To think that pharmacies should not sell out of date medicines

[PigeonPie]

How long a shelf life should those sachets of neurofen / calpol etc have?

I don't seem to be having much luck. I buy a few of these to keep in my bag for when we're out because it's easier to have them in my bag in times of bumps and accidents (which with two boys happens fairly frequently).

Last week, I went into town and bought some. When I got them out to sort out my bag I checked the use by date and noticed that they ran out in February this year, so they shouldn't even have been in the shop.

Then I took them into a different branch earlier today to exchange them. They have, but these ones run out this month.

I would have expected them to last at least a year, but AIBU?

I think you know the answer already. Pointless post.

Sorry but I don't think it's pointless. I actually want to know what the average shelf life is as I don't have any to hand in date.

But I'm also pissed off with wasting so much time just to buy a few sachets of medicine.

Obviously you shouldn't be sold out of date medicine. YANBU but it goes without saying.

do you think anyone is going to post that they should sell out of date medicine?

Obviously they should not sell out of date madicines but the other lot are still in date, even if only by a few days so they are perfectly reasonable to sell them UNTIL the use by or sell by date.

YABU for not checking the date on the medicine when you accepted it the second time. I bet you check the date on food you buy in the supermarket.

My wife has worked in a pharmacy, and when they were getting close to the Best Before Date they'd be sold with a massive "Reduced" label on them. Past their Best Before Date, they'd get thrown away.

I would never think of checking the dates on "off the shelf" medicine to be honest. But I would also still take it if it was only a few weeks out of date as it will be absolutely fine.

Hi there.Ive worked in pharmacy for over 10 years now and in our pharmacy we remove everything that has three months or less from the shelfs. I wouldnt worry if the items you have brought have gone out of date,they dont just rot and become inactive on that exact day.

I don't generally check sell by dates actually because I very rarely buy perishables from the supermarket (meat from the butcher and veg very rarely goes off). I expect that pharmacies should keep their stock up-to-date.

Thanks tobytoes for the reassurance. I was buying the sachets to keep in my bag for emergency use so I expect them to last quite a while. So I'd rather not have stuff that was going to run out in the next month (I've only just chucked out old stuff) and have to replace it yet again - just seems like a false economy.

Yes, but you had already recieved an out of date pack in the first instance so I would have thought that would have prompted you to check the second pack?

Fair point if you buy your bread and cakes from the bakers or you don't buy yogurts/butter/margarine/milk or cheese.

Sorry, but I think you're being a little tough on Pigeon; it would honestly never occur to me to check the use by date on medicine that I had just bought from a pharmacy - I have always assumed that medicine has such strict quality control that they would have already checked it before putting it on the shelf.

It's also not always immediately obvious where the use by date info is, or it can sometimes be embossed into cardboard or foil which can be hard to read (However, having read this thread, I will probably check in future!)

Pigeon, YANBU

I suppose Ismene I had just naively assumed that the assistant would check as I was juggling with a walking stick, a three year old and a very dodgy shoulder /right arm and wasn't thinking very straight. It will teach me to be complacent.

However I think I am right in being concerned that two different branches of the same store have lax systems concerning dates.

It winds me up. I have had life saving adrenalline given to me on prescription for my dd which had already expired. Amongst other items in the past, I do think stock should be checked better in my experience. We dont expect out dated food so we definately shouldn't have out dated meds. As for the calpol running out in a month, is an annoyance but what can we do if they are still in date when you buy them? Real pain, just have to be very careful when buying them next time,they must stay on the shelf a bit. I am now very vidilent with the Epipens. I take in my prescription and find out what chemists have the best dates first. And I still find some chemists only telling me they have ones with only a month left and these are ment to last a good 10-12 mths if pos!