SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Shoppers like to think they're in control of their own food decisions, but there's actually a complex web of manipulations between supermarkets and food processors going on behind the scenes.
Who's really in charge at the supermarket? Most of us assume that we're in control of our own shopping decisions. After all, we are the ones with a grocery list in one hand and a wallet in the other. It should be that way. But the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) doesn't believe it's so. Most shoppers, even the most conscientious and frugal, can fall victim to the manipulations of a food industry that pairs up with supermarkets to influence our purchasing decisions.
...
1) Unconscious MindOur unconscious minds rely on habit and what's deemed comfortable and familiar to us. Supermarkets use tools such as windowless buildings, forgettable music, large carts, scrumptious bakery smells, and constantly reorganized aisles to make shoppers stay longer and, by extension, spend more.
...
2) DefaultsDefaults are what you get at the supermarket, unless you actively choose something else. This can be packaging size, product formulations, or standard food combinations.
...
3) Willpower ReservesSupermarkets and food processors count on the fact that many of us will go shopping at the end of a long day, perhaps on the way home from work, or with tired, hungry kids in tow. That's when it's hardest to rely on willpower reserves.
It must explain why Cheetos constantly show up in the shopping cart.
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:16PM
at least in all the US markets I've been to, they do their best to arrange cans and jars so that older date stamped goods are up front and the fresher ones are in back. we know why they do it, but its still annoying. I always rearrange them when I look and I check the date on every thing that has a date.
you guys are going to try your schtick and I'll fight it right back.
interesting that few people seem to even check the date codes. fine, let them get the older goods ;)
btw, a lot of the 'sales' at some stores are due to having goods that are near expiration, so it really does pay to check.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:36PM
Isn't that entirely selfish behavior? Fuck you got mine level of selfishness. I mean, unless it is very perishable goods like meat of course ;)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:44PM
Always taking the one from the back because it's fresh is a great idea.
REARRANGING THE SHELVES so neither the clerks, nor other customers, have any idea which is the freshest, is a TERRIBLE idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:49PM
Most food sold in cans or jars are preserves, which are basically the opposite of "fresh". If done properly such food will last basically forever, so who cares?
(Score: 2, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:53PM
Indeed, if you are concerned about getting "fresh canned food" you have bigger problems.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @07:58PM
If you go out of your way to rearrange it, then I don't think you really understand why they do it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by istartedi on Wednesday July 15 2015, @08:19PM
Rotating stock is not evil. It's just common sense.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday July 15 2015, @08:43PM
> at least in all the US markets I've been to, they do their best to arrange cans and jars so that older date stamped goods are up front and the fresher ones are in back.
Yeah. Because people take from the front so they replenish in the back. Everyone gets something 3 days older, but in exchange nothing goes rotten in the back from being there 3*20 days.
> I always rearrange them when I look and I check the date on every thing that has a date.
OK, as someone who's friends with produce workers let me say fuck you. They get enough of that shit from overnighters who slack and front-stock when the boss isn't looking, they don't need it from you too.
Definitely check the dates, grab from the back if you really want to, but don't make the shelf-stockers' lives more miserable. God, that's only one step better than abandoning meat on random shelves.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @09:16PM
At our stores (in USA, Wegmans & Tops Markets) several of the stock rooms are behind the refrigerated cases -- and restocking is automatically from the back (when viewed from the customer side).
If I'm buying something that I know is going to be in my fridge for a week or two (because there are only two of us at our house), then I might reach to the back for a more recent date (but often they are all the same)... Seems like this must be sort of "evened out" by larger families that consume things quickly?
Older story -- In the 1960s, a family we knew were transferred from USA to W. Germany. When they returned she complained bitterly that the shop keepers/owners would personally enforce first-in, first-out. If there was an older milk in the case, the shopkeeper (small store) would not let her buy the newer one.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @03:02AM
Fuck you and your problem. My shopping is not a charity for your buddies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 15 2015, @09:25PM
> a lot of the 'sales' at some stores are due to having goods that are near expiration, so it really does pay to check.
No they are not. Those dates are not expiration dates, they are "best by" dates, more rarely they are "sell by" dates. They are neither legally required nor is there any sort of standard in choosing them. Consider milk for example - my personal experience is that the cheap store brands spoil much sooner after the marked date than the premium brands.
Don't be suckered into believing that food is not suitable if it is past the marked date. The dates are marketing tools, there to convince people to throw out good food and buy it twice.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 15 2015, @11:45PM
I've had very hit-and-miss experience with the sell by dates on milk. Same brand, same store, for the last 2 years--I've had some gallons still good 2 weeks after the date, while occasionally had one go bad 2, maybe 3 days before the date.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by PocketSizeSUn on Thursday July 16 2015, @10:03PM
Once the product is 'opened' the date is of little value.
Basically the product (milk for example) is pasteurized and packed starting with a
very low bacteria count.
This gives a long and predictable shelf life.
Once the package is opened the bacteria count starts to explode. The more oxygen exposure and
higher temperature the bigger the count becomes until it eventually goes sour and then starts to clot.
So you can have an un-opened cold stored package be good long past the 'expiration' date, however
you will have to finish the contents much faster as you started with a much higher bacteria count.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday July 16 2015, @12:29AM
They are best by dates, not worst after dates.
(Score: 2) by Jaruzel on Thursday July 16 2015, @06:40AM
Kinda.
In UK/Europe we have Best Before and Use By.
'Best Before' is a guideline and typically most stuff lasts from a few days to several weeks after the date shown before inedible.[1]
'Use By' is for stuff that will most definitely make you sick if you eat it past the date shown.
My psycho mother was obsessed with food dates, which has left me a little paranoid about eating anything that's past it's 'Use By'... :(
-Jar
[1] In fact I'm pretty sure that by law they have to at least put best befores on ALL foods whether or not that foodstuff actually perishes.
This is my opinion, there are many others, but this one is mine.
(Score: 1) by DutchUncle on Thursday July 16 2015, @03:34PM
I have seen "best before" dates on salt. It's ROCK. It's millions of years old. But it was processed, handled, and packaged, so they have to put a 2-year date on it.
(Score: 2) by albert on Thursday July 16 2015, @04:34PM
Humidity gets in, causing the salt to cake. Eventually you'd have to cut open the container and re-grind the salt.
(Score: 1) by DutchUncle on Thursday July 23 2015, @07:53PM
To paraphrase, the expiration date is on this particular package of this particular presentation of the million-year-old rock. Not the rock. Yes, I can accept that. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @06:56AM
They are neither legally required nor is there any sort of standard in choosing them
They are here in France (and EU?), but the type (best-before or use-by) and the date are free.
We had a little ruckus recently (2013): the same products (yogurts) had a way longer best-by date when they were shipped to our remote territories (La Réunion, Guadeloupe, etc.). The excuse was that, on the container ship, the cold chain was more likely to be respected. Yeah, right.
So they made a new law….
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @12:26AM
What do you expect to happen? The oldest stuff ends up not getting sold and "somebody" has to eat the cost....that somebody will be you and me.
Leave the stuff on the shelf so that the oldest is still in front...that way it will get sold. The alternative is that the store won't put new stuff out until all of the old stuff is sold....then you will encounter empty shelves more often.