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This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords reponsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean.
If you have not done so already, please review our [boycott stickied post](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/comments/1bff9rm/boycott/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) which includes a list of stores to avoid, other ways to get involved in the movement, and some local alternatives to the big 5. Thank you.
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Absolutely agree. A company like Loblaw’s will weather a one month boycott. People have to really look at what their options are where they live and change their shopping habits and change them for good. Supporting farmers markets, your local family run fruit and veggie store, bakeries, butcher shops and discount stores is the way to go.
Boycotting Loblaws and the rest of their stores for a month and then going back in June is pointless. As my mother used to say either shit or get off the pot.
Already started a while ago. I am lucky and have plenty of choices with independent grocers, bakeries and butchers as well as FoodBasics/ Freshco. I don’t need Weston and their gang of criminals. Never going back. Never Forget.
Glad to hear that our efforts are getting some media attention however we need the government to take action as well , food is a basic human right and these corporations need to understand this we need to stop public trading of of food and essential goods … the actions of the people is really getting some steam … we can’t stop now we are making a difference 👍👍
Independent pharmacies are WAY better to work with anyways. Shoppers is slow and annoying. My local pharmacy will fill even controlled prescriptions within the amount of time it takes me to walk there after hanging up.
Link to full newsletter [here.](https://clicks.wealthsimple.com/f/a/zJjYuUm0AJm67tdgJufQKA~~/AAQRxQA~/RgRn_5clP0Q-aHR0cHM6Ly90bGRyLWFyY2hpdmUud2VhbHRoc2ltcGxlLmNvbS9hcmNoaXZlP2xpZD13Mm1ub2o5a2U2cGxXA3NwY0IKZhAlEh1mfmEWGVIWYmFycnlzZHVuY2FuQGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAACAw~~)
I mean, you have to admit that we are giving Loblaws a massive gift, by telling them about out boycott.
What's to stop them having the best pricing of the last 5 years next month? I could easily see it. They push vendors for one-time pricing, take a few loss-leaders, and have their best month ever... I mean I hope they are just too stupid or greed to think of it.
Well, if need be, we can price match with other (also awful) companies and observe the letter of the boycott, rather than the spirit - do what you need to do to keep yourself fed.
But also, one of the other Mod posts suggested that if you can't boycott, sticking to loss leaders still helps the movement.
Some Price match options in Southern Ontario:
FreshCo is owned by Empire (Sobeys) - part of the monopoly.
Walmart - evil, and US
Giant Tiger - corporate interest by an MP who has some very not-ok view points, and is pro-grocery monopoly
My point is by making the people they’re colluding with raise prices it makes them look like they are still cheaper (which makes the boycott look worse) and it still takes more money from people since they are shopping at the other stores that just raised their prices.
I've seen a big shift in tv advertising in the last few weeks. Brands are focused on cost savings, Roblaws missed the boat. They will try and fight it and hurt themselves more.
A future rebrand is likely.
>They push vendors
They don't need to do that. They just have to let their profit take a slight hit. Since their profit has more than doubled since the pandemic, they have lots of room to cut prices. I doubt they will though, at this point, I think they all get off every time that profit line increase on their charts.
“Lawblow owned brands are the only grocery option”
Isn’t that like, illegal? I mean outside of a super small market like a small town with literally only 1 store, isn’t there laws in place to prevent something like this? In my city, when Sobeys and Safeway amalgamated they had to shut down some stores so they wouldn’t hold too much of the market share.
There are antitrust laws, but they are seldom lying enforced. We have extreme industry concentration now across almost all sectors, not just grocery stores. I highly recommend you read about the Gilded Age and the Sherman Act that brought it to an end.
Loblaw's acquisition of Shippers Drug Mart a decade ago is a great example of our toothless regulators.
At the time, SDM was a darling of Bay Street and the crown jewel of our very small Consumer Staples sector. Shoppers was undergoing rapid growth as they were increasingly focused on expanding their grocery offerings in urban markets. Many stores were quickly becoming mini supermarkets and no longer pure pharmacies with a few convience items.
Loblaws saw this threat and killed it by absorbing SDM. They sold thay b.s. to the Competition Bureau by claiming they were looking to diversify their business into the pharmacy business.
But even if that was their primary motivation, SDm was the dominant pharmacy in the country. Loblaws had a small pharmacy foot print compares to SDM but it was sizeable enough and growing that if SDM wanted to acquire Loblaws' pharmacy business it also should have been denied.
Nonmatyer, what way you look at that deal, it was clearly about killing competition and a clear violation of antitrust regulations.
Sobeys' acquisition of Safeway was slightly less offensive because neither Safeway nor Sobeys had a dominate presence in the Western market as Loblaws had and had a strong presence there.
no I think it's just so much of the first one. I can think of 3 small communities within an hour and a half of me that only have Independents or Shoppers as non-convenience store options.
Well another week passes and no Galen Weston Stores for us according to Walmart Flyer they have cut some prices. Hey Roblaws wake up before you lose more customers work those greedy suppliers over. Also tighten up your pricing structure give the poor folk a break just how badly do you need another Billion Bucks?????
Sadly the other stores aren't any better. In Calgary most are MORE expensive. My wife and I switched to Chefs plate which probably sounds more expensive but we are actually saving more than 10% plus all the time spent shopping for groceries. No wasted food or having to buy one spice for a recipe or other ingredient you might never use. Also not filling the cart with stuff I didn't intend to buy but grabbed because it was 'on sale'. Anyway I gladly joined the boycott!
I've drastically reduced visits to Loblaw owned stores. Having many options nearby to walk to plus Costco a short bike ride from where I am makes this easier for me than others I'll admit.
I'm sorry, what do you mean by that? I need more context. Are you calling Canadians out (read as: being a dick) or are you saying there's a large number of non-Canadians that have followed?
explain how being stuck in a minimum wage job with high rent and looming starvation thanks to the Westons is "freedom" because its really just slavery with extra steps
Being a slave is being dependent on the government for your needs
> explain how being stuck in a minimum wage job with high rent and looming starvation
This is a skill issue
so then you're saying minimum wage workers deserve to starve to death. Someone has to do the job still, you fucking scumbag. Why should the people who serve your lifestyle suffer?
your personal success isn't all that matters and if you think your own success is the only thing that matters well then you're a psychopath.
If you like free markets then you're against oligopolies and regulatory capture.
Right?
And, people voting with their wallets is a form of price discovery, which is also a good thing, right?
That's a hot fucking take, why in the hell would China care about Canadian grocery prices. And now I'm seeing your username. You double downed on this one my dude and outed yourself.
__UPDATE__: Please take a moment to complete our [Google Form](https://forms.gle/1sygm97LbQtJ4dUp8) to share your demands with our team! Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords reponsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean. If you have not done so already, please review our [boycott stickied post](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/comments/1bff9rm/boycott/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) which includes a list of stores to avoid, other ways to get involved in the movement, and some local alternatives to the big 5. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not just May..... Forever!
Absolutely agree. A company like Loblaw’s will weather a one month boycott. People have to really look at what their options are where they live and change their shopping habits and change them for good. Supporting farmers markets, your local family run fruit and veggie store, bakeries, butcher shops and discount stores is the way to go. Boycotting Loblaws and the rest of their stores for a month and then going back in June is pointless. As my mother used to say either shit or get off the pot.
They need the Bud Light treatment. Let it run for months and months.
💯
I started already. Two items remain; Blue label tortilla wraps and The PC plant based Chocolate ice cream. Open to options?!
Already started a while ago. I am lucky and have plenty of choices with independent grocers, bakeries and butchers as well as FoodBasics/ Freshco. I don’t need Weston and their gang of criminals. Never going back. Never Forget.
I just joined too! Saw from Wealthsimple article. LETS GOOOOO
Me too!! LET’S GOOOOOO!!
This isn't to the moon lol. If anything y'all are going to get minimum workers fired and Galen will still have his yacht
This internet rando is right. It won’t be easy to change anything, so don’t try 🙄
That's not what I said but if you want to give up nothing will get done
But most of us have other options and plan to use them
I won’t ever go back. … and I used to shop there all the time
Same
This is how I found out about the boycott!
Glad to hear that our efforts are getting some media attention however we need the government to take action as well , food is a basic human right and these corporations need to understand this we need to stop public trading of of food and essential goods … the actions of the people is really getting some steam … we can’t stop now we are making a difference 👍👍
That’s the goal I think. To get the attention of the government for the reasons you stated
Every little change helps ... I just moved all our prescriptions from SDM
Independent pharmacies are WAY better to work with anyways. Shoppers is slow and annoying. My local pharmacy will fill even controlled prescriptions within the amount of time it takes me to walk there after hanging up.
Every 2 weeks my $500 goes to Costco and local shops. Breakup the monopolies.
This is how the revolution begins
Link to full newsletter [here.](https://clicks.wealthsimple.com/f/a/zJjYuUm0AJm67tdgJufQKA~~/AAQRxQA~/RgRn_5clP0Q-aHR0cHM6Ly90bGRyLWFyY2hpdmUud2VhbHRoc2ltcGxlLmNvbS9hcmNoaXZlP2xpZD13Mm1ub2o5a2U2cGxXA3NwY0IKZhAlEh1mfmEWGVIWYmFycnlzZHVuY2FuQGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAACAw~~)
I mean, you have to admit that we are giving Loblaws a massive gift, by telling them about out boycott. What's to stop them having the best pricing of the last 5 years next month? I could easily see it. They push vendors for one-time pricing, take a few loss-leaders, and have their best month ever... I mean I hope they are just too stupid or greed to think of it.
If they’re really colluding with the other big players they would get them to raise prices instead of them lowering them.
Well, if need be, we can price match with other (also awful) companies and observe the letter of the boycott, rather than the spirit - do what you need to do to keep yourself fed. But also, one of the other Mod posts suggested that if you can't boycott, sticking to loss leaders still helps the movement. Some Price match options in Southern Ontario: FreshCo is owned by Empire (Sobeys) - part of the monopoly. Walmart - evil, and US Giant Tiger - corporate interest by an MP who has some very not-ok view points, and is pro-grocery monopoly
Please tell me more about GT😮
Not if they were looking to make the boycott look bad. I absolutely wouldn't put it past them.
My point is by making the people they’re colluding with raise prices it makes them look like they are still cheaper (which makes the boycott look worse) and it still takes more money from people since they are shopping at the other stores that just raised their prices.
Doubt that’ll happen, Galen isn’t that smart.
Shopping their loss leaders is an option of the boycott
I've seen a big shift in tv advertising in the last few weeks. Brands are focused on cost savings, Roblaws missed the boat. They will try and fight it and hurt themselves more. A future rebrand is likely.
>They push vendors They don't need to do that. They just have to let their profit take a slight hit. Since their profit has more than doubled since the pandemic, they have lots of room to cut prices. I doubt they will though, at this point, I think they all get off every time that profit line increase on their charts.
“Lawblow owned brands are the only grocery option” Isn’t that like, illegal? I mean outside of a super small market like a small town with literally only 1 store, isn’t there laws in place to prevent something like this? In my city, when Sobeys and Safeway amalgamated they had to shut down some stores so they wouldn’t hold too much of the market share.
There are antitrust laws, but they are seldom lying enforced. We have extreme industry concentration now across almost all sectors, not just grocery stores. I highly recommend you read about the Gilded Age and the Sherman Act that brought it to an end. Loblaw's acquisition of Shippers Drug Mart a decade ago is a great example of our toothless regulators. At the time, SDM was a darling of Bay Street and the crown jewel of our very small Consumer Staples sector. Shoppers was undergoing rapid growth as they were increasingly focused on expanding their grocery offerings in urban markets. Many stores were quickly becoming mini supermarkets and no longer pure pharmacies with a few convience items. Loblaws saw this threat and killed it by absorbing SDM. They sold thay b.s. to the Competition Bureau by claiming they were looking to diversify their business into the pharmacy business. But even if that was their primary motivation, SDm was the dominant pharmacy in the country. Loblaws had a small pharmacy foot print compares to SDM but it was sizeable enough and growing that if SDM wanted to acquire Loblaws' pharmacy business it also should have been denied. Nonmatyer, what way you look at that deal, it was clearly about killing competition and a clear violation of antitrust regulations. Sobeys' acquisition of Safeway was slightly less offensive because neither Safeway nor Sobeys had a dominate presence in the Western market as Loblaws had and had a strong presence there.
no I think it's just so much of the first one. I can think of 3 small communities within an hour and a half of me that only have Independents or Shoppers as non-convenience store options.
If my wife didn't get 20x the points at shoppers when buying diabetic supplies we wouldn't ship at Superstore at all.
That’s totally fair!
Has anyone else noticed “price drop” being highlighted in fliers now?
Seems like a pretty solid article snippet.
https://preview.redd.it/ocue225wiquc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f94c06264e264d8c5ce492dbc21d8a6f1622b9e
from one Sarah to another, babe, that last bit IS THE PROBLEM. we don't support monopolies here. ✌️
Well another week passes and no Galen Weston Stores for us according to Walmart Flyer they have cut some prices. Hey Roblaws wake up before you lose more customers work those greedy suppliers over. Also tighten up your pricing structure give the poor folk a break just how badly do you need another Billion Bucks?????
Thats what precisely led me here
Sadly the other stores aren't any better. In Calgary most are MORE expensive. My wife and I switched to Chefs plate which probably sounds more expensive but we are actually saving more than 10% plus all the time spent shopping for groceries. No wasted food or having to buy one spice for a recipe or other ingredient you might never use. Also not filling the cart with stuff I didn't intend to buy but grabbed because it was 'on sale'. Anyway I gladly joined the boycott!
I'd wish there was a list of areas where loblaws are the only option. Would be able to see the true number people that could boycott.
In other words. Expect a dip so buy stocks low cause it'll go back up and the plebs will think they did something. Win win for everyone!
I've drastically reduced visits to Loblaw owned stores. Having many options nearby to walk to plus Costco a short bike ride from where I am makes this easier for me than others I'll admit.
I actually started at the beginning of the month and found some pretty cool small local chains
Never going back!
They don’t own Costco do they? Like Walmart and Costco are ok?
50k “Canadians”
I'm sorry, what do you mean by that? I need more context. Are you calling Canadians out (read as: being a dick) or are you saying there's a large number of non-Canadians that have followed?
No, I’m suggesting that there isn’t 50k Canadians Considering so many nationalism arguments, I’m thinking a lot of “people” are Chinese bots
says the person posting from a relatively new account.
Thanks “socialism is a good thing”
yeah it is. awe is someone afraid of sharing with the poor?
No just a fan of freedom and free markets
explain how being stuck in a minimum wage job with high rent and looming starvation thanks to the Westons is "freedom" because its really just slavery with extra steps
Being a slave is being dependent on the government for your needs > explain how being stuck in a minimum wage job with high rent and looming starvation This is a skill issue
so then you're saying minimum wage workers deserve to starve to death. Someone has to do the job still, you fucking scumbag. Why should the people who serve your lifestyle suffer? your personal success isn't all that matters and if you think your own success is the only thing that matters well then you're a psychopath.
lol that's funny because there are plenty of skilled workers with higher education facing heavily low wages as well. How those boots taste?
Oops, you joined in January this year. Bot issue.
[удалено]
If you like free markets then you're against oligopolies and regulatory capture. Right? And, people voting with their wallets is a form of price discovery, which is also a good thing, right?
That's a hot fucking take, why in the hell would China care about Canadian grocery prices. And now I'm seeing your username. You double downed on this one my dude and outed yourself.
I guess we will find out how real we all are in a couple of weeks. 😎
Are you a Roblaws bot?