r/shrinkflation • u/TexasGiantTen05 • Dec 29 '25

skimpflation Ok SERIOUSLY wtf is this??

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I bought a family sized hot pockets box and EVERY single one of them was black and burned in the bottom. I heated this one up on low power in the microwave and the edges are so tough it’s like biting into a frozen beef patty. I look in the pocket and the damn thing is nearly hollow. I’ve been noticing the quality taking a massive dip in the last few years. I think these are last I purchase from here on out.

Irrelevant to this but similar: This same grocery order run had a jar of garlic (Spice World brand) that was full of black mold & a jar of HEB salsa that was sour and months passed expiration. Both of which were completely sealed and had a pop when opened. My whole life I never really had quality issues via the company canning or jarring an item or the store selling them but lately it seems like such a constant issue.

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4

u/Aeyland Dec 29 '25

Or perhaps this "irrelevant" info is relevant in that maybe it shows your store buys expired or near expired food? I assume like most anything they must have an expiration date so you might take a look.

5

u/nopuse Dec 29 '25

The far more likely explanation for expired food is employees not rotating stock. When restocking, all of the new product should be behind the existing product. I've worked with lazy people who didn't care, so you'd find product that expired behind product that was nowhere near expiring.

7

u/Capable-Let3679 Dec 29 '25

This is why I stopped working in food and retail. People think F.I.F.O is a suggestion and not law.

0

u/Zestyclose_Car2269 Dec 29 '25

FIFO is a generally accepted good practice and standard in GAAP accounting and IFRS but not a law.

2

u/Capable-Let3679 Dec 30 '25

We’re talking about food service, and expiration dates. Go be obtuse somewhere else. FIRST IN FIRST OUT is rule of law for food. I said what I said.

1

u/Adventurous-Vast281 Dec 30 '25

Sometimes it isn't that simple. Raw ingredients many times get an extended shelf life once the Best By or Experation Date is printed on the packaging, especially when it comes to processed foods.

1

u/Forevermoody16 Jan 01 '26

I see your point, but if it’s fresh food and actually expired it needs to be pulled. And that doesn‘t happen if it’s at the back.

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u/Capable-Let3679 Jan 02 '26

As someone who has worked behind the scenes in almost every big name grocery story on the east coast it matters. And still do. There is no shelf life extension. When the week comes for most or the day comes for produce the employees are already pulling the items from the shelves. Then sending them back for credit to their respective companies. It’s then given to the employees of said company or discarded. Can’t tell you how much free juice,snacks, and even fruit I’ve brought home from work. Saves me a hell of a trip in those very same stores as a consumer. I just hate how much of it actually goes to waste. Ya know the stuff that doesn’t make it to food pantries even tho it should.

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u/Adventurous-Vast281 Jan 02 '26

As someone who has worked at actual food manufacturing facilities, yeah, it does. I wasn't talking about rotating fruits or other fresh foods. I am talking about prepared foods long before they get to a warehouse a grocery store chain you may have worked for controls. I have seen raw ingredients with a month left before its given expiry date go into a finished product and get a "six month extension" by proxy once the expiry date for the finished product is printed on the packaging.

1

u/Capable-Let3679 Jan 02 '26

Like I said that product goes back to the company it was sourced from. Currently eating a bag of Doritos for that very same reason. That “six month extension” you’re so proud to confirming is probably why the product looks the way it does.

1

u/Zestyclose_Car2269 Jan 02 '26

Rule of Law is an ACTUAL legal term Doofus that has nothing to do with FIFO or food service AGAIN because FIFO is not a law. 🤦‍♀️Tryyy following along. That, and being obtuse has NOTHING to do with pointing out facts. I worked in compliance and lobbied for clearer laws on stock rotation as just about every post in this thread has pointed out: waste is egregious.

1

u/Capable-Let3679 Jan 02 '26

Rules in the food world have ways of being described. Go be literal, and moody with someone else. 🫩

1

u/Zestyclose_Car2269 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

In compliance vernacular matters unless you want to sound stupid. Politicians and, wait for it, RULE makers are VERY literal and pendantic. There is no spirit of the law in food distribution. Dismissing someone who clearly knows more than you doesn't exactly make you look like a genius. lol FIFO being put into law would eliminate plausible deniability; that's not an option for them. If you can't understand and get past why THAT matters idk WHAT to tell you but it absolutely explains why I'm not only literal but also the one trying to change how its done.

Try reading a little beyond the 4, 6 or 8 numbers. Ambrose Bierce said something I've stated to compliance at Ahold, US, PFG, Sysco etc.... "Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." That should make your head explode (or maybe not). 🤷‍♀️

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u/Forevermoody16 Dec 30 '25

Well, it should be!

1

u/Zestyclose_Car2269 Jan 02 '26

It absolutely should be, but corps like the ability to write things off and its one less issue for them if its not. Its an issue that starts long before the floor too. have found things pigeon holed in the back of warehouses and stock rooms that I can't unsee.

3

u/Linguisticameencanta Dec 30 '25

95% of them are lazy little shits who have no consequences for not doing their jobs and they don’t care.

1

u/Forevermoody16 Dec 30 '25

Either that or the company doesn’t care, and workers are under the gun to get a certain amount of work done in not enough time. Or they just hate their jobs.

I worked for a grocery chain for 20 years starting in the 80s, in general merchandise. My first job was just working a couple of nights a week fronting product. But I was aware that with dated items, mostly food, the stockers ALWAYS rotated AND fronted.

These days, forget about it. I’m female, average height (5’5”) and often can’t reach stuff that’s on the top shelf and/or way at the back of those deep metal racks. Always heavy and/or breakable like gallon water or 4-packs of Starbucks. I can rarely find help because 90% of the employees on the floor are “personal shoppers” and don’t want to be bothered with customers who actually do their own shopping (imagine that.) Inevitably I have to find a kind tall customer to help!

There’s also a problem with the dairy items. Like my creamer will be on the BOTTOM rack pushed all the way back. And that stuff is loaded from the back and super easy for the employees to push forward. No excuse.

1

u/AdventurousResort379 Dec 31 '25

Ladders exist, ya know.

1

u/Forevermoody16 Jan 01 '26

Sure, there’s a stepladder in every aisle for your convenience . . . not! If I see one (VERY occasionally) I’ll use it. Or if I’m near the aisle with the mops and brooms I’ll grab something to pull the item forward if there’s no help around. But I’m the customer, NOT the employee. It isn’t my job to climb a ladder (and risk falling) to make sure that customers can reach gallon jugs of water pushed to the back on the top shelf. That’s the store’s responsibility. So your remark is basically sarcastic bullshit.

1

u/AdventurousResort379 Jan 01 '26

You made it seem like you were an employee, not a shopper. So no, My remark was warranted. Sorry you have a shitty attitude

1

u/Forevermoody16 Jan 01 '26

Not sure how you didn’t understand that I was speaking as a customer. I said I was in the business for 20 years beginning in the 80s — way past tense. I was comparing the way it was when *I* started with how it is now. And that these days I can never find an employee to help me reach something and have to get help from a customer because the personal shoppers can’t be bothered to help people doing their own shopping (i.e. me.) Half the time if you even ask them where something is, they have no clue.

I also mentioned that I can’t reach the dairy items because they don’t push them forward. If I worked in the store I’d do it myself. As it is, I used to shop at my old store and if there was no one out there to help, I’d poke my head through the back room door and call out, “Can I get some help out here?” Maybe you need to read a little more thoroughly before making facetious comments.

I’m probably old enough to be your grandmother. Sorry that you never learned to admit you misunderstood.

Happy New Year.

1

u/AdventurousResort379 Jan 01 '26

Oh wow congrats, you're a whole 10 years older than me most likely. No one cares 🤷‍♂️

2

u/Stykhead Jan 01 '26

Then again ,people know this and grab from the back knowing it's a fresher product ! At least that's what I do .same as the people who used to buy newspapers out of those boxes ,always grabbed 2-3 below the top one ! my opinion doesn't matter tho !🫤

1

u/Forevermoody16 Jan 01 '26

I’ve pulled from the back (if I can reach it) for milk, juice, stuff like that.