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Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

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Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#21
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't work, because Amazon comingles stock. You could still get bad product if the packaging looks the same between Amazon's item and a third party seller's item

Not verifying expiry dates seems to be something that's not affected by comingling. What does Amazon do to ensure that their expired stock does not get shipped? Why does the same process not work for third-party goods?

I would expect they handle this the way that brick and mortar stores do: estimating future sales and not purchasing excess inventory from the distributor.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#22
This happened to us. My wife orders a lot of dog treats and human snacks on subscribe and save. They sent a package of nearly expired nut snack bars. Wife contacted customer service and they just sent another of the same. My wife is meticulous about checking sale by and it is a fight to keep her from throwing out recently expired foods. But I hadn't known a store to ship an expired product before this.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#23
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't work, because Amazon comingles stock. You could still get bad product if the packaging looks the same between Amazon's item and a third party seller's item

Not verifying expiry dates seems to be something that's not affected by comingling. What does Amazon do to ensure that their expired stock does not get shipped? Why does the same process not work for third-party goods?

Here's what is _supposed_ to happen with perishable goods: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/G201003420...

tldr; Anything perishable is supposed to have several expiration date labels on it in large format, and nothing can be sent into Amazon that expires within 90 days. Amazon says they will dispose of anything received with less than 90 days remaining before it expires.

There are a number of things that could be going wrong here. I operate a supply chain company which works with 3rd party sellers, so I'll focus on what I'm exposed to.

One issue could be Amazon's labeling requirements. They actually require a separate label in MM-DD-YYYY format to be affixed to each product. This sounds good on paper, but in reality it means the seller or sometimes a 3rd party warehouse can put whatever they want on the label. Generally, sellers are honest about this, but mistakes do happen and Amazon doesn't necessarily verify what these labels say.

Beyond that, commingling can compound the issue. Say you have 5 businesses selling the same product, and one of them is fudging their expiration dates. It becomes fairly difficult to track down which seller is fudging the dates. This is one reason I recommend all my customers not commingle their inventory (it's an option the seller can choose).

Supply chains can also have wildly varying temperatures. Many sellers choose to work with climate controlled warehouses, but don't consider the trucks used to move their inventory aren't climate controlled. It's highly possible a product meant to be stored at 70F will sit in a 110F truck for 3 days before being checked in at Amazon.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#24
post #10
post #3

On the left panel under "Seller" there is a Amazon.com check box you can use to eliminate third party sellers from the product search. I tend to select sold by Amazon unless the seller is the actual manufacturer of the product, e.g. a candy company selling direct through Amazon.

That does not mean anything because of commingling of inventory.

It reduces the risk, because more of the inventory will be genuine, returns are simpler, and you have "one throat to choke" if something is bad.

You can reduce risk further by buying Amazon essentials or Amazon's own brands, such as Whole Foods brands.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#25
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That should not happen at all.

Why? Expired food is generally perfectly safe. The dates are quality indicators, not safety indicators. It’s just being wasteful. https://www.consumerreports.org/food-safety/how-to-tell-whet...

From the article: "that arrived with a “rancid smell.”"

Also, it's fine when you shop in a store and decide to buy expired food because you know you'll eat them soon. But what if you want to stockpile 1 year of baby formula and amazon delivers already expired formula ? Same for pet food, &c.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#26
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the United States at least expiration dates have no relation to food safety. Also the majority of expirations other than “Use by” are non binding https://consumerist.com/2008/06/18/is-it-legal-to-sell-expir...

Okay, that may be a substantial regulatory difference, in Europe it's generally not legal to sell expired food. (And to illustrate divergence, that consumerist article isn't available for EU users.)

I am not an expert in this, but I am aware from direct knowledge of businesses that collect recently expired foods (that are not yet spoiled - such as frozen) from grocery stores and transfers them to legal charities and food banks. There is a delta between sale by and unfit for human consumption.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#27
post #12
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can look at what you're buying from the store before you buy it.

Exactly, so if it’s a big deal to you go to the store? It’s never been a big deal to me.

If it’s a big deal to half of Americans, then that means something significant for Amazon

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#28
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, that may be a substantial regulatory difference, in Europe it's generally not legal to sell expired food. (And to illustrate divergence, that consumerist article isn't available for EU users.)

I am not an expert in this, but I am aware from direct knowledge of businesses that collect recently expired foods (that are not yet spoiled - such as frozen) from grocery stores and transfers them to legal charities and food banks. There is a delta between sale by and unfit for human consumption.

https://www.stilltasty.com/

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, that may be a substantial regulatory difference, in Europe it's generally not legal to sell expired food. (And to illustrate divergence, that consumerist article isn't available for EU users.)

I am not an expert in this, but I am aware from direct knowledge of businesses that collect recently expired foods (that are not yet spoiled - such as frozen) from grocery stores and transfers them to legal charities and food banks. There is a delta between sale by and unfit for human consumption.

I know at least one store that uses this as a business model. Food past its sell-by date can be acquired from grocers for little to nothing and resold at insanely cheap prices. The difficulty is in making sure your customers know what they're signing up for without loudly proclaiming that you're selling expired food.
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