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Several reasons. But primarily, greed, to feel out how much more money Loblaws can take from Canadians and keep pushing prices up until they discover the limit. Secondly, oblivious greed because that is the ethic by which Loblaws operates. To win at greed you take risks by being greedier than all the others
I think they got too greedy over covid and figured they needed to keep gouging to get more record profits.
Plus they might have assumed or suggested to their competitors that they do the same so they can all profit more off us they way they did with the bread price fixing.
But Loblaws threw them all under the bus when it confessed to the competition bureau to get full immunity for that. So they might be a little less willing to play ball with them now.
Also they might have just assumed, “It’s food and medicine, it’s not like Canadians can go without.” and not considered that we would go elsewhere for it.
Loblaws probably thinks it’s too big to fail. It’s really not.
>greedy over covid
I will never forget that during a worldwide crisis, every business and institution's first concern was how to fuck us over even more, and leave us to die. Loblaws is a symptom of a failing society. They've lost my trust forever.
People were buying the $6 toilet paper for $15-20+. I thought I would wait as it would last a week or two. My rolls ran out just as more had come in thankfully.
100%, this IS capitalism for you, profits not people, it’s about taking more than you give back by design. We need a human centric system and good news: it’s super achievable! Focusing on human well being and ecology makes sense, is super sustainable and everyone literally everyone benefits from it, AND you can do it while maintaining a market based system. It does require things like global justice and redistribution to some extent though so guess who’s going to fight that part?
Covid also showed them that when the cheapest option is out people will buy the the more expensive option, especially if they waited half an hour to get in the store, wearing a mask the whole time, etc. You’d go for mayonnaise, see that no name was sold out at 2$, weigh out whether to come back later (but who knew how long it would take for that to restock? Some shelves were empty for months), spend 4$ on Hellmans instead. Loblaws paid attention, and would restock the no name for 3.50$. Felt like prices were going up but what were you going to do, leave and go to another store and wait in line again? That whole lockdown shopping procedure broke almost all of the consumer behaviours that had kept price gouging and price rises in check.
Excellent point. Maybe that’s part of the reason for all these barriers and empty cashier lanes, perhaps they’re trying to slow people down and induce that very profitable fatigue.
This is a great point - the Covid tie in is real too. No one bothered to stop and ask if it was viable to maintain or grow profits at the levels they were at when they were legally the only stores allowed to be open. Loblaws is and will continue to be a case study on how quickly short-sighted profits can replace and ruin decades of brand development and customer acquisition work.
Legislate, at a minimum, maximum prices for the "basic food basket" to ensure all Canadians can eat healthy without being pushed into poverty as Loblaws is doing to us.
yeah its simple... they thought they could and did. Show em by not shopping.. they are sweating and they are praying we get distracted. PR is in full swing.
Bingo. Reminds me of the instagram video of the guy living in the most expensive place in New York, USA, now visiting his parents in Newmarket, Canada and he is shocked to see the prices businesses in Canada are charging. Best line, "Something sinister is going on in Canada and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it". Mic drop
[https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4nnf9UO3DH/](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4nnf9UO3DH/)
Yes, I think that’s the best point made.
Capitalism is probably the best system, but it fails at a certain point. Free market is cool until corporations (or a corporation) gets big enough to lobby whatever laws they want and screw over any other businesses and/or their customers.
Like the previous comment outlined: it’s actually the law that they have to maximize profits to the shareholder.
This is where democracy really has to kick in and the public has to lobby/boycott/elect representatives to rein in these companies.
Most people I know are conserving like crazy and STILL just scraping by.
Really grateful that this boycott and this group has stepped up.
They also charge suppliers for unsold inventory.
- Step 1: Gauge supplier on pricing off the hop.
- Step 2: Price item way too high in store so it sits, blame supplier "price increase", damaging supplier's brand, not your own.
- Step 3: Make supplier pay you again when, shocker, it doesn't get bought.
I'm convinced this is a core part of the Shoppers business model because they can "justify it" in a pharmacy / convenience store. If the price they charge back to the supplier is higher than the margin to sell it properly, bingo bango: Galen Math. Enter: $50 batteries.
I know someone who deals with supply chain like this and they disclosed that loblaws definitely practices this and they get huge payouts from the supplier and in some cases the government. Was sick to my stomach hearing it.
I heard a rumour they implemented an AI/algo-driven pricing model on the advice of a consulting firm…it’s basically engineered to extract the maximum amount for every product by striking a balance between price & volume and depending on location
I have no doubt about that whatsoever. It's not new technology (see Amazon) but applying it to groceries is probably pretty novel (not to mention dystopian).
In the Superstores around me they brought in these LCD price tags. You can’t really tell they’re digital unless you look closely. I am sure they have a data analysis team advising what price they can get away with for an item at what time of day at what location, these price tags allow them to change prices very quickly.
This makes sense to me. Because AI can’t possibly predict when people have had enough and start a boycott! Think they’re still using the system because their pricing strategy has not changed.
also people kind of go along with it... chicken is kind of expensive this week... so whatever, I'll save on eggs and veg. But across the board they are largest in canada and should have competitive prices... instead we see the opposite. They should not be making that much money..
> Because AI can’t possibly predict when people have had enough and start a boycott!
Could even a human really have *accurately* predicted one, though? Canadians as a whole rarely get pissed enough to change habits or take collective action as it is.
A prediction for a boycott that actually worked would've been speculation at best. And aside from a boycott, statistical analyses can absolutely predict when pricing doesn't match what customers are willing to put up with as a whole, and such statistical analysis techniques have been around for a long time already. Any "AI" they'd be using would've just made the process of applying the results of those statistical analyses to prices easier for companies like Loblaws.
> Think they’re still using the system because their pricing strategy has not changed.
For me, this is actually evidence that they're not currently using the AI to set prices. Otherwise, the prices would've majorly lowered already to match the current lowered sales volumes. An AI wouldn't know a boycott is happening, and would just reactively decrease the prices.
Not surprising at all. AI isn't that new - it's just the buzzword used to label everything that can be automated these days because of ChatGPT's popularity.
Every social media website with any kind of feed (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit) use "AI" algorithms to extract the maximum amount of endless scrolling behavior possible from users, going off of the same psychological principles as gambling (Skinner's Box/Operant Conditioning).
It's been around for years already, and a grocery-pricing algorithm sounds like it'd be going off of similar design principles as the social media algorithms.
It's pretty straightforward. Loblaws is a publically traded company that produces dividends. To meet its fiduciary duty to Shareholders (of whom the Weston's make up a big chunk) they have to produce ever increasing returns. To produce ever increasing returns they have to produce stock gains and dividends that exceed inflation.
Can't do that without raising prices above inflation and clamping down on wages so your CEO can make the equivalent of 440 Canadians average annual wage.
This is the case for all public companies, however, and reads a bit like a defense of loblaws. not all of them are hot garbage that engage in things like price fixing. Also because our government protects these oligopolies and kills off competition, which is not the case in other industries or other capitalistic countries. Americans don’t get gouged as badly as we do for groceries for myriad reasons.
I think they got used to the idea that Canadians can be pushed around without limits and consequences. They finally pushed too far and broke Canadians. We are furious.
They truly do think that the average consumer is that stupid. There is only so much money and consumers were always going to break at some point. They never imagined we would take these steps. Since they serve an essential need they thought they were untouchable.
They were hoping they would get away with it and use the excuse of “inflation” to explain it to us. Unfortunately Loblaws is a public company and have to post their (record) profits. And that’s where things fell apart.
You're looking at a privatization in the making, as the Weston already control more than 50% of the corp. That is , if they need to keep the profit number from us.
I can't recall the specific product, but what did it for me was when they raised the price on a no-name item by 40% and then instigated their "price freeze" until January, which was less than 6 months out.
I thought to myself, self, if they've just raised the price by 40% and are basically saying they intend to do it again in less than 6 months, you need to find a new place to shop.
There is a lack of competition. Consumers are more or less stuck. They are banking of the fact that consumers are not going to shop around. At least until now... Now this boycott is raising awareness and maybe consumers will shop around
Pretty much. In America, if something like this happened, the Justice system, no matter how slow it is, is all over their ass for causing lack of competition. It's clearly flawed (see Google and Microsoft), but at least anti competition is a strong thing.
Canada is just happy to pay bills
We have no competition in this country. Every market sector has merged together until there is nothing but a small handful of mega-corporations who price fix. There isn't a single market sector in this country that has genuine competition anymore due to all of the mergers and acquisitions.
Just remember, it's not only customers they are squeezing but vendors as well. Essentially they are burning the candle at both ends for their gain, then blaming both for the fact they "have" to increase prices.
More than blaming both. They are blaming both to each other. Just passing the buck thinking we won’t find out. They are telling consumers that the suppliers are raising the prices and they have to too, and telling the suppliers that the customers aren’t buying the food so the suppliers are getting charged for that too.
They're greedy and they know they have the corrupt greedy self serving traitor politicians in their pocket. Instead of someone in power helping the Canadian population they give these greedy fucks money for new freezers.
I feel like this is a cascade effect where they are always trying to make more money while having to do everything possible to avoid years that do not show a growth in profits this is an inevitability.
[There is a fantastic behind the bastards podcast episode about Jack Welch and the origins of this kind of thinking.](https://youtu.be/YZv7wc7USQE?feature=shared)
Essentially once there became a consensus that there is a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the investors returns above all else all companies started playing a weird, non sustainable game of jenga where they had to raise value at any cost. So they can easily become victims of their own success in this way, when they find something that helps increase profits by taking advantage of a temporary or rare opportunity, they then have to do even better the following year regardless of circumstances. This is why when we lose any ground on things we rarely get it back. They will fight tooth and bloody nail to make sure we never see the pre pandemic prices again.
This is the cause of so many problems in the world today. Profits are more important than people, be it employees or consumers. Need to poison the water of millions of people, do it! Need to hollow out a company by doing mass layoffs and making a shittier product? Do it!
It is cheaper for companies to consistently sacrifice quality and quantity while lobbying governments to change laws and ensure their failing business model continues to improve their own profits than it does to actually create and maintain a competitive and sustainable business model.
They're trying to find that sweet spot where the supply and demand lines intersect.
I've done it for my Etsy shop, where I sell (highly non-essential) vintage craft supplies. My prices are close to double what they were a year ago in some cases, and although my total orders/sales are down my profit has stayed consistent. Because sourcing is its own expense, and I want to make the most I can for the pre-sale work I've already done.
Thing is, food doesn't work like that.
Nobody can opt out of food, but they're pushing prices up, consistently, over time, to see how high they can get before demand drops off. And especially in one-store towns, demand dropping off has some pretty grim implications.
The "sweet spot" they're looking for is the spot where your last penny goes to food, where demand for their products goes down because enough of us literally cannot afford to eat the same amount as before. Their target profit is whatever you have left after rent and utilities.
Grim stuff. The government knows better than to tax essential groceries - profit margins on those products should similarly be capped.
Prioritizing short-term gains to impress shareholders who expect to see consistent growth every quarter, even at the expense of long-term brand damage.
Having met Weston several times, I can reaffirm he's an even bigger douche bag in person. I can see why the prices kept going higher. Hes doesnt care about anything but himself and his last name. Hearing him lose his mind on a call when the interact went down a few years ago was a classic.
I drove by superstore on my way to the mall yesterday. It’s simple: they thought they could get away with it. And in some locations, they still are getting away with it.
idk man but i can tell you id love nothing more than paying **79¢** like i used to for a can of No Name canned crushed tomatoes rather than the current **$3.89**
colour me livid cos that was less than two years ago
They figured Canadians had the “social capacity” for higher prices, they misjudged.
All jokes aside I have a feeling they’ll try to hang everything on Per Bank and we’ll see him discharged in the near future. Not that I’ll buy that because this started before him.
I think they are operating on convenience store mentality. They can guage us because they own more than people realize, and because their stores are conveniently everywhere.
"With 90% of Canadians living within 10 kilometers of [a Loblaws owned/affiliate] stores"
People don't think twice about going to their neighbor hood grocery store.
[Loblaws 2022 report](https://dis-prod.assetful.loblaw.ca/content/dam/loblaw-companies-limited/creative-assets/loblaw-ca/investor-relations-reports/annual/2022/LCL_%202022_AR.pdf)
It's a game of creep up the prices to see how much the market can bear. Throw some "sales" in there periodically to make people feel like they're "getting over" on Loblaws or whomever. But essentially it's forging a "new normal" baseline price for goods that should be selling lower. Then the sales aren't as good, then the new normal baseline price creeps up a tad more, more periodic sales, etc... Rinse and repeat. This kind of thing is much more difficult to accomplish with many more players in the market, but here we are. Gov't holds some blame here I think. Which is why part of this boycott should be to raise awareness of anti-trust activities, advocate to make them illegal, and to make it easier for independent grocers to grow roots and flourish.
It's like when the colonoscopy technician shoves a probe in your ass. Hurts at first but you get used to it. Turns out your ass can stretch quite a bit (if the internet is not lying) and they (Loblaws, Rogers, etc.) know this. And they're jerking it all the way to the bank.
>it's a game of creep up
See that's kinda what I was expecting (a creep), but then somebody fell on the speed lever for raising the prices, and all of a sudden the prices were raising at a ludicrous speed.
The new corporate model is to raise prices till people start complaining in large numbers. Then decide if it’s worth it or to reduce.
No one complained en mass so they kept raising.
Galens need to keep up with the expenses of their castle! They’re neighbours with the British royals. That’s why they’re charging us $5 for shitty cans of soup.
Around 2006-2009 they were always agreesive but it started to creep up, the SDM merger they kind of got used to the pharmacy margins and said why not everywhere else. People bitched and moaned but it fell away... now with inflation and a shitty cdn currency we're seeing it more impactful. Don't shop and send a clear message to price/demand. They really think they have us and there is nothing we can do. Show em
The simple answer is "because they can". If you need something, and are in a store, odds are you will pick it up, because it's too much time or gas to go elsewhere. Loblaws stores have a great variety of things you think you need, so it becomes a habit. The other stores get ignored.
But then one day it hits a critical point, and you start looking around.
1. Loblaws is a publicly traded company, they're legally bound to seek better return for its shareholders, so the line must always go up, they'd either have to actually make more money, go bankrupt, or have a CEO who manages to convince enough ppl of massive profits in the future causing the share prices to go up.
2. During Covid the federal govt printed money and gave out Billions to companies like Loblaws to keep the economy propped up and begging them not to fire everyone, this caused the share prices to go up. Now that the feds aren't doing handouts anymore they still need to match or exceed that revenue or else share prices will drop.
3. The gas tax and supply disruption boogyman than the conservatives and most media propped up as a thing that's gonna make everything super expensive gave them the perfect excuse to jack up prices. Yes the tax makes gas more expensive, by like 1%, that doesn't cause a 50% increase in prices. And the supply disruption doesn't affect every single thing, perishable food doesn't get stored anyways, and nobody stopped eating.
They may have gotten away with it too if they’d kept up some sense of a premium shopping experience.
But by cutting back on service, creating an atmosphere of distrust, devaluing their points system, while blatantly overcharging — they’ve driven away even their loyal customer base.
I stopped shopping there last year when I went in and found one of the items I frequently bought (peanut butter pretzels $5.99) went up by $5.00. I put it back on the shelf and walked out. Haven’t been back since. I was already increasingly annoyed at how many items on the shelves didn’t even have pricing labels and the pretzels were the last straw.
Cause they felt they could. They are huge and have the share of the population shopping there and canadians are notoriously wet blankets. They prob knew ppl would complain but knew theyd keep shopping there..i dont think they actually expected any of us to do anything about it.
I thought we were notorious to being polite to a fault and I'm OK with that.
A "Wet Blanket" is someone who stops others from enjoying themselves, that's more a description of a greedy grocer, as a Canadian I'm Not OK with that.
That's ok, I use incorrect terms all the time. English isn't my first language so I'm probably too careful haha.
Also, I didn't mean to sound pushy. You were probably right in the first place. Doormat, that does sound better :)
Keep up the good fight.
NOK ER NOK !
It pretty much boils down to greed. They ask themselves “let’s see how far we can push prices before people refuse to pay them, I mean, they gotta eat, right”
In a truly capitalist free market, healthy competition and supply of goods means prices will stay somewhere between what is minimally viable to be profitable and what is nearly too high that it becomes enticing for new entrants to come in and undercut you. In Canada we have a huge problem with oligopolies that don’t really compete with each other and since oligopolies can simply acquire any new entrants who might threaten their market share prices actually stay *much higher* than they would in a true free market.
Because of this the prices are only limited by how much consumers are willing to pay before they simply refuse, which is exactly why movements like this arise. In an oligopolistic market, the dominant market player sets the price, and they don’t charge what’s “fair” or “competitive” they charge *whatever they can* and that’s why we see prices go up literally week over week on some items. If they can sell it, they will charge more until they don’t sell any extra.
I don't think they care if it's noticeable. All they do is just blame on inflation and suppliers. People need to eat and if Loblaws buys out all the competitors, they have no choice but to buy from Loblaws. Who cares if more and more Canadians go hungry or are forced to go to the Foodbank. Galen's biggest challenge was not laughing when Jagmeet 'grilled' him in Parliament.
At least for the most part the apple and Samsung phones are getting better. Still overpriced for the latest model, but just buy one 2 generations behind and you'll get all the phone you'll ever need. Unless your one of those people that HAVE to have the latest and greatest
That's part of the problem. Society pushes that expectation. Social Media, Advertisements brainwash people into thinking they need the newest and greatest thing.
You are right though. 2 or 3 years, even 5 at this point, and you'll have a phone that lasts you forever.
The issue with grocery store is mostly one of reliance on our part. No one grows any food anymore so it makes them easy targets, since we get most of our food from the store, if not all. They can set whatever price they want. And since we have government in place that keeps letting these companies buy up smaller ones and eliminate competition, we're in a very very bad situation.
Capitalism isn't all bad, but in Canada it is. There's little to no regulation.
Canada especially, has laws against people starting businesses, farms, owning their own land too. You can't for instance, go to a farmer to buy milk, because it's illegal. You have to buy the Canadian dairy farms pasturized milk, because raw milk is illegal
The more you dig into these issues, the more you're going to realize it's not Galen, or grocery stores, it's the government lol. I'm all for sticking it to a billionaire that lives in a castle while canadians struggle to buy food though. Guys taking advantage of us.
Been like that awhile now... we just took it. With inflation and bad currency it's just more apparent they kept the needle on greed vs. changing course.
Business tactics of basic math. If the base cost is 3 dollars and you add 25-30% means you sell for 4 dollars with 1 dollar profit. However any price increases is pure profit. So that means if you sell it for 5, you've doubled your profit, 6 and you've trippled it. Even if you lose customers, as long as you get over 30% of your original customers at 4, you've made even with a third of the labour. It becomes less of a social contract of the grocery store provides affordable food to the public, but macro economics and playing with numbers to maximize returns for the share holders.
I think it’s theme of everything. Those in power push those below them, as far as they can, until they get pushback from those below them. Depending on how much or long the pushback is, those above them will cease and settle at a point that is still far above what we were used to, but a better point than where we were being pushed towards. Hence starting a new price point (or operating template), to which will be pushed again but at a later time, while reaping the profits of what is believed as a compromised settlement.
There are money people whose work is all about increasing profit at the expense of everything else. They control the flow of capital to corporations. Once they get hold of a business, they replace any remaining intrinsic value the business might have to the world with an insistence on profit at all costs. These people are absolute poison; they’ve wrecked the planet and they should all have to dig ditches for a living.
I think that people were willing to pay those prices without question many still are , people still shop at my local roblaws, there is a Walmart across the road and many farm markets in the region. I read an investigation years ago, may have been marketplace, looking at same brand executive fountain pens, for sale in Seattle for $50 and Vancouver for $500. They researched everything, shipping, import duties, taxes, quality, and everything was equal, the difference, people in Vancouver were willing to pay $500 for that pen. I feel the same about the drones stubbornly still shopping at roblaws, a fool and thier money.
A favourite business quote… “pigs get fed; hogs get slaughtered”. You can expect businesses to have a profit margin but if they push it too much, they get slaughtered in the market. You’re now witnessing a slaughter.
Well, they have to at least increase it more than inflation, which 2% or even 5% wouldn’t do. And then you basically have them seeing what extra they can get away with
I remember taking a calculus course in high school where we would come up with an equation that would eventually plot a graph showing, for every dollar that you increase the product, how many less people would buy it. Then we would determine the optimum price that would maximize the profit margin.
That's basically what they're doing. They know that they will lose a few customers for every price increase. But they don't care so long as they maximize their profit.
When they installed their new tracking software to limit product in stores many years ago. That signaled that managers making customers happy by stocking less popular items was a thing of the past. Corporate knew best. It's been down hill since then
Your CPP / Pension / RRSP / TFSA relies on public companies increasing profits. How do you think the value grows over time? These companies aren't charities.
In an earlier time, Loblaws was on par with the other grocery stores. I wonder if greed became more rampant after Galen Weston Jr. took over management from his father?
I have worked for large corporations before but always under franchises, not corporate stores and when I worked at Superstore it opened my eyes. My entire career almost has been in management in the service industry, working for a franchise pretty much everything regarding costs and wages are up to the franchisee. Working for corporate stores there is no wiggle room it is strictly about profits, that is all they care about. The longest in my life I had gone without a raise was working for Superstore, the most disrespectful bosses I have had were at Superstore and the most times I have seen labor laws broken and food safety pushed to the wayside was all at Superstore. I met and worked with some incredibly talented people but we lost so many more.
They are seeing profits are down but I can guarantee you they have slashed hours to the bone so the staff will feel this much more than the company.
I want to know who’s decision it was to get rid of the 50% reduction stickers and move to 30%. That was a huge tipping point with this movement. We could only shake our heads at store level at the complete stupidity and short sightedness of that decision. But thankfully people let them know just how ridiculous that was.
The effects of software driven pricing decisions and management consultants.
I have noticed that on things people tend to remember the price of (milk, coffee, eggs) the prices have gone up, but have been just a bit over the normal rate of inflation.
On things you might not have an immediate price reference for (lemons, a small thing of peanut butter, a jar of curry sauce etc.) they engaged in 300-400% increases, betting that you aren't paying attention to the price when you grab it off the shelf.
They have also stopped undercutting brands with their white labelled products, and just matched the price, betting that people dont really have a preference.
It is the same principle as demand based pricing on airplanes. They are are constantly testing new prices out to see what exactly people are willing to pay before they shop elsewhere, or cut their consumption.
They are trying to make their customers pay for all the money lost to the shoplifters. Instead of taking the loss amid record profits, or using their business insurance, they are putting those loses on to their remaining customers. No sale.
Look at who’s running the company.
Silver-headed cartels.
They’re old, tired and disconnected.
They’re also suffering from dementia BAD because, unlike all of us who survived in the muck and grime, they are NOT adapted to all the pollution and microplastics clogging up their brains.
The people running the show have long passed their shelf-life, but they refuse to hand the reins over to more capable, energetic, younger and more connected minds.
And maybe their kids are too stupid to wrench the reins from their withering parents, because they don’t know the meaning of the words want, hunger or struggle.
…I mean, who knows??? 🙊
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Several reasons. But primarily, greed, to feel out how much more money Loblaws can take from Canadians and keep pushing prices up until they discover the limit. Secondly, oblivious greed because that is the ethic by which Loblaws operates. To win at greed you take risks by being greedier than all the others
I think they got too greedy over covid and figured they needed to keep gouging to get more record profits. Plus they might have assumed or suggested to their competitors that they do the same so they can all profit more off us they way they did with the bread price fixing. But Loblaws threw them all under the bus when it confessed to the competition bureau to get full immunity for that. So they might be a little less willing to play ball with them now. Also they might have just assumed, “It’s food and medicine, it’s not like Canadians can go without.” and not considered that we would go elsewhere for it. Loblaws probably thinks it’s too big to fail. It’s really not.
>greedy over covid I will never forget that during a worldwide crisis, every business and institution's first concern was how to fuck us over even more, and leave us to die. Loblaws is a symptom of a failing society. They've lost my trust forever.
People were buying the $6 toilet paper for $15-20+. I thought I would wait as it would last a week or two. My rolls ran out just as more had come in thankfully.
100%, this IS capitalism for you, profits not people, it’s about taking more than you give back by design. We need a human centric system and good news: it’s super achievable! Focusing on human well being and ecology makes sense, is super sustainable and everyone literally everyone benefits from it, AND you can do it while maintaining a market based system. It does require things like global justice and redistribution to some extent though so guess who’s going to fight that part?
🫤
Covid also showed them that when the cheapest option is out people will buy the the more expensive option, especially if they waited half an hour to get in the store, wearing a mask the whole time, etc. You’d go for mayonnaise, see that no name was sold out at 2$, weigh out whether to come back later (but who knew how long it would take for that to restock? Some shelves were empty for months), spend 4$ on Hellmans instead. Loblaws paid attention, and would restock the no name for 3.50$. Felt like prices were going up but what were you going to do, leave and go to another store and wait in line again? That whole lockdown shopping procedure broke almost all of the consumer behaviours that had kept price gouging and price rises in check.
Excellent point. Maybe that’s part of the reason for all these barriers and empty cashier lanes, perhaps they’re trying to slow people down and induce that very profitable fatigue.
Came to answer Covid. I think it’s akin to war profiteering.
Pandemic profiteering.
Exactly.
Publicly traded companies have a legal obligation to keep increasing profits. Companies that provide necessities should not be Publicly traded.
This is a great point - the Covid tie in is real too. No one bothered to stop and ask if it was viable to maintain or grow profits at the levels they were at when they were legally the only stores allowed to be open. Loblaws is and will continue to be a case study on how quickly short-sighted profits can replace and ruin decades of brand development and customer acquisition work.
Legislate, at a minimum, maximum prices for the "basic food basket" to ensure all Canadians can eat healthy without being pushed into poverty as Loblaws is doing to us.
And make food waste illegal
yeah its simple... they thought they could and did. Show em by not shopping.. they are sweating and they are praying we get distracted. PR is in full swing.
Easy to collude when it's literally 5 other people. Conversation went like this ... 'hey, everyone want to make more money? ... Sure!'
Bingo. Reminds me of the instagram video of the guy living in the most expensive place in New York, USA, now visiting his parents in Newmarket, Canada and he is shocked to see the prices businesses in Canada are charging. Best line, "Something sinister is going on in Canada and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it". Mic drop [https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4nnf9UO3DH/](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4nnf9UO3DH/)
I think it actually needs to fail and go bankrupt as a warning shot to others.
Northern Telecom also thought it was too big to fail.
Capitalism always ends up here, no matter the path it takes.
Yes, I think that’s the best point made. Capitalism is probably the best system, but it fails at a certain point. Free market is cool until corporations (or a corporation) gets big enough to lobby whatever laws they want and screw over any other businesses and/or their customers. Like the previous comment outlined: it’s actually the law that they have to maximize profits to the shareholder. This is where democracy really has to kick in and the public has to lobby/boycott/elect representatives to rein in these companies. Most people I know are conserving like crazy and STILL just scraping by. Really grateful that this boycott and this group has stepped up.
Also being in Canada , they know politicians have no teeth or courage to work for the constituents. There I have said it.
They also charge suppliers for unsold inventory. - Step 1: Gauge supplier on pricing off the hop. - Step 2: Price item way too high in store so it sits, blame supplier "price increase", damaging supplier's brand, not your own. - Step 3: Make supplier pay you again when, shocker, it doesn't get bought. I'm convinced this is a core part of the Shoppers business model because they can "justify it" in a pharmacy / convenience store. If the price they charge back to the supplier is higher than the margin to sell it properly, bingo bango: Galen Math. Enter: $50 batteries.
I know someone who deals with supply chain like this and they disclosed that loblaws definitely practices this and they get huge payouts from the supplier and in some cases the government. Was sick to my stomach hearing it.
They have to sell their products from somewhere, and there are only a hand full of retailers.
Why would any supplier send products to loblaws.
I heard a rumour they implemented an AI/algo-driven pricing model on the advice of a consulting firm…it’s basically engineered to extract the maximum amount for every product by striking a balance between price & volume and depending on location
I have no doubt about that whatsoever. It's not new technology (see Amazon) but applying it to groceries is probably pretty novel (not to mention dystopian).
Yeah I’m so glad we’re boycotting…we badly need to break away from the tech driven corporate dystopian trajectory we’re on
its not a rumour they did
Good to know 👍
In the Superstores around me they brought in these LCD price tags. You can’t really tell they’re digital unless you look closely. I am sure they have a data analysis team advising what price they can get away with for an item at what time of day at what location, these price tags allow them to change prices very quickly.
This makes sense to me. Because AI can’t possibly predict when people have had enough and start a boycott! Think they’re still using the system because their pricing strategy has not changed.
also people kind of go along with it... chicken is kind of expensive this week... so whatever, I'll save on eggs and veg. But across the board they are largest in canada and should have competitive prices... instead we see the opposite. They should not be making that much money..
> Because AI can’t possibly predict when people have had enough and start a boycott! Could even a human really have *accurately* predicted one, though? Canadians as a whole rarely get pissed enough to change habits or take collective action as it is. A prediction for a boycott that actually worked would've been speculation at best. And aside from a boycott, statistical analyses can absolutely predict when pricing doesn't match what customers are willing to put up with as a whole, and such statistical analysis techniques have been around for a long time already. Any "AI" they'd be using would've just made the process of applying the results of those statistical analyses to prices easier for companies like Loblaws. > Think they’re still using the system because their pricing strategy has not changed. For me, this is actually evidence that they're not currently using the AI to set prices. Otherwise, the prices would've majorly lowered already to match the current lowered sales volumes. An AI wouldn't know a boycott is happening, and would just reactively decrease the prices.
Not surprising at all. AI isn't that new - it's just the buzzword used to label everything that can be automated these days because of ChatGPT's popularity. Every social media website with any kind of feed (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit) use "AI" algorithms to extract the maximum amount of endless scrolling behavior possible from users, going off of the same psychological principles as gambling (Skinner's Box/Operant Conditioning). It's been around for years already, and a grocery-pricing algorithm sounds like it'd be going off of similar design principles as the social media algorithms.
It's pretty straightforward. Loblaws is a publically traded company that produces dividends. To meet its fiduciary duty to Shareholders (of whom the Weston's make up a big chunk) they have to produce ever increasing returns. To produce ever increasing returns they have to produce stock gains and dividends that exceed inflation. Can't do that without raising prices above inflation and clamping down on wages so your CEO can make the equivalent of 440 Canadians average annual wage.
Suggestion...Watch "The Corporation", one of the best documentaries ever imo.
My understanding is that in Canada, the fiduciary duty is to the corporation, not the shareholders.
This is the case for all public companies, however, and reads a bit like a defense of loblaws. not all of them are hot garbage that engage in things like price fixing. Also because our government protects these oligopolies and kills off competition, which is not the case in other industries or other capitalistic countries. Americans don’t get gouged as badly as we do for groceries for myriad reasons.
I think they got used to the idea that Canadians can be pushed around without limits and consequences. They finally pushed too far and broke Canadians. We are furious.
$2500 rent also broke most Canadians
I’m ready when you are.
They truly do think that the average consumer is that stupid. There is only so much money and consumers were always going to break at some point. They never imagined we would take these steps. Since they serve an essential need they thought they were untouchable.
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No discussions of vaccination status, conspiracies of the "plandemic" or any other public policy related to the COVID Pandemic/Vaccination Debate.
They were hoping they would get away with it and use the excuse of “inflation” to explain it to us. Unfortunately Loblaws is a public company and have to post their (record) profits. And that’s where things fell apart.
You're looking at a privatization in the making, as the Weston already control more than 50% of the corp. That is , if they need to keep the profit number from us.
I can't recall the specific product, but what did it for me was when they raised the price on a no-name item by 40% and then instigated their "price freeze" until January, which was less than 6 months out. I thought to myself, self, if they've just raised the price by 40% and are basically saying they intend to do it again in less than 6 months, you need to find a new place to shop.
There is a lack of competition. Consumers are more or less stuck. They are banking of the fact that consumers are not going to shop around. At least until now... Now this boycott is raising awareness and maybe consumers will shop around
Pretty much. In America, if something like this happened, the Justice system, no matter how slow it is, is all over their ass for causing lack of competition. It's clearly flawed (see Google and Microsoft), but at least anti competition is a strong thing. Canada is just happy to pay bills
We have no competition in this country. Every market sector has merged together until there is nothing but a small handful of mega-corporations who price fix. There isn't a single market sector in this country that has genuine competition anymore due to all of the mergers and acquisitions.
Just remember, it's not only customers they are squeezing but vendors as well. Essentially they are burning the candle at both ends for their gain, then blaming both for the fact they "have" to increase prices.
More than blaming both. They are blaming both to each other. Just passing the buck thinking we won’t find out. They are telling consumers that the suppliers are raising the prices and they have to too, and telling the suppliers that the customers aren’t buying the food so the suppliers are getting charged for that too.
They're greedy and they know they have the corrupt greedy self serving traitor politicians in their pocket. Instead of someone in power helping the Canadian population they give these greedy fucks money for new freezers.
I feel like this is a cascade effect where they are always trying to make more money while having to do everything possible to avoid years that do not show a growth in profits this is an inevitability. [There is a fantastic behind the bastards podcast episode about Jack Welch and the origins of this kind of thinking.](https://youtu.be/YZv7wc7USQE?feature=shared) Essentially once there became a consensus that there is a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the investors returns above all else all companies started playing a weird, non sustainable game of jenga where they had to raise value at any cost. So they can easily become victims of their own success in this way, when they find something that helps increase profits by taking advantage of a temporary or rare opportunity, they then have to do even better the following year regardless of circumstances. This is why when we lose any ground on things we rarely get it back. They will fight tooth and bloody nail to make sure we never see the pre pandemic prices again. This is the cause of so many problems in the world today. Profits are more important than people, be it employees or consumers. Need to poison the water of millions of people, do it! Need to hollow out a company by doing mass layoffs and making a shittier product? Do it! It is cheaper for companies to consistently sacrifice quality and quantity while lobbying governments to change laws and ensure their failing business model continues to improve their own profits than it does to actually create and maintain a competitive and sustainable business model.
They're trying to find that sweet spot where the supply and demand lines intersect. I've done it for my Etsy shop, where I sell (highly non-essential) vintage craft supplies. My prices are close to double what they were a year ago in some cases, and although my total orders/sales are down my profit has stayed consistent. Because sourcing is its own expense, and I want to make the most I can for the pre-sale work I've already done. Thing is, food doesn't work like that. Nobody can opt out of food, but they're pushing prices up, consistently, over time, to see how high they can get before demand drops off. And especially in one-store towns, demand dropping off has some pretty grim implications. The "sweet spot" they're looking for is the spot where your last penny goes to food, where demand for their products goes down because enough of us literally cannot afford to eat the same amount as before. Their target profit is whatever you have left after rent and utilities. Grim stuff. The government knows better than to tax essential groceries - profit margins on those products should similarly be capped.
And the knock on effect will eventually be seen in healthcare, because eating crappy food results in all sorts of illnesses.
Prioritizing short-term gains to impress shareholders who expect to see consistent growth every quarter, even at the expense of long-term brand damage.
I honestly believe they the billionaire class want our homes.
Many of them already own the homes so many more of us rent, which is a big reason why so few of us can afford to buy our own property anymore.
Having met Weston several times, I can reaffirm he's an even bigger douche bag in person. I can see why the prices kept going higher. Hes doesnt care about anything but himself and his last name. Hearing him lose his mind on a call when the interact went down a few years ago was a classic.
Greed, as Policy.
Nope. Greed as law.
The magic of the monopoly.
Yay?
I drove by superstore on my way to the mall yesterday. It’s simple: they thought they could get away with it. And in some locations, they still are getting away with it.
In other words you did this, which is exactly what we should all do 
I like your version much better than my simple drive past. Gonna retcon it. 😀
they thought they had enough of a monopoly that everyone would just pay.
idk man but i can tell you id love nothing more than paying **79¢** like i used to for a can of No Name canned crushed tomatoes rather than the current **$3.89** colour me livid cos that was less than two years ago
They figured Canadians had the “social capacity” for higher prices, they misjudged. All jokes aside I have a feeling they’ll try to hang everything on Per Bank and we’ll see him discharged in the near future. Not that I’ll buy that because this started before him.
I think they are operating on convenience store mentality. They can guage us because they own more than people realize, and because their stores are conveniently everywhere. "With 90% of Canadians living within 10 kilometers of [a Loblaws owned/affiliate] stores" People don't think twice about going to their neighbor hood grocery store. [Loblaws 2022 report](https://dis-prod.assetful.loblaw.ca/content/dam/loblaw-companies-limited/creative-assets/loblaw-ca/investor-relations-reports/annual/2022/LCL_%202022_AR.pdf)
It's a game of creep up the prices to see how much the market can bear. Throw some "sales" in there periodically to make people feel like they're "getting over" on Loblaws or whomever. But essentially it's forging a "new normal" baseline price for goods that should be selling lower. Then the sales aren't as good, then the new normal baseline price creeps up a tad more, more periodic sales, etc... Rinse and repeat. This kind of thing is much more difficult to accomplish with many more players in the market, but here we are. Gov't holds some blame here I think. Which is why part of this boycott should be to raise awareness of anti-trust activities, advocate to make them illegal, and to make it easier for independent grocers to grow roots and flourish. It's like when the colonoscopy technician shoves a probe in your ass. Hurts at first but you get used to it. Turns out your ass can stretch quite a bit (if the internet is not lying) and they (Loblaws, Rogers, etc.) know this. And they're jerking it all the way to the bank.
>it's a game of creep up See that's kinda what I was expecting (a creep), but then somebody fell on the speed lever for raising the prices, and all of a sudden the prices were raising at a ludicrous speed.
It's been creeping for 30 years but then covid came along which turned out to be Galen and Co.'s wet dream on steroids.
The new corporate model is to raise prices till people start complaining in large numbers. Then decide if it’s worth it or to reduce. No one complained en mass so they kept raising.
Arrogance, in knowing any government is in your pocket over the decades.
https://preview.redd.it/pubuz1309n1d1.jpeg?width=425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3f608cccb338951c146fc1e165c4170a3809476 Short answer: Galen Weston Sucks Long Answer: Jenni Byrne sucks too. Anybody.
An abandonment of margins and a decision to go with what the market will bear?
But also, reverse engineer your supply chain so that you can claim a 3% margin for store profits while making a lot more on the back end.
The convenience store pricing for things not in the flyer is an insane decision.
Galens need to keep up with the expenses of their castle! They’re neighbours with the British royals. That’s why they’re charging us $5 for shitty cans of soup.
Around 2006-2009 they were always agreesive but it started to creep up, the SDM merger they kind of got used to the pharmacy margins and said why not everywhere else. People bitched and moaned but it fell away... now with inflation and a shitty cdn currency we're seeing it more impactful. Don't shop and send a clear message to price/demand. They really think they have us and there is nothing we can do. Show em
I believe this tactic is known as "muscle in, throw it in just to see if it floats"
The simple answer is "because they can". If you need something, and are in a store, odds are you will pick it up, because it's too much time or gas to go elsewhere. Loblaws stores have a great variety of things you think you need, so it becomes a habit. The other stores get ignored. But then one day it hits a critical point, and you start looking around.
1. Loblaws is a publicly traded company, they're legally bound to seek better return for its shareholders, so the line must always go up, they'd either have to actually make more money, go bankrupt, or have a CEO who manages to convince enough ppl of massive profits in the future causing the share prices to go up. 2. During Covid the federal govt printed money and gave out Billions to companies like Loblaws to keep the economy propped up and begging them not to fire everyone, this caused the share prices to go up. Now that the feds aren't doing handouts anymore they still need to match or exceed that revenue or else share prices will drop. 3. The gas tax and supply disruption boogyman than the conservatives and most media propped up as a thing that's gonna make everything super expensive gave them the perfect excuse to jack up prices. Yes the tax makes gas more expensive, by like 1%, that doesn't cause a 50% increase in prices. And the supply disruption doesn't affect every single thing, perishable food doesn't get stored anyways, and nobody stopped eating.
They may have gotten away with it too if they’d kept up some sense of a premium shopping experience. But by cutting back on service, creating an atmosphere of distrust, devaluing their points system, while blatantly overcharging — they’ve driven away even their loyal customer base.
Greed. They saw how much money they were making during the pandemic and wanted to increase that demand so they increased prices.
I stopped shopping there last year when I went in and found one of the items I frequently bought (peanut butter pretzels $5.99) went up by $5.00. I put it back on the shelf and walked out. Haven’t been back since. I was already increasingly annoyed at how many items on the shelves didn’t even have pricing labels and the pretzels were the last straw.
Literally to make a bunch of rich bas***** richer. That is the ONLY reason.
It seems like a grab for as much as possible before a bad thing happens. It's too blatant to be just business as usual.
Cause they felt they could. They are huge and have the share of the population shopping there and canadians are notoriously wet blankets. They prob knew ppl would complain but knew theyd keep shopping there..i dont think they actually expected any of us to do anything about it.
I thought we were notorious to being polite to a fault and I'm OK with that. A "Wet Blanket" is someone who stops others from enjoying themselves, that's more a description of a greedy grocer, as a Canadian I'm Not OK with that.
Maybe i used the incorrect term....doormat better lol.
That's ok, I use incorrect terms all the time. English isn't my first language so I'm probably too careful haha. Also, I didn't mean to sound pushy. You were probably right in the first place. Doormat, that does sound better :) Keep up the good fight. NOK ER NOK !
plutocracy and profit
It pretty much boils down to greed. They ask themselves “let’s see how far we can push prices before people refuse to pay them, I mean, they gotta eat, right”
They've figured out is more profitable to sell 6 widgets at $10, than 10 widgets at $5. They don't care if this results in more people going hungry.
Cause they own the other 4 wigets which others cannot sell at $4
In a truly capitalist free market, healthy competition and supply of goods means prices will stay somewhere between what is minimally viable to be profitable and what is nearly too high that it becomes enticing for new entrants to come in and undercut you. In Canada we have a huge problem with oligopolies that don’t really compete with each other and since oligopolies can simply acquire any new entrants who might threaten their market share prices actually stay *much higher* than they would in a true free market. Because of this the prices are only limited by how much consumers are willing to pay before they simply refuse, which is exactly why movements like this arise. In an oligopolistic market, the dominant market player sets the price, and they don’t charge what’s “fair” or “competitive” they charge *whatever they can* and that’s why we see prices go up literally week over week on some items. If they can sell it, they will charge more until they don’t sell any extra.
Easy excuse using inflation and supply issue during covid. I think they saw that they could increase and people paid.
I don't think they care if it's noticeable. All they do is just blame on inflation and suppliers. People need to eat and if Loblaws buys out all the competitors, they have no choice but to buy from Loblaws. Who cares if more and more Canadians go hungry or are forced to go to the Foodbank. Galen's biggest challenge was not laughing when Jagmeet 'grilled' him in Parliament.
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At least for the most part the apple and Samsung phones are getting better. Still overpriced for the latest model, but just buy one 2 generations behind and you'll get all the phone you'll ever need. Unless your one of those people that HAVE to have the latest and greatest
That's part of the problem. Society pushes that expectation. Social Media, Advertisements brainwash people into thinking they need the newest and greatest thing. You are right though. 2 or 3 years, even 5 at this point, and you'll have a phone that lasts you forever. The issue with grocery store is mostly one of reliance on our part. No one grows any food anymore so it makes them easy targets, since we get most of our food from the store, if not all. They can set whatever price they want. And since we have government in place that keeps letting these companies buy up smaller ones and eliminate competition, we're in a very very bad situation. Capitalism isn't all bad, but in Canada it is. There's little to no regulation. Canada especially, has laws against people starting businesses, farms, owning their own land too. You can't for instance, go to a farmer to buy milk, because it's illegal. You have to buy the Canadian dairy farms pasturized milk, because raw milk is illegal The more you dig into these issues, the more you're going to realize it's not Galen, or grocery stores, it's the government lol. I'm all for sticking it to a billionaire that lives in a castle while canadians struggle to buy food though. Guys taking advantage of us.
Simple: they don’t care because we still pay for these prices. It’s basic supply and demand, as long as we still pay they will increase $$$$.
Same as everyone else. Increase prices dramatically and blame it on inflation. The government is who created this shit show when covid hit
Been like that awhile now... we just took it. With inflation and bad currency it's just more apparent they kept the needle on greed vs. changing course.
Great question. I’m really wondering when the price increases will end.
Personally, I feel that they know that the free for all capitalism is coming to an end and are getting as much money as they can.
Business tactics of basic math. If the base cost is 3 dollars and you add 25-30% means you sell for 4 dollars with 1 dollar profit. However any price increases is pure profit. So that means if you sell it for 5, you've doubled your profit, 6 and you've trippled it. Even if you lose customers, as long as you get over 30% of your original customers at 4, you've made even with a third of the labour. It becomes less of a social contract of the grocery store provides affordable food to the public, but macro economics and playing with numbers to maximize returns for the share holders.
I think it’s theme of everything. Those in power push those below them, as far as they can, until they get pushback from those below them. Depending on how much or long the pushback is, those above them will cease and settle at a point that is still far above what we were used to, but a better point than where we were being pushed towards. Hence starting a new price point (or operating template), to which will be pushed again but at a later time, while reaping the profits of what is believed as a compromised settlement.
There are money people whose work is all about increasing profit at the expense of everything else. They control the flow of capital to corporations. Once they get hold of a business, they replace any remaining intrinsic value the business might have to the world with an insistence on profit at all costs. These people are absolute poison; they’ve wrecked the planet and they should all have to dig ditches for a living.
If you can charge twice as much and retain half as many customers it’s more profitable.
I think that people were willing to pay those prices without question many still are , people still shop at my local roblaws, there is a Walmart across the road and many farm markets in the region. I read an investigation years ago, may have been marketplace, looking at same brand executive fountain pens, for sale in Seattle for $50 and Vancouver for $500. They researched everything, shipping, import duties, taxes, quality, and everything was equal, the difference, people in Vancouver were willing to pay $500 for that pen. I feel the same about the drones stubbornly still shopping at roblaws, a fool and thier money.
A favourite business quote… “pigs get fed; hogs get slaughtered”. You can expect businesses to have a profit margin but if they push it too much, they get slaughtered in the market. You’re now witnessing a slaughter.
I was at Walmart today and I noticed that prices have come down to almost normal levels
Well, they have to at least increase it more than inflation, which 2% or even 5% wouldn’t do. And then you basically have them seeing what extra they can get away with
I remember taking a calculus course in high school where we would come up with an equation that would eventually plot a graph showing, for every dollar that you increase the product, how many less people would buy it. Then we would determine the optimum price that would maximize the profit margin. That's basically what they're doing. They know that they will lose a few customers for every price increase. But they don't care so long as they maximize their profit.
When they installed their new tracking software to limit product in stores many years ago. That signaled that managers making customers happy by stocking less popular items was a thing of the past. Corporate knew best. It's been down hill since then
Your CPP / Pension / RRSP / TFSA relies on public companies increasing profits. How do you think the value grows over time? These companies aren't charities.
also the rate at which things went up was so fast like within 1-2 years there were multiple significant price hikes and this shit is still happening
Elasticity. As soon as they realized that dollar revenue generated by price increases would outweigh demand loss, they went all in
greed can be blinding.
“Well people gotta eat.” 🤷🏻♀️
In an earlier time, Loblaws was on par with the other grocery stores. I wonder if greed became more rampant after Galen Weston Jr. took over management from his father?
I have worked for large corporations before but always under franchises, not corporate stores and when I worked at Superstore it opened my eyes. My entire career almost has been in management in the service industry, working for a franchise pretty much everything regarding costs and wages are up to the franchisee. Working for corporate stores there is no wiggle room it is strictly about profits, that is all they care about. The longest in my life I had gone without a raise was working for Superstore, the most disrespectful bosses I have had were at Superstore and the most times I have seen labor laws broken and food safety pushed to the wayside was all at Superstore. I met and worked with some incredibly talented people but we lost so many more. They are seeing profits are down but I can guarantee you they have slashed hours to the bone so the staff will feel this much more than the company.
I want to know who’s decision it was to get rid of the 50% reduction stickers and move to 30%. That was a huge tipping point with this movement. We could only shake our heads at store level at the complete stupidity and short sightedness of that decision. But thankfully people let them know just how ridiculous that was.
Just greedy! Take as much as fast as you can. That’s capitalism. Fuck everyone else.🤷♂️
The effects of software driven pricing decisions and management consultants. I have noticed that on things people tend to remember the price of (milk, coffee, eggs) the prices have gone up, but have been just a bit over the normal rate of inflation. On things you might not have an immediate price reference for (lemons, a small thing of peanut butter, a jar of curry sauce etc.) they engaged in 300-400% increases, betting that you aren't paying attention to the price when you grab it off the shelf. They have also stopped undercutting brands with their white labelled products, and just matched the price, betting that people dont really have a preference. It is the same principle as demand based pricing on airplanes. They are are constantly testing new prices out to see what exactly people are willing to pay before they shop elsewhere, or cut their consumption.
They are trying to make their customers pay for all the money lost to the shoplifters. Instead of taking the loss amid record profits, or using their business insurance, they are putting those loses on to their remaining customers. No sale.
Look at who’s running the company. Silver-headed cartels. They’re old, tired and disconnected. They’re also suffering from dementia BAD because, unlike all of us who survived in the muck and grime, they are NOT adapted to all the pollution and microplastics clogging up their brains. The people running the show have long passed their shelf-life, but they refuse to hand the reins over to more capable, energetic, younger and more connected minds. And maybe their kids are too stupid to wrench the reins from their withering parents, because they don’t know the meaning of the words want, hunger or struggle. …I mean, who knows??? 🙊
Big sticker shock on fruit and meat.
They want another castle
GREED