So… Dominick’s has a huge “Buy 4, get a FREE box of Nature Valley granola bars” sale this past week in which not only is Nature Valley involved in the Buy 4, it’s also the bonus free item. Wouldn’t you think the stores would have made sure their Nature Valley displays would be well-stocked for what the store should know will be a hot sale on these bars?
I went into the Carpentersville Dominick’s to do the Nature Valley deal on Wednesday, and before I headed to the store, my husband requested the Roasted Peanut Crunch variety. They had plenty of boxes on the shelf, but…
Every single box was expired. Every. Single. Box. Look at the next picture — a December 2009 expiration date. NINETEEN boxes. There was not a single box of Roasted Peanut Crunch that wasn’t expired, and the majority of the boxes expired almost EIGHT months ago.
A few of the boxes expired in April of this year. Most expired in December 2009. One box expired July 12, 2010. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but I did buy that July box because they’re my husband’s favorite, and it was only nine days’ expired at this point – and it was free as part of the sale and he’ll eat them this week.
But COME ON, Dominick’s.
When you run a hot, chainwide promotion featuring FREE granola bars prominently in the ad and on signage at all of your stores, wouldn’t it be prudent to make sure all of the granola bars in stock are NOT left over from 2009?
Sadly, the expired food problem at Dominick’s is apparently rampant throughout the chain — I receive email every week about expired food at Dominick’s, and it’s no secret to readers, who vented earlier this year in hundreds of posts about expired food on the shelves. It truly makes me wonder if there is any kind of stock rotation or date-checking going on at all at Dominick’s.
Now, last month, I was at Jewel and spotted a carton of ice cream that had expired days (DAYS) prior to the sale. I brought it to the service counter, and the person on duty immediately dispatched two people to clear out the entire freezer case to make sure there were no other outdated cartons in stock. I was impressed, and really, that’s how it should be done.
Instead, though, I put these nineteen expired Nature Valleys in my cart and left all but one with the cashier, who shrugged his shoulders when I pointed out the dates and said “… thanks?”
ms.coupon says
The same story happened with Warm Delights in Elmhurst Dominick’s.
Some people posted, that Warm Delights price reduced to $1.65. With multiple e-coupons and paper coupon they would give an overage, so I was doing to pick some up.
It turned out, that the ONLY kind with reduced price have expired couple months ago… Non-expired Delights were still at the regular price.
I think, that is how Dominick’s handles expired products now. Obviously, they saw expiration date on the product and that is why, they reduced the price, instead of getting rid of it. Not a very smart approach on Dominick’s part.
woodstock06 says
I very rarely shop at Dominicks even if there is a fantastic sale.Dominicks used to be my number one place to shop.And then I started noticing lots of expired items on the shelves.I got sick of it and stopped shopping there.I did not set foot in a dominicks for about 10 years.Seriously.So I did not bother with this sale either.It just was not enough to get me to walk into their store.It was not just the food on the shelves either.We were getting spoiled meats as well.
ellen says
My most recent expired experience was that same week Jill refers to. Great deals on cereal and the free NV Granola bars, plus plenty of ecoupons to sweeten the deal. I had been carrying around a few $1 Terra chip coupons (Dom’s carries them, they have tasy flavors and sometimes go on sale)and they WERE on sale 2.09 a bag, so after the coupon, it felt like a nice little splurge. Loaded up my cart with 4 bags (one of each flavor) and three of those were expired (I think they said Feb 2010) and for potato chips, that can be a deal-breaker. One variety had an Aug2010 date, so I did take those. But you do have to watch out.
A few months ago when they had that buy Classico, get free pasta, the jars of sauce I took home were expired (and they usually have long dates on them).
Same deal with Pillsbury biscuits during a Catalina deal a while back: whole row cans expired.
Now, to be perfectly honest, I will sometimes jump on a close to expiring meat deal. Especially in a “take it home and eat it tonight” pinch.
But just imagine how much they end up having to discard!
artlyn says
I have now begun to place the product on the floor if it is out of code. If we all begin to do this then maybe we will get the message across to Dominicks that this is unacceptable. I also go to customer service for a rain check and let them know where the expired product is.
rvkma says
So true! The last 2 times I went to Dominick’s, the specific dairy items I was there for were all expired – some by 2 MONTHS. Which for such highly perishable items like milk and yogurt, is totally unacceptable. Someone should be checking those cases on a daily basis. I stopped shopping there after the second incident. I pointed it out both times, and the first time they did bring a manager out. But apparently, the message didn’t get through?
At a Pick n Save in WI last year, they were remodeling, and it seems the must have found some old items… because I brought the CS desk 8 jars of pickles off the shelf that had expired 3 (seriously) years back!!! They were not even the same color as the “normal” pickles, and had a coating of dust on the tops! The manager was just mortified and even gave me a gift card for pointing it out. : )
dancingwolves says
they sell outdated food. I know I’m extremely careful with the expired foods at Dominick’s. Crystal Lake is better than most but I often bring stuff up to them that is expired and it appears they take care of it. I do note when they stock their shelves, they often put the expired stuff in the back of the new items. Yes it makes it easier for me but isn’t that kind of backwards which leads me to think the employees are just plain lazy in not shifting the stock in the right order. I think they focus too much on putting the prices on the shelves in the right order (one gal I know comes in at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday just so she has it done).
Margie says
Many years ago(10) i was in the Army and Nature Valley Granola Bars were in our MRE’s (Meals ready to eat). Trust me your husband doesn’t need to RUSH and eat those bad boys…We had a five year shelf-life on those MRE’s! Sadly enough those things were still good even though the meal was almost too old to consume… Some of the guys still ate them after the date. Definatly a shame that all stores dont keep fresh food in stock. Our service members eat old stuff all-the-time! MRE’s anyone?
moreforless says
I accidentally bought 1 expired fruit snack and another said Sept. 2010 but was stale when I ate one. So I exchanged them both for items with better dates. If you buy a bad one you can always return or exchange it.
With the dairy items usually Dominick’s marks them 50% off before the dates expire. Comes in handy when you get
$1.25 soon-to-expire Minute Maid orange juice. You should also just make a habit of checking the dates anyway.
station wagon mother says
Well TY for the heads up. I didn’t check my boxes when I bought them. Lesson learned – up from the basement with 4 expired boxes not counting the one that expired yesterday!
Advice on whether to contact Dominicks or mfg is welcome.
stealfinder says
Ingredients for death.