Amazon - short Best Before dates on food items

uffington

Any thoughts on what's a reasonable Best Before date to expect on largish multi-packs of chocolates etc? In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, so what would be a reasonable expectation from Amazon?  A month? Three months? Four months? Six months?

Aylesbury_Duck

One month, in my opinion.

Wonka_2

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

uffington

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

GDB2222

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

I don’t think that a month is good enough, and I would probably complain. I think that you are being entirely sensible in not bothering, though! 

screech_78

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

Maybe buy them from a supermarket then? 

My guess is that you’ve bought in bulk and these are being sold at a heavily discounted price.

Most of the food items I’ve seen on Amazon usually have a best before date in the description somewhere. Even then, best before is just that. It doesn’t actually mean anything. 

uffington

screech_78 said:

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

Most of the food items I’ve seen on Amazon usually have a best before date in the description somewhere. Even then, best before is just that. It doesn’t actually mean anything. 

I have never ever seen any food item on Amazon with the BB date displayed. It just isn't possible. They don't do it.

pinkshoes

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

It's fate telling you not to eat them yourself and therefore gift them to others!! 😁

But no, I wouldn't be happy with such a short BB date. 

uffington

pinkshoes said:

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

It's fate telling you not to eat them yourself and therefore gift them to others!! 😁

But no, I wouldn't be happy with such a short BB date. 

They ARE gifts for later in the year - that's the problem!  I wouldn't bother for myself - don't give a damn about BB dates - but you can't gift a box of chocolates that's passed its date.

born_again

Are they via Amazon or one on the marketplace sellers?

screech_78

uffington said:

screech_78 said:

uffington said:

Wonka_2 said:

uffington said:

 In the supermarket it would probably be about a year or so, 

Which supermarket/brand ? My previous employer (one of the biggest suppliers) generally only had 9 months at production so depending on the brand often below 5 months by the time it reached supermarket shelf. 

What are you defining as a largish multipack ? 

8 boxes of chocolates, all with a mid-April BB date, for example. Couple of months on some large bags of chocolates. Supermarket stock has much longer dates. I've no great desire to complain to Amazon, and I'm not even sure whether to raise it with them. Maybe it's normal, but if it is I'll probably avoid them in future because some of these are gifts.

Most of the food items I’ve seen on Amazon usually have a best before date in the description somewhere. Even then, best before is just that. It doesn’t actually mean anything. 

I have never ever seen any food item on Amazon with the BB date displayed. It just isn't possible. They don't do it.

I have. A lot are sold by third party sellers. They have bought in bulk and sell in bulk and I’ve seen the BB in the description. I’ve never bought food as such but I have bought coffee and that had a shorter shelf life and was noted in the description. This was reflected in the price.