What should shops do with today's date food at closing time?

Question

What should shops do with today's date food at closing time?

Answer 1

should give to the homeless

Answer 2

They should give it to homeless shelters,

but they wont they will dump it

Answer 3

give it away but it normally goes in the bin

Answer 4

eat it!

Answer 5

They should distribute it to the needy, but they will chuck it in the bin.

Answer 6

They should give to a homeless shelter a few days before running out.

Answer 7

They should give it away. they charge enough for food and it's rarely fresh when it's supposed to be fresh. Give it to people who really need it like ME

Answer 8

distribute it to the homeless

Answer 9

give it to employees or freeze it and give it homeless shelters.

Answer 10

give it to staff awooo!!

Answer 11

Usually they will mark it down to 1/2 price or cheaper to try clearing the stock. If it does not sell it's wasted the following day.

Personally i would make use of it by providing those who are more needy, it's mostly pre-packaged foods anyway. Think we should ban ready meals & get back to basics, using only what we need.....we'd be a whole lot better that way!! =)

Answer 12

Give it to the homeless

Answer 13

Keep it warm for a couple of days, chill it, and then give it to Freegans.

Answer 14

The national grocery chain where I shop will mark it down to half price and sell it.  I do a lot of my shopping that way.

Answer 15

There's logic here, don't worry and thumbs down me too quickly.

A: I think that they should do what they do now and chuck it away!

Freegans, homeless people included, can go through the bins and take what they like from there and from what I've seen the vast majority of stuff is still edible/fit for human consumption...

Let's say that SuperFood hands out today's date food for free at closing time to the people waiting outside who are 'homeless'.  Over time the group of people outside SuperFood grows and their patronage shrinks... Eventually it becomes apparent that most people in the local area are simply visiting the place at closinng time and taking the food without actually being 'homeless'.

Simple as that... If you knew that they gave free food away at closing time would you go during the day and pay for the same stuff..? You can try to counter this argument by saying that the people attending should need to prove they were homeless, but such certifications are easily lost, stolen and/or replicated by people looking for a free meal.  

There's also the fact that Freegans raid bins for this food as well as the homeless but Freegans aren't actually the homeless, they are something different, so you would need to make a judgement call on if they should be included in the handouts and if they were, then the people shopping at SuperFoods are going to be a little annoyed to find out things they are paying for are going to other people for free simply because they don't agree with paying.

It's easier for a place of business to dispose of an item than it is to give it away to someone free of charge. There's no comebacks when it's in the bin and no-one can complain about the things I described above, the people buying can look down their noses at the bin raiders eating for free while they throw money for exactly the same goods, no-one feels cheated, people eat for free, the shops keep selling and people keep spend-spend-spending! which is what it's all about.

If it isn't broken... Don't fix it!

Answer 16

it seems to be a simple thing to say, give it to the needy or homeless, but the reality is that it is in fact very difficult to actually do this. For starters there are laws, health and safety, that would prevent the homeless shelters distributing the food past its use by date. So they would have to actually use it all on the day. Now the supply of this stuff is by its nature going to be irregular. So the shelter could not rely on the supply and so has to order food from a more reliable source anyway. Then at the last minute it might receive this now surplus food. What will they do with it? They by then have probably already prepared the days meals. They can't legally keep it till the next day. (Insurance issues).

Anyway who will organize the last minute transport etc. If some one in the shelter gets sick, the store providing the food could well be blamed for it, not good for your business.

Besides, is it right to offer food you don't want to other people less fortunate than you?

I notice no one suggested giving it to the local dogs, cats or other animals? Perhaps because we wouldn't want to risk the health of our pets or wildlife? What does that say about our values?

It is not a simple easy situation with simple easy answers. The logistics involved and the ethics are not straight forward. Even the legal liability for the store owners is not straight forward. By placing it in the bin, they are saying very plainly that it is not fit for consumption, and if anyone takes it out of the bin and eats it, then it is not the stores risk.

Now if the store's employees, keep the bins clean and place the food neatly into the bins, then those who for whatever reason, don't object to binned food take it, then they are less likely to get sick. The store could not do this officially though, that would make them liable again as they would be encouraging bin raiding. But unofficially the employees could play the good samaritan.

Personally I think the whole situation that creates this dilema is crazy. But some people like to live in a crazy world.

Answer 17

mark the packaging so it cant be brought back for financial reibursment, then give it away to ANYONE who is hungry, without judgement........

Answer 18

Reduce the price before closing time, and donate anything not sold to the homeless. I actually contacted a charity once to enquire how to arrange this and was told they weren't interested since I couldn't guarantee a regular supply. Crazy.

Answer 19

As many have said, give it to the homeless. IN fact several stores already do that. Marks and Spencer's for example sell sort date food to their staff cheaply and what doesn't sell goes to the homeless hostile. Well, it does at least where I live.

I know that one year the homeless there had a very fine dinner of salmon!

I live near to |Titnore woods, where the protesters are living in the trees. They often raid the bins of supermarkets and bakery's for the fresh stuff they've thrown out as they have no money for food. I know they are driven by money but I do wish they would just leave it in a box for them to collect, it's got to better that someones using it rather than it ending up at the landfill.

BUT saying that I see where just-another-user is coming from, he/she has raised a very good point. I just think it's a shame that more often than not it goes to waste.

http://www.justfortheloveofit.org  - help somoeone, not for profit, because you can.

edit: I think people have not mentioned giving it too animals, not because of it being short date and not good for animals health but generally the food we eat just isn't suitable for animals. I personnaly won't have a problem with eating cheese that was out by a few days for example but cheese whether in date or not is not good for animals. Pork products, as another example should not be given to dogs or cats. Have you ever seen bacon or sausage flavoured cat food?

Answer 20

DON't chuck it

Firstly, the stores don't have to advertise that they give out free food at closing time. Yes, I'm sure word would get around rather quickly, but not everyone would know this.

Secondly, no one ever said anything about handing out free food in the parking lot to people who are "homeless". Arranging transportation of the left over food to be sent or picked up by a Shelter would be the way to go. This way, if people really want that free food, they can wait in line at a homeless shelter.