My newest hobby

The other day I was in my local supermarket, picking up a quart of milk at my wife’s request. While in the diary aisle, I spotted a sale sign for a brand of cheese I like. The sign indicated the containers were two for five dollars. I only wanted one, and since the sign did not require that I buy two to get the sale price, the cheese would cost me $2.50.

I have a habit of never taking the first item on the shelf, so I had to move the front container to reach the one behind it. As I did so, I noticed the “sell by” date on the first container was three weeks before. Thus, the product’s shelf life had expired.

The container behind it was still fresh, so that’s the one I would be buying. However, since I felt it wasn’t right to leave the expired container on the shelf, I took it to the customer service desk and explained that it was past it’s “sell by” date. The clerk then handed me a coupon for $1 off my order, in effect reducing the cost of my cheese purchase to $1.50.

It seems the supermarket has a policy of giving a one dollar coupon if a customer finds an expired item for sale on the store’s shelves. They call it their freshness guarantee.

So my new hobby is to check a few expiration dates each time I shop.

It’s a game with better odds than the lottery.