California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste • Hacker News Board

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#41

Post by roenxi » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:08 PM UTC

m4ck_ wrote: post #23

Cider9986 wrote: post #7

>With 395,608 regulatory restrictions, California is the most heavily regulated state in the nation, according to the report. On average, states have 135,000 regulatory restrictions in administrative rules, with California's regulations more than doubling the national average. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-11-03/... I wonder how many they've added in 5 years. Do all these laws improve peoples…

Well despite all that regulation, they're an economic powerhouse, they must be doing something right. CA is far from perfect but at least they occasionally aspire to do something for the benefit of their citizens - not something I can say for my 'least regulated' state that mostly just saps money from the federal government.

They're sitting at the centre of a web of software services that coordinate some unreasonable amount of the internet. They've definitely done something right, California might be hosting one of the most impressive economic clusters outside of China.

But that doesn't tell us much about the relationship between that thing and their regulations. The regulations might be supporting the thing, or the thing might be so successful that the damage being done by the regulations becomes tolerable. It's entirely plausible that if other states attempted that level of regulation they'd crumple like tissue paper because they don't have the economic power of California's IT sector to balance out the excess demands being placed on businesses.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#42

Post by roenxi » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:11 PM UTC

galleywest200 wrote: post #26

bofadeez wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> * Just look at the actual checkout price like everyone else Why should I have to go through the entire process just to see the price? Have you ever been in a store that has the tax added onto the price tag? It is very nice to not have to do mental math.

Because it isn't very important and the more degrees of freedom the seller has the more likely they are to do something to make the whole process cheaper for customers. Although it does seem appropriate that everyone should know the price of something before they buy it, as long as it happens before the money is handed over that is fine.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#43

Post by vrganj » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

roenxi wrote: post #42

galleywest200 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * Just look at the actual checkout price like everyone else Why should I have to go through the entire process just to see the price? Have you ever been in a store that has the tax added onto the price tag? It is very nice to not have to do mental math.

Because it isn't very important and the more degrees of freedom the seller has the more likely they are to do something to make the whole process cheaper for customers. Although it does seem appropriate that everyone should know the price of something before they buy it, as long as it happens before the money is handed over that is fine.

> the more degrees of freedom the seller has the more likely they are to do something to make the whole process cheaper for customers.

I think this is the crux of our disagreement. In my experience, the more degrees of freedom the seller has, the more chances to fuck you over they have.

I think - and this might be my European perspective and maybe why we feel differently about regulations than Americans - the main source of risk is corporations trying to take advantage of you, not the government. Curbing said risk through regulations is a core part of good governance.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#44

Post by andybak » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

solenoid0937 wrote: post #36

m4ck_ wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well despite all that regulation, they're an economic powerhouse, they must be doing something right. CA is far from perfect but at least they occasionally aspire to do something for the benefit of their citizens - not something I can say for my 'least regulated' state that mostly just saps money from the federal government.

N=1 but I make a good amount of money and left California for a zero tax state. I feel like the quality of life is similar between the two. I don't feel like I was getting anything for the 13%+ extra taxes I was paying in California. Nearly every California program has a huge amount of wastage. Take: - High speed rail - 10x the cost of comparable European programs, still haven't built anything. Deadlocked by regulati…

> I don't feel like I was getting anything for the 13%+ extra taxes I was paying in California.

Some people might argue that it's not meant to be about what you personally get back. Social contract and all that...

I get your other points but this part was phrased in an unfortunate way.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#45

Post by OptionOfT » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

solenoid0937 wrote: post #36

m4ck_ wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well despite all that regulation, they're an economic powerhouse, they must be doing something right. CA is far from perfect but at least they occasionally aspire to do something for the benefit of their citizens - not something I can say for my 'least regulated' state that mostly just saps money from the federal government.

N=1 but I make a good amount of money and left California for a zero tax state. I feel like the quality of life is similar between the two. I don't feel like I was getting anything for the 13%+ extra taxes I was paying in California. Nearly every California program has a huge amount of wastage. Take: - High speed rail - 10x the cost of comparable European programs, still haven't built anything. Deadlocked by regulati…

I moved out of CA and overall, I myself get more for my money. All of those taxes didn't benefit me.

And just like you describe, it would've been ok if all of the tax money went to the people it was meant to be, but unfortunately CA is built upon n number of middle man companies who each take something off the top.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#46

Post by darth_avocado » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

blululu wrote: post #30

This is a pretty nothing law when you look into it. All it does is standardize "sell by" labels to be more transparent. The extent of the ban is the explicit phrasing "Sell By" which is itself confusing since the manufacturer has some estimated consumption interval that is tacked onto their actual expiration date. Sell By gives the customer has no idea how much padding they are adding to their estimate and when the t…

I don’t think it’s a nothing law. Not only does it help with reducing waste, but also a food safety thing. “Best by” or “best is used by” or “expiry dates” are pretty clear: use the product before the date.

In my own case, we have a brand of bread that does “sell by”. There is not uniform standard on how many days after the date, the bread is safe to consume. Internet wisdom gives you a wide range.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#47

Post by rconti » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:24 PM UTC

Cider9986 wrote: post #7

>With 395,608 regulatory restrictions, California is the most heavily regulated state in the nation, according to the report. On average, states have 135,000 regulatory restrictions in administrative rules, with California's regulations more than doubling the national average. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-11-03/... I wonder how many they've added in 5 years. Do all these laws improve peoples…

Is there a reason to think these should or should not scale with size of population?

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#48

Post by fhdkweig » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #40

fhdkweig wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know nothing about nothing, but I always assumed that all the money was from Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Outside of those two highly localized industries, is there really much more money than other states have?

It has it's own wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California

Thanks for providing it, but Sectors chart seems wrong. "The Information sector includes some of the nation's largest technology and entertainment companies like Apple, Meta, Disney, and HP." Putting Disney in the Information sector rather than the Arts and Entertainment sector seems like a really bad categorization. I have to wonder if that severely under-counts the Arts and Entertainment sector.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#49

Post by solenoid0937 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

andybak wrote: post #44

solenoid0937 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

N=1 but I make a good amount of money and left California for a zero tax state. I feel like the quality of life is similar between the two. I don't feel like I was getting anything for the 13%+ extra taxes I was paying in California. Nearly every California program has a huge amount of wastage. Take: - High speed rail - 10x the cost of comparable European programs, still haven't built anything. Deadlocked by regulati…

> I don't feel like I was getting anything for the 13%+ extra taxes I was paying in California. Some people might argue that it's not meant to be about what you personally get back. Social contract and all that... I get your other points but this part was phrased in an unfortunate way.

Of course you expect to get something back. Cleaner streets, better public transit, fewer homeless, less crime, etc.

For example, I would be happy paying those 13% taxes in Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore! (Some even have lower taxes.) But I felt that money was being totally wasted in California.

I genuinely think CA is something like <10% as efficient with tax money as these countries, and it's largely because certain groups take it as a personal attack when you imply tax inefficiency is a problem.

Re: California bans 'sell by' labels, hoping to cut food waste

#50

Post by fhn » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC

luisln wrote: post #22

WaxProlix wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does SB478 apply to car dealerships? That would be a huge boon to consumers on its own.

Car dealerships were exempt from SB 478. However, California's CARS Act, which took effect July 1, 2025, prohibits misrepresentations about the costs or terms of purchasing, financing, or leasing a vehicle, including the availability of vehicles at an advertised price.

which would already be covered under general fraud