Hahah - every time!

For canned or prepackaged, never. Eggs, yogurt, I go by best buy dates. Produce, I look behind, as well as for the other visual cues.

LOL yes I do. esp. cold/frozen items I want them as cold as possible.

I also check the dates and usually the ones with the longer date are in the back.

In Home Depot...it's "open boxes" I try to avoid. I don't understand people that return something and don't tell them it doesn't work....?

Yes, frozen I get from behind items sitting in front....

Never for canned, boxed, or pre-packaged items. Except for ice cream, and only because I think the cartons deeper in the case are more deeply frozen. I look at eggs to ensure none are broken -- which is actually pretty rare any more, so maybe the stores at our old house were just more careless? I take the first carton of milk regardless of expiration date because we go through it quick enough. Produce and meats of course I'll look through the bin to select the one that best suits me.

ALL THE TIME, of course. ;)

It depends, maybe yes, maybe no. If I can't reach it in the back, forget about it. I will probably be eating it before long anyway. I am still kicking!

Sue

It depends...if I'm looking for expiration date, or if the item is breakable like crackers...I figure the odds of the first box having hit the floor by some sloppy shopper is greater than the boxes in the back.

canned, jarred, non-perishable... just grab whatever is first, never even look at dates. milk i always look a few cartons back for date further out. a little silly cuz i, too, will use it up way before it has a chance to go bad.

with eggs, i never look at dates, BUT i do check (double check) for broken/cracked ones. i open carton and look and THEN physically move each one to make sure there isn't a crack on bottom that has glued egg(s) to carton.... something my grandmother insisted on. was doing this one day and a little boy (maybe 7-8) told me there were 12 in that carton! i explained what I was doing and mom kinda stood there confused... probably someone who never looks IN the carton but whines when there are 3-4 un-usable eggs inside when she gets home??

I do on milk, because I’m the only one in my house that drinks it and sometimes it takes me 5 or 6 days to use it all.

BTW, both my sons worked at our local grocery when they were growing up. When they stocked the dairy case, they were always supposed to put the older stuff in front. Of course. And my mischievous son liked to stand behind the cooler, watching for people to reach blindly for milk in the back. If he knew them, he’d grab their hand! LOL!

I can’t help it. I always dig about 3 back. And with milk I go as far & fresh as possible cause I don’t use that much milk.

Little, my son worked at a grocery store too and he’s the one that said all new items need to be in the back and the old items pulled to the front.

He said he was lazy and put the new items in the front cause it was a pain to shove them to the back!!

I pull from behind also, but honestly I don't know why.

Dairy, bakery, I always pull from the back, checking use by dates. We really are short one more large grocery store here - we lost our Top Foods with their merger with Albertsons that failed. One of the remaining choices of local stores has always had a reputation for not pulling ready to expire foods from coolers and shelves - reading glasses required to shop there.

I do with bread because I was told they move the old to the front and put the new in back. I definitely check expiration dates on perishables. Always check the eggs for damage. My husband complains that I read too many labels but he can spend an hour looking at one tool in Lowes.

I don't buy bread (oh, about thrice a year at a dedicated bakery, and at that place the stuff is still warm, and it doesn't have the weird list of additives that make me feel a tummy upset oncoming). For which in those occasions the Best Buy date is meaningless for me. It's warm. It was just cooked... (at least at my bakery.)

Nodding at the labels being read at the tools at Lowes!!! LOL. But useful!

Sometimes the can in front is dented or the cardboard package in front is damaged. The store knows that somebody will just grab it and go. Not us, right?

I check a carton of eggs by lifting the lid. I so rarely find damage that it would be a waste of time to inspect every egg individually every time I buy eggs. I was also taught to break each egg into an individual dish before adding it to others. After years of never finding that 'bad egg', I rebelled. I was also taught to break an egg on the rim of a dish or pan; now I have less trouble with shells by smacking them on the flat counter top.

I've stocked in grocery stores. Yes, they do move the newest product to the back.

all the time!! especially dairy and OTC meds

Always, and when I used to buy magazines....which I don't do any more...I would always take one 3 or 4 back.

Well, it certainly makes good sense for a store to stock newer, fresher items behind items currently on the shelf.

I spend a lot of time reading labels in grocery stores, because of a number of health related dietary restrictions. So I automatically check the date, as well. If it's something I'm going to use in the next couple of days, I only check to make sure it hasn't already expired. If it's for future use, I look for the one with the farthest away "sell by" date. And with fresh produce, I always look for the freshest appearing.

I definitely always open egg cartons to check for cracked eggs. And if I find one, I leave it open, in plain sight. If I find spoiled produce, I leave it on top, in plain sight, too, hoping a store employee will see it and take care of it. Also as a 'warning' to other shoppers. I'm always a little amazed by the number of shoppers who just grab whichever avocado or tomato is the closest.

Rusty

Absolutely! Especially the bagged slaw mix, mushrooms, milk, bread, lunch meat, cookies and chips.

Here's an interesting article: Snopes coloured bread closures

I do too. My reasoning is, I always think if for some reason a person decided they didn't want 'x' product once they were at the check stand, that the stock person would just put said product back in the very front of the display. Too many hands been on it. Lol.....I also think about how long something might have been sitting up there at the check out before someone put it back. Maybe I think too much, lol.

I forgot about the magazines. Never take the first. They’re all wrinkled because everyone grabs the first one. Read it while waiting on their turn at check out, then put the magazine back on the rack.

I do this esp with meats (like sausage) that tend to be frozen toward the back and fully thawed at front. I've gotten enough sausage that has "air" in it, which I have to discard when I get home (because I didn't pay attention).

On some things I check the dates..on others I know they'll be used so soon, I don't bother.

I always do that especially with dairy. Jarred pickles as well because I have seen people open the jar to check inside. Shelves are stocked old in the front, new in the back

Always, with everything.

I do since the freshest is suppose to be in the back

I was taught never to take the top newspaper off the pile.

Yes, fresh is suppose to be in the back, but when they have to throw 85 cases in an hour, they don't. I used to reset stores. Go in, move things around in that section and clean the shelves etc. Well.... you will be amazed at how out of date a LOT of items are in a store in the very back of the shelves. If you ever shop at 6am, watch the stockers... they pushed everything back and load up the shelf. Rarely do they have time to move everything off the shelf, load newest cases on and put the older stock in front. I am talking about shelf stable items. Boxed goods and canned goods. Always check the dates if you are grabbing from as far back as you can. Now fresh items, produce and milk and meat, yes, they get rotated, the cases are usually bigger and you can move things over, but think on that 22 inch shelf that is 4 feet wide and holds about 100+cans of something. You can't remove all that and put up the 2 cases you have in the back.

justlinda, THANK YOU for that article about bread tags. Who knew?? Not me. I usually buy bakery fresh bread, but I do buy sliced, packaged bread for my grandson's sandwiches (Daves Organic Killer White Bread Done Right, which is a whole wheat bread that looks like white). It does usuallyhave a date on it, but knowing the tag color will be so much easier.