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Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

cnbc.com

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Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#31

Post by nkrisc »

jthistle wrote: post #20
Dobbs wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know this doesn't actually work, because Amazon will comingle goods. That is to say you buy good from A. The warehouse closest to you has the same "item" but it is from B. So they ship you B's item, but mark it from A's inventory and credit A the money. So even if you order from known good retailers, or Amazon themselves if party B puts bad products into the warehouse you can end up with bad or fake produ…

Sellers have the option about whether their inventory can be commingled. Also, when there is high fraud potential or a large number of complaints Amazon doesn't allow commingling stock. I operate a supply chain company who works for Amazon 3rd party sellers.

Even if what you say is true (I have no reason to doubt you), I simply no longer trust Amazon enough to believe it. I don't imagine I'm alone.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#32

Post by mrweasel »

grenoire wrote: post #7
donatj wrote: post #2

I’ve ended up with expired food from physical stores many times in my life. It’s not really a big deal, you just return it or eat it depending on the product. Same here. It happens. It’s harmless. If it’s a big deal to you, go to the store and pick things out yourself.

At a physical store you can check in advance if the expiration date has passed or not. You don't get the option to confirm it when you order online, however.

That's honestly the reason for me not buying groceries online, well that and shipping cost. Given the cost of shipping, I'd do one order a week at the most, but the I risk getting 5L of milk which expires within three days. If I only order once a week, then that is the minimum expiry date I'll accept on perishable food items.

I don't blame the companies for wanting to ship the items that are about to expire, but please apply some common sense. If the amount is more than an average family could reasonable consume within a week, then may mix the items in with other with later expiration date.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#33

Post by maxerickson »

philjohn wrote: post #19
donatj wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Except when it comes to baby formula, whilst it might be safe to consume, the various nutrients required by a growing baby start to degrade past the use by date so you run the risk of introducing defficiencies.

It isn't necessarily even that the ingredients start to degrade, it's just the date the manufacturer promises that the label will be correct until.

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/fda-takes-fin...

(I get that this is a small distinction, but they likely aren't doing all that much work to extend the shelf life, they don't need to)

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#34

Post by dspillett »

A key problem with the complaints is that customer reviews don't† take into account the effect of commingling. The expired food might have come from a different seller initially, but you were sent it because of Amazon's supply line optimisations.

Amazon will know but when you write your review or read someone else's, you won't.

Same problem as counterfeit goods and commingling though iirc there are more control in place on perishables so this aspect of the problem rears its head less often.

[†] they can't, we as customers don't have access to the information to know the route items took to get to us

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#35

Post by dspillett »

jthistle wrote: post #20
Dobbs wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know this doesn't actually work, because Amazon will comingle goods. That is to say you buy good from A. The warehouse closest to you has the same "item" but it is from B. So they ship you B's item, but mark it from A's inventory and credit A the money. So even if you order from known good retailers, or Amazon themselves if party B puts bad products into the warehouse you can end up with bad or fake produ…

Sellers have the option about whether their inventory can be commingled. Also, when there is high fraud potential or a large number of complaints Amazon doesn't allow commingling stock. I operate a supply chain company who works for Amazon 3rd party sellers.

But how do we, as buyers, know which sellers have selected that option and which haven't?

The option existing for you makes absolutely no difference to how much I trust the system if information about (or even the existence of) the option is not something I know.

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#36

Post by sdfsafsaf »

After so many stories and experiences with fakes, why would anyone still buy items in Amazon that are otherwise typically found in pharmacies or grocery stores?

In my experience Amazon ships:

Food that is expired or fake Drugs that are expired or fake Batteries that are expired or fake

I've even received fake diapers! Very well done fakes too: we only noticed because of a very small logo that are included in the real ones.

I use Amazon only for high ticket items that are unlikely to harm me, and then only because of their easy return policy (Epson, I'm looking at you)

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#38

Post by chenning »

The more I think about it, the differences between Amazon and Walmart are much smaller than I once thought. They're both platforms upon which sellers can sell goods. One of the bigger differences seems to be quality assurance. More specifically, to what degree is each company burdened with that important responsibility?

If some manufacturer put something unsafe into a food product, I would blame the manufacturer. Seems pretty cut and dry. On the other hand, if Walmart was stocking expired food I would blame Walmart because they should be responsible tracking inventory and maintaining a safe environment. Seems pretty cut and dry.

Why does Amazon seem different to me? More importantly, should they be seen as different?

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#39

Post by amitport »

ilamont wrote: post #13

A data analytics firm that specializes in the Amazon Marketplace recently analyzed the site’s 100 best-selling food products for CNBC and found that at least 40% of sellers had more than five customer complaints about expired goods. In other words, Amazon knows about the sellers who ship expired goods yet lets them continue to operate. It has the data and it still fails to take one of the easiest steps to address the…

"more than five customer complaints"

Five out of _?

We should care about the proportion, and should consider some time decay (maybe the issues were a decade ago).

Re: Amazon is shipping expired food, customers say

#40

Post by lotsofpulp »

Merrill wrote: post #24
dman wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Most people can more easily reduce risk by shopping somewhere else.

Amazon shareholders should be asking management why they think the cost savings of commingling are worth the loss of brand value and trust. Higher income people don’t care about spending more money if it saves them time, so why waste that good will?

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