# Taking the fresher stuff from the back of the shelf **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471 "2022-02-14T17:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/81 "2022-02-16T18:48:05Z")
Actually, when I’m in the shop I will fish through the packs of meat to get the one that looks the best. Not the freshest, usually, but the one with the least gristle, the most even distribution of fat, whatever. I’ll also sometimes look for the fresher chickens, because I don’t season my roast chicken, and the quality of the chicken matters a lot to me. But yeah, a lot of things are functionally the same. Fortunately, what’s functionally the same varies a lot from person to person, and most shops have figured out how to manage their inventory so that those who are picky about this product or that don’t mess up the store’s overall sales. (We drink a lot of milk, so a carton of milk with 4 days left is going to be fine. At least for one carton. The second and third cartons need a little more time on them.) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/82 "2022-02-17T16:53:46Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I think it’s _potentially_ being a minor selfish jerk. If everyone did it, prices would go up because the store would eventually have to throw out the old merchandise, or use price discrimination to convince people to buy the old stuff. There’s lots of people who don’t bother to dig in the back, including: those with a houseful of kids who are going to finish that gallon in 2-3 days anyway, people with infirmities (bad back, arm in a sling, etc.) which cause discomfort to dig, people shopping with said houseful of kids or are otherwise in a hurry. I try to go to the supermarket once a week, on weekends. I’ll buy ‘used’ (short-dated) meat if I’ll use it within 24 hrs but not if it’s gonna sit in my house for a few days before cooking/eating; depends upon the schedule & how ‘swapable’ meals are that week (it would be _heresy_ to make tacos on Sat night; it doesn’t have the bountifulness of beginning T’s that Tuesday does) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/83 "2022-02-17T18:55:46Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > That works for bakery goods already, but seems like a pain in the ass for dairy. You’d need an extra refrigerated section, and it would have to be divided up properly to handle pint to gallon size items. For bakery stuff they can just pile it on a table, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a round cake or a long box of donuts. Our supermarket slaps 15% off stickers on soon to expire fish, and they go in the same case as the regular fish. The meat goes in a special section, but that’s just for convenience. If you pasted a discount bar code on the milk, it could easily go in the same place. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/84 "2022-02-17T21:07:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If you pasted a discount bar code on the milk, it could easily go in the same place. Maybe. Meat’s a little different in that it’s laid out horizontally and not stacked that deep. It’s also expected that people will dig around a bit, to find the weight they want if nothing else. It’s easy to stack some packages on top of something nearby temporarily if necessary. And everyone is carefully reading the label to make sure they get the right thing. An extra label might work for the most popular dairy items, i.e. ones that get several rows by themselves. One row could get the discount stuff. But if it’s all mixed together in one row, that could get annoying. Especially on the upper rows where I might not even be tall enough to grab anything but the front item. At the local place, they have some milk in a non-rack refrigerated section, but they only keep the expensive glass-bottle local dairy stuff there. It’s lower density, but I guess the higher margins make up for it. They wouldn’t want to put the cheap discount milk next to those. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/85 "2022-02-17T21:16:24Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > There’s lots of people who don’t bother to dig in the back Yes, like I said from the beginning, the system works because there are a reasonable number of people that just pull from the front. That keeps things cycling even if everyone else is only picking from the back. Hence it’s only mildly selfish. However, aside from the waste there is still an effect on others. If only a few people are picking from the front, there will be a larger gap between the oldest and newest stuff. And that harms the guy with the broken arm that might want milk that lasts a week, but can’t grab the one with that date. If everyone always picked from the front, the dates would always be a narrow range and it wouldn’t matter. But if the store isn’t all that busy and there’s a high proportion of shoppers that pull from the back, the gap will increase and the stuff in front will be notably older. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/86 "2022-02-17T21:31:25Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > In the supermarket I frequent, it rarely makes any difference, because turnover in the refrigerated goods that I buy (such as milk) is so fast, everything has the same date. This is my experience as well. At high-volume stores like Kroger and Walmart, I generally take something from the front, because I’ve found that it doesn’t matter. When I do try to get clever and grab something from the back, it always has the same sell-by date as the stuff at the front. If I’m buying milk at a 7-Eleven or similar place (which is pretty rare for me), I’m definitely checking the date. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/87 "2022-02-18T14:55:00Z")
You know how many times I’ve gotten something off a higher shelf for a short person? Broken arm guy could easily ask someone walking by to grab one from the back for him. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/88 "2022-02-18T18:20:28Z")
I’m a bit curious as to whether people check their eggs, and if they put the carton back if they find cracked ones in it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/89 "2022-02-18T18:37:15Z")
I put cartons with cracked eggs at the front of the display. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/90 "2022-02-18T20:05:23Z")
Sometimes I check them, sometimes I don’t. It’s been a very long time since I found a cracked egg at the store, or in a carton when I got it home presuming that I didn’t drop it on the way. I do check them before putting them away at home; but I do that even if I’ve checked them at the store, as I think they’re more likely to get cracked while I’m moving them around in the shopping bags, though that still isn’t very likely. If I did find one at the store, I’d hand the carton to a store employee (obviously telling them why.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/91 "2022-02-18T20:11:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I put cartons with cracked eggs at the front of the display. Me, too. Often with the lid open, to attract the attention of employees. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/92 "2022-02-18T20:25:49Z")
Now that I think about it, I don’t often find cartons with broken eggs any longer. Maybe the packaging is sturdier, somehow? It still seems to be the same cardboard, or less frequently Styrofoam. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/93 "2022-02-18T20:28:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I put cartons with cracked eggs at the front of the display This! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/94 "2022-02-18T20:33:34Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > You know how many times I’ve gotten something off a higher shelf for a short person? Broken arm guy could easily ask someone walking by to grab one from the back for him. Maybe he wanted a carton that isn’t covered in sticky webslinging goo. If that even _is_ webslinging goo. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/95 "2022-02-18T21:05:31Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > You know how many times I’ve gotten something off a higher shelf for a short person? Broken arm guy could easily ask someone walking by to grab one from the back for him. Eh, I’ve sometimes asked a tall person to grab a box of grapenuts for me. I only feel slightly weird doing that. I would feel a lot weirder asking them to take an item from the back. Heck, I don’t even ask them to grab two boxes, which I would do if they weren’t shoved back where I can’t reach them. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/96 "2022-02-18T21:21:20Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Eh, I’ve sometimes asked a tall person to grab a box of grapenuts for me. I only feel slightly weird doing that. I would feel a lot weirder asking them to take an item from the back. Heck, I don’t even ask them to grab two boxes, which I would do if they weren’t shoved back where I can’t reach them. Being tall I get asked to do this all the time, and offer my help when a short shopper seems to be having problems. But it’s never for anything with a relevant expiration date. You should check, though. When we moved here there was an old shopping center on the next block, since torn down for houses. There was a small grocery there. We went in one day. Nearly every box on their shelves had expired the year before. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/97 "2022-02-18T23:49:32Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’m a bit curious as to whether people check their eggs, and if they put the carton back if they find cracked ones in it. I check the eggs all the time. Then leave the carton with the cracked ones out front like the other poster said should I find any. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/98 "2022-02-19T01:57:55Z")
I don’t buy eggs very often, but when I do I always check for cracked eggs. If I find more than one carton with cracked eggs I swap the cracked eggs to consolidate them into one carton, then place that one in front or off to the side. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/99 "2022-02-19T02:45:47Z")
It’s interesting that apparently some people are fairly commonly finding cracked eggs in the store and others are rarely if ever doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2022, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471/100 "2022-02-19T12:48:11Z")
I’ve had milk go bad at home because of not consuming it fast enough. So now I do check for the freshest date. Do I get any credit for being mildly virtuous because I’m not wasting food? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-fresher-stuff-from-the-back-of-the-shelf/959471.md?page=6)