Free Food?? What Do You Think?

**many houseapes** · 02-11-2010, 08:14 PM

A friend of mine let me in on a little "secret" how he can get most of his food for free.It is legal & I'm tempted to try it, but in a way, I feel like I might be stealing if I do...what are your thoughts??..
Here is how its done:

our grocery store chain has a policy that if you should happen to purchase an item that is expired, you can bring it back to the store w/the dated receipt & the store will replace the item w/ a fresh one....and give you back your money too.
So, my friend goes to the store...puts a few "good" products in his cart...then if there are any expired ones,he will put them in there as well. He pays for it all......then goes back to the store & shows the management that he bought the expired products. He gets the money back on them...and they are replaced with fresh products - Free food. He's become such a pro at this that the only thing that he pays for is fresh veggies & fruit.

If it is the store's policy...would it really be wrong to try this??

**Libby** · 02-11-2010, 08:19 PM

Once or twice - yes, but if you're known as that person who does this (policy abuser) you could risk being 'blacklisted' from that store/chain. As you said, you felt it was like stealing, therefore you should go with your gut and do the right thing - as in don't.

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-11-2010, 08:23 PM

There is a grocery store here that used to have a similar policy, only you didn't have to leave and come back with it. You just took it to the checkout and got a free replacement - except you had to pay for an equal amount of other stuff. So if you were getting $100 of free stuff, you had to buy $100 of paid for stuff.

I guess they saved money on staff, because the customers were doing all their stock rotation for them. Plus their regular prices were really high to begin with, and the expired stuff was usually weird things no one wanted (hence why it was expired).

I know lots of people would go there and scour the shelves for free food, but I felt weird about it. Plus it seemed like most people were spending a lot of money just to get free stuff they wouldn't otherwise buy.

**annymoll** · 02-11-2010, 08:24 PM

I see you as a woman with more integrity than that.

**leighcat** · 02-11-2010, 08:27 PM

I wouldn't do it. I have heard of people doing that at Sam's Club because they supposedly triple refund if you are unhappy with meat. It seems dishonest to me. I did accidentally buy expired meat one time and I was not too happy about it. I called the store and talked to the manager and got a giftcard and refund. I was going to cook the meat that night and didn't realize it was expired till I got all the way home about 15miles away. Doing it on a regular basis seems dishonest to me. Although, maybe the store ought to do a better job of checking the dates on their food!

**lisaflex** · 02-11-2010, 08:34 PM

??? confused....just doesnt seem right? maybe its just me

**WV_mom_of2** · 02-11-2010, 08:43 PM

Seems to me like a great way to make a store mad and to have them stop a good policy. They are trying to do the right thing and then people like that go in and ruin it for everyone.

I think it's incredibly dishonest and I'd never do it.

**Natalie's Nesters** · 02-11-2010, 08:52 PM

I agree with everyone, I think it's stealing. What if you owned a store, and someone did this to you....I would be ticked!!!

**dcompton** · 02-11-2010, 10:20 PM

I agree. It may be technically in line with the policy, but the policy is to correct genuine errors, and should not be abused. Besides, it's easier to get good customer service if you do your part by being a good customer.

**Mom2-3** · 02-11-2010, 10:36 PM

Yeah, that doesn't seem right. Once or twice, well that could happen, but all the time?!

Our local store has the policy, if it's expired/no good, they will exchange it for a similar product. I did take back a store (generic) product. It was awful! The store did return my money for that product. I can't imagine doing that more than a couple times tho.

**Nana2two** · 02-11-2010, 10:39 PM

I wouldn't do it! I understand that a store needs to watch the dates of itmes and i have returned items that been past its date. But i never bought knowing it. I have taken things to the service desk and let them know. I also have gone to the sevice desk and told them and returned to the the store a few days later to find the same expired food.

**mauimagic** · 02-11-2010, 11:25 PM

Personally - I wouldn't. Just seems wrong. Don't even want to know what else your friend does to save money of get things for free.

**nadine64** · 02-12-2010, 01:41 AM

This is wrong. It's blatantly stealing. If you even have to question if it's right or wrong, then wouldn't you agree then that it's probably against your usual moral standards? Just my thoughts.

**MaryCarney** · 02-12-2010, 01:54 AM

Yes, it's wrong - and I suspect you knew that and that's why you asked.

**2ndGenGranola** · 02-12-2010, 05:27 AM

Originally Posted by dcompton

I agree. It may be technically in line with the policy, but the policy is to correct genuine errors, and should not be abused.

So true.

This is what I call cheap rather than frugal.

If you genuinely get a bad product, by all means get it corrected. If you go digging and searching through products to find the out of date items just to call in the "policy" is so wrong IMO.