A wholesaler sorting a new shipment does not think about star signs, but the sorting looks the same as a zodiac colour chart by accident. Cartons get split by variety, and variety in dates usually reads as colour first: gold Deglet Noor in one stack, deep brown Medjool in another, near-black Ajwa on its own pallet. Retailers who ask for "campuran warna" — a mixed-colour box — for gift hampers are really asking for one of each stack.
That happens to line up with how pop-astrology assigns colour to sign: fire signs get gold and orange, earth signs get brown, water signs get black and deep red. A hamper packer who wants a box that "covers everyone" ends up building almost exactly this mix without ever hearing the word zodiac. It is a useful shorthand for a retail buyer explaining to a grader what a gift set should contain, even if nobody involved believes in horoscopes.
Colour also tells a grader something real, separate from the astrology angle. A date that has gone matte or picked up a light white bloom on the skin is not spoiled — that is crystallised natural sugar — but it usually means the batch has been stored a while and should move to a faster-turnover shelf rather than a premium hamper. Grading and pricing still comes down to size and moisture content, not shine, but a sharp-eyed buyer uses colour as the first, fastest filter before checking those numbers properly.
For traders building mixed-variety gift sets or comparing stock ahead of a bulk order, understanding the texture gap between fresh and fully dried dates matters more day-to-day than any colour-sign pairing. The full wholesale buying guide covers both in more detail for anyone stocking a shop rather than filling one gift box.