Sure, but selecting the oldest groceries on the shelf is not a factor, as it's not your efficiency you're improving.

> filling in gaps where it doesn't matter.

If the store is arranging its stock orders incorrectly then they should fix that. They have a much better opportunity to have impacts here than your gap filling ever will.

Why don't they actually do this then? Because the 2% loss on waste can't be made up by the 5% additional cost of labor to "right size" the order perfectly every time.

Finally it's only waste because we don't manage these outputs correctly and have a single dumpster where all "garbage" goes. Food recycling and city compost programs could close the rest of the loop far more efficiently than any of this.

> Freshness differentials on shelves isn't worth it for me or the business.

No, it's just the entire rest of the supply chain.