Free Rotisserie Chickens at Sam's Club

Here's a potential money saving tip left as a comment to my post titled Best Financial Tips from FMF Readers, Part 5: Seven Ways to Eat for Free:

Hi...LOL I have one, it's for Sam's Club also...if you go there about an hour before they close, they will give you the rotisserie chickens for free.

Is this true? Can anyone verify it? Is it a matter of store policy or happen sometimes on a store-by-store basis?

If it's true, I may need to check out Sam's Club close to closing more often. ;-)

Comments

[Brad]

I worked at Wal-Mart for a while and 2 people were fired for giving away more food than was bought during rush hour. It was very strick about throwing away any extra food after the shift was over.
Bruster's gives away one or two free scoops of ice cream when it's raining.

[Chris]

They would rather have their employees throw away the food than give it away. I worked at Starbucks once upon a time, and you wouldn't imagine the waste they produce. The prices there subsidize the waste of gallons of coffee every day. It was company policy that not throwing away unused food and drink was stealing.

[Dus10]

Chris, that is very interesting given Starbucks' apparent liberal tilt... they are big on recycling and they even give you a couple cents discount if you bring in your own mug. Read: VERY HYPOCRITICAL.

[MoleOnABull]

If it is indeed true...

They will eventually wise up if too many people start doing it, or if they notice a trend or whatever.

[Minimum Wage]

I'd love to visit Sam's Club so I can Trust but Verify, but the closest one is something like 1,000 miles from here.

[Marcus]

I worked in a Sam's Club a while back and the chicken story is indeed true. The giveaway foes not happen often but a luck few can indeed get a free bird at closing time too many have been cooked.

[Mark]

My wife worked at Starbucks for a time and her store gave all the leftovers to the local homeless food shelter. Handed bags of deserts to the charity with my own hands.

[OneWayorAnotherWay]

yum!

[Brad]

After thinking about it overnight, our student ministry asks Panera Bread and local grocery stores for the bread that they are going to throw away. We promise them that, we would give it to the homeless shelter in town, if we didn't eat it. We generally just do 2 stores because we have so much. (Usually one trunk full of bread). It's really amazing how much they over cook!

[Tj]

I've worked at several dinners and we ALWAY's had to throw it out. First it was considered "stealing" to do otherwise, and secondly after sitting for a long time they could not be sure it was still "healthy" to eat. I know several McDonald's dinners even placed padlocks on the garbage bins to prevent the homeless from diving in. I'm sure we as a county throw out billions of dollars worth of food just to have things "fast" and "on-the-go" while others die from starvation in distant lands.

[Chris]

People are starving in our own lands. Putting a padlock on the garbage bins sounds downright criminal. Once it goes into the trash, I consider it public property.

[Beth]

I worked at McDonald's many years ago, and for a while we were allowed to take the leftover apple pies home at closing time. They discontinued the practice because apparently someone was baking extra pies close to closing so he could take them home. This is why a lot of places won't give away free food. Giving it to customers, however, may be different.

And you're running a risk that they'll be sold out the day you go for your free chicken at Sam's Club, if it's still true.

Also, if someone (homeless or not) were to break into McD's fast food, eat some food that was clearly past its prime, there is the possibly of a lawsuit if the person gets sick.

[zen]

back in my fast-food days we gave away food at the end of the night (no homeless shelters, or people in the small town). Often the employees would either take it home or go barter with other fast-food places.