4 ms·

I've always wanted to see a grocery store where the prices decrease the closer the item is to its expiration date.

Larrikin 3y ago
Japanese grocery stores do this with meat and packaged meals. It's not always the best strategy as nearly all the good stuff is gone by the time they start discounting and you will consistently be getting food well after a reasonable dinner time.
- fomine3 3y ago
  It's common so there's even an anime for it, Ben-to.
hammock 3y ago
These exist. Or grocery stores have outlets ("day-old" etc) where you can buy the near-expiry or expired goods.
JackFr 3y ago
A place I used to go to had a 'Meat priced for quick sale' bin. Kind of a crap shoot, but I've got a bit of an iron gut and the steaks were like 2/3 off.
- pcl 3y ago
  This is common in grocery stores in Oslo. It’s a great place to go when you’re ready for some serendipitous dinner planning.
- vel0city 3y ago
  In college the grocer near me had NY strip steaks for like $2/lb one day. Tons of it. I thought I hit the jackpot, and decided to throw a big grill out party with a lot of friends. I probably had a dozen people waiting for some awesome steaks. They were all absolutely terrible, some of the worst cuts of meat I think I ever had. Quite a disaster. Fun times though.
  - mcpackieh 3y ago
    In university my roommate found an unthinkable deal on craigslist; a beer distributor was giving away a pallet of beer for free for anybody that would come and get it. We obviously got it and threw a party, but the beer was so awful nobody could drink enough of it to even get drunk.
    - mhink 3y ago
      I had something very similar happen back when I was in college- I stopped off at a convenience store and they were selling a particular beer (by Shiner) at $2 per six-pack. I only bought one and opened it later that evening, only to find out it was priced so cheap because it had this awful "smoked" flavor. I couldn't get through the second _sip_. Bleh.
c22 3y ago
The grocer I frequent has bright orange 'manager special' discount stickers that go on things nearing their expiry.
ericpauley 3y ago
My local grocery store (Some Kroger-brand) does this with a variety of products, but only by discounting one time. I imagine they do something similar nationwide. Products are very close to, but of course still before, their sell-by date.
vel0city 3y ago
Several of the grocery stores I frequent absolutely do this with a lot of things. They'll usually have something like a clearance section with things on their last few days. Its usually a good place to find a cheap loaf of bread or some kind of desert that's about to go past its sell by date to eat that night. The tricky part is those sections usually aren't refrigerated so its only shelf-stable stuff. But they do often have "sales" for fresh goods even as good as buy one get two free which if you look at the goods on "sale" its sell by dates are all within a day or two. But hey, buy a big thing of berries and invite some friends over.
mc32 3y ago
There are specialty outlets -so called salvage grocery- that do just this -usually in cheap strip malls as otherwise the RE would be too expensive to be viable. They sell items close to their expiry and they are at a significant discount. Many people don’t know about them because they are not their target market.
specialp 3y ago
The problem is that your profits are made on the fresher items. The marked down items are being sold at cost or at a loss. That conditions customers to shop for marked down items and cannibalizes the fresh sales. I myself used to buy the "Manager Meat Special" leg of lamb when it came up. But the stores near me stopped doing it. They find it more profitable to dispose of it at a 100% loss than discount.
- barrysteve 3y ago
  Raise prices on fresh food and let the near-expired food go at regular prices?
jameshart 3y ago
Is ‘reduced to clear’ not a thing where you live?
hoorayimhelping 3y ago
If you've ever seen fruit on sale, you've seen a coarse version of this.
mcpackieh 3y ago
In the US there are some discount grocery stores (also called 'outlet' or 'salvage' grocery stores) that sell product other grocery stores took off the shelves for being too close to expired. Sometimes the food is expired, but still perfectly edible because those "best by" dates are very conservative.
asdff 3y ago
This is basically how they do fruit sales

Japanese grocery stores do this with meat and packaged meals. It's not always the best strategy as nearly all the good stuff is gone by the time they start discounting and you will consistently be getting food well after a reasonable dinner time.

fomine3 3y ago
It's common so there's even an anime for it, Ben-to.

hammock 3y ago

These exist. Or grocery stores have outlets ("day-old" etc) where you can buy the near-expiry or expired goods.

JackFr 3y ago

A place I used to go to had a 'Meat priced for quick sale' bin. Kind of a crap shoot, but I've got a bit of an iron gut and the steaks were like 2/3 off.

pcl 3y ago
This is common in grocery stores in Oslo. It’s a great place to go when you’re ready for some serendipitous dinner planning.
vel0city 3y ago
In college the grocer near me had NY strip steaks for like $2/lb one day. Tons of it. I thought I hit the jackpot, and decided to throw a big grill out party with a lot of friends. I probably had a dozen people waiting for some awesome steaks. They were all absolutely terrible, some of the worst cuts of meat I think I ever had. Quite a disaster. Fun times though.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  In university my roommate found an unthinkable deal on craigslist; a beer distributor was giving away a pallet of beer for free for anybody that would come and get it. We obviously got it and threw a party, but the beer was so awful nobody could drink enough of it to even get drunk.
  - mhink 3y ago
    I had something very similar happen back when I was in college- I stopped off at a convenience store and they were selling a particular beer (by Shiner) at $2 per six-pack. I only bought one and opened it later that evening, only to find out it was priced so cheap because it had this awful "smoked" flavor. I couldn't get through the second _sip_. Bleh.

c22 3y ago

The grocer I frequent has bright orange 'manager special' discount stickers that go on things nearing their expiry.

ericpauley 3y ago

My local grocery store (Some Kroger-brand) does this with a variety of products, but only by discounting one time. I imagine they do something similar nationwide. Products are very close to, but of course still before, their sell-by date.

vel0city 3y ago

Several of the grocery stores I frequent absolutely do this with a lot of things. They'll usually have something like a clearance section with things on their last few days. Its usually a good place to find a cheap loaf of bread or some kind of desert that's about to go past its sell by date to eat that night. The tricky part is those sections usually aren't refrigerated so its only shelf-stable stuff. But they do often have "sales" for fresh goods even as good as buy one get two free which if you look at the goods on "sale" its sell by dates are all within a day or two. But hey, buy a big thing of berries and invite some friends over.

mc32 3y ago

There are specialty outlets -so called salvage grocery- that do just this -usually in cheap strip malls as otherwise the RE would be too expensive to be viable. They sell items close to their expiry and they are at a significant discount. Many people don’t know about them because they are not their target market.

specialp 3y ago

The problem is that your profits are made on the fresher items. The marked down items are being sold at cost or at a loss. That conditions customers to shop for marked down items and cannibalizes the fresh sales. I myself used to buy the "Manager Meat Special" leg of lamb when it came up. But the stores near me stopped doing it. They find it more profitable to dispose of it at a 100% loss than discount.

barrysteve 3y ago
Raise prices on fresh food and let the near-expired food go at regular prices?

jameshart 3y ago

Is ‘reduced to clear’ not a thing where you live?

hoorayimhelping 3y ago

If you've ever seen fruit on sale, you've seen a coarse version of this.

mcpackieh 3y ago

In the US there are some discount grocery stores (also called 'outlet' or 'salvage' grocery stores) that sell product other grocery stores took off the shelves for being too close to expired. Sometimes the food is expired, but still perfectly edible because those "best by" dates are very conservative.

asdff 3y ago

This is basically how they do fruit sales