Submitted by DrEverythingBAlright t3_11danyo in explainlikeimfive
Comments
LeftToaster t1_ja7nkzd wrote
They also accept some waste - particularly in produce, meat and bulk foods because it looks unappealing to have near empty bins. No customer wants to get take the last 3 apples from a nearly empty bin or the last package of steaks or whatever as it appears "picked over" or a lack of choice.
FormigaX t1_ja82zgx wrote
FYI there's an app called "Flash Food" that coordinates grocery stores selling the last few items or items close to their expiration date for a deep discount. I snap up entire boxes of produce for $5, guacamole, fresh mozzarella, etc. at more than 50% off.
SpaceAngel2001 t1_ja8ezrv wrote
You can also get huge discounts for near expiration food from restaurant supply companies. For $25 - 75, I buy a pallet, generally 2000 lbs of food. We don't know what we'll get and the deal is we have to take it all.
We distribute anything human usable thru our network. Anything we can't give away goes to our cattle, pigs, chickens, and a wildlife sanctuary that feeds bears, wolves, tigers, etc.
macabresbones t1_ja88dzd wrote
Is there a monthly fee?
DanfromCalgary t1_ja88roo wrote
Nope
macabresbones t1_ja8b0y9 wrote
Fuck yrah
SirReal_Realities t1_ja8bl9k wrote
Damn. You live in an urban area or outside the US? Assuming it is Flashfood (one word) app, it doesn’t look like any store does that in my area. Shame, I would love to buy discounted uglies.
PM_me_oak_trees t1_ja8ggn8 wrote
My experience growing up in a rural area was that you could shop during the last hour before closing on different nights until you run into the manager who has to clear out the old produce etc. Make friends with that person and come back on the night they work, and they can probably get you good deals on whatever is about to be tossed. YMMV, and of course you have to be a bit of a night owl to make it work, but those were the best produce deals I've ever seen.
OogumSanskimmer t1_ja8h3nt wrote
It looks like it's mostly in north east states and Canada. Nothing in the southeast except a couple in Florida. Too bad. Would have been nice.
hrcen t1_ja8jo9n wrote
Yea, my mom got my wife and I onto this. It is super nice when it is close to the weekend and I can grab up some chicken for a quick Saturday/Sunday smoke for a reallllllly affordable price.
ryneches t1_ja89hrx wrote
I've always thought there's kind of a missed opportunity with this. If only 20% of the inventory for something is left, that's a signal that it is desirable. Other retailers are able turn this to their advantage, but somehow grocery stores can't figure out how to present the last six avocados in an appealing way.
TheSkiGeek t1_ja8czil wrote
It works with items that are fungible, like some specialty imported shelf-stable item. Because the last one is just as valuable as the first one, so you can capitalize on low supply causing a high demand.
With fresh produce, usually the nicest/freshest pieces are going to be taken first. So the last ones left are often bruised/damaged/discolored/otherwise undesirable in some way.
AuburnElvis t1_ja8e99k wrote
"I got the last PS5!"🤩
"I got the last tomato"😞
drLagrangian t1_ja8h34t wrote
Not to mention Gwen tested all the other tomatoes for ripeness by squeezing them. So the remaining tomatoes are all squishy.
TahitiJones09 t1_ja89ha3 wrote
Basically the reason Kohl's went bankrupt.
the_original_Retro t1_ja7xqvf wrote
Adding Customer Appeal as a big factor as well.
A lot of "exotic" products on store shelves simply don't move. You can see some stuff there that has clearly not been getting much sales.
So why does the store even carry it then, if they could put something there in its place that would probably sell more?
The answer is because that weird item might be the ONE reason a customer goes to THAT store rather than A DIFFERENT store that doesn't carry it. And while inside, that customer thinks "Hey, I need milk and bread too... and oh, wow, an extra vegetable for tomorrow night's soup, and... and... and..."
By keeping slow-selling items in stock, stores can attract customers to them. So a percentage of their space is reserved for low-demand inventory.
invalidmail2000 t1_ja837wm wrote
Yeah exactly. I worked in the produce department at a grocery store in high school, a pretty nice suburban one. We carried so many of the more exotic fruits because originally someone asked us to carry dragon fruit so we would order a handful of them every few weeks for essentially that one person who then would do all her shopping at our store.
etoleb123 t1_ja82y2o wrote
And that’s just one of the “loss leaders”, where you lose $ on some products to get customers who will make you money elsewhere. Years ago (may not still be true) a buddy who was a VP at Walmart said they lose their shirts on bananas. They want theirs to be the greenest bananas out there so that people associate their food with freshness.
CuriousCanuk t1_ja81bfo wrote
This. Supermarkets get trucks every day all day, The stock doesn't stay around long
Shazam1269 t1_ja8b1tx wrote
We called it Just in time inventory. Looked at historical movement while taking account for out of stock inventory. Our goal wasn't to have maximum possible stock, but enough stock as it's needed. That way we didn't carry excessive inventory, just what we would need when we needed it.
Kael_Alduin t1_ja8k1ue wrote
> profit is the ultimate goal.
Everything else can be ignored and this is the real takeaway
nmxt t1_ja7hpsg wrote
Grocery stores know very well from experience how much food they are going to sell each day and plan accordingly. There isn’t much food going to waste really. The stores keep a lot of food on the shelves because it looks good that way (and is arguably convenient for the customers).
[deleted] t1_ja7v049 wrote
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RedBeard_the_Great t1_ja7vts7 wrote
Could you share your source for a third of all food at grocery stores getting thrown away? It would be interesting to see their breakdown (ie. produce vs canned goods).
I also wouldn’t be surprised if a third of all total food gets discarded in the US if they include agriculture and restaurants (like the chickens that die from avian flu and food that doesn’t get finished due to oversized portions), but it seems odd that notoriously low-margin grocery stores would be that wasteful.
WholeFoodsWholeLife t1_ja7xvwe wrote
Grocery stores toss closer to 5-10% of food, not a third. That statistic refers to food waste at consumer and retail levels.
lucky_ducker t1_ja8fi3i wrote
... and about a third of that food is channeled into local and regional foodbanking networks, ultimately ending up going to charities.
NotNowDamo t1_ja7yrdi wrote
Whoops, wrong person.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_jabsio8 wrote
Of course they're not, but some people are just married to these narratives big businesses are evul
[deleted] t1_ja7wkqr wrote
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WholeFoodsWholeLife t1_ja7x9j3 wrote
That statistic refers to food loss and retail and consumer levels, not just retail levels. Grocery stores do throw away food but not 31% of it or they would go out of business. Shrink is at the retail level is closer to 5-10%.
[deleted] t1_ja7ykbb wrote
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WholeFoodsWholeLife t1_ja7zum7 wrote
Oh no, it's still way too much for sure. And part of that waste is definitely caused by stores trying to keep up appearances of full shelves. At the store I worked at we did try really hard to minimize waste though, but then stuff happens like fridges breaking, deliveries getting messed up, customers returning food, etc. I just wanted to clarify because stores are motivated by profits to not toss food unnecessarily, most of the time. But they can still do better.
Damoncord t1_ja8d3kv wrote
I've worked at some grocery stores, one place would actually have us pull products a month before date so they could mark it for quick sale, marking it down again at a week before the best by date. We didn't end up throwing away much expired product.
abusche t1_ja7xmab wrote
your 1/3 number isnt specific to grocery stores, thats across the whole chain, including food people have on their plates at home and put in the trash. so doesnt really apply here.
RedBeard_the_Great t1_ja7xk0b wrote
Thanks, that was quite eye-opening! The USDA does say that 31% loss is at the “retail and consumer level,” so it makes way more sense to me knowing that consumers and restaurants also contribute to that figure.
abusche t1_ja7xqog wrote
including food you put on your plate and dont eat, sure. but thats got nothing to do with anything grocery stores are doing.
[deleted] t1_ja7xrlw wrote
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NotNowDamo t1_ja7yv2q wrote
Not true.
[deleted] t1_ja7zvb8 wrote
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NotNowDamo t1_ja8301j wrote
Made after I read your comment.
Banea-Vaedr t1_ja7kgr8 wrote
Demand forecasting. That stuff almost all gets sold before it goes bad. American grocery stores sell a lot of food. Shipments come in daily
mb34i t1_ja872df wrote
This. Grocery stores in the US are designed to serve a whole city or area; if you look closely they don't just have a lot of product, but also multiple check-out lanes and large parking lots. And the reason why is because the place is packed pretty much every evening and especially on the weekends, and lines actually form at the check-out registers.
mynewaccount4567 t1_ja8o5hb wrote
While you aren’t wrong about them serving a lot of people, a whole city is vastly overstating it. In my area, there are 4 grocery stores within a 5 minute drive. 2 from the same chain so it’s not even strictly a competition thing. I don’t live in a super dense area either. Pretty typical suburban outskirts of a medium sized city.
phiwong t1_ja7j0ho wrote
Assume you're talking about major stores (Walmart etc).
The US supply chain for these stores are some of the most sophisticated and efficient in the world. Waste is fairly minimal. These are stores with very low profit margins.
The US supply chain is an early adopter of many technologies. Well before anyone had wi-fi or laptop computers, stores used barcodes, wireless telecommunications and very sophisticated planning and inventory systems. Major stores use very advanced logistics and computer models in their supply chains.
nixiebunny t1_ja7wqlq wrote
The bar code was invented for grocery stores.
rosen380 t1_ja82gcz wrote
That's funny... I always thought that until today the following popped up in my YouTube feed:
nixiebunny t1_ja848x7 wrote
Yes, but that's a forgotten story. UPC is still with us.
AndOfTheSevenSeass t1_jaacj83 wrote
Pretty inspirational how you didn’t address OP’s question at all but still wrote a 100 word comment that explains nothing about supply chains.
azuth89 t1_ja7j9nq wrote
I worked at a rural wal mart unloading trucks. We averaged 3 trucks of GM and two fridge trucks on the grocery side per day.
What do you think the ones in town are doing?
They roll that stock constantly. Retail runs on very tight margins and they have logistics down to a quite literal science.
MartyVanB t1_ja7yzem wrote
Drive any distance on the interstate and you will see more than one Wal-Mart truck
SirReal_Realities t1_ja8cm1b wrote
Hey, does Walmart have any little know “uglies” specials? I know the bakery piles the stuff about to be discarded on a clearance trolly in my store. Any last minute deals in produce?
azuth89 t1_ja8cywc wrote
They'll put all of a product on sale if the stock is expiring soon but i haven't seen a clearance rack for individual items like the bakery section does.
StillLearning12358 t1_ja7rjjw wrote
I used to order for a store in the Midwest. While we were not as big as target or Walmart, we had stores in 9 states so we had some buying power.
At the store level, I'd get vendors coming to talk to me with certain deals too. Price per unit would come down the more we bought.
For instance, string cheese may be 2/each cost to store if I bought 10 cases, but 1.50 if I bought 20 cases.
I regularly looked at how many cases I could sell in like 2 months and order that many so we could bank the extra cash for the store.
Stores work on earning the next penny so those .50 cents would add up
lessmiserables t1_ja840kq wrote
As others have said, grocery stores (even small ones) have this down to a science. They have a good idea what demand is going to be, they know how long specific foods will keep on the shelf, and they place orders accordingly.
Even if they are off, it's easy to discount goods to get them off the shelf.
They have a large inventory because margins (for the most part) are very thin on groceries, so they make money by making a penny on millions of transactions. Most stuff that has bigger margins (think fresh bakery items) have drawbacks (they go "bad" quickly). By and large grocery stores go through it pretty quick so the large inventory is justified--people buy a lot of groceries.
> is there an economic reason to do this?
Yes--they have to make a small amount of money off of a large amount of goods.
> How much of the food ends up going bad?
Note as much as you think. Grocery stores have an incentive to reduce waste, since that's money they spent they'll never get back. There's a reason a lot of stores have a "hot foods" bar where they can recycle soon-to-expire foods, like produce, into soups. Aggressive sales to get food off the shelves is commonplace if the demand forecasting was off.
PseudonymIncognito t1_ja8nopr wrote
The other interesting thing that I learned from someone in the business is that a healthy grocery store will have its inventory turns shorter than its credit terms (i.e. by the time they have to pay for their inventory, they've already sold it).
Bonzi777 t1_ja8b1l8 wrote
Some does go bad, but it’s actually a very small amount. Mid single digits for perishable, a fraction of that for shelf-stable. There’s not as much product on shelves as you think, relative to the number of people buying it. So you might see only a couple of people buying a particular product in the store while you’re there, but that’s happening constantly throughout the week.
One thing to know, is that in most stores there’s not product “in the back”. What you see on the shelf is what they have until the next truck comes, so they have to keep it stocked. That’s also why when everyone in a 2 mile radius decides they need toilet paper at the same time, it runs out in a hurry.
mdchaney t1_ja8emzg wrote
I have to explain to people all the time there is no "in the back" for the most part. The fresh areas (dairy, meat, produce, bakery, deli) *might* have something out of customer sight that hasn't been shelved yet, but if they're out of a can of soup you'll have to wait until a truck brings another. People imagine that a grocery store has some huge stock room in the back that they use to replenish the shelves, but that's just not the case. If an item is on sale they might keep some extras around, but other than that what you see is what you get.
Bonzi777 t1_ja8iwa9 wrote
Yeah, I’ve worked in the grocery business for 20+ years doing everything from stocking shelves to building planograms to sales analysis. If I’ve ever seen a store with stuff in the back it was sitting on a pallet waiting to be stocked and nobody was going to be able to locate it until that happened.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_jabt0jv wrote
Some people sure have some strange ideas about how businesses do business. I worked at a Corningware store, and while we did have a fair bit of merch in the back, it was the same stuff we had up front, not like...super secret extra good stuff we kept hidden because...idk? We hate money?
kevronwithTechron t1_ja7zoco wrote
Another thing to consider is those big supermarkets are placed to have a bigger catchment area of customers. So it seems like a lot of fresh food but a lot more people are going through it every day.
Americans typically shop for groceries once a week or less. So for a lot of people a grocery trip can actually be a bit of a chore, 20+ minutes drive, park, haul butt across a huge desolate parking lot. Then load up for a week or more so you don't have to do it again soon. This means one family may only be shopping once every 7 to 14 days so there is plenty more room for other shoppers. This sort of shopping pattern is what encourages the bulk shopping club type store where a family might only shop once a month or so for absolutely massive amounts of non-perishable goods.
In more urban areas you end up seeing smaller grocers that are more around the size you might see in Europe and other places, but usually there is still a mega monster shopping store somewhere.
SoloWingPixy88 t1_ja82dnc wrote
Work as a buyer and depending on the food item it can range from 8-16wks stock cover.
A few reasons.
Stability of supply and to negate potential risk of loss of supply. Food is important and people go crazy when theres no food on shelves.
Minnium order quantities are a factor when being ordered from a supplier so it makes commercial sense.
Waste isn't a massive factor for a lot of cupbard foods as theyll have long shelf life anyway and when it comes to Fresh stockholding isn't a thing.
You will have some niche food areas like wines and spirits that arent really effected by code life they can be held for certain times of year like new years etc.
BananaBreadBetty t1_ja86p17 wrote
As someone whose first job was stocking frozen food in a major grocery store, I can tell you that what you don't necessarily notice in the 0-60 minutes you're spending in the store is just how frequently product turns over and is being continually re-stocked.
greenmachine11235 t1_ja7pwn8 wrote
In part because its easier and cheaper per unit to ship large numbers of items once a week rather than small numbers once a day.
stillestwaters t1_ja8b939 wrote
It depends. I know at my store they look at numbers from the previous year to predict how much we need that day; a lot of food gets thrown out but if a manager is keeping things tight there’s not as much food waste as you’d think, probably.
Like, not saying there isn’t a lot of waste; but at when it comes to fresh meat and seafood it really depends on the manager in charge and the predictions from the previous year. Like the meat all comes in vacuum sealed or ordered in expectation of the sale week; most seafood comes in frozen and the fresh stuff is ordered specifically for the sales week - there’s also the stuff corporate just wants in the case because it looks good even if it doesn’t sell like live shellfish or lamb. I’m sure it matters store by store, but I know my store for example doesnt move much seafood. So that’s our biggest waste; I think most people (I don’t live near the coast or a big river/lake) aren’t as comfortable dealing with seafood as they are red meat.
Just4Spot t1_ja8bonu wrote
To add to everyone else talking about logistics network efficiency, stores have a metric for ‘days of inventory’ in the building. It adds up the price of everything they have, and subtracts an average day of sales until the store hits 0.
For most grocery stores, the number is somewhere between 6 and 10. A big box store might push the number to 14.
If they stopped getting trucks today, your local grocery store is probably empty in a week.
PckMan t1_ja8c6no wrote
Unforunately stocking up is not about meeting demand, a large part of it comes down to projecting opulence. A fully stocked super market just "looks good". Supermarkets are not just about selling product but they're usually aimed at specific social classes. A supermarket that's always full and has everything attracts wealthier and more "discerning" customers.
greatdrams23 t1_ja8cjou wrote
In the UK, stores get the recipes from TV food programs in advance so they can stock up. If 5 million watch Gordon Ramsey cook avacados, that will mean stores will sell more.
[deleted] t1_ja7r15p wrote
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anbelroj t1_ja8c4px wrote
A lot of food goes bad, well when i was young and used to work in the bakery department in a canadian store, i would throw up to two full carts of food in the trash compactor every day. Most of it was still edible but we had to follow the expiration dates no matter what. I asked once why they didnt donate it and they told me that if someone would get sick from it they would get sued.
We had cakes that would “expire” while they were still in the freezer, and i would just call over some of the employees and eat that thing behind a garbage bin like racoons, since we weren’t allowed to eat the food that we were throwing out. It was still perfectly edible and fresh to be honest, but we had to follow those sticker dates.
dwfmba t1_ja8dqp8 wrote
One thing that non-americans should know reading this, US grocery store waste is astronomical.
sudoku7 t1_ja8fw3k wrote
It’s odd. US groceries stores heavily leverage just in time logistics so that they don’t have to keep as much back stock. A very significant part is that US supermarkets tend to serve a large population of individuals who shop weekly as opposed to other areas where you see smaller market stores serving people who tend to shop for the day.
[deleted] t1_ja8gddx wrote
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leadfoot9 t1_ja8gn82 wrote
I assume there's a lot of waste. Not all U.S. grocery stores are like this, and you can save a lot of money by avoiding the ones that are.
I hate walking across a giant store that's as long as two city blocks and has 4 brands and 30 flavors of everything but still manages to be sold out of the thing I actually want. It's definitely something that requires acclimation, and you can lose that acclimation if you don't visit one for a few years.
Dropz5 t1_ja8heic wrote
Some stores are not responsible for the spoiled food and allow manufacturers to fill up shelf space and take returns at own cost.
selipso t1_ja8hs46 wrote
In terms of waste, some of these stores also have partnerships with food banks and other local nonprofits to donate nearly expired goods. They will also have buy one get one sales around a week before expiry and other promotions to get rid of things that are just sitting on shelves. Yes there’s a lot of waste but there’s also good ways to manage it accordingly.
budderocks t1_ja8i1oq wrote
A lot of good answers, as there are a lot of reasons carry large inventory. I'll add.
Grocery stores carry a large range of items to draw customers in.
Think of that one product you love, that is hard to find but you know the one store in your area that carries it. They know you buy it every now and then, and they know it's not a common item.
Carrying that one item (and the other less common items people like) brings you into the store and you'll most likely buy more while you are there.
Jewish-Mom-123 t1_ja8i1ut wrote
Because you don’t know what the one item a customer HAS to have is. I told the GM of my grocery store that because he did not carry Apple Store gift cards on his rack he was losing at least 2 trips a month from me. I don’t let myself have more than I budget for my game, I don’t want to use a credit or debit card for it. So every time I wanted to buy that gift card he was losing the whole sale to a store that DID carry them.
They appeared on the rack a week later.
JRsFancy t1_ja8ir2g wrote
It may seem like a large inventory, but it averages less than 1 week supply in most grocery stores.
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MOS95B t1_ja7oy4b wrote
One of the basic concepts others haven't mentioned is - for some items, it's much more efficient to store them on hand than rely on, or spend money on, shipping less product more often. Most non-perishable items can be tucked into a local (on site) storage area and just sit there waiting to be used at basically no cost. Moving that same product when it is needed has fuel and manhour costs, and risks delays if something unexpected happens.
OwnInitiative1521 t1_ja8chl3 wrote
30% of all that food you see is going in the garbage. That’s 16 billion pounds a year.
Despite what people are saying about forecasting that’s actually not the reason stores overstock. Stores know they throw the majority of their food away however, having the shelves full is a marketing strategy to get people to buy more. More options means people buy more. Simple as that. Supermarkets are a way for someone to make money. They don’t care about your health or saving the planet, they want more money so the owners can invest more into stocks, buy a rental property and take vacations. It’s just for money.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8esfl wrote
What stunning business acumen. Well, that's the internet for you...
OwnInitiative1521 t1_ja8gu4z wrote
Yes, thank you for telling me you can’t research or read. Here, I’ll help you.
Research on how limited options reduce consumer spending; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.11.0495?journalCode=jmxa Page 10; https://www.ccrrc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2014/03/wasted-food-IP.pdf
Research on the amount of food wasted by grocery stores per year; https://www.usda.gov/foodwaste/faqs
https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste
Next time before you gloat over an “I gotchya moment”, you might want to step back and ask yourself if you really know what you’re talking about.ask yourself, “have I actually read anything on this subject or am I just a lame keyboard warrior who’s angry at the world”.
Have a nice day.
[deleted] t1_ja8okt9 wrote
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OwnInitiative1521 t1_ja8oru7 wrote
Yep. All the science is wrong. Have a nice day.
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Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8o6kc wrote
My favorite part is the irony.
OwnInitiative1521 t1_ja8oxpv wrote
Of course. Science is wrong. Got it. Have a nice day.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8rz9t wrote
Your citations don't say what you think they do, that businesses over-order by half, fully expecting the majority of product to be wasted...so to make? More money? Because...science?
OwnInitiative1521 t1_ja8sij0 wrote
You’re right. Inference is bad. Anyways….the corporations that own grocery stores do care about you. They love the planet and want to throw out 30% of their food just so you feel happy. You’re right. I’m wrong. There you go. Have a nice day. I’m going to go enjoy it. Hope you do too.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8srjf wrote
They don't want to throw out 30% of their product.
beardyramen t1_ja88hux wrote
Sadly there is ALSO a marketing reason:
People are more willing to buy when a store is well stocked, rather than an half empty one.
Thus any big grocer is willing to sacrifice a chunk of inventory, in order to maintain a good facade.
This is not sustainable, and promotes bad consumer habits... But this is how we want our world to go 'round.
Better to have everything ready at my fingertip, than to accept a more sustainable way of consuming.
EDIT: added the word ALSO for clarity
Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8ez0g wrote
No.
beardyramen t1_ja8ha3w wrote
Very thourough exaplanation of your opinion. Thank you for your constructive feedback, that directed me to sources that improved my knowledge of the topic
Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja8o28g wrote
Dude, that's just not how businesses work. Merchants see unsold stock as failure and they cry about it. That shit costs money.
Like really, math that in your head and see if you can balance wasting 30% of stock with another 2, 3 pts (maybe) net.
beardyramen t1_jabotel wrote
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2022/10/12/a-company-offers-an-alternative-to-food-waste-at-the-grocery-store-level/amp/ you can check Forbes for some data.
If you buy an apple for 1 and sell it for 5, you can easily afford wasting 1 apple in 3, if it nets you more sales.
Also you can afford to loose something in the fruit department, if you compensate with increased sales on a high-end product.
Ofc the small shop run by Roberto close to my parents' cannot afford this mindset, but big chains can.
Silver-Ad8136 t1_jabrb35 wrote
Your citation tends to refute the idea retailers waste food on purpose.
beardyramen t1_jabun88 wrote
It says that companies try to keep it to a minimum. But surplus means "more than needed".
So companies stock more than needed. In part to compensate for demand fluctuation, in part to optimize procurement costs, in part to provide the customer with a pleasing visual experience.
Sadly, to sell 10 apples we currently "need" a stock of 13.
Then, i'm not your mom, nor your boss. You are free to have your own opinion on procurement strategies of grocers. Not every retailer works the same way, some are more virtuos than others.
But as a matter of fact the western world wastes about 1/3 of its food pipeline.
I am telling that this is not due to incompetence of supply planners, but due to deliberate planning. We accept an inefficiency there for a positive outcome in another point of the chain.
Should you disagree with my opinion, you are welcome to. I will believe you to be naive in thinking that losses of this magnitude are not accounted for accurately, but I will respect your position.
SmackEh t1_ja7ivdx wrote
It's called demand forecasting.
They look at: Current inventory levels. Outstanding purchase orders. Historical trendlines. Forecasting period requirements. Expected demand and seasonality. Maximum possible stock levels. Sales trends and velocity.
There's waste, but softwares account for that and maximum profit is the ultimate goal.