, no joke.

    • The database will be huge. Though, I guess the entry could be purged once sold.

  • +1

    With cold items I generally take the product right in the middle as it'll be the coldest\most frozen.

  • +6

    Its not bad manners to grab the longer expiry stuff from the back.

    But i feel it is bad manners when you mess up the whole display or rack or whatever to try and get the one from the back. At least try to fix the mess u make when grabbing something from the back instead of leaving the stuff in front all over the place.

    • -4

      screw that, the shops put all the new stuff at the back, so its their cause.

  • If the product is on the shelf, supermarkets are happy with you buying it.

    It's a supermarket's job to manage their stock levels appropriately so that things don't go out of date that often. Appreciate there may be times that it's hard to predict sales volumes (I recall being the one ordering Goats Milk that randomly was purchased… or not), but overall, they do (or at the very least should) know what their doing with stock and they shouldn't place the burden of short code stuff on the customer to make up for ordering errors.

    No need to be silly about it and try and get margarine that's 1 month fresher in 12 months time. But yeah, get something that is of the freshness & timing level that you require. It's simple.

  • illegal lol

  • -1

    Stupidest question ever. It's your right which is commanded by the $$$ you pay.

  • +1

    If customers only ever bought whatever was in front, there would never be markdown/clearance items…that would make grocery shopping a whole lot less enjoyable.

    • I wouldn't say never, but just less.

  • no its not, if it was, it would be equally bad manners of store workers rotating the stock to put the oldest stock first.

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