Daily Dose of Thrifty

We saw an article posted on the All You Magazine blog about Walmart now having a 100% back guarantee on their produce.  Do you think this is good news?  We must say that we rarely bought produce at Walmart as it seemed to spoil much faster than any other store! It was very frustrating and we finally just got to the point where we rarely bought it and only bought it if we happen to be there and needed something.

We are really glad to hear that they are now offering their customers a money back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied, it appears without question and you don’t need to bring the produce back in! Just the receipt!

The announcement was made last week and here are some details:

“We’re listening to our customers and delivering on our promise to offer great produce at the most affordable price,” said Jack Sinclair, executive vice president of the food business for Walmart U.S. “We are so sure our customers will be pleased with the fruits and vegetables they buy in our stores, they can receive a full refund if they aren’t completely happy.”

The retailer’s initiative includes:

• Delivering produce from farms to store shelves faster by purchasing fruits and vegetables directly from growers and leveraging Walmart’s produce experts, distribution centers and trucking systems;
• Executing independent weekly checks in its more than 3,400 Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Express Stores that sell produce; and,
• Launching Fresh Produce Schools and other expanded training programs to 70,000 associates.

Walmart’s produce offices, combined with Walmart’s advanced supply chain and efficient trucking network, have enabled the retailer to decrease the days needed to get produce from growers to individual stores. Reducing the number of days produce is in transit has made it possible for Walmart to deliver a fresher product to customers so it lasts longer at home.

I really hope that they have made changes in handling and processing their produce because this guarantee is going to get overly-used if they didn’t.  They claim that they have made the necessary changes for fresher produce, so perhaps we will give it a try again.  What about you??

 

They are doing this in an effort to provide food healthier and healthier food more affordable. As part of its healthier foods commitment.  I hope that this works this time around

BUT…. We have one big beef with Walmart that we cannot figure out, we don’t know how to resolve – or rather who to turn to in the Walmart corporation to fix this problem.

What is that problem?  Well, we have both been disgusted and frustrated with the fact that they throw out so much food! For example, we love to shop at our local Kroger store called Smiths (we highly recommend you read this article why) but one thing that our family loves, lives on and are so thankful to have budget wise is the fact that we can get a number of markdowns in all departments from Smiths/Kroger.

These are foods that are getting close to their expiration date.  Well, I can’t even begin to tell you how much we have saved from this one key factor at Kroger.  Including on the fresh produce! I can freeze, use and preserve expiring produce and save loads of money.

Walmart will not do this!

For example, yogurt is good for 7 days after the best buy date.  Smiths will mark it down several days before this date.  This usually gives us 10+ days to eat it! I get natural and organic yogurt all of the time for cheap because of this.  In addition, I freeze the yogurt and it works very well this way too! In fact, we shared this photo with our Tummy Slimming Smoothie recipe last week with our discounted fresh and frozen yogurts that we bought at Smiths/Kroger.

Well, many months ago, I saw Fage yogurt (one of our favorites) with the best buy date on the Walmart shelves of 2/13.  It was 2/12.  I saw a manager walking by and asked if he could mark it down as I didn’t want to pay full price for it, but wanted it.  He said “I can’t do that.  I will just pull them.” He pulled them off the shelf right then! I then asked him what he as going to do with it?  He said, “I am just going to throw them away.”  I said, “Then can you just give it to me?!” But of course “they can’t.”

Similarly, every time I am in the produce section and see them pulling produce that can be taken home and preserved in the next few days, they just tell me that they are going to throw them out! OR…I can buy them for full price, but they will not mark them down!!

This makes both of us quite irritated and angry! That is good food that is being thrown out! Granted, it needs to be taken care of or eaten right away (which is why it should be sold at a discount), but it is still good! There are so many hungry and starving people in the world, and even people where mark-down foods is a huge blessing to their budget and family.  We don’t know why Walmart will not do this!  It could mean that a family on a tight budget might be able to have fresh food that night for dinner for the same cost as Hamburger Helper! ARRRRRGGGHHH!

We have asked many managers and associates locally why they will not do it and they said it is a corporate policy.  It is obviously not against the law as all of the other non-Walmart stores in our area do markdowns when fresh foods get close to the expiration date.

Walmart……. Why Not??  Why are you throwing away good food?!?!?!?

We are glad about this new policy regarding the produce and the 100% guarantee, but it probably will now make any possibility of markdowns even less of a future possibility.

What are your thoughts on these topics at Walmart?

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