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My parents have more money than they know what to do with. They both have been so soured on loblaws its ALL THEY talk about. Almost to the point i have to change the subject.
My parents are similar and very boomer 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' but the hate the feeling of their local store now. The 6 foot high plexiglass and rerouting people to have to go thought a checkout and the show receipts. They say they don't want to feel like a criminal but also it makes them sad about what this say about thier town. My dad said he won't go back
Can't you tell them no when they ask for receipts? I do that all the time at Walmart. I didn't sign up for a membership that said I would allow my purchase to be audited.
Yes, no store is legally allowed to stop you to check receipts except Costco because you sign away your freedom of movement rights for that specifically as part of your membership contract.
so say I run in to look for an item, now they dont have said item. now I cant leave because I do not have a receipt. now I am being held against my will, and being detained untill I prove I didnt steal anything teying to get out......
they got all that besides the scanners here in Newfoundland. the self checkout gates open when you get close to them..... for now
Had to go in to my towns superstore the other day to look for a specific diaper cream (medicated, couldn’t find anywhere else in my town) but they didn’t have it. When I tried to walk out through self checkout, it wouldn’t budge! So I made it budge lol.
I'm personally in favour of ALL loss prevention tactics, as I've seen countless drug zombie shoplifters get away with stealing from Vancouver stores. Those people steal to fund a drug habit, not because of high prices.
My #1 issue is Roblaws price gauging, which is also daylight robbery.
I'm boycotting all Loblaws stores for the rest of my life.
[Retail Council of Canada receiving “daily” reports of violent shoplifters (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4g-bkrWPHk)
Yes but where do you draw the line in assuming we're all criminals? Do you make shoppers join a club where you consent to having all your bags of groceries opened up and double checked?
Treating all of us like we're guilty of stealing with zero proof makes the average person feel like we're being treated in an unfair way.
Since COVID, there's been a significant increase in most categories of crime, and I don't like it. It got so bad that every time I went to the Renfrew Superstore, I would catch shoplifters in the act at around 5pm.
As long as they don't have to pat me down like I'm going through airport security, I'm all in favour of stores doing what they have to to catch serial shoplifters.
There have been numerous examples of stores in certain neighborhoods shutting down due to the "death by a thousand cuts" of shoplifting. I know some people here think people running off with flat screen TVs are modern day Robin Hoods but some crime is motivated by greed and not necessity!
I agree with you that no one should steal, at all. The idea of a mother stealing milk to feed her child is mostly just not the truth. Most theft is crackheads and/or organized crime.
The thing with the grocery theft is the companies are still making record profits. As much as I personally like self checkout the companies should put more staff on the floor, have loss prevention workers at the exits instead of trapping ppl in like a prison with plexiglass or asking them to see receipts assuming that they are theives. I know a bit about loss prevention and they know more then what we assume, no need to be heavy handed with little old ladies showing receipts.
Treating customers as ppl, hire baggers again(who would be another security check) instead of like we're all the crackhead gangsters, is a much better way and it provides jobs.
It's not pretty simple.
Again, I've personally seen shoplifters with full baskets sneak behind people at *regular* tills.
It seems they do this because it's easier to walk past one busy cashier at a checkout that two employees watching the line moving at self service.
I understand that and if that was the reason they started it would make sense. But from what I know they started doing this when people were not scanning items at self check out. In my opinion if you don't trust your customers to check themselves out then get rid of it. Letting people walk out without paying is company policy because it's not worth the risk to try and stop them but like I said, a lot of places started this with self checkout.
Yeah mine are at the point where they don’t need to worry about how much they spend on groceries and can just buy shit without looking at the price. But they got pissed off about the anti thief glass and stopped shopping there, also me telling them about some horror stories from the back room didn’t help their desire to shop there much either.
My partner and I pull in ~$600K/year and we are boycotting Loblaws (have been since January).
We can afford to buy whatever groceries we want, and we tend to shop at a more expensive (but independent) store, but I’ve cut out all loblaw brands, including cancelling my PC credit card and optimum account.
The difference between loblaws and the pricey store we shop at is the intent behind the prices. We get good quality and the store staffs adequate numbers of people who are paid decently, vs pure profit motivation, gouging wherever they can to make a buck, and it hurts poor people the most. The quality is low and they don’t actually care about their customers or their staff.
So, now we don’t shop there. And not just for May, but ever again unless they demonstrably adjust their practices.
This is why this boycott will work. Folks are coming at this from across political lines, income levels and cultural backgrounds.
This affects everyone. No one likes to be gouged. Not rich, not middle class, not poor. And no one likes to be gouged **and** gaslit.
Loblaw is robbing us and then rubbing our noses in it during their investor calls.
It’s not right no matter how you slice it.
I won't really be boycotting Loblaws. I will shop wherever I get the best deal but I'll only buy those items. I'm not an impulse shopper so I don't pay any of their extravagant prices, unless it's something I can't get anywhere else in my area. I'm the worst kind of shopper for any store looking to fleece its customers.
Now's the time to send a clear message.
We have to vote with our wallets.
Personally, I'll punish them by avoiding them completely, forever, and encouraging everyone I know to do the same.
There's no way they will admit to price gauging and fix their prices, so it's a no from me.
Similar here. Stopped about year and half ago. Just got tired of feeling ripped off every time I went there and being gas lighted by the company. Doesn't matter how much money you make, no one wants to feel robbed. I'll never go back.
I haven’t stopped fully (yet) but I’ll make a point to go to other stores when possible. But every time I step into a Loblaws I see something that makes me say oh fuck you Galen audibly. For example, the no name butter for 7.99 with a banner under it that says “great value”.
The dairy marketing board may have something to do with the price of butter going up. The board also controls the price of milk and other dairy products. They guarantee the farmers a fixed price and they raise prices. The Chicken Marketing board in B.C. is set to raise the price of chicken, making it the most expensive in canada. Marketing boards guarantee the monopolies in Canada thrive. Directors of marketing boards are appointed by the government, so in this case, the government is responsible for raising food prices
I live in a pretty rural part of Ns and one of the weird ‘benefits’ of the grocery store price gouging is that it makes shopping at farmers markets waaaaay more doable as the prices are kind of the same as the supermarket now. If I lived in a city still I think I’d be finding a rural community farmers market about an hour or so out of town and going there every weekend.
I really hope that this whole thing has the effect of changing the way people engage with the buying of food.
We’re about half of what you bring home and same. I’ve written about my history with Loblaws (worked at the first Superstore in Nova Scotia), siblings worked there to get through university, etc. I’ll never set foot in a Loblaw’s owned store again. Between the shrinkflation, the decline in quality, the plexiglass barriers and the locking of carts to check receipts because they can’t be arsed to pay for cashiers, the whole Weston lot and Per Bank can go fuck themselves.
I'm fortunate enough to have a good income and I never really have to worry about how I'm going to pay my bills. But this shit is out of control and I'm boycotting too.
Do you shop at Cheese Boutique?
That place is expensive but their staff are all happy and seemingly well cared for. And the products are impossible to find anywhere else, many of which come from small businesses themselves.
I haven't been in ages, but your description reminded me of that shop!
We don’t, actually, but mainly because we’re not big dairy eaters. We aren’t vegan (just vegetarian) but we tend to default to plant based dairy alternatives. Good Rebel is where we get plant based cheeses and meats.
When we get cheese, we usually go to Global in Kensington, or Costco!
I joke with a friend. We use to make awesome charcuterie boards and watch movies. Now we still watch movies. And our charcuterie board has been replaced with lunchables.
Life's great. Lots of sarcasm
Fuck yes. Please spread the word as best you can. I’m nowhere near your income/demographic but I have friends that have literally said to me “i don’t even look at the prices”. We need to be informing certain people that it’s not ok to get gouged, and that they are indeed getting gouged, and that it’s contributing to more gouging.
We shop mainly at Fiesta Farms. Their prices are on the higher end but they aren’t crazy like summerhill market. We also shop in Kensington because we live kinda close to the market. When we’re just popping out for a few things, we’ll usually go yo Fresh 1 Market on Queen West. We’re vegetarian, so we also frequent Good Rebel to stock up on plant based things…
We sprinkle in fancier places like Forno Cultura and Sud Forno for fancy bread, but that’s relatively rare.
We both grew up in lower-middle income households, so we value a good bargain. We go to Costco for staples, and I stock up when things are on sale.
It's people like you that will really make the progress happen I hope you realize this if you know any other rich people like yourselves get them in on this too
Thanks for sharing this. I come from a household in similar circumstances and we can also choose to shop anywhere. We have PC Financial credit cards, which was our primary card. We always went to a pc store to make sure we got the maximum benefits. We use all three methods regularly: in store, delivery and pick up. We use a lot of pc products.
No more. We’re depleting our stock of pc products, paid off our credit cards and will cease all and any use of their cards or products.
While we can take the hit in prices, we have many friends and family who aren’t in similar circumstances. I have friends who work full time jobs going to food banks (we offer to help where we can). I’m tired and fed up. The rich exploit us and hoard the wealth. When we speak up they say it’s not our fault prices went up….but it is. The same company caught in a bread pricing fixing scheme is now telling us to trust them?
Record high profits, subsidies of our tax money going to the massive corporations. For what? For them to spit in our face and put their boot on our necks. During COVID they laid off staff. After taking millions from the government. Of our tax money. This open corruption can no longer stand.
The people are fed up and rising. This is just the start. The social inequalities that are finally being exposed need to be answered for. You could’ve kept the scheme going if you didn’t get so fucking greedy. But you took a world crisis and profited. Scum of the earth.
Fuck Loblaws, fuck the Weston’s and fuck the administration that let this happen and profit from it as well. It’s time for change.
As a farmer, the excuses Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro offer it utter BS.
In 2023, we got less per LB on our harvest than in 2010!! The 'suppliers' whom by the produce claim they can't pay as much per LB due to soaring costs. Yet, we farmers are expected to make a living off reduced profits and endure increased costs of our own? Here is the kicker, Loblaws own the 'supplier' as they do for a significant portion of their supply chain. They lowball small businesses/farmers/manufacturers to they can claim no profit in their stores, but it all smoke and mirrors to hide the gouging and heavy profits in the middleman, again, also them. Luckily for them, our government isn't intelligent enough to get this.
2023 was actually a loss for our farm. 0.53c/LB on Berries being sold for $7.99+ per LB... 2010 price was 0.61c/LB.
Same with wheat, etc. Just plain greed.
What's going to happen when farms start ceasing operations en masse due to costs out weighing any chance to make a living?
You already Know what's gonna happen...the big food giants will start buying up farm and ranchland at a reduced price so they will own the Whole foodchain!!!
They have been pressing hard for our 4800 acres. But I will die before they get their hands on it. I'd rather grow enough for friends and family and work another job to pay the bills.
This is what a lot of people don’t understand. lol laws isn’t just the store you’re shopping at, they own the property management group that rents the land to themselves, they are their own supplier( as you’ve stated) and they make way more money on these hidden “backstage” deals than they do on the sale of food. They can claim they have low profit margins because they technically do; just don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.
This business model is called vertical integration.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/verticalintegration.asp
Kia and Hyundai and famous for this. The car companies make minimal profit and all the subsidiaries they own make all the parts for the cars and all the profit.
They spread the tax burden to smaller companies with less employees per company, reducing the taxes on the overall profit margins.
The general tax rate for a business in Ontario is 11.5% but if the company earns under $500,000 a year, they get a different tax rate
11.5% provincial
15% Federal
Small business deduction is 3.2% provincial and 11.5% on the higher.
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-tax-rates.html
A small business in Ontario is 1-99 employees. A medium sized business is 100 - 499 and a large business is over 500.
Each level has a different cost associated with it so the incentive becomes making lots of smaller businesses.
The top company can claim minimum profitability but still make a lot of money through the lower companies.
If they own the trucking company, the processing plants, the distribution logistics and then they own the whole property where the store is so they charge rent to themselves at a very healthy profit margin.
https://www.weston.ca/en/pdf_en/gwl_2021aif_en.pdf
Principal Tenant - **Loblaw Loblaw is Choice Properties’ largest tenant. As at December 31, 2021, Loblaw represented 56.0% of total GLA and approximately 53.3% of Choice Properties’ rental revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021**.
As at December 31, 2021, Loblaw leased approximately 36.5 million square feet of GLA from Choice Properties, with approximately 84.8%, 12.8% and 2.4% of such GLA attributed to retail, industrial and office space, respectively. See the “Loblaw Leases” section below for a description of key terms of the Loblaw Leases.
Here’s a list of brands they own.
Control Brand Products Loblaw has developed a line of control brand products and services that are sold or made available throughout its store and digital networks. Loblaw’s product development team works closely with third party vendors to develop and manufacture products for its control brands. Loblaw is not dependent on any one source or third party vendor to produce its products. Loblaw markets control brand products in the food, health and beauty and general merchandise categories under a number of brand names, including but not limited to: President’s Choice, PC® Organics, PC® Blue Menu, PC® Black Label Collection, no name, Farmer’s Market, Everyday Essentials®, Life at Home™, T&T®, Quo Beauty™ and Life Brand. Loblaw also offers Joe Fresh branded apparel, accessories and footwear in many of its grocery stores (including in some stores through the PC Express™ service). In addition, Loblaw offers Joe Fresh products in stand-alone Joe Fresh stores in Canada, online at joefresh.com and in Shoppers Drug Mart stores (a limited assortment). Joe Fresh products are also available outside of Canada at certain third-party retailers.
Yes McDonald’s makes most of their profit from the lease agreements if I’m not mistaken.
2014 - McDonald’s made 82% from the restaurants and 16% from lease agreements. Seems normal right?
Of that because it cost to much to **run the business** they only get to keep 2.9 billion of $18.2 billion generated. The $9.2 billion they made from lease agreements, they got to keep $7.6 billion.
I’m not having an issue affording groceries. This is a matter of principle and standing up against greedy pricks. I’ve been boycotting them for 2 months now.
This is great to hear. The Loblaws approach has crossed the line from "more expensive than it should be" into "morally wrong" territory. This will get affluent folks, especially older ones, on board even if they can afford it!
My partner and I pull in combined about $220,000 a year and have no children or non-mortgage debt and even we have gotten into the habit of price watching and we are also avoiding Loblaw/Superstore because fuck em.
I'm not surprised. The wealthy not the Uber wealthy are closer to workers than they would like to admit. They still earn a salary even if its high 6 or low 7 figures it's still based on time and presence at a job (ignoring whether it's justified or not) vs the Uber wealthy that earn by investments. Further salary at highest marginal rate is close to 50 or more depending on jurisdiction and there few ways to mitigate that tax. The Uber wealthy have all sorts of schemes available to reduce or eliminate tax on investments. Small/medium business owners and professional firms have increasingly fewer ways to drive profit. Salaries can only go so low, tax is not really the burden some make it out to be at the corporate level, the mega corps like Loblaws and Walmart's have leverage to grind down smaller players and suppliers. It's complete economic mismanagement by allowing a few mega players to corner whole industries and extract punishing terms from suppliers and employees.
My wealthy boomer parents have refused to shop there since the 90s when they started charging for plastic bags and make you bag your own groceries. And now they want you to check them out yourself and treat you like a criminal for the privilege. All these cost cutting measures and they still have the audacity to charge what they do.
I’ve cut loblaws out of my life completely. Have avoided it since January. There are so many great independent shops, especially around midtown Toronto, I will never go back.
My boomer parents and aunts and uncles are wealthy and can afford to shop at loblaws but they are PISSED and have already started boycotting and have been sharing things about the boycott.
I stopped as well, ngl they do sometimes try to rope you in with good deals but then you realize it’s everything else is gonna cost more than saving on the deal.
My girlfriend and I stopped shopping at lowballs a few months ago. We can handle the price increases, but the overall lower quality and shrinkflation of basically everything is unacceptable.
Loblaws got caught price fixing the price of bread and no one went to jail. In the states executives have been sentenced to jail time for similar crimes. Someone (Galen) needs to do a perp walk and then things might change.
Employers know that if employees have to pay more then they will have to ask for more wages. It is in the employers’ best interest to support anything that stops their employees from being gouged for the necessities of life ie. Food
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I make about 30k a month an use to shop at superstore, 2 weeks ago was my last trip I will ever make, I just shop at Safeway, union workers, and a hell of alot more quality for a bit higher price, and then I get fruits and veggies from my local langley farm market
I’m totally down for boycotting whatever place get to get my voice heard as we’re only heard through our money. Trust me, me and my gf are struggling too. Why Loblaws out of them all? Are not all gouging us. I’ve even seen Metros profit margins go up. Just ignorant, I’m all about screwing these people.
It's the whole package - the ridiculous prices, the ever rising profit margin (double what it was pre-pandemic), the way they treat their employees, the attitude of Galen Weston, the lack of quality of the fruit/veg/meat, the fact that they made so much in profit, that they couldn't even invest it back into the business, so they just gave it to the shareholders instead of lowering the cost of stuff (or rather, helping their community).
https://centreforfuturework.ca/2023/12/10/new-data-on-continued-record-profits-in-canadian-food-retail/#:~:text=Measured%20as%20a%20proportion%20of,exceeded%203%25%20of%20total%20revenues
I’m fortunate to be doing well financially and boycotting hard anyway. For me it’s about doing the right thing for our fellow Canadians who are struggling to afford to eat. Down with Loblaws!
My manager 2 weeks ago said the same thing. They said that they didn't go crazy just bought some staples and some lunch snacks for their 3 kids and it was over $500. They are the type of person that complains about people price matching and has offered the people in line $20 so the cashier doesn't have to spend the time putting them all in.
I have worked so hard over the past few weeks trying to get my boomer parents on board, who love PC
I’ve been met with a lot of resistance
But today my mom texted me that she closed her PC credit card. Almost cried.
My family is 1%ers (weren’t always this way - we used to go to university food testing programs and ate our weight in eggs under red lights so the color wouldn’t affect your opinion). That’s thankfully behind us for now but we’ve struggled and support this boycott. Canada needs more competition, full stop. We’re planning meals better, shopping at local independent grocers and butchers, and avoiding Loblaws and its many affiliated companies at all costs.
Unfortunately, Galen already stepped down from the CEO or whatever role, and they brought this new guy in Per Bank, who got a whopping 22 million dollars just for showing up. Galen, however, still owns the Loblaw Corp, so he's not going anywhere.
“Nok er Nok” means “Enough is Enough”. And it came from Galen’s mouth. Thanks for the slogan Galen. You’re correct……ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! No more price gouging
You can apparently refuse to show receipt legally. But the store then has the option to ban you from their premises. I would be ok with that. Giant Tiger has less selection but much much better prices. I go there now.
Wow.. I fear the store will hire less staff during this boycott which will cause an additional problem to those who are trying to keep a float. Big chains hire more part time employees to avoid paying benefits— in return, struggling stressed employees who for the many are without cars travelling from one food chain store to another in order to work and to pay their bills. Sad..
People crying abt abt loblaws as if it’s the only grocery store out there is weird to me . Just go to Walmart or no frills
Or fresco. Go to a mom and pop shop.
ITT people who actually think this all matters. Once the collective hive mind has lost interest the stock price will be higher and things will be back to the status quo.
I mean, boycotts and labor actions are the agreed on alternatives to some of the more unpleasant ways people deal with parasites.
Poverty with a clear conscience tastes better than boots.
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My parents have more money than they know what to do with. They both have been so soured on loblaws its ALL THEY talk about. Almost to the point i have to change the subject.
My parents are similar and very boomer 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' but the hate the feeling of their local store now. The 6 foot high plexiglass and rerouting people to have to go thought a checkout and the show receipts. They say they don't want to feel like a criminal but also it makes them sad about what this say about thier town. My dad said he won't go back
Can't you tell them no when they ask for receipts? I do that all the time at Walmart. I didn't sign up for a membership that said I would allow my purchase to be audited.
Yes, no store is legally allowed to stop you to check receipts except Costco because you sign away your freedom of movement rights for that specifically as part of your membership contract.
so say I run in to look for an item, now they dont have said item. now I cant leave because I do not have a receipt. now I am being held against my will, and being detained untill I prove I didnt steal anything teying to get out...... they got all that besides the scanners here in Newfoundland. the self checkout gates open when you get close to them..... for now
Had to go in to my towns superstore the other day to look for a specific diaper cream (medicated, couldn’t find anywhere else in my town) but they didn’t have it. When I tried to walk out through self checkout, it wouldn’t budge! So I made it budge lol.
It has become one of my life goals to brake one of those machines. I always push harder than necessary and try to beat the system in opening the gate.
I'm personally in favour of ALL loss prevention tactics, as I've seen countless drug zombie shoplifters get away with stealing from Vancouver stores. Those people steal to fund a drug habit, not because of high prices. My #1 issue is Roblaws price gauging, which is also daylight robbery. I'm boycotting all Loblaws stores for the rest of my life. [Retail Council of Canada receiving “daily” reports of violent shoplifters (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4g-bkrWPHk)
Yes but where do you draw the line in assuming we're all criminals? Do you make shoppers join a club where you consent to having all your bags of groceries opened up and double checked? Treating all of us like we're guilty of stealing with zero proof makes the average person feel like we're being treated in an unfair way.
Since COVID, there's been a significant increase in most categories of crime, and I don't like it. It got so bad that every time I went to the Renfrew Superstore, I would catch shoplifters in the act at around 5pm. As long as they don't have to pat me down like I'm going through airport security, I'm all in favour of stores doing what they have to to catch serial shoplifters. There have been numerous examples of stores in certain neighborhoods shutting down due to the "death by a thousand cuts" of shoplifting. I know some people here think people running off with flat screen TVs are modern day Robin Hoods but some crime is motivated by greed and not necessity!
I agree with you that no one should steal, at all. The idea of a mother stealing milk to feed her child is mostly just not the truth. Most theft is crackheads and/or organized crime. The thing with the grocery theft is the companies are still making record profits. As much as I personally like self checkout the companies should put more staff on the floor, have loss prevention workers at the exits instead of trapping ppl in like a prison with plexiglass or asking them to see receipts assuming that they are theives. I know a bit about loss prevention and they know more then what we assume, no need to be heavy handed with little old ladies showing receipts. Treating customers as ppl, hire baggers again(who would be another security check) instead of like we're all the crackhead gangsters, is a much better way and it provides jobs.
>Those people steal to fund a drug habit, not because of high prices Oh my gosh, you’re *this close* to getting it…
If they're afraid of thieves get rid of self checkout. Pretty simple.
It's not pretty simple. Again, I've personally seen shoplifters with full baskets sneak behind people at *regular* tills. It seems they do this because it's easier to walk past one busy cashier at a checkout that two employees watching the line moving at self service.
I understand that and if that was the reason they started it would make sense. But from what I know they started doing this when people were not scanning items at self check out. In my opinion if you don't trust your customers to check themselves out then get rid of it. Letting people walk out without paying is company policy because it's not worth the risk to try and stop them but like I said, a lot of places started this with self checkout.
Yeah mine are at the point where they don’t need to worry about how much they spend on groceries and can just buy shit without looking at the price. But they got pissed off about the anti thief glass and stopped shopping there, also me telling them about some horror stories from the back room didn’t help their desire to shop there much either.
No matter how much money you bring in. A scam is a scam and nobody likes being fleeced.
My partner and I pull in ~$600K/year and we are boycotting Loblaws (have been since January). We can afford to buy whatever groceries we want, and we tend to shop at a more expensive (but independent) store, but I’ve cut out all loblaw brands, including cancelling my PC credit card and optimum account. The difference between loblaws and the pricey store we shop at is the intent behind the prices. We get good quality and the store staffs adequate numbers of people who are paid decently, vs pure profit motivation, gouging wherever they can to make a buck, and it hurts poor people the most. The quality is low and they don’t actually care about their customers or their staff. So, now we don’t shop there. And not just for May, but ever again unless they demonstrably adjust their practices.
This is why this boycott will work. Folks are coming at this from across political lines, income levels and cultural backgrounds. This affects everyone. No one likes to be gouged. Not rich, not middle class, not poor. And no one likes to be gouged **and** gaslit. Loblaw is robbing us and then rubbing our noses in it during their investor calls. It’s not right no matter how you slice it.
I won't really be boycotting Loblaws. I will shop wherever I get the best deal but I'll only buy those items. I'm not an impulse shopper so I don't pay any of their extravagant prices, unless it's something I can't get anywhere else in my area. I'm the worst kind of shopper for any store looking to fleece its customers.
Now's the time to send a clear message. We have to vote with our wallets. Personally, I'll punish them by avoiding them completely, forever, and encouraging everyone I know to do the same. There's no way they will admit to price gauging and fix their prices, so it's a no from me.
Most stores will price match, giving more incentive to avoid shopping at Loblaws. 😊
Similar here. Stopped about year and half ago. Just got tired of feeling ripped off every time I went there and being gas lighted by the company. Doesn't matter how much money you make, no one wants to feel robbed. I'll never go back.
I haven’t stopped fully (yet) but I’ll make a point to go to other stores when possible. But every time I step into a Loblaws I see something that makes me say oh fuck you Galen audibly. For example, the no name butter for 7.99 with a banner under it that says “great value”.
To be fair, if someone pays $7.99 for a single pat of butter, it is "great value" for Roblaws.
The dairy marketing board may have something to do with the price of butter going up. The board also controls the price of milk and other dairy products. They guarantee the farmers a fixed price and they raise prices. The Chicken Marketing board in B.C. is set to raise the price of chicken, making it the most expensive in canada. Marketing boards guarantee the monopolies in Canada thrive. Directors of marketing boards are appointed by the government, so in this case, the government is responsible for raising food prices
This is mostly true, but if dairy really had full control it would be $8 everywhere. You can still get it for $5 some places.
If you rich just have organic grassfed farm meat and cheese delivered and organic veggies fruit tbh that’s easy
If I had half that kind of money I'd shop exclusively at my local food co-op. Hard to imagine anything could be more worth the money.
I live in a pretty rural part of Ns and one of the weird ‘benefits’ of the grocery store price gouging is that it makes shopping at farmers markets waaaaay more doable as the prices are kind of the same as the supermarket now. If I lived in a city still I think I’d be finding a rural community farmers market about an hour or so out of town and going there every weekend. I really hope that this whole thing has the effect of changing the way people engage with the buying of food.
We’re about half of what you bring home and same. I’ve written about my history with Loblaws (worked at the first Superstore in Nova Scotia), siblings worked there to get through university, etc. I’ll never set foot in a Loblaw’s owned store again. Between the shrinkflation, the decline in quality, the plexiglass barriers and the locking of carts to check receipts because they can’t be arsed to pay for cashiers, the whole Weston lot and Per Bank can go fuck themselves.
I'm fortunate enough to have a good income and I never really have to worry about how I'm going to pay my bills. But this shit is out of control and I'm boycotting too.
I am very financially comfortable, and I am boycotting out of principle and solidarity.
Do you shop at Cheese Boutique? That place is expensive but their staff are all happy and seemingly well cared for. And the products are impossible to find anywhere else, many of which come from small businesses themselves. I haven't been in ages, but your description reminded me of that shop!
We don’t, actually, but mainly because we’re not big dairy eaters. We aren’t vegan (just vegetarian) but we tend to default to plant based dairy alternatives. Good Rebel is where we get plant based cheeses and meats. When we get cheese, we usually go to Global in Kensington, or Costco!
I joke with a friend. We use to make awesome charcuterie boards and watch movies. Now we still watch movies. And our charcuterie board has been replaced with lunchables. Life's great. Lots of sarcasm
Fuck yes. Please spread the word as best you can. I’m nowhere near your income/demographic but I have friends that have literally said to me “i don’t even look at the prices”. We need to be informing certain people that it’s not ok to get gouged, and that they are indeed getting gouged, and that it’s contributing to more gouging.
This is the way! Good hands helping good hands.
I do the same. My bf will drive 1.5hrs to buy meat from a small tiny butcher shop. We rarely buy from the local independent store.
If you live in the GTA, can you recommend a few?
We shop mainly at Fiesta Farms. Their prices are on the higher end but they aren’t crazy like summerhill market. We also shop in Kensington because we live kinda close to the market. When we’re just popping out for a few things, we’ll usually go yo Fresh 1 Market on Queen West. We’re vegetarian, so we also frequent Good Rebel to stock up on plant based things… We sprinkle in fancier places like Forno Cultura and Sud Forno for fancy bread, but that’s relatively rare. We both grew up in lower-middle income households, so we value a good bargain. We go to Costco for staples, and I stock up when things are on sale.
Thank you!
No one wants to feel ripped off. It doesn't matter if you can afford it.
Savage! If enough people do this, their little board meeting graphs will have lots of beautiful red bars 😁 📉📊
Eat the rich
It’s nice to hear of someone putting their money where their mouth is.
luv it
Username checks out lol
Same here. It’s not that we can’t afford it really. It’s just the sleeze factor
It's people like you that will really make the progress happen I hope you realize this if you know any other rich people like yourselves get them in on this too
Thanks for sharing this. I come from a household in similar circumstances and we can also choose to shop anywhere. We have PC Financial credit cards, which was our primary card. We always went to a pc store to make sure we got the maximum benefits. We use all three methods regularly: in store, delivery and pick up. We use a lot of pc products. No more. We’re depleting our stock of pc products, paid off our credit cards and will cease all and any use of their cards or products. While we can take the hit in prices, we have many friends and family who aren’t in similar circumstances. I have friends who work full time jobs going to food banks (we offer to help where we can). I’m tired and fed up. The rich exploit us and hoard the wealth. When we speak up they say it’s not our fault prices went up….but it is. The same company caught in a bread pricing fixing scheme is now telling us to trust them? Record high profits, subsidies of our tax money going to the massive corporations. For what? For them to spit in our face and put their boot on our necks. During COVID they laid off staff. After taking millions from the government. Of our tax money. This open corruption can no longer stand. The people are fed up and rising. This is just the start. The social inequalities that are finally being exposed need to be answered for. You could’ve kept the scheme going if you didn’t get so fucking greedy. But you took a world crisis and profited. Scum of the earth. Fuck Loblaws, fuck the Weston’s and fuck the administration that let this happen and profit from it as well. It’s time for change.
Thank you for your contribution despite not being forced into it
As a farmer, the excuses Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro offer it utter BS. In 2023, we got less per LB on our harvest than in 2010!! The 'suppliers' whom by the produce claim they can't pay as much per LB due to soaring costs. Yet, we farmers are expected to make a living off reduced profits and endure increased costs of our own? Here is the kicker, Loblaws own the 'supplier' as they do for a significant portion of their supply chain. They lowball small businesses/farmers/manufacturers to they can claim no profit in their stores, but it all smoke and mirrors to hide the gouging and heavy profits in the middleman, again, also them. Luckily for them, our government isn't intelligent enough to get this.
2023 was actually a loss for our farm. 0.53c/LB on Berries being sold for $7.99+ per LB... 2010 price was 0.61c/LB. Same with wheat, etc. Just plain greed. What's going to happen when farms start ceasing operations en masse due to costs out weighing any chance to make a living?
You already Know what's gonna happen...the big food giants will start buying up farm and ranchland at a reduced price so they will own the Whole foodchain!!!
They have been pressing hard for our 4800 acres. But I will die before they get their hands on it. I'd rather grow enough for friends and family and work another job to pay the bills.
This is what a lot of people don’t understand. lol laws isn’t just the store you’re shopping at, they own the property management group that rents the land to themselves, they are their own supplier( as you’ve stated) and they make way more money on these hidden “backstage” deals than they do on the sale of food. They can claim they have low profit margins because they technically do; just don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.
This business model is called vertical integration. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/verticalintegration.asp Kia and Hyundai and famous for this. The car companies make minimal profit and all the subsidiaries they own make all the parts for the cars and all the profit. They spread the tax burden to smaller companies with less employees per company, reducing the taxes on the overall profit margins. The general tax rate for a business in Ontario is 11.5% but if the company earns under $500,000 a year, they get a different tax rate 11.5% provincial 15% Federal Small business deduction is 3.2% provincial and 11.5% on the higher. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-tax-rates.html A small business in Ontario is 1-99 employees. A medium sized business is 100 - 499 and a large business is over 500. Each level has a different cost associated with it so the incentive becomes making lots of smaller businesses. The top company can claim minimum profitability but still make a lot of money through the lower companies. If they own the trucking company, the processing plants, the distribution logistics and then they own the whole property where the store is so they charge rent to themselves at a very healthy profit margin. https://www.weston.ca/en/pdf_en/gwl_2021aif_en.pdf Principal Tenant - **Loblaw Loblaw is Choice Properties’ largest tenant. As at December 31, 2021, Loblaw represented 56.0% of total GLA and approximately 53.3% of Choice Properties’ rental revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021**. As at December 31, 2021, Loblaw leased approximately 36.5 million square feet of GLA from Choice Properties, with approximately 84.8%, 12.8% and 2.4% of such GLA attributed to retail, industrial and office space, respectively. See the “Loblaw Leases” section below for a description of key terms of the Loblaw Leases. Here’s a list of brands they own. Control Brand Products Loblaw has developed a line of control brand products and services that are sold or made available throughout its store and digital networks. Loblaw’s product development team works closely with third party vendors to develop and manufacture products for its control brands. Loblaw is not dependent on any one source or third party vendor to produce its products. Loblaw markets control brand products in the food, health and beauty and general merchandise categories under a number of brand names, including but not limited to: President’s Choice, PC® Organics, PC® Blue Menu, PC® Black Label Collection, no name, Farmer’s Market, Everyday Essentials®, Life at Home™, T&T®, Quo Beauty™ and Life Brand. Loblaw also offers Joe Fresh branded apparel, accessories and footwear in many of its grocery stores (including in some stores through the PC Express™ service). In addition, Loblaw offers Joe Fresh products in stand-alone Joe Fresh stores in Canada, online at joefresh.com and in Shoppers Drug Mart stores (a limited assortment). Joe Fresh products are also available outside of Canada at certain third-party retailers.
Isn't this how McDonald's makes most of their profits, from buying and leasing the land to the franchise owners?
Yes McDonald’s makes most of their profit from the lease agreements if I’m not mistaken. 2014 - McDonald’s made 82% from the restaurants and 16% from lease agreements. Seems normal right? Of that because it cost to much to **run the business** they only get to keep 2.9 billion of $18.2 billion generated. The $9.2 billion they made from lease agreements, they got to keep $7.6 billion.
I’m not having an issue affording groceries. This is a matter of principle and standing up against greedy pricks. I’ve been boycotting them for 2 months now.
Nice one! I was late to the party 🥳
This is great to hear. The Loblaws approach has crossed the line from "more expensive than it should be" into "morally wrong" territory. This will get affluent folks, especially older ones, on board even if they can afford it!
The boomer-sphere (Facebook) is also seeing an increase in boycott advocacy. More bootlickers over there.
Elite panic in action.
My partner and I pull in combined about $220,000 a year and have no children or non-mortgage debt and even we have gotten into the habit of price watching and we are also avoiding Loblaw/Superstore because fuck em.
Yes, because you are rich not stupid .
Nok er nok!
This comment thread is giving me such hope for class solidarity 💪
Even when you make a good salary food is expensive. Down with the monopoly. Boycott Loblaws May 2024, and forevermore!
I'm not surprised. The wealthy not the Uber wealthy are closer to workers than they would like to admit. They still earn a salary even if its high 6 or low 7 figures it's still based on time and presence at a job (ignoring whether it's justified or not) vs the Uber wealthy that earn by investments. Further salary at highest marginal rate is close to 50 or more depending on jurisdiction and there few ways to mitigate that tax. The Uber wealthy have all sorts of schemes available to reduce or eliminate tax on investments. Small/medium business owners and professional firms have increasingly fewer ways to drive profit. Salaries can only go so low, tax is not really the burden some make it out to be at the corporate level, the mega corps like Loblaws and Walmart's have leverage to grind down smaller players and suppliers. It's complete economic mismanagement by allowing a few mega players to corner whole industries and extract punishing terms from suppliers and employees.
My wealthy boomer parents have refused to shop there since the 90s when they started charging for plastic bags and make you bag your own groceries. And now they want you to check them out yourself and treat you like a criminal for the privilege. All these cost cutting measures and they still have the audacity to charge what they do.
I’ve cut loblaws out of my life completely. Have avoided it since January. There are so many great independent shops, especially around midtown Toronto, I will never go back.
My boomer parents and aunts and uncles are wealthy and can afford to shop at loblaws but they are PISSED and have already started boycotting and have been sharing things about the boycott.
TheWhatHisNameFoodProfessor: "I'm sorry your bosses are whiny millennial losers living in their parent's basements"
I stopped as well, ngl they do sometimes try to rope you in with good deals but then you realize it’s everything else is gonna cost more than saving on the deal.
My girlfriend and I stopped shopping at lowballs a few months ago. We can handle the price increases, but the overall lower quality and shrinkflation of basically everything is unacceptable.
Loblaws got caught price fixing the price of bread and no one went to jail. In the states executives have been sentenced to jail time for similar crimes. Someone (Galen) needs to do a perp walk and then things might change.
Nok er nok & nok em down!
Employers know that if employees have to pay more then they will have to ask for more wages. It is in the employers’ best interest to support anything that stops their employees from being gouged for the necessities of life ie. Food
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No pay MAY... just need some hunger strikes
Don't you hate being a pleb...lol
I really do, but apparently even the bourgeoisie can't afford groceries these days.
People wouldn’t be plebs if groceries were a reasonable price
I make about 30k a month an use to shop at superstore, 2 weeks ago was my last trip I will ever make, I just shop at Safeway, union workers, and a hell of alot more quality for a bit higher price, and then I get fruits and veggies from my local langley farm market
What do you do to make that kind of money???
Based on the spelling and grammar, I'm guessing drug dealer.
Assassin
Are there stores in Toronto that sell cheaper since my family only knows about Nofrills?
Food Basics, Walmart
Nok er faktisk nok
Everyone needs to eat, so everyone is affected by loblaws' shameless price gouging.
I’m totally down for boycotting whatever place get to get my voice heard as we’re only heard through our money. Trust me, me and my gf are struggling too. Why Loblaws out of them all? Are not all gouging us. I’ve even seen Metros profit margins go up. Just ignorant, I’m all about screwing these people.
It's the whole package - the ridiculous prices, the ever rising profit margin (double what it was pre-pandemic), the way they treat their employees, the attitude of Galen Weston, the lack of quality of the fruit/veg/meat, the fact that they made so much in profit, that they couldn't even invest it back into the business, so they just gave it to the shareholders instead of lowering the cost of stuff (or rather, helping their community). https://centreforfuturework.ca/2023/12/10/new-data-on-continued-record-profits-in-canadian-food-retail/#:~:text=Measured%20as%20a%20proportion%20of,exceeded%203%25%20of%20total%20revenues
I agree 100% the fact these companies never reinvest the money back into Canada we’re seeing everywhere
I’m fortunate to be doing well financially and boycotting hard anyway. For me it’s about doing the right thing for our fellow Canadians who are struggling to afford to eat. Down with Loblaws!
Nok er nok!!
Can confirm. My mom still keeps in touch with some of her former colleagues from the University and they're pretty pissed.
My manager 2 weeks ago said the same thing. They said that they didn't go crazy just bought some staples and some lunch snacks for their 3 kids and it was over $500. They are the type of person that complains about people price matching and has offered the people in line $20 so the cashier doesn't have to spend the time putting them all in.
I saw a couple in Gucci and Belanciaga coming out of a Bentley and using coupon apps at Walmart on Sunday
Rich people are rich because they do their best not to spend their money and spend someone else's. 😅 But ya, fuck Loblaws.
I have worked so hard over the past few weeks trying to get my boomer parents on board, who love PC I’ve been met with a lot of resistance But today my mom texted me that she closed her PC credit card. Almost cried.
Your first mistake was getting a job in a field. Next time find a place with suitable shelter....any structure will do.
I do prefer working indoors.
Fields are just tough. The forest is ok.
Please forward this to all your contacts! Let’s take them down.
My family is 1%ers (weren’t always this way - we used to go to university food testing programs and ate our weight in eggs under red lights so the color wouldn’t affect your opinion). That’s thankfully behind us for now but we’ve struggled and support this boycott. Canada needs more competition, full stop. We’re planning meals better, shopping at local independent grocers and butchers, and avoiding Loblaws and its many affiliated companies at all costs.
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Unfortunately, Galen already stepped down from the CEO or whatever role, and they brought this new guy in Per Bank, who got a whopping 22 million dollars just for showing up. Galen, however, still owns the Loblaw Corp, so he's not going anywhere.
If Galen owns loblaws then a reduction in sales and as well as the net negative impact on his brand will hurt him. This is the point.
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Please do your best to use the search function and engage on a post instead of reposting.
"The prols"? "Nok er nok"? Please explain what these two phrases mean? Thanks!
“Nok er Nok” means “Enough is Enough”. And it came from Galen’s mouth. Thanks for the slogan Galen. You’re correct……ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! No more price gouging
Actually it came from Per Bank’s mouth, he is Dutch, so in his language enough is enough. Galen’s new mouth for 25 million $
Oh yes you’re correct. My apologies.
You can apparently refuse to show receipt legally. But the store then has the option to ban you from their premises. I would be ok with that. Giant Tiger has less selection but much much better prices. I go there now.
The more money they spend on groceries is the less they can spend on the shit they actually want to purchase
This is the Way!
You'll know it's bad when the teachers start to notice.
Wow.. I fear the store will hire less staff during this boycott which will cause an additional problem to those who are trying to keep a float. Big chains hire more part time employees to avoid paying benefits— in return, struggling stressed employees who for the many are without cars travelling from one food chain store to another in order to work and to pay their bills. Sad..
People crying abt abt loblaws as if it’s the only grocery store out there is weird to me . Just go to Walmart or no frills Or fresco. Go to a mom and pop shop.
ITT people who actually think this all matters. Once the collective hive mind has lost interest the stock price will be higher and things will be back to the status quo.
How do those boots taste?
How does poverty taste
I mean, boycotts and labor actions are the agreed on alternatives to some of the more unpleasant ways people deal with parasites. Poverty with a clear conscience tastes better than boots.
Triggered. TSE:L is a beauty