Winners Shocker!

[Goddess in this Household]

I got my response back (that was quick)! I can once again feel the Winners love:

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Thank you for your email. Any items that are not sold during final clearance are donated to shelters in the community. The only items that will not be donated are those for hygienic reasons such as undergarments, bed pillows, food ,etc. All other merchandise should be donated. At your convenience, please forward the store location so we can address this matter with the management team to ensure all Associates are following proper operating procedures.

Thank you.
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At the very least, I've managed to prevent the store from throwing more items in the garbage that could go to a worthwhile charity. And Freeplease, if making a difference makes me "dramatic", then I will wear that label proudly.

[cmoody8107]

I can understand this though - you would have liability issues if the food was tampered with. Unfortunately, there are some sick people out there.

As for the perishables in the aisles....this is one of my pet peeves too. How lazy can you get?

Weird that you just mentioned it. I found a 4 L bag of milk in a basket of stuffed Easter bunnies at Walmart this morning. GROSS!

[lady_arianna]

a lot of these so-called "donations" to charities will be cleaned, sewed, and sold to third world countries. the money they earn in turn will pay for their round-trip vacations. heard this from a friend's friend, who was boasting her many free vacations with her family because of her involvement and position in some charity organization.

well this may be true for 1 or 2 charities, it is far from true for all of them... also hearing things from a friends friend? really things get twisted and people like to brag... and make things sound better than they are. I have known several people that have claimed to have their trip payed for b.c of their job, and each one ended up lying about it, i wouldn't be so quick to believe word of mouth

there is only one company that i know sells donations.... and i refuse to support them in any way.

[lekate]

when i worked at Metro stationed in the Fresh2Go department, you would not believe the amount of food we dispose of daily simply because they were "2 hours old". I guess they did not want to risk their reputation in case someone gets sick from "bad food" if they give it away for free to the homeless for example...or reduce the price in fear it would encourage people to wait two hours to get reduced food.

I guess similiar logics might apply here??? I think there are always benefits and consequences/risks to any business decision.

That's health and safety regulations from Health Canada. Food Poisoning is *serious* business, and it is *not* fun by *any* means. Sorry I've done orientations at Loblaws far too many times to know the law instead and out regarding food health and safety regulations.

[lekate]

When I worked in a big box store, it was company policy to garbage any food that had left the building then been returned. It was really, really hard to be nice to people who knowingly purchaed too much meat or produce then returned it the next day. Don't get me started on people who would put a large cut of meat in their carts, change their minds then 'hide' it in the clothing section or down another aisle rather than take the time to reurn it to the meat dept.

I always made dramatic comments about having to throw it, some people actually decide against returning meat items saying they can just freeze it and have it at a later date.

We would go through carts of damaged items, and I kinda like to leave them at the courtesy desk, and people would ask and I'm like oh you know, from who decide to put cold or frozen items in the cereal aisle, or who return items because they just didn't want it anymore. Makes people think differently about buying food and waste. As sad as it sounds most of the food waste at a grocery store is from customers.

[honeybee.]

This was big news back in January relating to H&M & Walmart
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html
http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/01...e-green-claims

They were throwing away clothes after puncturing holes in them so they could not be salvaged..why not donate to third world countries?

I am just shocked!!
I can't believe they would do this when there are so many people in need!

[cookoo]

well this may be true for 1 or 2 charities, it is far from true for all of them... also hearing things from a friends friend? really things get twisted and people like to brag... and make things sound better than they are. I have known several people that have claimed to have their trip payed for b.c of their job, and each one ended up lying about it, i wouldn't be so quick to believe word of mouth

there is only one company that i know sells donations.... and i refuse to support them in any way.

i've seen a friend using her boss's credit card (for business purpose) for her personal use. she's bought plane tickets for herself as well as her family and surprisingly didn't get in trouble for it. i know her boss is too busy to care. and those tickets are nothing compared to what he makes.

[Cheapnik]

It is not just retail. I work for a very large not for profit organization known for donations and generosity....yet two years in a row I found full rolls of unused Christmas paper put in the recycle bin just after Christmas. Because they didn't want to store it. I fished it out and brought it home. I hate waste.

[jac.queline22]

Ugh, I hate how much companies throw away all in name of the bottom line.

When I worked at la senza girl, they were in the process of changing their hangers... and all the old hangers had to be thrown out. They couldn't be donated, given to customers, or taken home by employees because they had the 'la senza' logo on them and were therefore company policy. Admittedly, that was what the manager said, and she was stupid, so I'm not sure if that is actual company policy... but how ridiculous is that?!? It's not like people could even return the hangers to the store.

And then there were all those 'damaged' items. I remember when they had stationery sets that came packaged in flimsy plastic containers. When the plastic containers cracked, we had to throw them away... even though there was nothing wrong with the pens and paper inside!

[lady_arianna]

i've seen a friend using her boss's credit card (for business purpose) for her personal use. she's bought plane tickets for herself as well as her family and surprisingly didn't get in trouble for it. i know her boss is too busy to care. and those tickets are nothing compared to what he makes.

using a company credit card for a personal trip is wrong, does this "friend" of yours have any morals? she could get caught and fired, and have to pay it back, as well as face other legal issues... and for her to seemingly brag about is just plain wrong and stupid on her part... also using a credit card without the boss knowing and getting the trip paid for by the company is different... i hope she feels good knowing she stole from needy people

[kasha100]

something to do with getting a tax credit if they through it out, if they donate it they dont get as much money back... just a rumor i have heard

[BewilderedBrunette]

Years ago I worked for Outback Restaurant (now out of business in Canada and for good reason!) Their corperate policy was "fresh daily" which meant salad, dressing, breads, FIVE prime rib roasts, etc. all made "fresh" daily. Anything that wasn't consumed through operating hours was thrown in the trash. You can imagine how much prime rib, for instance, would be left over on a slow Monday night....UNBELEIVEABLE! I confronted the proprietor of the store, offering to take the food a shelter myself as there was a Red Door Shelter just around the corner but do to "liability issues" it had to be thrown out!? Same went for recycling...is was unreal how much recyclable material went directly into the trash. Agian, I confronted the issue and was told it was just too expensive to recycle as they had to pay for it themselves. It's really disgusting how concerned these rich jackasses are with THEIR bottom dollar! Why not spend a few extra bucks now and spare ALL of us the greater cost later? IDIOTS!!

[cheapsk8]

I worked at Winners and I know for a fact that items returned as 'damaged' or 'unsellable' for any reason were cut up to prevent people from finding it in the garbage later and returning without a receipt to get store credit. My store manager once cut up a full length winter coat because someone returned it with a zipper that had broken. I guess that's what the new policy is for. I won't specify which location, but it was in Toronto.

It's sad but some stores care more about saving money than helping others. Hopefully other locations do better.

But htats ridiculous...why dont the just rip out the clothing label and take off the tags...even mark the insidt with perm marker or something?...i just think that is such a waste..its shameful

[cheapsk8]

I got my response back (that was quick)! I can once again feel the Winners love:

==================================================
Thank you for your email. Any items that are not sold during final clearance are donated to shelters in the community. The only items that will not be donated are those for hygienic reasons such as undergarments, bed pillows, food ,etc. All other merchandise should be donated. At your convenience, please forward the store location so we can address this matter with the management team to ensure all Associates are following proper operating procedures.

Thank you.
================================================== ===

At the very least, I've managed to prevent the store from throwing more items in the garbage that could go to a worthwhile charity. And Freeplease, if making a difference makes me "dramatic", then I will wear that label proudly.

I think free please meant the sales lady was dramamtic...at least thats what I thought the sales lady was being!I have worked in retail and I know that after a while dealing with people all day gets irritating sometimes....but thats why I dont work in retail anymore...cause I know I shouldnt be in that line of work....not enough patience. And i think alot of cashiers/sales people picked the wrong line of work and thats why we read threads like this one. This lady obviously needs to get the heck out of retail!

[lekate]

Years ago I worked for Outback Restaurant (now out of business in Canada and for good reason!) Their corperate policy was "fresh daily" which meant salad, dressing, breads, FIVE prime rib roasts, etc. all made "fresh" daily. Anything that wasn't consumed through operating hours was thrown in the trash. You can imagine how much prime rib, for instance, would be left over on a slow Monday night....UNBELEIVEABLE! I confronted the proprietor of the store, offering to take the food a shelter myself as there was a Red Door Shelter just around the corner but do to "liability issues" it had to be thrown out!? Same went for recycling...is was unreal how much recyclable material went directly into the trash. Agian, I confronted the issue and was told it was just too expensive to recycle as they had to pay for it themselves. It's really disgusting how concerned these rich jackasses are with THEIR bottom dollar! Why not spend a few extra bucks now and spare ALL of us the greater cost later? IDIOTS!!

I agree that's super disgusting, but with food there is always a liability, unless the corporation enters into an agreement with the shelter for instance to save themselves from a lawsuit, i can see why they don't donate food randomly to shelters.

I know grocery stores in dt ottawa donate unsold fresh products, and i'm sure they have some sort of agreement with the shelters, but I think they mostly donate bread products, not sure.