Getting ready for lunch here and my daughter asked for chocolate milk, this is a specialty item in our household because I buy chocolate or strawberry milk only 2-3 times a year. I poured her a glass, then treated myself to a glass. I took one sip and went 'this is not right' and promptly poured both mine and my daughter's chocolate milk down the drain. Next I went to the fridge and found that I bought expired chocolate milk, but the regular & strawberry milk do not expire till June 22. In my case the milk expired Sat June 4th, bought it on Fri June 10th, had it for the first time today Mon June 13th. I then poured the remainder of the chocolate milk down the drain since it really did not taste right.
My question to you is what would you do. Would you use this as a good reminder to check the expiration date and throw away the bad? Would you try to return it, well get your money back even though it was your mistake for not checking? Does the store even take it back, seems like that would be a bad idea, to easy to "trick" the store.
Obviously it is sad to be pouring money down the drain, but sometimes life happens.
Thank you for all the comments. I usually am a stickler about checking the expiration dates too, but this one slipped by me. I will let the store know by phone, even though they are close I really do not feel the need to stop in. It is a good store and I have never seen expried items on their shelves, my guess if there were others they already know. Thank you again :)
The store will refund you the money or replace the item... I am betting that there wasn't only 1 expired milk on the shelves...
I used to work at walmart (customer service) and this has happened to people and they bring it in with their receipt and we exchange it around.
Now I am not working there anymore but if that were to happen to me I would go to the store with the container and tell them what happened so that way they will be more carefull of keeping an eye on the expiration date on all their products.
Why didn't you just take the carton back to the store with the receipt to exchange it for a fresh one?
I had that happen with heavy cream. You just assume someone is being paid to pull the old stuff. The store did give me my money back without a receipt, probably because all the other cream on the shelf were also expired. With the receipt you should have no trouble at all bringing in the empty carton and the receipt next time you go to the store.
Amanda, I used to work for a grocery store, they prefer you pour it out. The date is the date and there is a date on the receipt, no worries.
If you have your receipt you could give it a shot. Personally, I wouldn't bother.
However, this is a reminder to check the expiration date BEFORE puttin something into your cart! The stores are pretty good about checking the dates, but sometimes they miss some!
I would take your carton and receipt back to the store. If they were more vigilant it would not have happened. There should not be expired product on the shelf. As long as you do not show up every other week with the same claim there is no reason they wouldn't believe you bought expired milk. Good customer service goes a long way.
Yes, I would return/exchange it. How gross for them to have something so out of date on their shelves.
They should take it back and not even question it, even more so if you just want to exchange it for a fresh one.
If you have your receipt for the expired milk, take it back. THere is no reason it should have been sold. Even if you don't... I'd call the store first and ask to speak to the manager before going in. I've had good luck with this.
You could use it as a reminder, too!
The store definitely would have refunded the money. At least the grocery stores around me.
However, me personally, I probably wouldn't waste the time returning it. And I do, always check expiration dates on milk. I even go as far to look through the glass to find the one (usually towards the bottom) with latest date on it if I can.
Always take it back. Stores are required to do daily checks on all merchandise that has expiration dates. Even if you bought something before the experition date and it goes bad before the date take it back. Usually it is marked 'guaranteed fresh until this date'. The store will replace it for you and it goes back to where they got it from.
As far as white milk goes there are a lot of receipies that call for sour milk or buttermilk. If the receipe calls for buttermilk there should be instructions to substitute for sour milk. Sour milk pancakes are soooo yummy.
Since it's only a few dollars, I'd just pour it down the drain and be sure to check next time. If it was something more expensive, I'd return to the store with my receipt.
I would have returned it. Now that you've poured it down the drain, though, I doubt they will take it back. Also, do use it as a reminder. I bought expired sour cream a few years back and now I always look at the dates. I try to get the one that has the longest shelf life. I find it's usually in the back and the items with a shorter shelf life are up front, easy to grab.
I would return it. I know they don't have Publix in WI but they are just the best at customer service, if something like that were to happen here (though that is really far past the date and I'm sure just an oversight by the dairy department) they would not only exchange it, but you would also get your money back.
I had a similar thing happen recently with a carton of strawberries. I of course glanced at them to make sure they looked good, when I got home they were mostly unuseable all nasty. I took the carton back to the store and I was refunded and an exchange was made, even though I only asked to exchange them.
It happens!
If you have the receipt showing when you purchased it - then by all means, return it.
:)
I was under the impression the store is supposed to pull items past the expiration date. If I had noticed when I got home or the next day I definitely would have. As the days go by I would be less likely to return it unless it was an ongoing problem with the particular store....
I'm a stickler for checking expiration dates when I shop.
If you've ever seen a lady half crawled into a refrigerator unit looking for the item in the back with the expiration date that has the furthest to go then you've probably seen me.
If I can tell a container is swelling, I don't care what the date says - I won't be buying it.
I love a fresh salsa that my favorite store puts out, but there's no expire date on it.
I look at the liquid build up towards the bottom of the clear container and if I see tiny bubbles (that means it's fermenting) I'll pass on buying it.
Occasionally I still get a milk that hasn't officially expired but it's gone bad anyway like it was left on a loading dock too long.
I just throw it out.
It's not worth spending the gas to lug it back to the store.
take it back and if you have the receipt still that will be good and let them know exactly when it was bought
Just a couple days ago, we poured out most of a half gallon of milk - the date on the jug was June 16 (yeah, not even here yet!), but that milk had already gone bad! Seriously thought about taking that thing back - and probably would have had I still had the receipt! (and it was Kroger brand - guess that's why it was on sale?? *L*)
Buy my dgd lunchables to take when she's at the "Y" - the staff noticed that the lunchmeat in this one had some green to it, so they tossed it! The package hadn't expired (that I do check before buying) and I hadn't noticed it when I got it. Since I got it on a bigger store run, I still had that particular receipt and went back to the store and they had no problem replacing it even w/o the product or pkging!
Chocolate milk here is about $3 a gallon, gas is more than that. I don't think it would be worth my time or gas to go back to the store. But, I would suggest calling the store and letting them know that at least one slipped through and they need to be more vigilant. Also, take it as a reminder to always check the dates (I obsessively look for the latest expiration date on all the milks before grabbing one!)
If you notice the problem often with the store (ie checking labels and they are past, or even within a few days of getting to expiration date), bring it up with the store manager. I have stopped shopping at a store here because they often have old milk out!
I almost always check, too.
Personally, I don't think it's worth the trip for a refund...unless they are close by and you have your receipt still. Sounds like a simple humanoid dairy clerk error.
I'd chalk it up to live and learn!
I'd pobably return it on my next trip but I ive about 1/2 mile from the grocery store I usually shop at so no big deal. I think it's important to let them know they're selling milk that far past the date. I understand a day past but milk that's 6 days past when you bought it should never be on the shelves and they need to know it happened. There was a breif period during the last week when the milk may have been dangerous to drink but may not have tasted bad, especially with the chocolate flavor. It could make a little one very sick!
Is this a store you shop in all the time? If so, I doubt they would think you're trying to trick them over some spoiled chocolate milk.
I bought some milk that had plenty of time on the expiration date and the day I got it home, I knew it was sour.
I always check the dates because stores don't always get things pulled like they should. I don't think it's deliberate.
Whether or not you have the receipt, I would let the store know what happened. They will probably just let you get another thing of chocolate milk. Keep the container because the store might need it in order to get their credit for it.
I would call them and let them know, get the name of the person you speak to and that way you don't have to make a special trip just for one thing.
Like I said, no store is going to think you're tricking them over something like chocolate milk.
Best wishes.
I always check before I buy.
You might mention it to the store manager but is it really worth your time, money to make a trip to the store? You'd spend more in gas and your time than the milk was worth.
If you hadn't poured it out I'd have returned it. Expensive specaility stuff like chocolate milk can stay on the shelves a long time before its sold.
Just so you know, almost all grocery stores position the products on the store shelves so that the oldest is on the outside and closest to the consumer. The most recent products are to the back of the shelves. I always check milk to see the difference between the oldest and newest products. If there is only one day difference, I take the product closest to me. Often I find there is two weeks difference in milk. So I always take the milk in the back with the longest date. In cereal I've seen where the date difference between the box in the front and the box in the back is ONE YEAR. I almost always take cereal from the back of the shelves.
I hope this helps. Good luck to you and yours.
We have a store in our area that we continually buy expired items from. Ugh. I send my husband to get something, he forgets to look at the date... it is a pain. We do return the expired item. It is the stores responsibility to make sure their products are not expired.
We stopped shopping at this store in our city because this happened to us WAY too many times there.
