It’s the old topic of best-before dates: If this is printed on packaging, it just means that the goods should be guaranteed to last until then – but not that they will definitely be inedible the next day. Sweets and chocolate in particular can still be eaten afterwards and are therefore often offered in shops at a lower price or given away at bars.
This is also the case with chocolate bars and pralines from the premium manufacturer Lindt. Apparently, like so many premium manufacturers, the Swiss company didn’t like it at all. After all, discounts make the goods appear “cheap” and spoil the way customers get used to the laboriously inflated prices.
According to research by “t-online”, retailers are currently having to experience first-hand how Lindt is taking action against such discounted products. For example, Ehrenfried Schorn, manager of sixteen Edeka branches in northern Hesse, reports how sales representatives at his branch slashed whole packs with cutter knives and made them unsaleable. More than 25 products were damaged for him alone, and he had heard of similar attacks from other branches.
Incomprehensible: The goods were about to expire, but according to Schorn, they could still have been sold or donated. According to the Lindt sales representative, this is not desirable because “you are responsible for the health of your customers”. Lindt doesn’t seem to care that this responsibility actually lies with the retailer and not with the manufacturer: Recently, Lindt employees again destroyed goods in Schorn’s branches. According to Schorn, their hands are “tied” and there is an “instruction from above”.
Lindt explains the campaign to “t-online” as follows: “Lindt
For Schorn, the sales force’s destructiveness does not mean any financial damage: In contrast to many other manufacturers, Lindt reimburses the dealers for the value of the unsold goods. However, bars or poorer customers will not be able to enjoy the chocolate, it must be destroyed.
What:t-online
