No Longer Disposable

Consider this scenario. Two young women are rummaging through a storage bin and smile when they find two bottles of expired salad dressings. Their smile widens when they discover dented cans of vegetables and crumpled boxes of candy bars. The ladies are not scavengers. They fully expect to pay for the gods. They are smiling because it will cost them a fraction of the normal sale price.

You might be forgiven for surmising that I am describing the situation in Zimbabwe. Except that this is in the United States; or Mesopotamia, Ohio, to be precise. Amish-run salvage stores, selling expired food and medicine dirt cheap, have been around for a long time, but now they are attracting an increasing number of non-Amish customers. These are Americans hit by the declining economy and spiraling gas prices.

And they are getting really good deals. A roll of paper towels can be picked up for 50 cents and a bottle of Newman’s Own salad dressing for 10 cents. If you think that they are taking a risk, you may be surprised to learn that, except for baby formula, the Food & Drug Administration does not prohibit the sale of expired foods and medicine – although it does keep a check on misbranded or adulterated drugs.

Rebecca Miller is Amish and last year, she and her husband opened N&R Salvage in northeast Ohio. Although the couple has never spent a dime on advertising, business is booming and sales figures continue to climb rapidly.

I must say I was surprised to read about this. People in Third World country general regard America as a land where many things are disposable. You use a product for a while; and when it malfunctions – or a newer model hits the stores – you just throw it away and get a new one. I guess some Americans are now getting a first hand lesson about how the other three fourths of the world lives.