First In, First Out=Wrong

[Gaki]

As normal stores everywhere, my store has a strict "first in, first out" policy. Meaning everything with the dates closest to the current date must be out in the front of the line. This SC was VERY ANGRY. I'm not quite sure why this made her so angry when she could have just asked us politely to check if there was a better date in the back but maybe it's because in her world, those dates should have been in the front.

SC: The person who trains people to do this job need to start training better. These dates are all wrong. All of your oldest milks are in the front! Your milks that are younger should be in the FRONT. THESE EXPIRE TOMORROW.

We didn't respond to her. In fact I didn't even look at her since she was kinda complaining to my co-irker who just kind of gave her his patented vacant stare. I thought it was enough of a punishment.

Of course that meant that I didn't get to put her in her place about the expiration date...since that's not the expiration date. That's the Sell By date. I took those off the shelf later that night and pushed the younger ones forward. I really wonder how she got it in her head that the younger ones should be in the front...

[AmbrosiaWriter]

What's so hard about reaching into the back for a younger date? If I see a date I, for whatever reason, don't want to purchase I'll just peek in the back row and yank out a younger one.

Though you are right, it is a sell by date, if stored at proper temperatures, and not left out, most milk (though it depends on brand) are good to drink for some time after the date stamped on the plastic bottle.

[Food Lady]

Why does she want older dates in the back? So the store can lose money on unsold product and then make up for it by charging her more? I'm continuously annoyed by people who don't get how things work, especially if they've been exposed to the world for more than the span of a childhood. *shakes head*

[Catwoman2965]

Oh please. I reach behind all the time for milk that has a later sell by date. She's just lazy and special!

[depechemodefan]

This reminds me of that scene in Clerks.

I also remember an sc in line (before me, after me, can't remember) who told the cs "don't give me that cold pizza, give me one on the top! I know you were going to give me a cold pizza!" The unit the pizzas are stored in keeps all the pizzas warm; one on top would be the most recent pizza out of the oven. But obviously the cs wanted to shaft the sc with a "cold" pizza

[Brojekk]

I work in the dairy section of my grocery store. I think my biggest pet peeve is people who reach in back. Especially when the ones in front are still an extremely good date (like say 3-4 weeks) They'll probably finish that carton within a week anyways.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I work in the dairy section of my grocery store. I think my biggest pet peeve is people who reach in back. Especially when the ones in front are still an extremely good date (like say 3-4 weeks) They'll probably finish that carton within a week anyways.

If the ones in front are 3-4 weeks I would totally grab that gallon and happily skip my way along. I typically only reach in back when the date on the gallon is one or two days from the sell by date. The local store doesn't keep the chests as cold as my refrigerator, so the sooner I get the milk from its proper temperature on the truck, out of the not so swell temperature in the chest, back to a proper temperature in my fridge the longer my milk lasts.

(It's not that the chests aren't cold enough to keep the milk safe for human consumption, I've just found that if I take a gallon that is too close to the sell by date it goes bad much sooner than if I had gotten a much younger one - counting from date of "sell by" that is. Obviously an older milk will go bad sooner, I've just had a few that were bad only a few days after the sell by date, whereas when I snatched a younger one, it was good all the way to the end which was a week or two after the sell by date. My family goes through a lot of milk but randomly will got through a dry spell @_@. Can't predict them either.)

[BrenDAnn]

My simple, to-the-point response: It's called rotation, bitch.

[Catwoman2965]

I've just found that if I take a gallon that is too close to the sell by date it goes bad much sooner than if I had gotten a much younger one

I've found the same thing. I do try not to mess up the case...

[Merriweather]

I work in the dairy section of my grocery store. I think my biggest pet peeve is people who reach in back. Especially when the ones in front are still an extremely good date (like say 3-4 weeks) They'll probably finish that carton within a week anyways.

Depends. If you have a family, and use a lot of a product, then why not take from the front. But those buying for only one or two people, especially if they don't use a lot of a product, then grabbing one from the back is the only way they can up the odds for not having to throw out half the package. We don't use a lot of milk, so except for when my granddaughter is visiting, I almost always grab from the back. I also find that often, the newer dates in front of pre-packaged lettuce mixes are already turning brown, and as I'm the only one who eats lettuce, I get a later date on those too. In those cases, pulling from the back lowers the amount of food I have to throw out unused, and the amount of money wasted.

[Brojekk]

I noticed most people don't even look at the dates....they just grab from the back.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

I noticed most people don't even look at the dates....they just grab from the back.

Ok that's just stupid. Watch the entire chest (I've seen this) is the SAME date yet they pull from the back anyway.

[NateTheChops]

I confess that I am a milk maid. I will gleefully jump on that gallon of milk that won't go bad for at least two weeks. As a way to balance out the equation I always point out the dates on gallons of milk to customers and ask if they think they will be through with this one by the time it expires. I know it's not the most business savvy move, but I do believe that it's those little things that make them happy.

The customer in the OP was an outright bitch. I hate the people who act like if something isn't right on planet wherever-the-eff they're from then it must be wrong.

[wolfie]

Of course the store puts the earliest-to-expire codes at the front - so people who grab the first one will get that, rather than have the newest stuff be taken and the old stuff expire, resulting in wastage and increased costs.

On the other hand, I've seen (with cottage cheese) a store that tried to defeat the "grab from the back without looking" crowd - the new shipment was at the front, and the old stuff was at the back.

Another cottage cheese situation involved a "this location only" markdown, and ALL the packages on display had the same (2 days left) date code. The store probably had a bunch of the "good stuff" in back, but no way would they put it out until the "soon to expire" stuff got sold off (otherwise, people would take the "long time to go" stuff at the marked down price, which was meant to clear the "soon to expire" stuff).

[MoonCat]

I check dates. If the sell by date is in two-three days, I take one from the back. Sorry, but in my experience that date pretty much is the expiration date (or "use by" date if you prefer). It might last 1 or 2 days beyond that but I'll be able to tell it's starting to go.

But I completely understand stores putting the older product out front. That's logical. SC's, however, usually aren't.