where not to buy breakfast cereal

So, I was coming home late on Saturday evening and needed some breakfast cereal for the morning. Due to the lateness of the hour, the grocery store was closed. My last hope was one of the two gas stations near the highway.

From my past experience, (you probably have the same kind of experience with this matter), breakfast cereal is not an area of strength for gas stations. Gas stations are good at: gas, soft drinks, potato chips and other snack foods, beer and the like. Cereal, breakfast cereal is sometimes found at gas stations but it is usually in very small and very overpriced boxes. And, the variety is usually limited to Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes and maybe Fruit Loops.

Sin embargo (however), knowing that the chances either station carried breakfast cereal were slim but also knowing that I needed what I was looking for, I pulled up, parked and went into the first gas station. I looked on all the rows but found only the aforementioned chips, snacks and soft drinks, no cereal.

Across the street was the second station and my last hope for something breakfasty in the morning. I entered and began looking and quickly spied a bottom row of 6-10 boxes of a wider than expected variety of breakfast cereal. Potential Jackpot!

Knowing that prices for everything are higher at gas stations, I looked for the price tag and confirmed that indeed I was going to pay the price.

A related thought then crossed my mind, again drawn from experience with gas stations and convenience stores' products, pricing and tendency to not turn over their goods as quickly as a regular grocery store might, that I should check the expiration date (sometimes called, euphemistically, the "best if used by date"). So, I looked for the date on the box of Frosted Flakes. Upon investigation, the price tag was covering the date. Being the curious sort (or suspicious / cynical / doubting / skeptical sort), I gently peeled back the price tag and found that the expiration date was June 2009. I gently pushed the price tag back into place and moved to the next box.

The second box of cereal (do not remember the brand) had a price tag placed in the same place, over the expiration date. While I was not completely sure the price tag placement was not just a coincidence, my first thought was "I'll bet they're trying to cover up expiration dates that are past". I gently peeled the second box's price tag back to find an expiration date of May 2010. While a full year closer to the present date, I was not interested in testing just how good for you old cereal can be and put the price tag bag where I found it.

Some people, at this point, would say to themselves "all their cereal is going to be old, do something else for breakfast tomorrow". Did I follow that sage advice? Of course not, where's your spirit of adventure. I still had several of boxes that might still be good (although, statistically, my odds were probably not as good as I thought they were). Moving along to the third box, which was Apple Jacks, a former favorite of mine and one which I still occasionally enjoy if I find it in the hotel breakfast buffet selection, I pulled back the price tag (which, as you have deduced was over the expiration date - three in a row, who would of thunk it?) to see that the cereal was good until June of 2011. SCORE!! (see, most of you would have given up before the success . . . see below).

Without a single reservation (okay, maybe I did have a little bit of skeptical wonder in my head), I pulled the box of Apple Jacks up, grabbed a half gallon of milk (which I also needed) and went to the register. Always being a helpful soul, I told the guy working the register that there were two boxes of expired cereal on his shelves. His reaction (or maybe non reaction is more apt) did not surprise me (but perhaps I should have higher expectations). He scanned the milk and the cereal, gave me the total and did not verbally acknowledge that I have even spoken to him.

The rest of the story is, when I had a bowl of the Apple Jacks, with milk, they were not the freshest cereal I had ever consumed nor were they the tastiest. My next act, just after breakfast was to throw away the box of cereal. While I consider myself to be on the financially prudent side, I was not going to worry about the sunk costs of that box of bad cereal. On Monday, I went to the grocery store and bought two boxes of very fresh Frosted Mini Wheats, with which I have been very happy (tasty, fresh, crunchy, sweet).

As a post mortem, I did call the gas station's headquarters and told them of my experience. A very nice lady named Maureen listened very patiently and seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened. She did pass the customer feedback along as within the hour, the owner/manager of the station called and asked me about what had happened, asking me to bring back the expired cereal for a refund.

So, if you did not already know NOT to buy cereal from a gas station, please let this be a vicarious experience from which you can learn.

Have a good one. KipK