Getting free stuff from supermarkets

John_Stiles

I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me that a shop that sells sandwiches near where he works throws away a lot of sandwiches every night. So he had a word with someone there and asked if he could just take them, and they said ok. So now he's going to take sandwiches every day that he's there, and when he's not working he's going to arrange for someone else (whoever is working that night) to take them, and that way they'll all get a free lunch every day.

And that got me thinking. There are 4 supermarkets very close to where I live and I'd like to look through their bins and take some stuff.



My plan is to :

1) Have a discreet look around to see where their bins are

2) Speak to the manager and ask if I can take stuff, and hopefully fix it so that if someone sees me I can say that I have permission

3) If they say yes, take it. If they say no, take it, but very discretely, if possible



But I have some questions for those of you who know about this.

Are supermarket managers generally ok with this?

Do supermarkets normally keep their bins somewhere where they can't be accessed?

What about restaurants?

Is there anything else to know?

Queenriderbrekke

These are just a couple of the threads already covering this subject you could read, also there are many web sites and articles to be found by googling for Freegan's, hth's!

Most supermarket's are not Ok as far as I know, some even ruin/pour bleach on food to ensure it is not taken.

http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2048717

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/600385

jenniewb

Um, John, this is actually illegal, its apparently still properly of someone even when in a bin and waiting to be collected (not sure if it belongs to the bin men or the supermarket but it belongs to someone).

Its been well posted before and supermarkets seem to do their best to prevent it even by pouring bleach and dyes on the foods, they lock them up in huge cages and set alarms on in the area just to prevent things being taken to eat- I am talking about end of day not to-be-bought foods.

Its disgusting in my mind, that shops can and will do this. I don't think its fair or right. I can see some reason for it: because shops are liable if a product has become mouldy and if eaten and caused some form of ill health they can be made liable. But what I don't understand is if I buy a product which is reduced/end of day and I don't eat it on that day, eating it a few days later and I become ill, there is no way to prove I ate it after its BBE or picked it out of a bin. It just doesn't make sense to me. What does make sense is that shops want to eek every last penny they can from people and would rather ruin foods them give them away for free.

And just to add to my point, Pret give away their foods to charities and the homeless every day. I do not see why Supermarkets cannot do similar, but as far as taking stuff out of bins or even asking for it? Nope, not allowed- or at least not in London.

John_Stiles

Thanks for those links, Queen.

I went to Tesco just now and asked someone if I could take their stuff. It took a while for her to understand that I didn't want them to sell it to me, or give it to me. I just wanted the manager to use his discretion to allow me access to it. She said I could ask but she had a feeling she knew what the answer would be. Personally I don't care about breaking the law, but I don't think this is a legal matter anyway, as I'm just asking permission to take what they don't want to keep anyway. However I'd still do it if I could get away with it even without permission, but I had a good old look around for their bins and I got the impression that they're locked away somewhere. The reason for asking permission was to avoid sneaking around if possible, but I know that there are people who do and good luck to them. The woman that I spoke to in tesco said that they'd thrown away £6,000 worth of stuff this week. That's enough to feed about 300 people (@ £20 pw and even that's generous). I bet they don't do that in Ethiopia.

bris

There was a documentary on this a couple of years ago about people who do this. They are called freegans. Bottom line was the supermarkets started having the freegans arrested for trespass and theft, there were liability issues the supermarkets were afraid of by allowing it to happen, food poisoning, getting hurt in the bins etc, as well as losing customers who get a free lunch.

jimjames

I got some free stuff from Tesco last week. I thought the problem with their tills had been fixed but apparently not.

Bought some reduced products that were on 2 for 1 offer. £3.50 each, buy one get another free so for £3.50 you get two.

Product is in the reduced section at £1, bought 2 of them which went through as 2 x £1. Then the BOGOF got applied and deducted £3.50 giving a refund of £1.50. As I had other items I didnt spot it until I got home but definitely a money saving idea.

So Tesco paid me £1.50 to take away their food, even better than free!

EricMears

jimjames wrote: »

I got some free stuff from Tesco last week. I thought the problem with their tills had been fixed but apparently not.

Bought some reduced products that were on 2 for 1 offer. £3.50 each, buy one get another free so for £3.50 you get two.

Product is in the reduced section at £1, bought 2 of them which went through as 2 x £1. Then the BOGOF got applied and deducted £3.50 giving a refund of £1.50. As I had other items I didnt spot it until I got home but definitely a money saving idea.

So Tesco paid me £1.50 to take away their food, even better than free!

That sort of thing usd to happen quite regularly with both Tescos & Sainsburys (& probably all the other supermarkets too). I'll never forget the occasion when I bought lots of packets of 6 hot X buns for 5p each which had (I think) originally been 50p each & BOGOF. So for every two I picked up Sainsburys paid me 40p (and I had a fair few -40p worths !).

I understood that all the major supermarkets had taken steps to stop that happening again about 5 or 10 years ago; nice to hear that one of them has actually made a mistake in the customers favour.

In 40 years of supermarket shopping, I've had literally hundreds of occasions when a supermarket 'mistake' would have cost me money if I hadn't checked my bill. Not counting the incidents where a BOGOF & reduction combined to give a credit (that situation was known about and allowed to continue for many years) I don't think I've ever had more than a handfull of supermarket errors in my favour. Anyone of a suspicious turn of mind would probably conclude that vastly more mistakes in one direction than the other was not an 'accident' !

Numbnuts

I am at mcdonalds now !!!!! waiting for somebody to throw a cheese burger out !!!! and using free wi-fi from mcdonalds router!!

what more could I ask for food and wi-fi I wonder if the local pimp throws girls out a midnight and get one of them free...

Zosherooney

I access the chucked stuff from a local S'market, I am aware of the dangers and would not ask permission as I know what the answer would be. I have saved a fortune doing this and will continue until the cages are locked away. Fortunately for me, space is of a premium to the S'market and a locked area is unlikely to happen. Happy Skipdiving !