A proposed inquiry would "shed light" on why grocery prices remain so high
Greed...
The answer, as for so many others, is greed.
this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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worked for a food distrobutor during covid and they had a meeting about jacking up prices on covid supplies and all other items. At the time I said the covid supplies was a big issue. Nope, full steam ahead. I even did a whistlr blower complaint to the FTC with all the documents. Nothing ever came of it.
My work magically got a supply of N95 masks early in Covid. It was unexpected, so we didn't have a plan or a system for them. Didn't think to have a limit or anything.
A crew from Albert Lee bought every single one, took them back to their store, and sold them at 100% markup.
How could capitalism ever turn out this way? /s
Thank Reagan and Thatcher for that fucking mess.
Fucking trickle down Reaganomics Heritage Foundation bullshit. They're still around and still dragging the country down.
And thank the capitalist system for allowing that mess to happen to begin with.
Can't buy politicians if you put a hard cap on wealth and workers own the means of production.
Most evil political duo of my lifetime for sure.
It’s amazing how many people don’t understand this. Prices go up for a long time and almost never come down after because that would lead to losses and a stock dive. But the narrative is that it’s greed. It’s not bloody greed, it’s Capitalism’s process. Want that to change, stop putting money in the stock market.
It’s not bloody greed, it’s Capitalism’s process.
Why'd you say the same thing twice?
Your attempt at being funny misses the entire point.
I'd love to, but I have 2 locked-in RRSPs that can only be invested in the stock market (from former jobs). It pisses me off to no end that I have exactly zero control over them ... and have just (in the past 2 years) gained what I lost in the 2008 crash.
Fuck Wall St and fuck jobs that force me into the stock market.
Oh I hear you. My 401k and rollovers are in the market. If you want to make any kind of money you don’t really have a choice.
I was at the grocery store yesterday. A single shrinkflation Hershey's bar was $2.49. Some prices have doubled in 1-5 years... Are you fucking kidding me!?
Imagine paying two and a half bucks for brown wax 🤢
Ain't that the truth. If it were a $3 chocolate bar made by a chocolatier in a real shop with a decent amount of cocoa in it that might be worth it. But it's really disappointing mass produced slightly vomit-tasting brown wax, it's disgusting and barely worth $1.
On Thursday, during a virtual public meeting hosted by the FTC and the Department of Justice, Khan said the probe would “shed light” on why prices and profits at grocery chains “remain so high even as costs appear to have come down.”
"We want to make sure that major businesses are not exploiting their power to inflate prices for American families at the grocery store,” she said.
Khan plans to formally ask the FTC to launch an inquiry, but the process will only proceed if the commission votes in favor of it. Should the inquiry gain approval, the agency would require big grocery chain operators to provide information on their sales, costs, and profits for commonly purchased items.
This why the GOP want to have her removed and why billionaires were asking Harris to have her removed. We need vote and make damn sure she stays in power and FTC gets teeth to fight against all the greed.
Watch this new video about her from More Perfect Union: https://youtu.be/J7ZdU-1fF8g
Thanks for posting this.
We must protect her at all costs.
It's ABOUT TIME
Srsly, watching grocery chains consolidate and regional prices for staples like butter and cheese go up by 50% in a matter of months got me pretty mad- I mean, on the one hand those things didn't become 50% more attractive or more expensive to make, they just didn't have to compete on price. It was really the fact that they could do it and get away with it that hurt the most.
It's my understanding that grocers themselves tend to operate is miserably thin margins, especially when they don't have the kind of leverage of large, national chains. I know someone whose family operated a community grocery and they were actually relieved when the building caught fire. They didn't depend on the income, it was just something they took over to serve the community, and it ended up feeling like an anchor around their neck. Seems likely that this is largely an issue that lies with the food producers.
My father says the same thing about the slim margin of oil companies. That being said, when that slim margin is in the billions and millions of people suffer for it, there's room for inquiry.
Idk. I live in a food desert, I've thought about trying to scrape up the capital to start a grocery bus to serve my area, but I'm pretty worried about whether I'd be able to pay my bills if I made it my full time job. I've pretty consistently heard that grocery is a sector that operates on thin margins, and I wonder if the notable disappearance of small neighborhood grocers over the course of my lifetime isn't evidence to that end.
"high grocery prices"
I don't think most people are specifically targeting retailers, who make very little percent per item, as you said. But manufacturers were raising prices before the pandemic, during it, and now...
Thin margins has always just been corporate propaganda. Those margins have widened alongside the wealth gap for decades.
Can't speak for grocery but I owned a bar in my community for a time.
Even if every seat was full every night, once you subtract rent, utilities, labor, taxes, licenses & fees, benefits, accounting costs, maintenance costs, processing fees, etc...
...in multiple years of operating it I put more money into it then I ever got out.
But I loved the customers and it was nice being able to give the employees a job and benefits.
I think it could have made me money if I worked there beyond full time, but I couldn't because I had a day job that paid more.
It also could have made money if I added lottery, but...I couldn't bring myself to do that and a lot of the customers I talked to said it'd ruin the ambiance.
When COVID finally took it, I felt sad, but I, too, felt relieved because it was just one headache after the other with no end in sight. And with rising costs it would have only gotten worse.
I don't have a ton of evidence, but I think this Fall / Winter is going to see another string of closures and my guess is it's because everyone is leveraged to the hilt and Summer isn't going to save them.
And it's sad :(
I work in a family owned grocery. They use MSRP for most things. Distributor prices went up, which made store prices go up. Manufacturing prices probably also went up. But the markup that the store gets is about 10% less now (45% to 35%). They are still well off.
This investigation should be over quickly. Whereas at the beginning of Covid, it was cheaper to shop at Kroger than the local grocery co-op and the fresh thyme, both are now cheaper than Kroger by ~$50/week for a family of 3. The same carton of eggs at fresh thyme is half the price of Kroger. Make it make sense!!!
Likewise Trader Joe's prices have shot up tremendously, like 50% on many items in less than a year. This while Aldi's prices have not risen nearly as much. Meanwhile corporations are celebrating the highest profits in more than 70 years while simultaneously working overtime to convince us those runaway profits have nothing to do with inflation.
She spent all her money on the dozen yards of fabric it took to make that jacket, of course she can't afford groceries!
(I kid I kid I love this woman and hope she keeps winning)
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https://qz.com/ftc-probe-grocery-price-surge-consumers-inflation-1851611874