578542 Mon Dec 08 23:20:26 -0800 2008 7 32 Chains 0 4231507 It has been years since I've been to the Grocery Outlet. A friend recommended the brie there as well as a few other chow friendly items. Craving baked brie as a special treat I decided to check it out. I was really surprised to find picketers urging people to shop elsewhere because the outlet sells food past the exp. date. I gave it a try anyway and found some great deals on cheese. Some of the cheese was getting ready to expire, but other than that the exp. dates were close to the same dates as my local grocery store. Did I miss anything in the news where lots of people got ill from eating food from the Grocery Outlet? Has anyone else encountered picketers against exp. dates? Mon Dec 08 23:20:26 -0800 2008 13030 free sample addict aka Tracy L 1 4231518 Here's a blog report of picketers claiming GO doesn't meet industry standards. http://thebluebiker.blogspot.com/2008/08/crossing-picket-line.html I'm at various GO's in Northern California each month and haven't seen any picket lines. Mon Dec 08 23:37:16 -0800 2008 4231507 10039 Melanie Wong 2 4232500 Thanks for the link, Melanie I go probably to the other Northern California stores you probably don't frequent and haven't seen picketers. However, if anyone tried to picket Oakland or San Pablo they would probably get beaten off by irate shoppers. I'd probably be the first in the fray and I'm from generations of Union family, never crossed a picket line but would not only cross this one but shoo these people out. How cruel of these people. The people I see at San Pablo would certainly eat a lot less well without this lifeline store. Grocery Outlet sells some items close to the expiration date. Some are past and I just watch the labels and decide if I can use the product immediately or if it is something that really doesn't matter. A can of green beans is probably going to last longer than I will. Melanie mentioned a blue cheese that was a week or two past expiration date ... give me a break ... it probably improved ... we're talking blue cheese here. I know a few hounds, including me, kept our eyes out for it, but it seems she was the only lucky winner. However, a lot of their goods are overstocks or companies going out of business, discounted product lines. The Hagen Daz Mayen chocolate ice cream was discontinued and being sold for $1.50. The big score was Hagen Daz coconunt sorbet for 50 cents. If there is any truth to the reasons the blogger gives for the picket lines, then GO should probably do some investigating and do a little counter publicity about motives. As mentioned why not go after Dollar Tree, 99 cent Only, Big Lots which seem to sell most of their product past expiration date. Tue Dec 09 10:01:40 -0800 2008 4231518 10264 rworange 3 4232924 I've expressed my opinion on so-called "expiration dates" many times. For the most part they're stupid (like blue cheese) or meaningless (like shelf goods) or misleading (some products can be good long past the "expiration date" or bad long before it depending on how they've been stored and handled). Are the picketers from a union, or are they some kind of misguided food activists? I think I've heard complaints for food/poverty advocates about food at stores in poor neighborhoods being closer to expiration dates before, but I think that's a ridiculous thing to worry about when there are so many real problems with food and poverty! IIRC Grocery Outlet is a union shop -- don't they have a union insignia on the door? Tue Dec 09 11:53:39 -0800 2008 4232500 10159 Ruth Lafler 4 4234397 I was at the Oakland GO tonight and verified that it does indeed have a union sticker on/around the entry door. Tue Dec 09 20:24:25 -0800 2008 4232924 10159 Ruth Lafler 5 4234581 This may vary by locale as GO stores are independently owned. Tue Dec 09 22:32:55 -0800 2008 4234397 10039 Melanie Wong 6 4234953 Only the company owned stores (Berkeley, Oakland and Redwood City) are union. The independantly operated stores are non-union. The picketers are only at a couple locations and not getting much press - anything we did to counter would only end up giving them more press. Best response is to keep selling good food cheap... Wed Dec 10 06:29:50 -0800 2008 4234581 80769 David Carlson 1 4234353 Thanks for the information. My first thought was that these people were 'do gooders' but as the blogger pointed out they could possibly be from a competitor, why else would they encourage folks not to shop there? FWIW the customers i heard commenting about the picketers found the whole thing to be entertaining. I plan to go next weekend to pick up more cheese, I will ask them a few questions if they are still there. I was tempted last weekend to ask if stilton cheese that is close to the exp. date is bad for me? What irked me is that the GO I went to is in a transitional neighborhood where there are a lot of people on fixed or low incomes that don't have the discretion to shop elsewhere. I'll report back on my findings Tue Dec 09 20:01:03 -0800 2008 4231507 13030 free sample addict aka Tracy L