Expiration dates are meant to keep consumers informed and safe, but can you really trust them? One TikToker’s video is forcing Sam’s Club shoppers to wonder.
While shopping on Saturday, @schley33705 shared a short clip to the platform claiming that “Sam’s Club is up to some shenanigans.” Showing off a shelf of what’s clearly labeled “100% Orange Juice Squeezed Fresh Daily,” he accuses the store of “restickering” the products to reflect a different expiration date.
He highlights one bottle as an example. The visible sticker showed two dates: Sept. 14 smaller at the top, and Sept. 18 more prominent. Presumably, the former is meant to represent the day the juice was squeezed while the latter is the expiration date.
But when @schley33705 scratched at the sticker, it revealed another underneath. This one had an expiration date of Sept. 16. The portion of the tag with the date it was bottled came off with the newer sticker, but looks as if it may have read Sept. 12.
Why would Sam’s Club alter an expiration date?
@schley33705’s TikTok has raked in over 71,000 views so far, resulting in some commenters who were eager to give Sam’s Club the benefit of the doubt as to why the expiration sticker may have been changed.
One user suggested that it’s “possible that the person labeling them didn’t realize the date was wrong until they had a bunch labeled,” and that adding the new stickers on was actually the accurate choice.
And while that’s technically true, the TikToker replied that the “difference in color and settling of the pulp” was notably different between what he thought to be “yesterdays vs todays juice.”
A couple others tried to assert that many products are actually safe past the expiration date, leading @schley33705 to point out that this isn’t pasteurized orange juice with a longer shelf life. It’s supposed to be squeezed fresh daily on site. This means that it expires more quickly, but also that swapping out a label to insinuate it was made the same day if it was actually made a day or two earlier would be purposely misleading the customer to sell them a subpar product.
@schley33705 Sams club is restickering expiration dates on the squeezed fresh daily orange juice. #fyp @Sam’s Club ♬ Oh No – Kreepa
Many commenters were not surprised
Despite some grabbing for possible excuses, other commenters on the TikTok weren’t surprised at the possibility that Sam’s Club would pull “shenanigans” like changing an expiration date.
“As someone who works at a store sadly I’ve seen that crap far too often and it got me put in the back corner away from people because I pushed back so much about it all,” one commenter claimed.
“We have a local grocery store that scratches out expired dates on dairy products and puts them ‘on sale,’” wrote another user.
“SO MUCH SH*T FROM SAMS IS EXPIRED,” a third vented. “Only time I bought a fruit platter it looked fine and I took it home and it was all rotten.”
Although @schley33705 noted that he did let a manager know about the tags, he wasn’t sure if anything was done about it, but vowed to keep an eye out during future visits.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @schley33705 via TikTok comment and Sam’s Club via the contact form on their website.
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