What's wrong with this picture?

[Jazz Jon]

So a couple of weeks ago, my local grocery store had about 500 lbs of unsold Halloween candy on the shelves. They replaced it with about 1000 lbs of more appropriate Christmas labeled candy. From all the grocery stores in my state, maybe 100 tons of Halloween candy went to the landfills. What's wrong with this picture?

[hlthe2b]

1. Does it go to landfills? They sure move it out quickly--when I'd bet they could sell it all within a

few days properly discounted. Seriously, do you know that that is the practice throughout the industry?

[Jazz Jon]

4. Assumption

This is an assumption. But seriously. Where else could many tons of out-of-season candy go?

[malaise]

7. To other countries that want candy and don't give a damn

about Halloween?

[Blue_Adept]

10. Examples

"Generally, stores really do sell through most of their inventory by lowering prices," said Michael Allured, publisher of candy trade magazine The Manufacturing Confectioner. "All but a very small portion is sold, the rest may go to a food pantry like Second Harvest."

https://www.today.com/food/what-happens-unsold-holiday-candy-how-long-can-you-eat-1c7658778

Plus this:

"For Halloween, for example, they'll have more of a fall motif than a specific Halloween motif,” he said. “It gives the candy more staying power and keeps waste down."

A spokesperson for Walmart stores said that they typically sell out of all of their holiday candy, discounting it after Christmas and allowing stores to keep it on sale at their discretion. Target had an almost identical response. At Walgreens, the candy also magically disappears thanks to sale pricing. And at Family Dollar stores, roughly 75 percent of the holiday candy stock is sold before Christmas and the rest sold after.

[malaise]

11. You'd be surprised how many of the shoppers

fly up for those bargains. I've seen so much of this stuff in Jamaica, you'd be surprised.

[malaise]

12. You'd be surprised how many of the shoppers

fly up for those bargains. I've seen so much of this stuff in Jamaica, you'd be surprised.

[lame54]

18. Grocery Outlet

[Polybius]

13. My stomach

[csziggy]

15. Usually my husband buys discounted Halloween candy after Oct. 31

This year we were both at the supermarket the day after and there was no Halloween candy out, discounted or otherwise. I don't know if they didn't stock much - maybe they got burned last year or maybe supply chain issues affected them - but I was very surprised to not see any at all.

They did have displays of Thanksgiving themed stuff.

[Blue_Adept]

16. A lot of places understocked this year

My usual supermarket would have two large sections just before you'd hit the registers of all kinds of stuff. This year it was just one thing and a bunch of it was gone in the week before Halloween.

Chalking it up to a mix of supply chain issues and uncertainty so they didn't order as much as usual.

[a kennedy]

23. Give to homeless camps, veterans homes, senior citizens centers.......or is that not possible??

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. I'd say it's the assumption that unsold candy goes to a landfill.

[Blue_Adept]

3. uh, no

It goes to wholesale guys who buy it for super cheap; they buy it from the stores, the distributors and sometimes even the factories. They proceed to sell it at auctions mainly or directly to flea market guys and people that own ma and pa stores.

The distributors also do a ton of donation to various charities and the like as well.

[Jazz Jon]

5. Mmm

Tons of out of season mini candy bars. I have never in my life seen out of season candy sold anywhere at all.

[Blue_Adept]

8. The bulk of leftover candy sells out in the next two days

If you go to a CVS, for example, it'll drop by 50%. And a lot of people will buy it at that price and utilize it for months ahead.

And as for the above, just because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Some of it may be regional in how it ends up at flea markets and other places.

I used to do stock-up runs of post-Holiday candy pretty regularly because it would be able to go in my pantry and be usable for months and months to come for a host of reasons. A lot of places have deals set up with local places that accept food.

The big assumption that it all goes in the landfill just makes absolutely no sense from a financial perspective.

[Polybius]

14. Have you ever gone looking on November 1st or December 26th?

Target has huge sales. I remember a few days after Easter I bought like 35 Cadbury Cream Eggs for .10 cents each. I was eating good till November lol.

[unc70]

6. Not true for stores around here

The Halloween candy was moved to a sale area and sold at 50% discount. Quickly gone.

[Blue_Adept]

9. Yup, it's usually just the "worst of the worst" thats leftover

I'll pillage a few CVS stores the day after a holiday to get a bunch of M&M packages to stock up on when they're like $1.50 a bag instead of the $3.99 they were. And those shelves are worked over VERY quickly by people both looking for a deal and a chance to get candy on the cheap that they can afford.

[demtenjeep]

19. that is what I do

I buy candy for my kids in my classroom


you would be surprised what a mini candy does for motivation

[FSogol]

21. Same here. The local food bank gets some unsold stuff from grocery stores, but seldom

got any Halloween candy.

[patphil]

17. I don't think they throw it out.

From what I've seen, it gets heavily discounted and then grabbed up pretty quickly by people who really love candy.
Also, once you take it out of the outside bag, the individual pieces just have generic labels and end up in Christmas stockings, party treat bags, or in bowls.
In my wife's case, it's one or two of the small bars a night as a snack.
The urge to eat candy is no respecter of the designated holiday on the wrapper.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. I took about 10 pounds of unused Halloween candy to my local food bank. They said they would

add it to food boxes for families.

[FakeNoose]

22. They sell out-of-date candy at the dollar stores and odd-lot stores

There's a whole industry that gets rid of out-of-date merchandise, but maybe you aren't aware of it because you don't shop in those discount places. That's OK - they also donate to homeless shelters etc. It doesn't go to landfills, it gets sold off cheap or given away.

[iemanja]

24. My Target was out the day before Halloween.

Walgreens always puts seasonal candy at half price the day after. I don't think the practice you observed is ubiquitous.