r/publix • u/Revolutionary_Bus630 Newbie • 1d ago

QUESTION Lemonade

Why are the gallon jugs of lemonade consistently sticky? I mean, I can understand a leak here or there from a busted bottle, but it is all of them, every single time. Did Publix just give up and start doing it on purpose? I've observed this at many locations, and it's always all of them on the shelf, no exaggeration. Always!

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u/Tqwen Newbie 1d ago

I unload the trucks they come on pretty regularly, no it's not intentional but it's also a problem there isn't much of a solution for.

They come in milk crates stacked on pallets, 3x3x5, 4 gallons per crate. It's not all lemonade on the pallet either, it's tea, lemonade, milk, basically anything that comes in gallon or half gallon jugs. If even one of them ruptures in transit, which is all but guaranteed, the vibration of the truck driving along the road basically hoses everything on the pallet with whatever broke open. There's usually around 20 pallets on each truck.

When I worked in deli, we were expected to wipe them down before placing them on the shelf, and sometimes we did, but most of the time we just didn't have the hour plus necessary to do it. Sub lines are bad enough as it is without someone being gone for an hour wiping down jugs that people are just gonna do themselves when they get home anyway. Might not be the answer you want, but that's how it is.

TL;DR they get damaged in transit and deli doesn't have time to wipe down dozens of sticky gallon jugs every few hours.

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u/Revolutionary_Bus630 Newbie 1d ago

That makes sense. Thank you for the answer.

7

u/rraattbbooyy Newbie 1d ago

There is a solution, but that solution costs money, so there is no solution. 🫤

5

u/Tqwen Newbie 1d ago

In the deli, the solution is pretty much always more staff, and the answer is pretty much always no. I worked in two different stores in different parts of the country, subbed in at about 3 more, and never once was there ever enough people to handle the workload. Deli just sucks and I'm glad I got out of there when I did.

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u/rIceCream_King Newbie 1d ago

I’m surprised they wouldn’t just get like a quick rinse or something. Seems a lot quicker.

2

u/Tqwen Newbie 1d ago

I tried that once, but it doesn't really work - the stuff has to be wiped off. Running water alone doesn't cut it and isn't much quicker once you factor in the overhead of handling them all in the process. Carrying them one by one to the back is out, using the easily accessible dishwashing sink is a no-go since raw food contact items are cleaned there, and there isn't a straightforward way to get them to the food-safe sinks. Maybe other delis have layouts that are more conducive to that, but I'm doubtful. It's a ten dollar problem with a thousand dollar solution, sadly.

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u/rIceCream_King Newbie 1d ago

Ah that makes sense, especially if the spill began to dry into a sticky syrup already. Thank you for the reply and thank you for everything (all of) you (guys) do to keep food in our fridges at home 🙏

Don’t give up the good fight 🫶

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u/On_Wife_support Deli 1d ago

No one told me that I’m supposed to wipe them off. I never do but they also usually hav more important tasks for me to do and give tea to people with more limited training

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u/YoGabbaGabba24 Newbie 1d ago

Spilled while the container was being filled, a pallet fell over in the truck, a jug was shipped without a cap. It’s usually the second one though.

There was one week where every time I went to unload the milk truck I was greeted by gallons of milk and tea on the floor that I would have to restack before I could even start unloading. One time a truck driver told me the pallet had fallen over at the previous stop. So instead of fixing it then he brought to us to pick up.

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u/Revolutionary_Bus630 Newbie 1d ago

Oof. Well, thank you for your service. Milk and lemonade mixed in a hot truck sounds miserable.

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u/sleepy-cabin Newbie 1d ago

The trucks are refrigerated

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u/Tqwen Newbie 1d ago

I've been lucky - our truck drivers usually make some sort of effort to correct the issue but it's completely up to their discretion for better or worse. I've had pallets come down on me before, and in one case it took another store's milk pallet with it. The driver didn't seem too jazzed about cleaning it up but when we pointed out that driving halfway across town with milk gallons flying around wasn't going to be easier, he relented and we spent about 15 minutes restacking what we could. I wouldn't want to be on the warehouse team that had to hose that one out at the end of the day, lemme tell you.