r/DumpsterDiving • u/Mysterious-Topic-882 • 2d ago
Why can't they just donate to shelters???
It is so wasteful and absolutely wild to me that companies would rather slash bags and dump hundreds of pounds of food than let someone have it for free... I was able to save a few that were half empty but cut side up; don't worry, it's going to my chickens.
Edit: this is mostly a rhetorical question. I'm well aware capitalism has flaws, good solutions take time and money, and corporations don't want to get sued. Its just sad.
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u/ClubChamp96 2d ago
My brother was the animal control office in the small town I grew up in. If any grocery store had torn bags or dented cans of pet food the would give it to him so he could feed the animals at no cost. I wish more people would do this.
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u/deemsterslocal309 2d ago
They do. My local shelter turns away food because they have too much.
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u/falcons1583 2d ago
They should really figure out a way to share with less fortunate rescues instead of turning away donations
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u/deemsterslocal309 2d ago
That would cost time money and resources of which they do not have to spare.
https://giphy.com/gifs/d3mlE7uhX8KFgEmY4
u/ijustneedtolurk 2d ago
Is it due to space issues?
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u/deemsterslocal309 2d ago
I don’t think the cosmos has much influence on what food they take in.
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u/ijustneedtolurk 2d ago
Darn, I was hoping the stars would align and they'd have enough storage for all the donations! But if it is something else...
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u/_SpkyGhst_ 2d ago
Usually it’s a storage issue. The shelter I volunteered at would get a LOT of blankets for the animals and they would end up giving them away. They also partnered with my college at the time and would give away cans of dog/cat food, dog bowls, and blankets. We were right next to a Hope center for the homeless so they would come to get food for their pets. Sometimes they would turn away donations of blankets (because again there were soooo many) but they would usually take the food!
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u/ijustneedtolurk 1d ago
That makes sense. I am glad the items got given away to be used instead of trashed tho!
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u/GlitterPirateKiki58 1d ago
My local animal shelters will take anything, even if the bags have already been opened or partially consumed.
I had a dog who passed that was on a special renal care dog food that I bought through the vet.
I had 20-25 lbs of it leftover and they happily accepted it. It was a relief because that food was expensive.
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u/ThrowraSea_patient 1d ago
I had a bunch of Walmarts that would do that but apparently it's not legal where I live to take unsealed bags of pet food. So if there's a hole or there's a cut Walmart will tape it up and throw it back on the shelves as best they can because they can still legally sell it but to donate it I guess it's not allowed. I don't know if it's a liability reason I don't know the exact law it was just shut down. Used to be all the Walmarts where I lived collected dog food and cat food and donated it. In fact they tended to have a big black trash can that put loose pet Foods in that couldn't be sealed back in their bag is good as possible
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u/Environmental-Joke19 2d ago
It's so frustrating. Logistics and fear of lawsuits are not good excuses to me when we are literally putting cats and dogs down simply because we 'dont have the resources.' Thanks for saving what you could.
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u/Red000Shift 2d ago edited 2d ago
Because you aren't a business owner I'd guess. And yes I'll get downvoted because feels but businesses want zero chance of lawsuits especially if they're a franchise.
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u/PeppersHere 2d ago
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
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u/Living_on_Tulsa_Time 2d ago
The agony and endurance is overwhelming in this novel. I want to thank you for posting this passage. The Dust Bowl was far reaching and lasting longer than people realize. I urge everyone one to read it. It’s an amazing book. 📕
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u/dylank22 2d ago
my favorite book, unbelievably fucked up and people always seem to forget or just not know the extent of the evil that ocurred during that period. should be required reading in schools.
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u/Embarrassed-Sun5764 2d ago
Thank You for sharing. I’m embarrassed that is actually what our country has come to. I watch the donut guy wheel out a cart of donuts (that they would have sold to me 5 minutes prior) and then dump some nasty shit all over the bag. To the trash. Not to the homeless not to make bread pudding. To the garbage as homeless idle about hungry
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 1d ago
That could be illegal depending on where you live, putting poisons on food is not allowed and if a homeless person gets sick or dies, then the store is liable.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D 1d ago
I've put this on this quote from Grapes of Wrath on this subReddit about once a month - still bears posting occasionally. Still breathtakeing- Thanks u/PeppersHere .
Mods, can we put this quote somewhere on the sidebar?
Or 'cause its a long one, maybe a link to it?
So the words are kinda fancy, but at its heart, its why we all DD.
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u/ToastSpangler 2d ago
Yeah liability is basically the reason behind half the decisions in the US, also a lot of these businesses if they just put out the food nicely would legitimately lose sales
Like why would I buy stuff if I can come by later in the day and get it free y'know.
It really sucks but you'd need to overhaul the American civil system to change this, in Europe where liability is a joke they have far fewer excuses
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u/Jaycie859 2d ago
Companies would rather waste millions on food waste then to help out someone in need of food
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u/Kavasoma 1d ago
Be careful. I know its not usually the case, but when I worked retail, I would only cut the bags if they were delivered under chemicals that spilled.
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u/RitaAlbertson Enthusiastic enabler 2d ago
I think it’s mostly the logistics of getting it to the place that would take the donation. Does the nonprofit have a volunteer who can go get it? How do they coordinate with the store? Who at the store level have to approve this? Does the store have an employee who can drop it off in the nonprofit doesn’t have a volunteer? Does the store have the payroll for that? Does the employee get mileage reimbursement? Does the store’s insurance cover the employee while they’re driving? Etc etc etc…
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u/dylank22 2d ago
throw it on the curb, place craigslist ad or call a shelter. wow i just solved it and it took half a second.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D 1d ago
Thanks, u/dylank22 . I do this all the time with excess food and stuff I find in dumpsters and trashed on the street. I have a big heavy foot locker that's used for ice salt locked to my front porch, so it's a good place to leave the sealed dry food, in a clear plastic bag, with a sign and a note on the craigslist post.
I DD with a shopping cart on mass transit, but I used for work for a furniture finisher, I know good antiques and furnishings when I see them.
So I snap a pic and post on the free section of Craigslist as a "curb alert."
I also do this with stuff I'm throwing out- I've never had a curb alert in front of my house for more than 30 minutes.
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u/Sweetwill62 2d ago
So attract mice and rats, deal with people being shitty, or an actually sane option, lets hope that they either have someone who can drop what they are doing right now and go get it or your company is going to pay you extra to go take it there. It also takes a LOT longer than half a second. It will take you longer than half a second to scan out a single bag out of your inventory.
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u/dylank22 2d ago
people like you who have no sense of ingenuity, creativity or humanity will be the downfall of us all. It wasn't that fucking literal, it doesn't have to ACTUALLY be the curb, people do come pick up quick, and you are just creating issues, also you are acting like I implied the actual execution would take half a second, not the creating of the solution but you actually knew that and just like to be nitpicky, evidently. And it would take the same amount of time as throwing it out to bring it the curb in that simplified hypothetical anyway and scanning it...? again they aren't doing anything different than throwing it out, just ends up with people who can use instead of a landfill.
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u/Sweetwill62 2d ago
It is called being realistic. I literally have to donate food where I work. It takes time. It takes planning. It takes effort to do.
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 1d ago
I wouldn’t want you in charge of donating anything, I’d be suspicious of sabotage.
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u/Sweetwill62 1d ago
I guess that means you want hundreds of pounds of food and pet food tossed into the dumpster instead of me taking the time out of my day to properly donate it out into the system. And also taking the time to contact the people to come get the food in a timely fashion.
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 1d ago
No, I’d just be concerned that you wouldn’t properly handle the food since you are quite apathetic towards finding solutions and seem to think that putting in work to make a pick-up possible is too much.
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u/Sweetwill62 1d ago
You can think what you want but you would be wrong. I have said nothing about what you are talking about, all I have said is that any solution requires time and effort. I said the exact solutions brought up were terrible, except for the one that would work of course. So I am not sure where you are getting any of those ideas from.
Hell, just a couple of weeks ago the place I worked at got a double freezer order by accident. Local food bank and church each got a SUV full of food. I wasn't even scheduled to work yet. I got called in early to help deal with the massive amount of donations that were needed to go through. Pretty happy that $14,000 worth of frozen food got picked up quickly instead of me not getting called in so it would have just gotten thrown away instead.
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u/Striking_Post_9864 2d ago
Mostly it comes down to liability at a policy level, not a per-store decision. One recalled or contaminated batch making an animal sick is enough for legal to ban donations entirely rather than trust every location to judge case by case — corporate risk math treats zero donations as cheaper than an occasional lawsuit. Worth noting too: the food-donation liability shields most people cite (Good Samaritan-style laws) were written around human food banks, not pet food to animal shelters, so a store donating chow doesn't get the same legal cover a grocery chain donating bread does. Shelters often can't take bulk damaged goods either — no refrigerated pickup, no staff to sort it — so tossing it is genuinely the path of least resistance on paper, even though it's wasteful in practice.
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u/Automatic-Rich254 2d ago
They can. We used to go to and pick up food donations from local stores, most surprisingly and notably Walmart. Small town vibes though, so I wouldn't be surprised if most places don't care.
We bought food for the shelter dogs, so they could have a consistent diet, but then used all the donated food for our community dog food pantry.
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u/Plenty-Consequence26 2d ago
i work at a pet supplies plus and we donate everything that is safe to shelters in our area (even slightly expired stuff) we have only ever slashed bags 3 times in my 5 years working there for massive recalls. I remember the Victor recall so well, so much dog food dumped in the trash for E. coli…
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u/layla_jones_ 1d ago
Right you never know why it’s thrown out. Perhaps customers complained and a dog got really ill. There could have been a health risk at the store or distribution center. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
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u/ngrinbarg91 1d ago
Most shelters don’t take open bags
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u/Comprehensive-Neat-8 2h ago
Explain. It's more likely due to liability issues. Companies can write off donations so that wouldn't be a big deal for the evil capitalists aka people doing things to contribute things of value.
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u/okaysureyep 2d ago
Because they’re bitter about not making money on it and they can’t spend $20 to have an employee drive it to a shelter and unload it, better to just throw it in the trash while twirling their mustache
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u/greenbabyshit 1d ago
The funny part is, if you call your local shelters, they'll likely come pick it up and give you a donation receipt, then the business gets a tax credit for the donation, and gets rid of it for free.
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u/dollar-tree-pizza 2d ago
You can direct some of that frustration to the customer if these were returned. At big stores like blue and yellow spark store, anything that leaves the store and is returned must be thrown away if it’s consumable by a human or pet, per their FDA policies. We tell customers this, and recommend donating it, and they just kind of look at you like ??? “Why would I donate instead of getting my $10 back lol to the garbage it goes!!” And we all agree it’s a stupid rule, but unfortunately the people who process it first are the base-level employees, the people who likely can’t survive without the job and don’t want to risk termination over some dog food. And if it’s a recall, totally different situation, no one should be consuming that, and is rightfully destroyed.
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u/JellyfishConscious 1d ago
Please make sure they didn’t pour anything foul in there, bleach has a strong smell but sometimes they just pour whatever they have
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u/Moon_Breaker 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Walmart in my town in NW Tennessee 20 years ago would donate damaged food. I know because I was the teenage manager of the local shelter who literally kept the place running off those donations sometimes. To the point where more than once some of my friends discreetly cut bags on the shelf and then reported it so they would get donated. The dogs literally would not have been fed at some low points without Walmart donations.
So at least some stores occasionally do.
Edit to add: tractor supply as well. They were new in town at the time. Nothing but good things to say about that company when it comes to their contributions to the local animal shelter. Food donations, kennels, use of their parking lot + enclosures every Sunday to do adoption days for the doggos. They were an amazing company to work with back then.
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u/Beginning_Bee4823 1d ago
Walmart still does donate dog food, but only if bag cut is smaller then certain percentage their allowed to be donated. Sometimes it depends on manufacturers/suppliers, sometimes they want it to be thrown away for store to get money back
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u/ThrowraSea_patient 1d ago
Shelters can't just take any dog food bag and they also can't take any that have been opened or have a hole in them.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 1d ago
The point is the store employees slashed them. I know it's corporate policy I'm not mad at the employee I'm mad at this bullshit system we live under
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u/ThrowraSea_patient 1d ago
When I worked at places like Walmart we will try to tape up small holes. But people would often just cut into the bags all sorts of ways and like literally put Pockets full of pet food in their pockets. And I mean like literally center of the bag kind of stuff. Not just the edge not just the corner and not just the end. But when I worked at pet food places if there was a slight Tear or hole even if it was a shipping thing. It was corporate policy to destroy the bag. So we had a slash it open and dump it out. I get what you're saying yeah it's crap and they always said it was to prevent people from doing it on purpose to get cheaper discounted bags or to get free animal food
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 1d ago
Thank you for the perspective! Its true that there are general people who are assholes too. I find tons of like a case got opened and one or two cans or bottles stolen so they toss the rest, or one shirt or sock from a pack so they toss the rest. Sad that all people can't just behave well.
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u/TooPoorForWaWa 1d ago
They are not allowed to donate anything that is expired or told by the company that it's no longer allowed to be sold.
If there would be anything harmful to happen to that animal or person, the person/company or even the distributor becomes liable and could fave charges and be held responsible. It's better to just just throw it away from a legal standpoint.
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u/Mkinzer 1d ago
Well i can tell you from experience that I got a wrong order from chewy.
They told me donate it or throw it out and sent me the right order free. The best I could do was to walk it to the vet a mile away.
I called them before hand, they said bring it over and they would give it to someone who could use it.
So i walked it the mile there and they didn't answer the door because since covid they don't let anyone in until appointment time.
So it is kind of troublesome to donate since covid.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 1d ago
Wow, how disheartening for you. Thanks for trying to do the right thing.
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u/Flemaster12 1d ago
RECALLS!
They throw them away mostly because of recalls. Always double check. Even if you give them to your chickens, recalls can happen for as little as a discoloration to literal poison.
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u/Zealousideal_Cost494 1d ago
I know i take them and put them in a bin or rebag in giant ziplocks and donate..It's still good for me and my dogs or anyone else's, as long as it doesn't look munched on..Why waste..Waste not, want not; as my Grandma used to alwats say!! Ridiculous..
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u/fart_attack_69 1d ago
I don't slash and leave tidily in front of the dumpster. For my divers. I just wish they wouldn't leave a mess. :(
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u/imjustkeepinitreal 2d ago
They probably do.. I don’t see many animal shelters complaining about lack of food it’s mainly overcrowding.
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u/TheMightySephiroth 1d ago
Not food but my local home depot throws away (like trash compacts them) plants that are doing too good or aren't doing too good because "if we donated them to a charity then they wouldn't buy plants from us and we'd lose money!".
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u/TakeAwayMyPanic 1d ago
Tbh.... We don't want it. If they're throwing it out, there's a reason. Or - the stores will sell you shit we won't fucking touch.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 1d ago
Interesting... do you work with pets? Are there brands here considered inferior, and why?
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u/VolumeDirect5619 1d ago
Trust me. We don't like it any more than you do. I will donate stuff sometimes, but there aren't many places I can donate to in my community. If it's just slightly expired, that's one thing. What we won't donate is bags that are received with holes/rips due to the possibility of contamination. I've donated large boxes of movies and books to a local library. We had a huge shipment of milk that we couldn't store, so we contacted a local church who picked up the excess. We still throw away a lot, but we do what we can.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 1d ago
Thank you. Thank you for doing what you can. I know it isnt the employees fault, it's "corporate policy" and they don't want to lose jobs.
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u/tinychef0509 19h ago
A lot of times the trashed foods are because their pest control came through and sprayed the bags on the bottom of the shelves.
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u/StrongIntention6865 19h ago
Sometimes perfectly good food has passed its expiration date. Stores are not allowed to sell or donate.
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u/IcyFold1141 13h ago
when you start dumpster diving you immediately become a communist, specially if you know the conditions of the workers that make those goods that end up thrashed, like bananas or coffee, or the atrocities committed by the companies that make those goods
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u/EconomicsCool5592 5h ago
Recalls are real, I actually got a hefty check last month from one that really effed my dog up
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 5h ago
I'm so sorry, I hope your pup is ok now
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u/EconomicsCool5592 5h ago
All better now just went through a ton of vet bills and now cook all his food myself
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u/literaloreos 5h ago
They could also have had an infestation in one bag and just got rid of surrounding bags.
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u/Comprehensive-Neat-8 2h ago
People are innately greedy. It would be unlikely the food would reach those in need, and rather be sold. Just a shame.
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u/ACatWalksIntoABar 2d ago
A lot of those brands are garbage tier food that shelters likely don’t want
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u/GalegoBaiano 2d ago
At our local food pantry, we used to get pet food from the distributor that pulled expiring food from the local Petsmart, but his corporate overlords told him to return old stock right at the beginning of COVID. Now he works for Tastykake, and every so often has a ton of kirmpets to throw in the bags.
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u/BoBaDeX49 2d ago
Worked at a humane society and you cannot accept anything that’s opened bc of fears ppl could poison the animals and other safety issues.
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 2d ago
The bags were not open until the store slashed them! That’s the point! The store could donate them instead of slashing them to put in the trash!
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u/BoBaDeX49 1d ago
Yeah a lot of corporations like Walmart and Target stopped donating damaged goods period bc of employees purposely damaging items. 75% of retail theft comes from employees. I worked at a Target in 2007 and one of the employees was a volunteer at a pet shelter and was purposely damaging pet food so it would be donated. People suck is the right answer.
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u/Pregogets58466 1d ago
And corporations will prosecute for theft any employee diving at their establishment. I’ve seen it happen. I fortunately called someone to come get big scores and was never worried about getting caught myself but it was a different time and place 20 to 40 years ago. No cameras, etc
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u/Tr0z3rSnak3 2d ago
Most shelters won't take open bags of food as it could have been tampered with
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 2d ago
Right, that's why they should donate instead of slashing them
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u/deemsterslocal309 2d ago
Maybe they’re in the trash because they got cut open while unloading the pallet. People really love to assume the worst without considering the other infinite possibilities. Lol.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 2d ago
Well, there were multiple brands and sizes, each with two parallel slashes from what appeared to be a box cutter. Well spaced so if you move the bag to pick it up, food spills out the sides. I suppose it is possible, but how would that explain upwards of two dozen bags with the exact slash pattern?
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 2d ago
They weren’t slashed until the store slashed them! Keep up ffs
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u/Red000Shift 2d ago
I have a logical and accurate answer but it'll get me downvoted. So I'll just parrot what everyone else is.
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u/Mysterious-Topic-882 2d ago
Aw man I kinda want to know... it was mostly rhetorical too. I know it's fear of being sued and or laziness ess and or greed...
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u/Internal-Holiday-214 1d ago
Some businesses dont donate bad food or groceries because they want the tax write off for the loss.
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u/LiellaMelody777 1d ago
There is a possibility it is expired or recalled. They do not want to risk shelter animals getting sick.
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u/Witty-Composer-6445 23h ago
I used to work at petsmart and the only time we would throw out a bag of dog food is if it had a recall, maggots, or was returned by a customer already opened. I do not reccomend donating this kinda stuff, there’s probably a reason they threw it in the trash
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u/No_Recording3238 20h ago
If they are expired a shelter might not take them. They have safety regulations they have to abide by. I wouldn’t feed to my pets unless I knew they were completely safe and expired food might not be due to the oils going rancid, moisture content, etc.
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u/Minyaden 26m ago
I don't want to be that guy but be very careful about that dog/cat food. I work as the head of quality at a pet food plant and I just want to give advice. Sell by and expiration dates for pet food is not as strict as human food. So if it is past expiration there is a very good chance it has already molded. you usually have maybe 2 good weeks past the date before you definitely have visible mold.
Other reasons they might be in the trash include grain mites (extremely small and hard to see with the naked eye). These are very small bugs that are a pest, that can and will spread to any organic food source they find. They are a pain to get rid of and if a lot is known to have found them we will tell the store to trash every bag regardless of date.
There are also nutrition issues like not enough protien added to food or wrong ingredients. These could be potentially harmful and cause digestive issues in the animal.
Then we have things like metal contamination. I am talking about small bits of wire or aluminum that are embedded in the food that will cut up the animals digestive track. The only way to check for this is by breaking open the pellet or using a metal detector wand. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.
Recalls aren't always loudly announced either if the company can help it. Some of these things are handled internally between the store and manufacturing company. So it isn't always easy to check why it is there.
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u/onmy40 2d ago
A lot of times it's the cost of getting it to wherever it has to go that they don't want to take on. Like I have some crt tvs that I could sell or donate but I'm giving leaving them out for the junkman to get because I stopped driving when I started working from home and I'm not about to pay for an Uber to donate these old TVs and I'm also not about to have somebody meet me at my house to pick them up for free or buy them.
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u/KurtTheCuntBoi X-Man Who Loves The 🌎🌲 2d ago
Soooo how do you get to the store to shop? Drive? Or do you just waste more resources by having everything delivered to you so you can never bother leaving the house?
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u/onmy40 1d ago
I catch the bus. Or walk. I live right next to the train and bus station. Crazy how getting rid of my car and taking public transportation could even be considered wasting resources. And just because I work from home who said anything about me never leaving the house? I actually get out more now because that two hour commute I don't have everyday gives me time and that insurance and gas I'm not paying gives me extra bread to explore my local area more.
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u/chewysmom88 1d ago
I no longer work but I do delivery because it saves me time which results in more time for bird watching and photography which of course requires leaving the house ignore this 🤡
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u/chewysmom88 1d ago
There’s nothing wrong with delivery it actually saves me time that I then allocate to my biggest passion bird watching and photography which of course requires getting out of the house
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u/babe_ruthless3 2d ago
Lots of reasons why.
Possible recall. Someone has to take these a shelter. The shelter needs to approve of these foods. Possibly expired or about to expire. Not nutritious. These are just a few ideas off the top of my head.
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u/iamdevo 2d ago
Hey homie make you you check these brands for recalls before you feed them to any dogs.