Most grocery store customers probably prefer to grab the freshest items on the shelves. That preference is why you’ll notice customers checking the expiration dates on the goods in the stores before settling on the item with the latest expiration date. If you’re a customer who follows this practice, you may have noticed that oftentimes the products with the latest expiration dates are in the back. Why is that?
A Walmart customer shopping for Thomas’ English Muffins in the store’s bread aisle made a TikTok about this. Her video has 166,000 views.
“Am the only who does this? I go right to the bottom,” she says in her clip.
“They put the bread that was here first on the top,” she says before lifting up two English muffin packages to show their expiration dates. ‘You see how that says ‘March 8th.’ This one ‘March 6th.’”
“And the one I have in my cart says ‘March 12th,” she says, noting that she picked that package from the bottom of the stack.
“They do that, like the people is not gonna dig underneath and get the freshest piece of bread,” she remarks. “Now, would I be wrong if I take all the bread that’s the freshest and put it in on the top?”
Aleisa implies that Walmart is trying to trick customers with this practice. “Walmart: do yall really think the customers don’t know yall do this?” she asked in the caption.
The Daily Dot reached out to Aleisa via TikTok comment and direct message as well as Walmart via media contact form.
Why do stores like Walmart practice FIFO?
Many grocery store employees are trained to apply the FIFO (First In, First Out) method. Older inventory is placed at the front of shelves, and newer items are moved to the back. Stores do this so that older items are sold first, reducing waste and increasing profit margins.
Viewers weigh in
Viewers criticized the TikToker, noting that FIFO is common practice.
“You never heard of first in, first out .. they have to do that lol,” one viewer wrote.
“It’s called rotation .. your litterally supposed to do this with all food in stores,” a second remarked.
“Whether people pull from the bottom or not, you’re making Walmart sound like they’re wrong for doing it. I fear this is common sense. Obviously stores and restaurants use FIFO,” a third stated.
Because of the backlash in the comments section, Aleisa clarified, “the point I’m making is the ppl still gon dig to the bottom so what’s the point.”
@leitheeater Walmart: do yall really think the customers don’t know yall do this?🤦🏽♀️ #walmart #fyp #trending #bread #englishmuffins #walmartfinds ♬ original sound – Leitheefatty🦋
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