WholeFoodsWholeLife t1_ja7x9j3 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 2:46 PM

Reply to comment by [deleted] in ELI5: why do grocery stores in the US keep such a large inventory? Aside from being prepared for episodic panic buying like toilet paper or bottled water, is there an economic reason to do this? How much of the food ends up going bad? by DrEverythingBAlright

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 on February 27, 2023 at 2:55 PM

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WholeFoodsWholeLife t1_ja7zum7 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 3:05 PM

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 on February 27, 2023 at 4:35 PM

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.