They have to deal with less sales and or storing excess inventory.
Let's say you have some bruised bananas. You either have to keep them on the shelf till they rot (less space for sellable product) or donate them and then people won't buy as many bananas, so you need to raise the price.
This is some truly bizarre logic. The perfectly good food being thrown away can be given to the hungry for free since the company is saying it has no value if they are willing to throw it away. You seem to be intentionally misunderstanding this basic logic.
> The perfectly good food being thrown away can be given to the hungry
This is incredibly disconnected from the problem. In the US most people in poverty receive food stamps and have preferences about what they like to eat. They want cosmic brownies with their breaded chicken, not your bruised banana.
Total of volume of edible material is a non-issue.
No, I have a accurate belief that food is one of the most fundamental and important resources for humans and the lack of it causes enormous suffering and long term harm.
Where do you think I should send my bruised bananas to be eaten?
The definition for the largest category is a subjective feeling of not being able to buy all food options you would buy.
The narrow categories which have better defined criteria also include anyone with any administrative dysfunction which limits their ability to plan or navigate serivces. Which is a real and different problem from having edible mass.
To put it another way, almost everything you need to do to survive as an adult in the US is harder than acquiring food. The problems you have in this category are a bottomless pit.
"Where do you think I should send my bruised bananas to be eaten?"
They should be on a shelf with a giant "FREE" sign. You act like it is so hard to give away food instead of throwing it in the dumpster. Well it isn't.
A third of the world's food goes to waste, but France is attempting to do something about it. Since 2016, large grocery stores in the country have been banned from throwing away unsold food that could be given away.
Unfortunately, there is an issue with food pantries where people who are not in need use them because free food. People can be shameless. It is a minority but still too common and doesn't come with the stigma it deserves in some places. In Seattle, I've even heard a few anecdotes of people trying to resell food from the food pantries.
This behavior does impact prices in the normal market at the margin, particularly if it becomes normalized.
In UK there is an app called Too Good To Go where you can buy food for about one third of normal price when they are near expiry. As the name implies, there is no particular stigma about using it, you are helping to reduce food waste. It’s often some form of advertisement too
Lowering the price doesnt solve the problems of lost revenue and higher costs.
Most goods are priced such that you cant make more money on increased volume by lowering the cost.
While my sibling comment said it all, note that destroying them also costs money, hence if those can't be sold, it's a loss of profit already, lower the price and let people eat..
> higher costs.
Higher costs of what? Of those new fruits? Well, maybe wasting food should cost?
Destroying food is pretty cheap. you put it in the dumpster. Picking through it, sending it to a shelter, and vetting the people at the shelter seems more expensive.
> Well, maybe wasting food should cost?
Why? Wasting food should be be free. The owner paid for it.
> Destroying food is pretty cheap. you put it in the dumpster. Picking through it, sending it to a shelter, and vetting the people at the shelter seems more expensive.
But at least first lowering prices until they reach 0 seems cheaper?
> Why? Wasting food should be be free. The owner paid for it.
Because that's a vile thing to do when someone else wants to eat it, don't you think?
If people dont make money, then nobody grows the food or the store closes.
I also dont think hunger is a real problem in the US. Death from gluttony is far more common. For those who are hungry, there are already oppurtinities to get food. Putting more free food there doesnt help if they dont have access, or if they are a crackhead.
There are actually laws in EU countries to prevent this. Supermarkets have to discount food that is soon to expire instead of throwing it away, perishables from restaurants and fast food joints can be taken home by employees at the end of the day, and even donations to charities of said goods, or farms for produce unfit for human consumption is encouraged/regulated.
