H&M and Wal-Mart destroy and trash unsold goods - Page 3

[ArtsyMomma]

Originally Posted by traceface

One thing I don't get is, why doesn't the bakery at the grocery store start making less bread every day? In a market economy, one would think this would all operate more efficiently -- like, the business manager tracking which days they usually end up with much less

I assume a company like a bakery over produces goods in an effort to keep customers happy. I'd be quite irritated if I went to the store for bread, and couldn't buy any because none was available. I think it would lead to complaints and destroy brand loyalty. I would think that companies wouldn't WANT to over produce goods, but they aim for a small surplus to ensure customer satisfaction.

[PenelopeJune]

My husband is always absolutely disgusted by all that is thrown away at the walmart warehouse he works in. One can busts on other cans? The entire pallet is thrown away. Ice cream sits on the docks for longer than the 30 minutes they are allowed? Thrown away. (And then someone gets in BIG trouble.)

And no employees are EVER allowed to take anything home. They have security at the exits to make sure the employees aren't taking any food home.

[MommyDOK]

Originally Posted by traceface

One thing I don't get is, why doesn't the bakery at the grocery store start making less bread every day? In a market economy, one would think this would all operate more efficiently -- like, the business manager tracking which days they usually end up with much less

They all do this....well, at least any business that wants to stay open for very long. They will keep year to year data, week to week and holiday. They will mark what time they ran out for a comparable day. For example: ran out of whole wheat at 3pm. And then make more for a matching day. There are computer programs specifically for such things. It is the most efficient of any system I've ever seen. But consumers are erratic...before a predicted snow day, consumers will stock up.....other things happen. I remember one year we were at a panera near a museum on a holiday (the museum was open), but it was a very cold day. No one was in there except us. They offered us a big bag of food when we left

The paneras (around here) gives leftovers to their employess, or at least they used to.

Perhaps some of these companies are worried about a lawsuit and that is why they don't give to employees? If food is expired, or a can bursts then it could cause contamination to the other products (botulism)..... In our litigious country, and lack of a loser-pays system (decreases frivolous lawsuits-loser pays for fees if they lose the lawsuit and is used in England, France, Germany and others), this could possibly explain it.

I know when I worked at a cosmetics company, we were asked to not donate any fragrances to any women's shelters bc they would drink them. I was kind of surprised by that...back then, but nothing surprises me now!

[1babysmom]

My brother did some community service at a local dump and he said you wouldn't believe all the stuff that WalMart piles up there. HUGE amounts of perfectly good, unopened items. SICK that they dump it. What a waste. All the more reason that I hate WalMart.

My personal beef with them- my dad is a local farmer and he and my uncle run a packing shed. A WM in a few states away bought a truckload of onions from them. There was nothing wrong with the onions, but ONE bag on ONE pallet was slightly off on weight (and I believe it was OVER rather than under) and they discarded the ENTIRE truckload of onions. SICK. And to think how hard my dad worked for that crop. As if farmers aren't treated poorly enough already in our country.

[BetsyS]

Originally Posted by lucyem

Our local Panera bread used to have all kinds of day old baked goods in the dumpster behind their store. It would be overflowing on Sundays. Inside on the Panera literature they said the company policy was to donate to shelters. Yet ours threw it all away. I sent an email to corporate and I heard others did too. The dumping seems to have stopped.

The Paneras around here all donate their food. My MIL's church gets the leftovers every Wednesday.

[lilyka]

I work on a stpck crew and if we get a busted can we throw the hole flat away. honestly, maggots. I am not reaching in there to save a couple of cans. not to mention I get paid $10 and hour (mid range for wages) and you do not want to pay me to spend half an hour standing in the bathroom (where you will later wash up) washing maggots and rot stink off of a $.75 cans of soup. easier and more cost effectiver to throw the whole thing away. if we can save some we do but seriously. it will also cost the store money if I start throwing up from the grossness. that would take more than half an hour to clear up.....and more than just one employee.....its all about what is most cost effective.

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by lilyka

its all about what is most cost effective.

This is so true!

However, "cost effective" is only looked at from a right here, right now dollars and cents perspective most of the time. Potential lawsuits also play an inordinate amount into the equation. The legal status of corporations (as an entity, like a person) is also huge in so many ways.

The long-term cost effectiveness is rarely considered in this country. Especially when considering the "effectiveness" in a broader way than dollars and cents. Look where we are now with regards to shipping food all over the world. The cost of shipping is greatly skewed. Transportation costs go far beyond the dollars and cents required to get product X to country A. It displaces employees all over the world and increases fuel consumption and destroys food diversity and soil conditions and the list goes on and on.

I don't know what the ultimate answer is, but I believe I can start with my own purchasing and consumption habits and make a difference. Even if that difference is simply a more peaceful home and life for my family, it is worth it. That teaches our child, who will then teach her children, and so forth. Not to mention the ripple effect in the current generations. Our network of friends is becoming more and more locally-minded and none of us were huge consumers to start and are still cutting back on volume. I'd like to think the "simple life" trend will be good for humanity.

There will be growing pains along the way, however.

[Kristine233]

I know a lot of grocery stores dont sell expired food but ours does. They pull it from the shelves and put it in a shelf for specifically that. The barcodes are scribbled out and the date is circled. They stick dented cans or dmaged boxes there too. My kids bee-line it for that display everytime. If a 6 pack of apple sauce breaks open they mark each one .10 This is a jackpot find for my kiddos, lol. I get tons of bread mixes and such because they expire on the shelf and then get resold for .50 Dude, dry stuff lasts waaaay beyond the expired date. We find bread mixes, pancake mix, cereal, cereal bars, cans of tomatoes, beans ... all kinds of stuff. Super cheap and we grab an armload at a time.

The same grocery store also puts abundles of day old bakery stuff into grab bags. If its near expired or a day old they will bundle 6 or more items together in a bag and stick a 3.99 tag on it. Each item in the bag is worth 2.99 or more. They range from pies, rolls, bread, cookies, donuts and muffins. I usually grab one of these each Friday for the weekend for snacks and easy breakfast items, the rest I freeze.

Our local Target donates stuff to GW. Shopping at GW is like shopping at Target, well half of it is anyways. Most of the donations GW takes in gets shipped to a warehouse. We brought in bags of like-new clothes and they stuck it imediately on an outgoing truck to go sit in a warehouse. We've decided to just garage sale the items instead this spring. We'll sell them for a quarter where GW sells them for $2+ a piece. I think we'll help more people this way and its not just getting shipped off.

[MissinNYC]

Originally Posted by 1babysmom

My brother did some community service at a local dump and he said you wouldn't believe all the stuff that WalMart piles up there. HUGE amounts of perfectly good, unopened items. SICK that they dump it. What a waste. All the more reason that I hate WalMart.

My personal beef with them- my dad is a local farmer and he and my uncle run a packing shed. A WM in a few states away bought a truckload of onions from them. There was nothing wrong with the onions, but ONE bag on ONE pallet was slightly off on weight (and I believe it was OVER rather than under) and they discarded the ENTIRE truckload of onions. SICK. And to think how hard my dad worked for that crop. As if farmers aren't treated poorly enough already in our country.

But they paid him for it, right? They can't throw away his crop without having paid him, so it didn't hurt him at all. What's the difference to him?

I think most places discourage employees from bringing spoiled/damaged foods home because of a. ligitousness and b. the fact that it would encourage employees to (they think) purposely damage stuff or leave it out in hopes of taking it home.

[1babysmom]

Originally Posted by MissinNYC

But they paid him for it, right? They can't throw away his crop without having paid him, so it didn't hurt him at all. What's the difference to him?

I guess maybe you have to have been raised in a farm family to understand. The difference is that he spends all year tending to crops from seed to harvest and to see them wasted like that is pretty sickening. It's not just about the money, it's about genuine hard work year-round. Our country already has problems appreciating and utilizing it's OWN farmers and so it's just sad to see something like this happen, especially when it wasn't an issue with the QUALITY of the product.