Some of the main drivers for in-store retail losses include:
Overstocked product displays.
Most retail stores operate under the assumption that customers buy more from brimming, fully stocked displays, preferring to choose their apples from a towering pile rather than from a scantly filled bin. This leads to overstocking and overhandling by both staff and customers and damage to items on the bottom from the accumulated weight.
Expectation of cosmetic perfection.
Many customers select stores based on the quality of perishables, and therefore retailers feel compelled to have only produce of perfect shape, size, and color—leading to much of the culling discussed above.
Pack sizes that are too large.
Produce arrives in preset quantities according to case size. This limits the flexibility for produce buyers to purchase exactly the amount needed. For example, if a grocer wants 50 grapefruit but they come in cases of 80, the store is then stuck with 30 extras.
Availability of fresh, ready food until closing.
Stores are increasingly offering more prepared, ready-made food in their delicatessens and buffets. On the one hand, this can be a good way to make use of marginally damaged or nearly expired products if the labor is available to do so. However, as with produce, store managers often feel compelled that displays of ready-made items remain fresh and fully stocked instead of letting shelves hold fewer items as they run out. Rotisserie chickens, for instance, might be thrown away and replaced after four hours on display. One grocer estimated that his store threw away a full 50 percent of the rotisserie chickens that were prepared, many of those from the last batch of the day. Ready-made food makes up a large portion of food lost at convenience stores, which discard approximately 25 percent of their food products.
Expired “sell by” dates.
Products are discarded when sell by dates—almost none of which are regulated by law—are near. Different from use by or best by dates (see section on reducing expiration-date confusion that follows), sell by dates are designed to help the store with stocking and ensure freshness to consumers. One industry expert estimated supermarkets on average discard $2,300 per store worth of out-of-date food every day. Almost all of this food is still consumable but may have a limited shelf life left. In most states, it is not illegal to sell product after the sell by date, but stores don’t do so out of concern that their image of carrying fresh products will be damaged. Most stores, in fact, pull items 2 to 3 days before the sell-by date. Damaged goods, outdated promotional products, and unpopular items. Products are also discarded due to damaged packaging or promotions that have passed (postholiday discards are most common, but other time-sensitive products may go to waste as well). In addition, many of the 19,000 or so new food products placed on grocery store shelves each year46 are not popular with consumers and may be discarded when they fail to sell. In addition to in-store waste, this can lead to large volumes of overruns leftwith the manufacturer without a market.
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