having worked at a large busy walmart in multiple fresh departments (bakery, deli and produce and a little in meats), there is a lot of waste in volume but comp

having worked at a large busy walmart in multiple fresh departments (bakery, deli and produce and a little in meats), there is a lot of waste in volume but compared to a through-put its not so bad. And a lot of it is because of customers. Anything that leaves cold chain is unsellable, so when a customer changes their mind and decides not to buy something it gets disposed of (meats are sent for rendering, produce an baked goods are composted.) I once sliced about $80 worth of a premium deli ham for a customer just to have them leave it on a shelf next to the refrigerator bunker that the presliced cheap hams were in. It was found by a grocery stocker and brought back warm a few hour later. I produce we threw away tons about half was out of dates the rest is damaged (distribution center put 50 lbs sack's of potatoes on top of berries, 40 boxes of onions on top of cardboard trays of tomatoes) or out of cold chain (customer leaves bagged salad laying around the store) the worst is when we would get sent "guac ready" avacados... (were ready to eat last week but are snot pods now)