TikToker Claims CVS Pays People $3 for Every Expired Item They Find on The Shelf

When you were growing up, laying down in bed and staring at the ceiling dreaming of all the wonderful things you're going to do once you're finally an adult, you probably played a ton of different scenarios in your mind as to what you would do for a living.

Maybe you went through a phase where you dreamed of being a successful musician, playing your heart out on the stage complete with dope backup dancers and an insane lights/fireworks show.

Or maybe you thought about being an astronaut and befriending an alien that you'd somehow smuggle back home that would join your family and get into a bunch of misadventures. Whatever your dream vocation was, it probably didn't involve reporting to a store manager that a bunch of their items was going to expire.

But when you're an adult, bills need to be paid, and apparently, there's a policy at CVS where folks who inform staff members of products that are past their due date, nab them $3 coupons per item. Depending on the number of items that they grab per week, or if they're in the habit of visiting CVS on the regular, they could cover a decent amount of their shopping expenses at the pharmacy using this method.

At least that's according to TikToker @heygranty, who shared a photo of a customer who brought tons of cartons of milk along with packages of cookies, and bags of chips to the front counter.

He says in the now viral TikTok: "No this isn't someone who really likes milk and cookies this is someone who is about to make a lot of money. Do you know about the CVS expired side hustle?"

The TikToker then goes into what this side hustle entails: "So as a result of a lawsuit CVS now offers three dollar coupons to customers who find expired items and bring it to the register. There's no cap, there's no limit."

The TikToker continued: "If you find expired milk, soda, chocolates, foods, anything and everything and bring it to the register, they are required to give you a $3 coupon and this is all due to a lawsuit that CVS faced prior due to carrying expired things on their shelves."

He then asks his followers, "So who's done this before? Are you gonna do it now? Try it out, let me know how it goes."

Like @heygranty says, there are several mentions of CVS' expired foods lawsuit in the media. CBS News reported on the Pennsylvania Attorney General's 2016 $450,000 settlement with the pharmacy chain. The New York Legal Examiner said that there have been other locations, like stores in North Carolina, that have also been found carrying expired food items on its shelves; this was in 2019.

But it seems that the brand has been called out for keeping items on its shelves past its due date for quite some time: the Office of the Attorney General in Connecticut in November 30, 2009 also posted a news release also claiming the brand was sued for a similar occurrence: "Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced he is suing CVS Pharmacy, Inc. for allegedly selling food, beverages and over the counter medications past their expiration dates at 20 or more of its Connecticut stores."

As for the TikToker's claim that CVS is handing out $3 coupons per expired item brought to the counter of each store, it would seem that there is some truth to what he's saying. Coupons in the News reported back in 2016 that there were multiple instances of the chain doling out store credit to customers who located expired items in their stores.

And in 2009, California Attorney General Judge Edmund G. Brown Jr. also reported that customers were also entitled to coupons for the expired items. So it seems like the TikTok is legit, or at the very least, there are points in time where CVS gets hit with a fine for selling expired goods, and then they have to pay the customers back with vouchers.