I thought I'm the only one doing this

For fresh stuff they often used to pack the older ones in front so it'll sell first, that's why we were taught to do that.
The same way that if you are at a market and there's one head of lettuce left, you won't take it because you'll think there's something wrong with it, but amongst many it'll appear fine. It causes for great food waste and is a massive consumerist problem.

You have no idea how much people that work in grocery stores hate this shit, especially in the dairy department

The first pack of chips in a row tends to have more broken chips in it, in my experience, so I always ttok the second one.

Unnecessary Capitalization Is Very Cool, Yes?