Yeah, like I said, the store would already have to be teetering on the edge.
That said, losses add up and groceries are an industry with small profit margins. It’s not any one loss that’s the problem, the problem is that there’s always more than one instance of loss and they add up over time.
And when the primary question in the OP is whether the guy was acting ethically, it’s fair to ask “what are the consequences if everyone behaves this way?”
The people who want this to be acceptable think they are especially clever. Everyone cannot do this.
One time I went to what was smiths grocery store back in the 90s when all the new stores tried to be shopping malls this one had a huge bakery at 11:30 pm they were in the process of getting rid of all the “day old” items and there was something like 10 dozen or more donuts being tossed in a huge trash bag and since mom was connected to the local food bank we inquired as to maybe could she take them as a donation and the lady said the store couldn’t give those away due to legal reasons and they didn’t want to get sued if they made someone sick ,
Donuts? Who gets sick from old donuts? My guess is the lady in the store didn’t want to deal with the additional complications.
So basically, if it is legal then it is ethical for “me” to take personal advantage, as long as it is against someone or something “I” judge not passing my personal assessment of “moral value”. Or “I” can at least pretend they are.
Yes, there are plenty of people around like that, each with their own personal assessment of who has moral value. They’s called “assholes”. No matter if my and their personal assessments agree or not.
I’d say “people suck” but I don’t believe it. Actually most people are not assholes. Most are pretty ethical. Most would have asked “is that price right?”
REI? Still has that return policy btw. 3 month for the general public and a year for co-op members. They do ask that you wash it first if it is dirty.
Few enough assholes out there that they can do it.
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, signed by Bill Clinton, “Protects you from civil and criminal liability should the [food] donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient”, among other things.
As I said, those “LiAbiLiTy!!1!” claims are pure-dee bullshit. Approximately 92% of the time some corporate flack or lackey trots that skeletal zebra of a dead horse out what they mean is “Here is a skeery buzzword that makes ME crap my pants that I will use against you to make you skeered too so you go away and stop making me try to think. It makes my head hurt.” Or, more simply, “I DONWAAAAAANNNAAA!!!”
Why is there such doubt that people sue stores? Look at the perception in this thread that these places are swimming in money (whether or not they are). I once asked if the store I work at had ever been sued. I was told there were four lawsuits at the time in process. Last summer a woman pulled out of our parking lot and was t-boned by a speeding driver running a red light - her daughter sued us because…reasons. In the US anyone can sue anyone for any reason - it may get thrown out by a judge as soon as it hits the actual court but it’s a nuisance if you’re targeted.
There are definitely people out there who see any injury or illness as an opportunity to sue someone and get money. Fortunately, they’re only a small percentage of people (otherwise our society would be in even more of a mess) but they are out there.
After doing a little googling apparently there has been a law passed in 2018 to provide protection to those donating, but it’s very possible not every possible entity covered has heard of this law. I’ve been working for my employer for about 10 years now and it could be the lawsuit I heard about pre-dates that law. And parties who have been successfully sued in the past may be hesitant to do so again.
And finally - a lot of “apparently” healthy food tossed by my employer is actually not so healthy. Think fruits or vegetables contaminated by a rodent infestation on a truck. Or that had some sort of cleaning product accidentally spilled on them. These things may not look bad from 10 feet away but I certainly would not want to eat them.
Apparently it is perfectly within norms to buy clothes @ Old Navy and, if you receive a coupon for the clothes after you bought them, you take your purchases in and get the difference refunded to you.
Did this yesterday to the tune of $27
Which sounds like a good thing for customers - but here’s how I found out about it. (over 20 years ago) I got a sales circular for Kmart or someplace in my newspaper the day before the sale was to start - let’s say I got it Saturday and the sale was Sunday. I went to the store Sunday - out of stock on sale items. Because as I found out, people bought them all on Saturday and came back on Sunday for the price adjustment. I can’t even figure out why stores bother having sales if they are going to give price adjustments for anything that goes on sale within a certain number of days. In fact, I wonder if that’s why I see so many “sales” that aren’t really sales.
I work for a large insurance company. I have a lot of data on who sues stores for what. Yes, there are lots of “slip and fall” suits and lots of parking lot liability suits. There are probably a few “rape in the bathroom/parking lot” suits, too, if the place is large enough. (But supermarket bathrooms and parking lots are safer than gas station bathrooms or motel parking lots for that.) No, there aren’t a lot of meaningless food poisoning suits. Also, the insurer is the first line of defense.
(Real food poisoning suits can be a big deal. One of the largest claims i ever saw was from Jack in the Box selling undercooked burgers that had been contaminated with a deadly strain of e-coli, resulting in kids who survived but lost their kidneys. But that’s obviously different from “i ate a day-old donut and hurt my back the next day, it must be the fault of the supermarket.”)
I don’t know if it’s legal to donate old food, though. (Or more realistically, for shelters/soup kitchens to give it out.) At least, i have friends who have worked for a charity that accepts donations of old medications, and they spent their time reading expiration dates and throwing out anything past it. (Even though most drugs are still good after their expiration dates, too.) I would be surprised if old baked goods are prohibited, but i have no idea how such laws might be written.
A hyperbole is just a strawman you haven’t met yet!
I’ll add that it’s easier to fake “pain from falling” than food poisoning, because you can test for food poisoning, and not for pain.