Seems like a great idea. I’m going shopping tonight at the Geant dumpster down the hill. It will just confirm the crazy foreigner theory as far as the locals are concerned.
(Skips are big trash containers just in case it’s an Aussie term)
[quote]PAUL Martin likes to do a big grocery shop
Well being that Taiwan doesn’t have coupons it would probably be a benifit to do such a thing. Just watch out for the eggs. 
ok, don’t get me started…
every year in America we throw away 94 billion pounds of food, while 23 million Americans visit food banks every year because they don’t have food security in their lives.
working at a food bank for the past 12 years i know. we have tried to get big companies like walmart and costco to donate their “old” food to us. corporate policy always dictates they must throw it away to avoid lawsuits from someone getting sick from an old apple.
there are “good samaritan” laws in america that protect donors that donate in good faith from these lawsuits. but corporates worry about loopholes in the law.
walmart recently updated their policy to where they would give absolutely nothing away that was still usable (fact is they gave very very very little to begin with).
i think these big stores must have their own wings on the landfills just to dump their refuse.
america is a “throw-away” culture. this is a college town. at the campus there are dorms. every year at the end of spring semester students move out of the dorms. a small percentage, with a conscience, bring their unwanted items to goodwill to donate. however, the vast majority fill the dumpsters with stuff they feel they have to use for anymore. every spring the dumpsters are filled with clothing, bikes, tvs, computers, books, food. there is a crowd poised, waiting to keep these items from going to the landfill.
ok, i think i’m done.
keep diving you resourceful keepers of the faith.
best,
john
[quote=“JOHN MOSS”]working at a food bank for the past 12 years I know. we have tried to get big companies like walmart and costco to donate their “old” food to us. corporate policy always dictates they must throw it away to avoid lawsuits from someone getting sick from an old apple.
john[/quote]
I had no idea such a thing existed. You work part time there? What do you do there?
The part that really got me was that the people in Australia in the dumpsters are professionals who are high income earners.
Some of the poor would be taking their welfare cheque to the 7/11 to buy food the expensive way.
hey ironman,
yes, most cities in the US of maybe more than 25,000 people have food banks or food pantries. these are places where people who are out of food or out of money can go get a free supply of groceries.
i started at our food bank almost 13 years ago as a volunteer.
i have been on staff for the past almost 10 years. it was a full time job for most of it. we have seven staff.
we are a non-profit. we apply for grants, and get a little help from local govt. we are supported by a volunteer crew of about 70 regulars and about 300 seasonal volunteers. we are basically a middle-man. we rescue or accept donations of food from donors, grocery stores, food drives, and monetary contributions. we then distribute this food to people who for whatever reason are out of money or out of food. there are rules, you can only come once a month, you have to fill out a survey, then you get a food allotment based on your family size.
there are also food bank warehouses that take in food from the US department of agriculture for us to distribute. these warehouses also get out of date food, such as promotional items. for instance, once a promotion is over (beauty and the beast corn flakes, or rug rats mac & cheese, etc) they get the leftovers that still have a shelf life of a year or two.
in this town of 55,000, about 10,000 people benefit from our services-the poverty rate in america averages 20%. they are people who have an income that is low, or maybe their car broke down-and that 500 bucks went to that instead of groceries, or someone who has big medical bills and can’t afford groceries. you name it. even poor college students can come in.
the usda used to have a government surplus program where they would give people cheese, milk, peanut butter, etc. these programs were cut and now private, non-profit charities are picking up the slack.
what do i do there? i started as the volunteer coordinator, and my job was to staff the place with volunteer labor. then i became the warehouse manager where my job is now to purchase food with donated money, do food pickups, get the free store ready everyday, among other duties.
it has been a great job.
actually i am quitting this friday after almost 13 years there. i am ready for a change. so there’s a job opening if you are interested.
you could google food banks in america and find an endless array of topics.
seeya,
john
[quote=“JOHN MOSS”] so there’s a job opening if you are interested.
you could google food banks in America and find an endless array of topics.
seeya,
john[/quote]
You’ve done really well. 13 years. :bravo:
I wonder what happens in Taiwan? If there are similar services?
Thank you, thank you very much.
A Taiwanese volunteer I met at work last year said they have nothing like this in her country.
Her reason was that people seek family for help, or are too proud to ask for help.
Another volunteer from Korea said, yes, they do have this service in her country. She said now, she would seek out a place like this to volunteer in her country.
Since we are a college town, we often have volunteers who are studying at the University placed around town in volunteer positions. It is often an eye-opening experience for them, since America is seen as “land of the plenty”, but we do have a horrendous poverty issue that was first addressed by Lyndon Johnson, but has not been eradicated yet, and looks like it is years away, especially since the current administration has cut back on social programs like ours. The Fed.Gov’t does not give us any financial support, but they do provide free food through the USDA. The budget for this program has been cut, so we get less food now. Even while the number of people we serve goes up every year.
jm