Archived Food Donations

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spanky

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Hello all... New to the forum, but not to Target.

Are there any stores that have food donations set up for the perishable departments? My store only seems to donate non-perishables from market, although it says on workbench you can donate expired frozen (probably rare) and thawed baked goods that are past the sell by date.

Although it's not my job (I'm not the receiver / reverse logistics guru) I hate to see stuff tossed in the compactor that could feed a hungry family.

The local food bank that we donate to does accept perishables, so I'm not sure why we don't include those. Maybe it's because they only pick up once a week?

Without stepping on any toes, how would you suggest I bring this up at work? They seem to have enough going on as it is.
 
Ck with your pfresh person or receiver.
They will know what can be donated. It might depend on state law too. Welcome, btw.
 
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Most of the time our donations are mostly from the pfresh side of the store. The only issue I have come across is the times we have a large number of bananas or eggs to donate. Our local shelter can not always handle some of our larger donations. At times if our store is going to have a large amount of MTCL that is about to expire, they will freeze it so that it can then be donated.
 
Being in Guest Service at the front of the store, the main reason I don't donate perishable items, is there's no way for me to get those items into the coolers before they aren't cold anymore. It's pretty sucky. If I could reliably take cold items to the back, or keep them cool in GS, I'd donate tons of cold stuff.
 
I would encourage your perishables team to donate excess product... product they know won't sell. Get with the ETL over the departments. Mine has been accepting of my "better to donate than to feed the compacter" attitude. Granted, recent changes in the departments are going to make that more difficult, like the couponing of bagged salads, but still, if I have an excessive amount of one kind that's going to expire soon, I'll donate half. I hate throwing stuff away now, and I've gotten better.

Also, partner with that ETL about what you can donate. Most ETL's don't follow things to a T, and food banks often have their own rules. Our food bank gladly accepts veggies or any bread item a day past their date. Never meat. Never, ever meat.

I'll give an example... I had three cases of those premium candy apples, with the floor full. I TPC'd them drastically, and they still weren't selling as quick as I'd like them to. I donated two of those pushed cases two days before the best by date to the food bank. I'd like to think I made at least one kid's day.
 
Also, I'll add... some people just don't like to donate the food. I don't know why. It's not a difficult thing to do. They just refuse to do it.
 
I'm a huge advocate of donating everything possible. Yes, it takes time to box it up, etc but well worth it. My last store had pick ups 6 days a week. Current store I've gotten up to 4 days now. My other PA "isn't comfortable" donating hardly anything. She says it grosses her out.
 
I've donated anything and everything that is pushed, that won't sell... cases of collard greens, spotty bananas, acorn squash, and most organic push. Daily I donate packaged cut fruit, salads, carrots.. anything with a date that expires the next day. I've never had anything rejected; they will accept anything. There are restrictions on baked goods, however. I'm not sure the details.
 
Produce Queen said:
I'm a huge advocate of donating everything possible. Yes, it takes time to box it up, etc but well worth it. My last store had pick ups 6 days a week. Current store I've gotten up to 4 days now. My other PA "isn't comfortable" donating hardly anything. She says it grosses her out.
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What is gross is wasting what is perfectly good food. I don't even work in food and make it a point to get things that can be donated donated. Dog food, cat food, litter, toilet paper etc. All those things that would help someone who needs it. Her attitude is just lazy.
 
Produce Queen said:
I'm a huge advocate of donating everything possible. Yes, it takes time to box it up, etc but well worth it. My last store had pick ups 6 days a week. Current store I've gotten up to 4 days now. My other PA "isn't comfortable" donating hardly anything. She says it grosses her out.
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So confused as to how it would be gross. :rolleyes:
 
We donate dry grocery and bakery, but anything that needs to be refrigerated is generally tossed. We could donate perishables, as our Food Bank picks up every weekday, but we simply don't have the room to store temperature sensitive donations. If your coolers/freezers are filled with back stock and overstock (Thanks 6 day FDC deliveries!), it may be the same deal there.
 
At the SD in my store, nothing gets donated. What I've learned is that they used to but that the stuff would pile up and just sit for weeks before anyone ever came to pick it up. It really does hurt my heart when we toss perfectly good, but dented, cans of food.
 
OffYaPhone said:
At the SD in my store, nothing gets donated. What I've learned is that they used to but that the stuff would pile up and just sit for weeks before anyone ever came to pick it up. It really does hurt my heart when we toss perfectly good, but dented, cans of food.
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Same thing at my store. We used to do donations, but a year or two ago it stopped and we've just had to toss out all of our food since then :s
 
OffYaPhone said:
At the SD in my store, nothing gets donated. What I've learned is that they used to but that the stuff would pile up and just sit for weeks before anyone ever came to pick it up. It really does hurt my heart when we toss perfectly good, but dented, cans of food.
Click to expand...

All they have to do is box it up and send it back labeled "donate" with the rest of the defectives.
 
For those of you at stores that don't donate, is it possible to get with an ETL who might help you set it up?
 
I just want to make sure I'm understanding. You mean your store doesn't have a food bank or something that takes donations or you don't have anyone to take it to receiving? I can't imagine not having an agreement with a food bank unless it's a really small town.
 
Our store doesn't do donations and we're a large town in a heavily populated area. No one comes to pick it up, so we've given up on boxing it up. They won't let any of us just put it in our cars and drop it off to a food bank, and none of the local ones come to get it, so into toss it goes.
 
Husband & I used to volunteer at a church food pantry.
Saturday mornings we got up early to pick up day-old bread & bakery items from a near-by grocery store.
@LadyCynide: It's such a shame someone couldn't contact a church or soup kitchen to pick up your donations.
 
redeye58 said:
Husband & I used to volunteer at a church food pantry.
Saturday mornings we got up early to pick up day-old bread & bakery items from a near-by grocery store.
@LadyCynide: It's such a shame someone couldn't contact a church or soup kitchen to pick up your donations.
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From what we've been told, numerous local organizations have been contacted, and they've all failed to show up for months on end.
 
That's just sad.
When our breakroom was finally getting remodeled, both fridges were being replaced so a couple of charities were called to pick them up & they were gone before lunch.
 
j2e86 said:
I just want to make sure I'm understanding. You mean your store doesn't have a food bank or something that takes donations or you don't have anyone to take it to receiving? I can't imagine not having an agreement with a food bank unless it's a really small town.
Click to expand...

Pretty much, yeah. My STL told me that we've tried to get donations set up but it's always fallen through one way or another.
 
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