Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

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Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by CalItalian »

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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by storewanderer »

So this was a Celeste brand pizza. This brand is not DSD and has not been DSD anytime in recent years (if ever). This is very bad.

I wouldn't expect Instacart to check dates per se as a rule, but it would be nice if they did.

As far as Ralphs goes, that is who should be checking dates... what gets me here is how many times has the frozen pizza been reset between now and 2017 and how was this not noticed at some point during a reset? Oh, the reset crews aren't responsible for checking dates either, just moving products. Nobody takes responsibility for checking dates in stores. But this is particularly bad given just how expired it is. Every high priced grocery chain has problems with this but some chains are worse than others. Chains like Wal Mart and WinCo with low pricing don't have as much issue with this since they sell through products.
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by mjhale »

storewanderer wrote: November 27th, 2020, 1:09 pm
So this was a Celeste brand pizza. This brand is not DSD and has not been DSD anytime in recent years (if ever). This is very bad.
I know this is off topis but... Can you explain what DSD means? I've seen that designation on price labels for things like bread, snacks and soda at various stores that I shop at. I always wondered what it meant in terms of store operations.
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by BillyGr »

Direct Store Distribution - those companies that bring their own items in to stock (like the ones you mention).
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by BillyGr »

I guess frozen pizzas were one of the categories that didn't get crazy sales earlier in the year? At this point, it would seem surprising that there are many things left (at least food) in any store where the entire shelf wasn't empty at some point - that was one way of being sure all the old items got removed!
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by pseudo3d »

The fact that they wouldn't find it during many re-dos and resets is suspicious. I would probably put something like this aside if it was a Safeway/Albertsons, many of those are poorly run and sleepy enough for something like this to happen, but for especially Ralphs, which has been pared down to the point where many of the marginal stores have been eliminated in the last decade, is pretty shocking.
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by storewanderer »

pseudo3d wrote: November 27th, 2020, 11:30 pm The fact that they wouldn't find it during many re-dos and resets is suspicious. I would probably put something like this aside if it was a Safeway/Albertsons, many of those are poorly run and sleepy enough for something like this to happen, but for especially Ralphs, which has been pared down to the point where many of the marginal stores have been eliminated in the last decade, is pretty shocking.
My first instinct was the box looked like a Di Giorno Box so this would be quite odd given Nestle was DSD on Pizza until 2019. But Celeste has been being sent through the store distribution networks for years. Still really a little bit odd this was not at some point found...

Maybe Celeste is not selling very well at Ralphs. I don't even know if Smiths sells it, I've never noticed it. Maybe it is there somewhere.
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by veteran+ »

I am not a subscriber to L.A Times.

Does the article mention which store the pizza came from?
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: November 27th, 2020, 1:09 pm
So this was a Celeste brand pizza. This brand is not DSD and has not been DSD anytime in recent years (if ever). This is very bad.

I wouldn't expect Instacart to check dates per se as a rule, but it would be nice if they did.

As far as Ralphs goes, that is who should be checking dates... what gets me here is how many times has the frozen pizza been reset between now and 2017 and how was this not noticed at some point during a reset? Oh, the reset crews aren't responsible for checking dates either, just moving products. Nobody takes responsibility for checking dates in stores. But this is particularly bad given just how expired it is. Every high priced grocery chain has problems with this but some chains are worse than others. Chains like Wal Mart and WinCo with low pricing don't have as much issue with this since they sell through products.
I have worked for Ralphs, Publix, Vons, King Soopers, Fresh & Easy, Food Fair/Pantry Pride and ALL of these companies have a Product Expiration Program. I actually created an exhaustively accurate one for F&E.

There are corporate and store level compliance checks in place at all of the above companies, in addition to County health department spot checks.

I would say that this is 100% a store level failure, though it is hard to believe that corporate and county auditors (after 3 years) did not catch it. Perhaps some "reset teams" should be looked at as well.

I would say this also has origins in outrageously mismanaged "back stock" issues.

Severe disciplinary actions should take place including termination. IMO...........there is NO excuse!

Something is going on at Kroger/Ralphs and it sure feels like the Ides of March. The signs are everywhere from corporate Customer Relations to store level managers and employees. I just do not recognize how they do business anymore.

Meanwhile, Albertsons "seems" to be slowly improving but not conclusively (for me the jury is still out).
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Re: Instacart Delivers 3 Year Old Expired Pizza from Ralphs

Post by J-Man »

veteran+ wrote: November 28th, 2020, 6:27 am
I am not a subscriber to L.A Times.

Does the article mention which store the pizza came from?
West Hollywood, Doheny and Beverly.
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