Such a waste

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
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Morganton NC
http://www.morganton.com/servlet/Sa...c=MGArticle&cid=1128768784686&path=!frontpage

Reading this made me wonder what people thin sometimes. I see where there were a couple options.
1. It didn't get above the required 40 drgress for a good while. so if they had generators to power doors cash registers and such, why not one to power a fan. Put the stuff in buggies, roll it to the back room, open the delivery door and nature would have provided the needed temps.

2. Call around and find a refer unit tractor trailer. I am sure the expense would have been minimal to what was lost.

3. Truck it to another store with power untill it could be brought back safely.

4. Fill every refriderator and freezer around with some free food for those in need. Give to employees or who ever, better than going to the dump.

I just do not know where people lost the ability to think.
 
I don't like the waste also but I can kind of see their point in what they did for the sake of the business:
1-if it cost 50,000 dollars to chunk in a bin from labor,you are looking at close to 150,000 dollars for moving,storing,moving back,then stocking shelves with product that has seen alot of hands and can't be guaranteed fresh.
2-in this sue happy world,one multi-million dollar case settled out of court would cost more than the 250,000 dollar loss.
3-250,000 dollars is alot of money to you and me but to a huge businees like foodlion and bi-low,it stings but they can recope it.
4-the volume of food thrown out probably couldn't be handled in time to get distributed to those in need and homeless shelters.None parrishables are what they mostly want and stuff like milk,juice,and meats is too hard to get out there before it goes out of date.
Again,I hate to see any food get wasted.I would come closer to employees and families coming to get it.
(disclaimer): I am a lowly construction foreman and not a business school grad. so take my points for what they are.
 
Burke county:confused:
















J/K:beer:

I'm sure they could have found a local reefer and saved part of it, but if management had any common sense that would defy everything we know.
Josh
 
2 words - "Backup Generators"

WHY don't they have them.

:confused:

I mean enough generator to run the reefers, not just a few lights and the registers.
The co$t to have them would be less than a 1/10 of what they lo$t, just this time alone.

:shaking my head in disbelief:
 
wbcarver said:
2 words - "Backup Generators"

WHY don't they have them.

:confused:

I mean enough generator to run the reefers, not just a few lights and the registers.
The co$t to have them would be less than a 1/10 of what they lo$t, just this time alone.

:shaking my head in disbelief:
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Because they are $$$ sitting there eating up profit, requiring maint and fuel.

The odds of something this serious happening regularly VS the expense and up keep don't balance.

As such, a generator big enough to maintain ALL the coolers plus power to light and run the store would cost in the 10's of thousands just to purcahse, then it is sitting dormant 99% of the time.

The ice storm in Raleigh area in Dec '02, I noticed that BJ's store in Garner (which does have a large back up generator) had also called in a very large trailer mounted CAT genset to power the coolers, as the stores stand alone unit wasn't big enough (and it is still pretty large ) and even then they ran the store with limited lighting and registers.

Sure, a somewhat larger scale operation, but the problems/costs are similar in scope.

Tossing the food wasn't the best option either, and I do think that was pretty wasteful. I can't help but think that calling a local trucking co. for a few reefer trailers and storing stuff in those for a few hours wouldn't be an option. Of course the cost and time involved may well have been prohibitive, not to mention, how do you get them there quickly in an ice storm? .

Kevin
 
Two other things:
Liability: If someone got sick from a perishable food the lawsuit could cost more than the loss.

What loss? Their insurance will likely pik up the tab. I think the liability is the key concern.
 
wbcarver said:
2 words - "Backup Generators"

WHY don't they have them.

:confused:

I mean enough generator to run the reefers, not just a few lights and the registers.
The co$t to have them would be less than a 1/10 of what they lo$t, just this time alone.

:shaking my head in disbelief:
Click to expand...
ME too. If hospitals can have backup systems big enough to run their entire operations, why can't a supermarket? Or at least, the big chains like Food Lion and Kroger? And yeah... if they have one good enough for lights and registers, get another one just like it JUST for the refrig units.

$600+/- for a generator that only gets used when needed vs. $150,000 because they didn't have it seems pretty cost effective to me.

Not having them is just dumb. No other way to put it, especially the way power goes out every time you get even a little bit of ice.
 
I would like to know where you can find a generator for $600+/- that would power their stores. I want one for the house then.
 
Okay, so a generator big enough for that costs $5,000 instead. Maybe even $10,000 each. That's still a lot better than losing $100K+ every time an ice storm hits.
 
large stores/chains do risk analysis on all this kind of stuff. And i'm sure it was determined that the 'risk' of a lenghty power outage did NOT out weight the spending to outfit every store with adequate backup power etc..

But having lights and the registers are needed to sell anything and keep non perishables moving.. If I were running the store I'd have at least tried to line of a refer truck. But as a manager Im sure there would not be an insentive to do anythign other than the daily SOP.
 
YEars ago when I worked for a Milk Company I worked a lot of hospitals, resthomes, and stores. A lot of the older rest homes had back up generators that would supply power to the whole place. Kinda neat really. they were on a flatbed pup trailer and were parked near the power entrance of the building. I actually think they were rented IIRC. I also know that several times we "loaned" out a spare truck to some places when they lost power. Basically just good PR.
I think a refer unit would have been the best bet in this case. And most likely the company could have supplied one.
I still think it was slow(if any) thinking by the managment.
Back when Hugo come through I was a MGR at a Hardee's in Hickory. We transfered all the foods from one store to another, where ever someone had power or a generator. We lost nothing because of it. As amatter of fact, during several days of the power outages there was only one place in the city to get anything cooked, and it was a Hardee's. We used up the supplies from every store in the area in that one store. We had lines more than a mile long, and the people were happy to wait.
 
Trebissky, we have 2 back up generators at work, per building, these suckers cost well over $100k each. Mainly because of the cooling units the building have to have for the equipment. To get a generator for a store big enough for the reefers, plus everything else, would be cost prohibitive here. Might be a different story up north.
 
Rob said:
Trebissky, we have 2 back up generators at work, per building, these suckers cost well over $100k each. Mainly because of the cooling units the building have to have for the equipment. To get a generator for a store big enough for the reefers, plus everything else, would be cost prohibitive here. Might be a different story up north.
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Maybe being from rural areas, I think more along the lines of self reliance - and more frequent power outages.
You can consolidate a lot of food into a smaller space and keep the minimum coolers running and save the largest percentage of it. Seen it done many times. Granted, a BU Gen big enough to run the whole place would be a monster, but one big enough to keep the enough refrigeration going to prevent a total loss of the parishables is very doable. - Even at $20k (To pick a number) it is still a 1/10 of the loss in just this one instance.

But - as already said, the bean counters make these decisions from "on high" based on formulas, that are way beyond me.

Maybe that is why they (CEOs of big corps) are rich and I am not.
They must be doing SOMETHING right.

[shrug]
 
There are three words I haven't seen mentioned in this thread: Business Continuity Insurance. I would be willing to bet they aren't taking a hit on that inventory at all.
 
I think the one things we can all agree on is that the biggest shame/loss here is that so much food was tossed rather than used/distributed. Yes it would be slow and you couldn't be efficient about it, but hey why not at least tell employtees, look, take what you can, tell yer friends etc - or at least call up the closest homeless shelter and say,"come and get what you can".
 
Trebissky said:
Okay, so a generator big enough for that costs $5,000 instead. Maybe even $10,000 each. That's still a lot better than losing $100K+ every time an ice storm hits.
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Not if you have 400 stores

How do you know which ones will lose power? So then what? A $10,000 generator for 400 stores? Add that up.

Insurance payoff coupled with a tax write-off trumps ANY money possibly saved by chancing one person getting sick and suing over food that MIGHT have gotten spoiled in the transfer.

Even if the goods were GIVEN to a local food shelter....if ANYTHING was the least bit tainted, you can bet some homeless dude would be rollin in settlment cash :rolleyes:
 
Because they are $$$ sitting there eating up profit, requiring maint and fuel.
Click to expand...

Dude, I'm not saying you're wrong but what maint is required for a generator that isn't being used much? As much profit as a popular grocery store rakes in and considering the possible loss (150 k) I still think it's an asset to the store (I know for a fact that one local popular grocery stores lease is 30K a month, so I know they have to be making some serious $). If it doesn't get used much wouldn't last a long time also?
 
rbo1577186 said:
Dude, I'm not saying you're wrong but what maint is required for a generator that isn't being used much?
Click to expand...

We test the generator for our datacenter every other month or so. No point in having it if it doesn't work when we need it to. We also have it "serviced" every 6 months just to make sure all is well. Just like anything else it still needs upkeep and can't just sit there or chances are good it won't work when you need it to.
 
2 Key points I am sure drove this decision.
1) the previously mentioned tainted food/sickness/lawsuit concern
2) WRITE OFF! All that inventory was destroyed due to an act of GOD, dollar for dollar write off at year end. If you charitably donate it you are only looking at ~20% depending on tax shelter category...

Yes it is dirtier than you thought, better for hungry folks to starve than to lose profit. In the grocery chain business this is not really a bad thing depending on how unscrupulous they are some have even tried to turn it into a business insurance claim and the write it off, essentially recouping 100% cost, then making a profit 10x greater than retail... CHA-CHING... well until the IRS catches up then its white collar hotel/prison time.
 
rbo1577186 said:
Joel, you work at the hospital?
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No, I work on the border of High Point and Greensboro for a large home health and DME company. Just giving an example of what kind of time and resources we place into maintaining our generator even though it rarely gets used.
 
Joel said:
No, I work on the border of High Point and Greensboro for a large home health and DME company. Just giving an example of what kind of time and resources we place into maintaining our generator even though it rarely gets used.
Click to expand...


Ever hear of Pennybyrn?
 
If you think a $10k generator could run a grocery store, you're sadly mistaken. a $10k generator could run a home with a 2-zone heat pump system, fridge, TV, etc... but not a grocery store...no way, not even close.

It's like comparing your PC to a $100,000 server.
 
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