Editing 2297: Use or Discard By

{{comic
| number    = 2297
| date      = April 22, 2020
| title     = Use or Discard By
| image     = use_or_discard_by.png
| titletext = One of the things of bear spray says that, and I'm not one to disobey safety instructions, but there are no bears around here. Guess it's time for a camping trip where we leave lots of food out!
}}

==Explanation==

Many products carry a "Use By", "{{w|Expiration date}}", "Discard by" or similar date.  The date shows the latest date by which the product has been verified to provide its expected use. For example, a foodstuff will have a "consume by" date, showing the date after which the food may be unsuitable for eating. In most cases, this will be a conservative estimate, and the useful lifetime can be significantly extended by proper storage.

One of the issues around expiration dates is that the language used is decided on by the manufacturer, making them highly variable and often ambiguous. Some have explicit instructions to the consumer, such as "use by:", others have instructions to the seller, such as "sell by:", still others say things such as "best by:" or "freshest before:". This can make it confusing how important it is to avoid using a product past a given date.

For many consumer goods, the expiration dates are of minimal importance, and using them afterward risks nothing more than a drop in quality. In certain cases, however, they can have safety implications. Some foods, if kept too long, become dangerous to consume. Medications can lose their potency over time, and relying on them past the expiration date could put a person's health at risk.

In this comic, two similar emergency {{w|flare gun}}s, an item typically used to send out distress {{w|flare}}s, have slightly different expiry instructions. One has an instruction to "use by or discard by" a specific date (in this case, three days after the date of publishing).  The other has an instruction to "use by" this date. These two phrases almost certainly have the same intent. The older flares are, the less reliable they become, so the manufacturer recommends regularly replacing unused flares with working ones, to ensure that working flares are available in case of an emergency. 

[[Megan]], however, seems to take the latter instruction literally, as an order to actually fire the flare gun prior to the expiration date, whether or not it's necessary. It may be taken that she <em>wants</em> the experience of firing a flare, and takes that instruction as an excuse to do so.  [[Cueball]] immediately objects to this line of reasoning. Firing a flare unnecessarily is generally a bad idea. It could summon emergency responders to a non-emergency situation, diverting emergency resources that may be needed elsewhere.  Even worse, if a flare is fired improperly, or in an unsafe direction, it could cause a fire and/or injuries, ironically creating an emergency situation, rather than signaling one. 

The title text similarly indicates that Megan encountered similar instructions on a can of {{w|bear spray}}.  Since there are no bears present, she intends go camping and leave her food out to attract bears, so that she may use the bear spray to repel them before it "goes bad". Clearly, this would be a bad idea. While bear spray is a useful emergency measure, there are many reasons why it could fail to protect the user, which would risk severe injury or death. Even if the bear spray effectively protected Megan, deliberately baiting wildlife so that you can repel them with a painful irritant would be irresponsible and cruel. In both cases, the humor derives from the language that appears to instruct the use of an emergency product, even if no emergency has occurred. In both cases, taking such instructions literally would risk causing injuries, rather than preventing them. 

The title text might be misspelled; it says "One of the things of bear spray says that", which is not grammatically coherent. Randall might have meant to say "One of the tins of bear spray says that", or it might be a relict of an earlier edit that could have been worded something like, "One of the things on a bear spray" or "One of the things a bear spray says".

Expiration dates (for food) have also been mentioned in [[737: Yogurt]], [[1109: Refrigerator]], and [[2178: Expiration Date High Score]].

==Transcript==

:[Megan stands in the middle of the panel, holding two flare guns, one in each hand.]
:Megan: These emergency flare guns are about to expire.
:Cueball [off-panel]: I forgot we had those.

:[Cueball sitting at a desk, working on a computer.]
:Megan [off-panel]: This one says "Use or discard by Apr 25 2020."
:Cueball: Okay...

:[Megan holds up one of the flare guns looking at it. She holds the other flare gun by her side.]
:Megan: But '''''this''''' one just says "Use by" ...
:Cueball [off-panel]: '''''No.'''''

== Trivia ==
* Twenty-seven years ago exactly ([https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/04/22 April 22, 1993]), ''Calvin and Hobbes'' made a similar joke about expiration dates on milk.  Obviously the humor has a very long shelf-life.
* This comic shares some similarities with [[1821: Incinerator]], particularly in the last panel.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]