Buy Your Groceries at Auction

I read an interesting article on Yahoo earlier tonight. I had no idea that you could purchase groceries at auction!

As consumers seek relief from the recession and spiraling food prices, grocery auctions are gaining in popularity as an easy way to cut costs.

[Via Yahoo.com]

I have worked in the grocery business, and I have had to throw out perfectly good food that was only a day past their use by date. It made me feel sick to my stomach – it was good food going to waste. It seemed like there could be a place for that food to go instead of the dumpster. Hearing about these auctions gives me hope about that practice. The store makes some money and people get discounted food – it’s a win-win!

The story also got me thinking about waste in general. I have heard stories about retail stores that throw out perfectly good products that they no longer wish to have on their shelves. Although I am not happy we are in a recession…perhaps there will be some positives that come from it. I hope stores decide to go the auction route with products that were going to end up in the dumpster.

Posted by Tricia on March 25, 2009 at 8:13 PM in General Personal Finance | 10 Comments »
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Prince Of Thrift responded:
Posted: March 25th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
hmmm, very interesting. As a member of management in a grocery store, I had never heard of this either. Would love to find out more, and where the closest one would be.
Kim responded:
Posted: March 25th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Why do they waste it at all? I think they should be encouraged to donate it. This would START with the publication of this law:
http://www.no-hunger.org/donate/goodsamaritan.htm

I’m assuming it’s still in effect….
Mr Plasectomy responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 5:15 am
It is crazy given the sell by date of most of the food on the shelves is way before the expiration date.

I wonder if this is from fear of making people sick if the food goes bad?
Prince Of Thrift responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Mr Plasectomy -
I think it is more from making sure it is in peoples homes before the real expiration dates.
Rochelle responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 7:00 am
It’s a liability issue. I worked retail, too, in management and we were told that all expired food must be thrown away because if we took it home or gave it away or someone dug it out of a dumpster(we had compacters that made this difficult) and got sick from it, we could get sued.
It is wasteful, but I consoled myself with the thought that most of that food had little to no nutritional value.
Jim ~ mydebtblog.com responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
What happens when people stop buying the things retail if they know they can get it cheaper at auction? It comes down to money and the store wants to make more of it while it can, not provide a sale just because an expiration date came up. I don’t have a problem buying stuff close to dates if it’s got a bright orange SPECIAL tag on it. Pound of hamburger at discount usually means I can make tacos for dinner for $5.
Kim responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 10:11 am
To Rochelle ~
HUGE misconception. There was a law passed in 1996 that made this obsolete. This law NEEDS to be publicized and understood, especially in today’s economy. (Hey, had to get a buzz word in there!)

http://www.licares.org/News/Information/Good_Samaritan_Act.htm
John Hoff responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Agreed!!!! In fact, I would like you to go to my blog and check out an academic paper on this subject, linked via this blog post:

http://adventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-recession-looks-like-in-americas.html

Groceries don’t have to be thrown away due to liability. The problem is this law isn’t publicized very well. The government, arguably, should be publicizing it, especially during the toughest recession in 26 years.
Heather responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 11:32 am
There actually is one of these near me. I have gone a few times and left with a cart full of frozen goods for around $100 which has fed my family of three for a month or more (with some veggies, etc in addition).

Most of the food at the one I go to is excess from restaurants. They also have strict codes about what they can serve. This one is run by a fire station and they keep some of the profits and the rest goes to a charity. I’m not sure if they pay for the items or if they are donated.

The auction happens on a Friday night and the next morning they sell the rest for next to nothing – of course I’ve also heard there is next to nothing left.

All in all it’s pretty neat. I’ve gone with friends and have had them leave with carts & carts of stuff because they got carried away. And it’s only practical if you have a large freezer since most of the items at the one I go are frozen goods.
Cheapskate Sandy responded:
Posted: March 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
@Heather

Where can I find one of these things. At least the one you mention? A food auction would be AWESOME. Here in NY there is a company that collects food from restaurants and distributed to the elderly or people who are in need of food. If something like the food auction mentioned existed here I would be on it like white on rice.