If you’ve ever wondered how thrift stores can keep overhead so low, we have your answer.

Everything they sell is expired.

Knocking 50% off a loaf of bread that expires in three days makes financial sense. But cutting the years-old expiration dates off tubes of toothpaste and selling them to customers is just asking for trouble.

After an audit by Consumer Affairs, the Big 99 Cent store in Valley Stream, NY, was fined a whopping $13,225 for knowingly selling expired items. Among the items confiscated were 186 tubes of toothpaste that’d had their expiration dates removed — some of which were even leaking toothpaste and placed back into the boxes.

A total of 529 items were found, including children’s vitamins and other medical products.

The store manager claimed his supplier warehouse was to blame and that he had no idea any of his products had been tampered with.

We have a little math lesson for him: Selling 529 non-expired items would’ve netted the store $523.71, plus tax where applicable. That certainly beats being in the hole for over thirteen grand.

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Tags: Consumer Affairs, Expiration, Suppliers