Milk, meat, batteries, medicine and coke. What do these things all have in common?
Before I give you the answer I need to tell you a quick story.
In October of 2006 I went to CASRO, and for the first time decided to play golf as my free time event. Usually I play tennis, but for some reason I thought I would play golf with Howard Gershowitz and Jay Wilson. No Jay, this story isn’t about our little bet. And yes I still owe you the money. I didn’t realize it at the time but there would be a bus trip to get to the course.
Let me set this up a little bit. We are in the LA area and will be finishing around rush hour (which in LA terms means anytime of the day except 3:30 am) and the best part–you will be on a bus. No thanks. Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun and count me out. Since I had a car and Howard was up for it we decided to drive to the course. Once we reached our destination (which was 8 miles past the middle of absolutely nowhere) we had a great time.
After golf we started the journey back to Marina Del Rey. But before we could get on the highway, I wanted to stop and get a soda. The only place we could find was this very little convenience store that was dark, dingy and clearly could have been a scene from a horror movie.
After getting on the highway I finally had a sip of what I thought would be a nice gulp of a 20 ounce soda. Much to my surprise it had very few bubbles and tasted awful. In fact I couldn’t even have another sip. Of course living in Texas and being a gentleman, I offered the rest of the vile soda to my wingman and passenger Howard Gershowitz who looked at me like I was crazy (and of course had a few choice words for me.
I couldn’t believe that a soda could taste that bad – and why was that? Did it sit out in the sun? I checked the bottle and actually saw an expiration date–which was from 6 months earlier! No wonder it didn’t taste great!
I drink soda all the time and NEVER knew that it had an expiration date. Well it does and that is what milk, meat, batteries, medicine and coke all have in common.
Now when I buy a soda in a grocery store or convenience store, I always check the expiration date. In fact last week one store had sodas with seven different dates. Again, a shock to me.
Did you know that soda had an expiration date? What else has one that I might not know about?
I look forward to reading your comments.
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Bob Graham says:
Beer (yeah, I know, leave it to Graham to know that).
stephenie gordon says:
Funny enough I just found out that shampoo and other hair products have an expiration date! I am not sure what happens when they expire; however, I don’t want to find out.
Chris Hauck says:
Right out of college in 1983 with my marketing degree in hand from TCU my job prospects were very slim. I got a job driving a cocacola delivery truck around the east side of Ft. Worth delivering cokes and other products to mom and pops and 7-11s. Cans didn’t have dates on them back then but the plastic bottles did. I had to check for out of date product and trade them out but the drivers told me not to bother with it if the store owner wanted to then fine, but otherwise it was a waste of time to check because it never happened and you didn’t have time to do it.
ED CASE says:
Greetings Merrill,
I made a few bucks testing Pepsi at different APM levels, aging and Temps. They (client) were very consious about the aging problem back then and I assume now.
Say hello to Jay Wilson…an old Mamaroneck High School class mate. Also a fellow Deke (he Yale and me Lafayette).
Hope all is well.
Ed Case
P.S. Pat is very anxious to get started in Greensboro…you made a good hire….ejc
Nicole Cicogna says:
Great topic Merrill.
I recently discovered that eggs have an expiration date. I wonder what happens when they expire?
Ravi Raina says:
Well … your taste buds (or nose) will alert you when milk, eggs or soda are past their expiry date … an unpleasant but hopefully harmless experience.
The thing to watch out for is medicines … especially OTC. They smell and taste awful to begin with, so be sure to check your medicine cabinet every once in a while and throw out the expired ones.
Brent White says:
During my summers in college, I had a job stocking shelves in the meat and dairy section of a supermarket. My boss was a fanatic about rotating the stock on the shelf so that the old “stuff” was always toward the front. You generally didn’t have to worry about the Hungry Jack refrigerated buscuits. When they went past their expiration date, the dough would explode out of the packaging.
Anyway, when I shop I always reach for the product toward the back. So, the next time you are at store and see a guy pulling 10 containers off the shelf to get the one at the back, that might just be me.
Merrill Dubrow says:
earlier in the week I was staying at a Marriott Courtyard in NYC and bought a coke from the little area next to the front desk that sells some food.
Much to my surprise the coke tasted awful - why? The expiration date was from three weeks ago. I returned to the front desk and mentioned it to the Marriott representative. When I walked thru the lobby an hour ago I noticed they had removed all of the coke so nobody would experience what I did.
Thank you Marriott for always exceeding my expectations.
Merrill