Regardless of the date on the package, eggs at least last a really long time. Go ahead and buy a dozen. If you eat those dozen this month, you'll probably be fine.
I have seen eggs be fine after 3 months in the fridge. I have seen foreign eggs last 6 weeks without refrigeration, the latter part of it in the tropics. (Don't try that with US eggs--we clean them more, weakening their defenses.)
Delia Smith on how to tell a good egg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2OWXN80NZQ
Edit: Ironically (or sadly), I was a bit too quick to call for disposal of old eggs.
Lots of bulk liquids too, but I haven't seen milk.
When I used to spend time in the suburbs I witnessed people filling large cars with groceries to last for weeks. It is hard to estimate in advance what you will actually use working that way.
I prefer to live walking distance from grocers and go every day to buy a small amount of ingredients. I often still end up with leftovers, but I am pretty conscientious about using them before they go bad and before buying more.
You also save the money on gas/less wear on the car/gym membership.
Yes, and it's not limited to food. It's the same phenomenon as someone buying too many games on Steam or buying more books than they can read.
You are right in that labelling won't solve the fundamental issue, even if it could solve some of it: for instance making it more clear at purchase time how fast a product will degenerate could help lower impulse purchase. But then it will lower sales as well, we'd need regulation otherwise the key players won't buy in.
At some point I wonder if a model close to subscription to food services would work, in the same way Netflix doesn't make you buy thousands of movies you won't watch. If fixing our culture doesn't work.
I think often, the answer is a resounding "yes". In the UK there was a major push a few years ago to get rid of BOGOF deals on food as it often just led to more food waste.
I've not really seen much tangible change from that, but supermarkets are competing so much on "deals" that it's often better value to buy more than you need than trying to buy "enough".
I only recently replaced my half empty "Best-by Nov 2016" Costco Saigon Cinnamon with a brand new bottle of the same. The new bottle tastes a little stronger but I sort of regret throwing the old bottle away since I don't think it will actually matter.
As someone who grew up in a not so wealthy family (but not "poor" by any standard), this behaviour is... perplexing. Are people regularly buying far more than they can consume? If that's the case, I don't think changing the date labels will do much. We almost never discarded food because of, and used the dates more as an indicator of when to consume it.