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kerrington.steele

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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this totally happened to me in the Christopher St CVS in Manhattan! bought some CVS-brand cold & sinus dayquil-stuff and took 2 pills before noticing the expiration date was the previous month (or something ... it was def expired). took it back and got a refund, and said to the cashier, \"You might want to check the other boxes on the shelf.\" Got a shrug in response.

+1 to Cuomo, NY's bas-ass AG.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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First Target now CVS.

Are companies selling expired product to try and cut costs and limit the amount of fresh product they need to order is this just a case of them being asleep at the switch?

4 replies

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November 18, 2009 4:52 PM

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@dragonfire81: In my experience, there's three related problems; it's a case of management being asleep at the switch, PLUS not training employees about it in the first place, AND pure, unadulterated LAZINESS on the part of the employees. If one has to stock shelves, they just shove the new boxes in front, never bothering to check the dates on the boxes already on the shelves, or removing the old boxes and putting them in front of the new ones. There is a reason so many outer cartons say to ROTATE PRODUCT. The problem is getting lazy morons to actually heed that advice.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@dragonfire81: Probably more about cutting labor costs. It takes people's time to check the shelves as opposed to standing around at the front counter and talking about the latest hookup incident among associates.

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kaceetheconsumer

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@dragonfire81: Probably a little of both.

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FatLynn

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@kaceetheconsumer: It's a matter of inventory turns being much, much lower than they were in a strong economy, and the stores not updating policies to match.

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kaceetheconsumer

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@FatLynn: Yeah but the stories I posted in the next thread down all happened between 2002 and 2007, so it happens more often than people think.

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kaceetheconsumer

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Ewww.

I've found plenty of expired products in all kinds of grocery stores, especially when we lived in Las Vegas. Some of them didn't matter so much, like canned goods, but other things like pectin could make jam makers in a bad situation. I've also seen expired dairy products.

One time when I found a shelf full of expired Kraft Mac n Cheese, I turned them all so the date was showing outward, then found the store manager and told him. He said he'd fix the problem right away. Know how? He went back to the aisle and turned the boxes date-side-inward again and then walked away. He didn't know I was watching. I called to him as he walked away and said that I had seen what he had done and would be contacting their national office and no longer shopping in their store. He apologized but looked more annoyed than anything, so I walked away from my cart and never went back to that store again, and did indeed tell the company via the website. Never heard back...don't think they cared.

So when I saw the expired pectin at the new store I started shopping at, I took it to the customer service counter and the manager thanked me. At least there, it didn't reappear on the shelves.

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morlo

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@kaceetheconsumer: That manager was an idiot, but Kraft Mac n Cheese is probably fine even 10 years past its expiration date

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kaceetheconsumer

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@morlo: Well yeah, and I've occasionally had it around long enough to past the date and I've eaten it and it's fine, but they still shouldn't sell it.

I had previously seen Cheese Whiz, Velveeta, and actual real dairy products all expired at that store as well.

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bohemian

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Hyvee is horrible about this. I found much expired canned goods on the shelf of their new store in town THE WEEK IT OPENED.

I have seen the other Hyvee stores try to sell expired milk and would frequently find dairy products past their date. Walmart also got caught doing this locally in SD. One of the local news crews started checking formula cans and found most of the shelves way past their date.

I just wish we had an AG willing to go after people like NY does.

1 replies

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@bohemian: Milk might have a sell by date instead of an expiration date, so it should be good for another week. I have no problem eating slightly expired food, especially non-perishables. Meat on the other hand is a different story.

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ScooterOslo

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Don't companies get credit for expired stock??? I can understand not getting credit for fresh items (produce, meat)...

Packaged stuff should be returnable to the distributer for credit.

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hotbonsai

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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I worked at a tom thumb for a while and they would change the expiration dates on deli products and other products where you could just peel the sticker off and put a new one on top. Employees would report the managers for doing that but they only got a slap on the wrist every time.

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nstonep

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Meh...I'm not going to give the \"my father was a doctor\" spiel but...yeah...it's not right to sell expired stuff as new at retail (usually they put it on clearance). But still if you're in a bind the expired stuff within 6 months is still going to work even with prescription medication. (note how I said \"if you're in a bind\") Actually it lasts much longer...

Besides, don't we get enough medicine from our drinking water? A little more yaz will help grow your man boobs!

1 replies

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MikeF74

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@nstonep: I've read that the expiration date on medications is calculated by the date at which the active ingredients degrade to 85% of their original efficacy.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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This is so easy to prevent: rotate the newer product to the back of the shelf and the older to the front _every_time_ that product is restocked.

Then only occasionally will something expire and stay on the shelf, but it will be a slow selling product and in the front where it can be easily checked periodically between restockings.

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SG-Cleve

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@eigenvector: This is why I always reach to the back of the store shelf and never take the one in front - so I can get fresher stock.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@eigenvector: I'm sure I'm not the only consumer who wants the fresher product and reaches to the back to get it, though.

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Colonel Jack O'Neill

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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[QUOTE]and train CVS employees in identifying and removing expired products from store shelves.[/QUOTE]
You have to got trained for that?

These stock people have to learn to rotate the stuff, new stuff in the back, and old stuff in the front.

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Tambar

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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A great coupon for Stacy's Pita Chips led me to clean the shelves off at 3 Middle Georgia CVS stores and still I went home w/ no chips. Every bag in every store was expired; I filled the little cart w/ them and took them to the manager in each case. By the third store I was getting flummoxed. I called Stacy's anyway to let them know.

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diasdiem

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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They were unable to spot the undercover investigator:

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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It's pretty simple. If people would stop buying expired products they would eventually go away. That said, I have accidentally bought expired foodstuffs myself - just not thinking that I needed to check. After a few boxes of stale Ritz crackers from WalMart (ARG, don't get me started) I have started to look at everything I buy. Now, I even rotate in my enormous pantry at home. Some things, because of the coding, are hard to track. I think manufactures should have to put the expiration date in a readable fashion in a fairly prominent place on the package.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Just the other day I went to take some CVS brand Tylenol when I realized that the expiration date was 6/09, and I had just bought the bottle a month or so ago when I had a fever. I had already taken about half the bottle! Luckily they gave me no issue when I took it back to exchange it. But I can only imagine how many bottles were there. And considering that the new bottle I got had a late 2011 expiration date, that bottle of Tylenol was VERY old.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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I bought some expired vitamins at Rite Aid. I took the opened package back for a return and told them that the vitamins had expired.

A couple of days later, I went back and the same OPENED EXPIRED bottle was sitting on the shelf!!! I told them to throw them away. I watched them do so, then never returned to that store.

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pecan 3.14159265

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@NORMLgirl: They probably fished it back out and put it back on the shelf.

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ellemnop

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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This is slightly off topic, but I recently returned deodorant to CVS because I bought the wrong kind. Now, I know that you can return products to CVS for nearly any reason, but this conversation slightly disturbed me:

Me: \"I want to return this. I accidentally bought the wrong kind.\"
Cashier: \"Ok, no problem. Do you have the credit card you bought it with?\"
Me: \"Yes\"
...
Cashier: \"You didn't use it did you?\"
Me: \"No, no, no. I just bought the wrong kind. I didn't even open it.\"
Cashier: \"Ok, just wanted to make sure before I put it back on the shelf.\"

I mean, she asks me that as an afterthought. Like if she didn't think of it she would have just put it back on the shelf for sale.

I don't know, I find that to be off-putting.

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diasdiem

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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@ellemnop: At least she asked.

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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Rite Aid sold me expired PRESCRIPTION meds that cost over $100 for my portion. The pharmacist got into a big argument with me when I complained and demanded my script back. I also found out later that it is perfectly LEGAL to sell expired meds. The custom (not law or rule) is to put one year from the script date on the bottle as the exp date - no matter the real date! These are meds I take for months at a time before refill too. Expiring the same month when clearly I wasnt going to use 100 pills in one day...geesh.

CVS regularly has diary products that expired 2 MONTHS AGO! Smells goooood in there *gag*. I am a freak about exp dates but I didnt realize ppl are accepting so they dont check.

Too bad the undercover investigator wasn't in Ulta - they'd be thrown out for sure and the drugstores could continue on their merry way...

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November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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I bought some push pops at my CVS one time and did not find out that they expired until I tried, one, I did not even know it was possible for them to expire, they were way beyond their exp date. I took them back to CVS the next day and they apologized and gave me my money back plus some coupons.

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edrebber

November 13, 2009 4:36 PM

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We need vigilanties to go through the stores loading up a shopping cart will all the expired items they can find. Then go to the checkout and hand the item to the cashier and tell them it's expired. Or just leave the cart of expired items near the entrance.

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blandname

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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@edrebber:That won't work, the employees will just think someone left a cart full of stuff, and dutifully put the items back. But for non perishable foods (like the mac and cheese from one of the above comments), and most OTC meds the expiration date isn't really that critical, even milk is usually drinkable several days after the \"sell by\" date, and canned stuff and things like pasta will last indefinitely under normal conditions.

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anonymouse23

November 13, 2009 4:37 PM

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you're a fucking idiot if you dont check expiration dates at EVERY store you go to. cvs is not your babysitter.

furthermore, retail stores arent entirely to blame. companies print their expiration dates in code. for example, certain product is marked D9 12:04 DC and if you see this on the package, you have no way to accurately, without a reasonable doubt discern what the actual date is. Some companies say that the number of the letter (d=4) stands for the month (april) and the number is the year (2009) others say the number of the letter stands for the year (2004) and that number (9) is the month (september)

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Juliedr

November 18, 2009 4:52 PM

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I live near an Amish community, they sell out of date packaged products all the time. I buy some of my foods there, things like major coffee brands are 60-70% cheaper there. I've never seen eggs, milk, medicine, etc.

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pittstonjoma

November 18, 2009 4:52 PM

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I work at a Rite Aid, and we're constantly checking products for outdates. We generally pull them off 2 months in advance unless it's a vendor item like chips or soda. I guess some stores may be lax at checking the dates though. Maybe they need managers like our store has, who are very strict about the outdates.

I suggest checking the dates on every product you buy just to be sure it's not expired. I can't tell you how many times I've almost purchased outdated food at the grocery store!

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