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?
Kim Mattox
I totally agree with you! I actually prefer buying my produce like that. It forces me to do something with it immediately rather than putting it in the fridge to ‘take care of it later’. Our Walmart does mark down day old bakery items, why not everything else???
Cassie
It would be so huge for so many people if they did! Many would be blessed by it!
M
They donate a lot of the food instead of selling it, which is great. I’m more concerned with the fact that they use slave labor to have low prices for their clothes. Not worth the low price.
Cassie
HI M,
How and where would we find out about these supposed donations? Do you mean donating when charities ask? That’s great if so, and I know a lot of businesses that do this! I still have a hard time with them throwing food away. As far as the slave labor on clothing, I am not familiar with this. We buy our clothes from other places too, but wondering what you are referring to. Thanks!
Shannon
We have a local food bank and they get items such as produce donated to them from Walmart. So maybe it is a regional problem?
Cassie
I don’t doubt that Walmart donates, even in our area. I am sure they do a plenty like many other grocery stores do and that is great! But I am talking about the issue of not marking food down but throwing it away. That can help a lot of people too! Many are on a tight budget, but don’t go to the food bank. It is a shame that they throw it away. If it is a regional thing – do they mark down “FRESH” foods in your Walmart (i.e produce, dairy, etc.)? Maybe it is a regional problem, but our local Walmart stores are saying it is a national corporate policy.
Anna
In my area, they mark down bakery’s and meat only. However, when there’s non food items that are on clearance and only one or a few less, I’ve asked for a further discount and have gotten it. Bought 5 gallon buckets of paint this year for $30. They were marked at 45 for clearance. So I asked. Enough paint now for my small ranch house for only $90 !
Mary
Not sure about all Walmarts but I’m noticing the ones near me are starting to mark down things such as breads. I hope they will continue that practice in to all the grocery items!
Mari
There new policy sounds great but how long will it last? And they should mark down produce to. I mean they do it for everything else!? I know it would help my family out a lot and there’s 8 of us and my mother and sister inlaw are both diabetic, so it helps to have fresh fruit on hand but when apples cost $1.49 a lb and your on a budget? It makes it hard. Plus if it’s expiring soon why would anyone want to pay full price?
I’m not even sure if our Walmart here does that. We have 3. Las Cruces, NM. But we don’t even buy our produce from there anymore. It’s too expensive.
kristi
They do mark down meat, I’ve bought plenty of it. Not sure why they wouldnt do the same with produce
Cassie
Actually now that you mention it, I have too! It has been a while (like a couple of years), so not sure if they still are – but they haven’t ever marked down produce and dairy – both things we eat a ton of!
Annette W
I have seen and bought a lot of marked down meat, chicken and other items, so they do mark it down
donni
I worked for Walgreens for over 9 years and had the same complaint. I wrote to everyone I could think of. My thing was, there are so many hungry & homeless people they wouldn’t care if thier potato chips were past the buy date. We, on a very regular basis, pulled “outdates” three months in advance on a lot of things (canned goods, for instance) so that nothing was ever on the shelf past it’s deadline and we threw everything in a garbage can with a lock on it (because, even if it’s trash it’s our trash and anyone digging through our trash are considered stealing. Yeah, I know!). I don’t know if they’ve changed thier policy but while I was there I championed for them to donate that food to a food bank or church but the answer I got was they couldn’t take the chance (and be sued) that someone would get sick off of spoiled food. I don’t know if that’s a very good answer to your problem with Walmart but that is how retailers think and do business. Personally, retail will steal your soul, that is why I’m back in school in a medical program. maybe I can get a job that does some good!!
Pat York
I will shop at a store that is 22 miles away because of the quality of their VERY cheap produce (the store is called VALLI PRODUCE) their great weekly sales…and their racks, coolers and freezes of discounted food in every department!! It saves me the gas money compared to the prices and non sales at the local Walmart.
The savings aids my tight budget, AND the savings on gas lets me drop in and visit my grandchildren. OR one of my neighbors and I share gas expenses and shop the sales and markdowns together. With the savings, we can go out to lunch and make a day of it.
Thank you Valli, take notice Walmart!
Atoka
I hate that policy (no mark downs) as well. I think Target is much the same with their produce/diary too from what I remember when I worked there. I know there was an issue with vendors refunding back money to them for unsold merchandise…and that was part of why they wouldn’t mark down certain items – but I do know alot of Target’s damaged/close to expiring dry goods are donated to food pantries. Speaking of meat mark downs at Walmart though….. I remember my husband ran to Walmart one night to pick up some beef for taco night….saw that they had some marked down, and as he was grabbing it, an associate grabbed it out of his hands – told him that she was supposed to throw all of it out (even though the sell by date was the next day). My husband was so confused – he said, ‘well, it’s out on the sales floor still, so you should still be selling it, it’s not expired.’ The lady just glared at him and said ‘I was told to trash it, so that’s what I’m doing’ and walked off to the back room with the 4 packs of reduced ground beef that were left.
marie
As a Wal-Mart employee of the Produce Department @ the Eastlake, Ohio Super Center, I can tell you at our store the unsalvageable items are composted, the items that can still be used are donated to a local food bank.
Jesse
We don’t mark the items down because once they look a certain way or reach a certain date, we are required by the supplier/manufacturer to pull them off the floor. There is a very small amount of items we can mark down in the Fresh areas. They are then scanned out as damages or donations. Donating items to Second Harvest Food Bank or another approved local food bank is a requirement of every store and is tracked on a corporate level. Every store donates, so get that “doubt” out of your mind. We also don’t mark the items down because most of the time we get full retail credit from the supplier/manufacturer. The company would prefer to capture the full retail amount instead of cutting their bottom line by marking an item down and losing profit. If Walmart has chosen not to purchase the product but sell the shelf space and warehouse space, any direction given by a manufacturer or supplier about the handling of their product, contractually Walmart must follow said direction. So in your case, if the yogurt supplier says no to markdowns but require a pull & destroy, we are required to do so.