Grocery Auctions

Saturday tends to be a big shopping day, so today might be a good day for the subject of grocery auctions.

That's right. Grocery auctions.

Although this phenomenon hasn't hit my home state yet, it's becoming popular in New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and a number of other states. With food prices on the rise, it's easy to see why this has become a viable alternative to wandering the supermarket aisles.

The auctions are just like regular auctions, complete with an auctioneer and numbers for every potential bidder. You can bid on everything from frozen chicken to potato chips.

Some of the items you can bid on at these auctions are past the sell-by date, which may or may not bother you. Surely, some of you are wary of this kind of thing. I mean, it always freaks me out to eat stuff after it expires and I'm sure it's the same for many of you (including Jerry Seinfeld). Yet the FDA insists it's safe to eat... which may or not mean anything to you. The FDA has a history of approving some very unhealthy and, in some cases, unsafe stuff.

Outside of expired goods, there are also damaged goods for sale. This ranges from minor to major, and I'd expect that the more damaged the product, the deeper the discount.

In any case, there is real potential for some giant savings on everyday products at these auctions. We're all sick of the rising cost of food, which was subject to its worst inflation in 17 years during 2008. So, whaddya think? If there have been grocery auctions in your neck of the woods, how were they? Would you like to see grocery auctions come to your home town? I'm out - YCC