Hey, I don't know if I'm the only parent who never thought about this, but wow. I just returned a bunch of unopened baby food to Babies-R-Us 2 days ago (some jars, some pouches, some yogurt things and some puffs) because we discovered our little one gets a bad rash eating strawberries. I didn't even think about it... you buy something, you can't use it, you return it so someone else can and you get your money back, no big deal. But the cashier had some trouble ringing up the return, and as her colleague assisted her I overheard her say "because it can't be restocked." I asked for details, and she told me that any food, even still factory sealed, cannot be restocked, it just goes into a box in the back. I asked what happened after that, and she said she didn't know, but it was likely thrown away, and not donated to her knowledge. I only purchased that much because of a sale, and now I feel bad. If I had known, I would have given it to a local food bank or something.
I don't want to make anyone else feel guilty. I mean, if money were tight I would absolutely still return it. But at this point we are doing well and I donate money to the same food bank, so I'd rather donate the food there or give it to friends rather than let it be thrown away. And I'm going to be more careful about buying a lot of baby food that might need to be returned.
Based on a quick google search, this is true at Target and other stores too. Does anyone work in a store like this and know what happens?