Quick background question

Have you ever worked in retail, hospitality, food service, supermarket, cafe or similar?

Yes No

If yes, briefly describe what steps you would take to handle perishables nearing expiration (otherwise leave blank):

Store decision guide

Imagine you work in a supermarket's fresh-food department. Use this guide for both rounds:

Action	When to use
Markdown	Item is safe and sellable, but needs faster sale because close to expiry or slightly lower quality.
Donate	Item is safe to consume but unlikely to sell in time. Flag for charity pick-up if eligible.
Escalate	You cannot confidently decide whether the item is safe, sellable, or donation-eligible without supervisor input.
Bin	Item is clearly unsafe, contaminated, temperature-abused, damaged beyond safe handling, or past food safety threshold.

Note: Markdown, donate, and escalate are all waste-prevention actions. Binning is the operational default but should only be used when other actions are not appropriate.

Your task

You will complete two rounds. Each round has 5 different products and a 2:30 timer.

Time constraint: 2 minutes 30 seconds per round, simulating real shift pressure. If time runs out, remaining items default to Bin, like an unattended item discarded at end-of-shift.

The two rounds use different products. One round will include a digital prompt called WasteWise; the other will not. The order is randomised.

Round 1 complete

Take a quick breath, then continue to Round 2.

Round 2 uses different products and may include or exclude the WasteWise prompt depending on your random assignment.

The timer resets to 2:30 for Round 2.

Final reflection

1. The scenarios felt realistic.

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

2. The decisions were difficult to make.

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2

3

4

5

EasyVery difficult

3. The WasteWise round felt different from the Standard round.

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2

3

4

5

No differenceVery different

4. Which round felt more manageable under time pressure?

The Standard round (no checklist) The WasteWise round (with checklist) About the same

5. Did the WasteWise prompt change how you decided in that round? Why or why not?

6. What, if anything, made the decisions difficult overall?

7. Commitment question

If you were starting a real shift tomorrow as a fresh-food employee, would you commit to taking a brief assessment (markdown / donate / escalate check) before binning any near-expiry item?

Yes, I would always check first Yes, for most items It depends on how busy I am No, the time pressure is not worth it

Thank you!

Your responses have been recorded.

You contributed paired evidence on whether visibility prompts shift decisions in supermarket food waste contexts.

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Supermarket Food Waste Decision Task