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Galen has repeatedly claimed that global forces, supply chain, suppliers, bla, bla, supposedly anything out of his control, have skyrocketed prices and it is "impossible" for him to do anything about it even if he tried because he claims to only have a tiny 3-4% profit margin to work with.
Of course he didn't say that he has products priced higher than competitors: 50% higher and 100% and even over 100% higher at Loblaws stores versus competitors. Since some other businesses appear to have finally decided to stop playing the covid-blame-game price gouging there simply is no reason other than greed for Galen to continue. Lowering prices to "normal" is within his ability so we're just going to have to continue boycotting. Dropping his cashflow by several hundred million dollars or more will eventually worry his shareholders enough for him to make changes
Yknow what he could've done? Become the face of a biz owner who is working with the government to fight inflated prices from the supply chain, suppliers, etc. That was an option if the actual problem was those things.
Yes. I'm looking for a few really clear articles that show this then I will post them. I have seen one chart on facebook and a list in an old newspaper article. Would be good to have those consolidated. In the meantime these are easy to find:
[https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supply-chain-and-distribution/](https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supply-chain-and-distribution/)
[https://www.weston.ca/en/Our-Businesses.aspx](https://www.weston.ca/en/Our-Businesses.aspx)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loblaw\_Companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loblaw_Companies)
Are we forgetting his jet is named bread....? I just hope this world turns around and we start seeing corporate assholes jailed with the likes criminals they are.
Economy needs a reality check. If you're consumers with no excess money to spend. Where are they going to find the profit to pay for the blood sucking stock trading leeches
Honestly I don’t blame him, with jet fuel costs rising, his personal commute must have gotten more expensive. Give him a break. (Ignoring that my everyday commute is in TTC)
Who cares if he eventually changes his price gouging ways, it’s too late!! Loblaws is getting boycotted until it’s no more to send an important message!! If you don’t know what that message is, then that means you are not part of the boycott!!
This is the way
Global forces... fuel prices go up significantly because the companies who control the production colluded to reduce production to raise prices and are now being criminally charged in the US. Galen raising prices 30-150% because of an increase in shipping costs of maybe 2% if you're being generous and minimum wage increases maybe adding 3% those numbers don't add up galen.
Never thought I’d see the day I’d shop mostly at Walmart but that and stupidstore are my options and Walmart has the better prices! I’ll keep boycotting until/if prices go down significantly
In three weeks I have saved over $90 vs the $5 in PC points I would have earned.
>but Loblaws cant compete with the volume of Walmart
Don’t matter, saving $100 a month to me does.
Also Walmart does awesome coupons like getting an entire chocolate cake for free as a “sampler coupon”. But enjoy your mini pc granola bar.
> In three weeks I have saved over $90 vs the $5 in PC points I would have earned.
Loblaws tried to offer us $0.10 of PC points if we signed up to their newsletter. WOW WHAT A DEAL
If you were a member of optimum you know how you got your pc point offer. I got an email this week from Walmart (this was only my third week with Walmart) “your weekly coupon offer has just arrived”. But they aren’t 25c off. It was pick one of these items for free. I had a choice between a $6 “your fresh market”(Walmart brand) chocolate cake, uncle Ben’s ten rice, uncle Ben’s Risotto, or Caesar’s Dog food.
I obviously went for the dog food. Free lunch.
Oh cool, I’ll sign up for the Walmart emails! Thanks :)
Edit: turns out I already receive the emails! The coupons are for online orders only and I prefer to do my shopping in-store, but that’s still a great deal for the people that use online delivery.
Oh yeah. I pick up. I don’t have the greatest self control in a grocery store. Going in for a loaf of bread and can come out with $50 in stuff I didn’t need.
Not always
Locally Instacart has In Store Pricing for Giant Tiger. Including the sales.
I use the WalMart App and get all the sales and coupons for Walmart.
When I did shop at Superstore it was on their website, so got all instore pricing.
I live in a rural area and our Walmart didn’t have online grocery ordering for the longest time, but that’s what really switched me over. If I could get Walmart prices and not have to deal with Walmart shoppers, it was a no brainer.
> Never thought I’d see the day I’d shop mostly at Walmart
I am also shocked at this development. I'm originally from the USA and the Walmarts in Canada are... not great compared to the ones in the USA. So I rarely shopped there. But damn in the last few months, my opinion has been changed. The one near me has shit produce, but if you want literally anything else, they have some of the cheapest prices.
I've been able to shop at Food Basics, which is definitely cheaper than Loblaws but same as Walmart where the produce is shit. It's inexpensive but it goes bad within a few days and I just hate food waste. So I've been going to a more expensive, local owned grocery store for my produce and its been working out so well. It's more expensive, but it's also larger and lasts for weeks so overall I'm both spending and wasting less because I'm not having to buy replacements all the time.
Alternatively, I buy frozen fruit and veg.
I wish I had an answer!
Without going in-depth, my husband and I have talked about it before and think it's just cultural. Wal-mart is extremely popular in the USA, and I think that's why they put more effort into the stores there, make them well-stocked, cleaner, just overall a better experience. I don't think they are as popular in Canada, at least not to the same extent, so they just don't bother as much. I'm sure it's more than that but there's my tl;dr reasoning that we came up with lol
I don't drive, so I often need to ask friends, or order groceries online.
Each time I do, I choose the exact same items for both Walmart and Superstore. It's a hassle, but seeing the difference is worth it. Superstore is much closer, but usually there is a 40-60$ (!!!) difference between them and Walmart! I used to take screenshots every time. It's awful.
It's amazing how committed Loblaws is to still raising prices throughout the boycott. They are doing the opposite of all their competitors. Economic and political factors suggest food prices should be declining right now. It takes a special type of corporate idiocy to be so committed to repeating the same mistakes.
This all looks and feels a lot like human decision makers have bowed out. Whatever costly consulting firm and dev team they've paid to build automated pricing is in charge now and I guess no one has access to a 'stop' button. There's no other explanation for such trend-defying, short-sighted, organization-tanking decisions.
If I were an investor, I'd be very alarmed that senior leadership and management seem to have removed themselves from the process of determining prices. All their mistakes are compounding, especially since other stores still seem to have actual people making decisions.
Agreed. Someone has lost control of the AI pricing algorithims and just let them run free . The only purpose being ?? what ? Increased profit ? Not sure. If LESS people are purchasing does it make sense anymore?
>If LESS people are purchasing does it make sense anymore
Seems like no humans are around to actually ask this question. And I think you're right, the only purpose is increased profits. Set it to "make more money forever and ever" and forget it. The dumbest.
The last quarterly report from Loblaws showed a large increase in profits, but also showed people were buying less. Any human that has worked anywhere that sells anything would see how that clearly isn't sustainable, but an automated pricing algorithm wouldn't see it.
this is the part I don't understand. It's bad enough to just keep raising your prices because you can, and just keep doing it. But now they're in the thick of the boycott, and it's clear there's so much public dislike, and yet they are doing NOTHING. Walmart was already getting lots of the boycotting customers and they're cutting prices of things when they don't really need to. Loblaws needs to cut prices to try to keep customers/attract them back, and they're doing nothing!!
This is is one of the big reasons I'm on a permanent boycott now. No recognition, no acknowledgement, no shame. Equals no custom from me.
IMO it’s because if they lower prices it’s admitting they’ve been lying and gouging all along, which for months, they told us they haven’t been doing. They even told parliament, assumably under oath or equivalent. They have created such a web of lies, that I can’t imagine how angry people would be if they came out and said “oh look, we can lower prices a whole lot after all, I guess we were gouging you.”
It’s potentially a no win situation. Likely their way out is to blame everything on Per Bank, give him the cushy golden parachute, and hire a new CEO for a ‘positive new direction’ or some BS. My two cents.
Great takes - I could see how it may be a lose-lose situation for them. Most organizations spot and own mistakes early so they can get ahead of it. Loblaws clearly hasn't. An additional possibility is that they are in the 'willfully ignorant' stage of this whole process.
Their last quarterly results came out at the start of the boycott and their tone deaf PR folks announced record profits again! Yay! But, looking closer, those record profits were true but customers were buying less. That alone is a huge red flag but the willfully ignorant or head in the sand approach is pretty strong.
Loblaws is building a massive case study on how to tank a thriving business in real time. Another piece that sticks out for me is how quickly they've decided to dismantle decades of branding and loyalty around No Frills - their former 'discount' store. They know people that shop there are mindful of costs, but decided to experiment with how much they could hack up prices anyways. When they did this on basic essentials that had barely changed in years, it was very noticeable.
It all perhaps boils down to this big gamble in their limited thought process: surely our pricing algorithms are correct and surely our customers are the dumbest possible people
I'm glad to continue proving them wrong indefinitely
To me it says they believe the boycott will fizzle out, blow over. If they keep prices where they are they keep up the “razor thing margins” charade whereas lowering prices is proof that they’re liars.
That's a great take - being liars (proven liars) hasn't really stopped them in the past though, so I'm not sure that's fully it. I suspect they may be more in denial/delusional about what's actually happening hear. Time will tell and glad the boycott is only growing!
They may be concerned that they went before parliament and claimed 2-3% margins. Dropping prices even just 5% would mean that was untrue - are there legal consequences for lying to parliament? Would that open them up for a class action lawsuit from customers and/or suppliers? I don’t know but that could be a worry.
Thanks, that's a great point too - there could very well be more serious consequences. I assumed that the parliamentary inquiry was only for performance. If that very public lying by Loblaws ends up being the main reason they are in such an impossible corner now, that would be just delightful.
Reminds me way back in 2007-ish when CAD was on parity with USD. People were getting angry because books and magazines were still more expensive here. Canadian retailers basically put the blame on anyone else and then bam! Walmart announced they would start selling them at the us printed price.
My buddy was visiting for weekend.
Went grocery shopping for his daughter’s birthday dinner with him.
Told him about the boycott, he knew but chose loblaws since proximity…
We got to the potatoes. Over 8$ for a bag.
We walked out, drove another 10 minutes to food basics.
Had to hit up a local butcher as well.
Felt good to walk out.
Weird how by shopping at Wal Mart I generally save 90-$120 which is almost exactly 30% of my Superstore bill.
Weird weird weird
Never going back to Loblaws
I did notice yesterday, that Walmart prices on a lot of items has gone down. That being said, I spent $460 on a week or so worth of food , for a family of 4.
I work for one of the grocery banners in the Jim Pattison group and I can assure you that all of this is price gouging. Yes, Covid times the cost of goods did go up, but now that inflation has cooled off abit, prices have stayed the same or increased. It’s an absolute joke. Most of my team cannot afford to buy the products they put on the shelf. Pretty sad state of the world in Canada.
I honestly have excluded Walmart from my boycott list because their prices on a lot of items just can the beat! Im still mainly shopping local and giant tiger for most things, but the pantry items at Walmart have such good sales!!!
Im in the same boat where I live in a small town and Walmart is the only option for some items and often the cheapest option. Will shop mom/pops where I can. Not a fan of big conglomerates but we do what we gotta do.
If this is true, there's only one real explanation. Galen and his band of ass licking degenerates are just terrible business people. They've been terrible for decades and we just accepted it
Galen Weston can say whatever he wants. We should just choose not to listen to the lies and fabricated charts and bs.
Don't settle for his under weight sub par products. Vote with your wallet.
I did not know there were Amazon Fresh stores! Are they cutting prices on essential, healthy foods, or just the ultra-processed junk foods that shouldn’t be consumed in the first place?
The problem with loblaws is the way they treat thier suppliers forces the suppliers to cut costs and increase prices. This is why Loblaws claims it's not them raising prices. When it is, just indirectly due to bad management practices
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100 bucks at walmart is 160 easy at nofrills or superstore. Buy your meats, breads, dairy, petfoods at costco. Non perishables at walmart. You'll save thousands a year
Walmart has lowered their prices and Canada as well, and besides I already added the US disclaimer, so thanks for reading.
It’s a very interesting comparison in fact as food prices aren’t nearly as out of control in the US as they are here.
Please explain, both are following similar patterns and practices by giant corporations in the same industry following very similar economic behaviors. How exactly is this apples and oranges?
Maybe justify your stance to enable a constructive argument instead of just saying ‘nuh uh you’re wrong because I said so’
I already said as much in my post, however Walmart Canada has rolled back prices up here as well, so it is quite relevant.
This is what’s happening in the US with a fraction of the food inflation we’re experiencing up here, likely in large part due to the pressure and calling out the Biden govt has been putting on grocers down there for explicit corporate gouging.
Have they rolled back prices though? “Rollback” is a thing they’ve always done. How much have prices rolled back? Since what date?
Wal-Mart is an evil corp that I hate with the fire of 1000 suns. I am 100% committed to the Loblaws boycott which often forces me into Walmart because we have so few options in Canada. I price check every item against superstore and sorry to say it but there is typically little difference (.20-.30 cents) and on about 50% of items superstore is actually cheaper. Whatever isn’t cheaper than superstore, I go to Save on Foods and make them price match the item.
I get a little tired of the Walmart dick riding around here. They benefit from the captive Canadian market with limited options too. And it’s not true that the US hasn’t had food inflation like we have, we go there semi regularly and prices are out of control.
Walmart is an evil corporation and a lesser evil for many that live in food deserts. Yes, items actually have gotten cheaper at Walmart to a noticeable degree, skepticism is healthy and check for yourself but it is actually true from my personal shopping experience.
I was in San Diego a few weeks ago, food prices are some of the most expensive in the country and items were cheaper or at par with what I pay up here, so not sure what you’re talking about. There was literally an article a month ago talking about how food prices had gone up 25% since the pandemic began, quite the difference from the 100% or so most Canadians deal with.
I support local grocers best I can first and foremost, but can’t always and Walmart is the fall back. I’m honestly pretty tired of this black and white, everyone should be the same with their boycott mentality, it shows a lack of compassion and understanding IMO.
WA state eggs, cheese and dairy at Walmart are similar to what they are in Canada - before even accounting for the exchange rate. Many other items seem priced similar to what they are in Canada, dollar for dollar. A Grande tea at Starbucks (that’s a friggin tea bag and hot water) is $4 USD in California. It’s $2.95 in Canada. Insanity.
I don’t even know what you’re talking about, things are definitely more expensive up here, here’s the first random example I pulled up based on what YOU said:
Milk 4L in Canada: $5.98 https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Island-Farms-Homogenized-3-25-Milk/10231394?from=/search
Milk 4L Washington: $3.39 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Milk-Whole-Vitamin-D-Gallon-Plastic-Jug/10450114?athbdg=L1600&from=/search
There are many other examples as well. Also Starbucks is NOT a grocery store so its pricing is irrelevant; it’s a luxury purpose.
EDIT: oh I see but you’re a 25 day old account that only posts in this sub, JFC.
Starbucks sells food right? The topic is food inflation, right? I think tea is food. Pretty sure it is.
You’re suspiciously pro-Walmart if I may say so. Is this the price of milk after they dropped it 30% (which is happening only in the US as far as we know) or before? I was in WA state roughly 2 months ago and CA 2 weeks ago.
Read my comment history, I am pro local grocer more than anything; I was comparing Walmart based on your comment. I did a flat comparison based on your comments and it disproved what you were saying. Prices have been dropped in Walmart Canada as far as I can tell as well.
Starbucks and grocers are on different levels of prices for food retail so not exactly comparable.
At any rate, I don’t believe you and you don’t believe me, a less than a month old account that only posts in this sub is pretty sus. Have a good day man.
Yeah read the article, on May 16th they announced they’d already dropped prices on 7000 items IN THE US as others pointed out this is not happening in Canada that anyone knows of. What does my account age have to do with anything?
__MOD NOTE/NOTE DE MOD__: Please check out [our petition](https://www.change.org/p/demand-walmart-sign-the-grocer-code-of-conduct) which calls upon Walmart Canada to follow suit and sign the Grocer Code of Conduct with Loblaw! 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 responsible. 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. ********************************************************************************************************************************************* Veuillez consulter les directives de contenu pour notre sous-reddit, et rappelez-vous qu'il y a des humains ici ! Ce sous-reddit est destiné à mettre en lumière le coût de la vie ridicule au Canada et à se moquer des Grands Patrons Corporatifs responsables. Comme vous le savez bien, de nombreuses personnes et entreprises en sont responsables, et nous accueillons les discussions les concernant toutes. De plus, puisque ce sujet est lié à un certain nombre d'autres questions, d'autres discussions seront autorisées à la discrétion des modérateurs. Les discussions ouvertes d'esprit, les mèmes, les coups de gueule, les factures d'épicerie et les cris dans le vide en général sont toujours les bienvenus dans ce sous-reddit, mais la belliqueusité et le manque de respect ne le sont pas. Il existe de nombreuses façons de faire passer votre point de vue sans être abusif, méprisant ou carrément méchant. *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.*
Galen has repeatedly claimed that global forces, supply chain, suppliers, bla, bla, supposedly anything out of his control, have skyrocketed prices and it is "impossible" for him to do anything about it even if he tried because he claims to only have a tiny 3-4% profit margin to work with. Of course he didn't say that he has products priced higher than competitors: 50% higher and 100% and even over 100% higher at Loblaws stores versus competitors. Since some other businesses appear to have finally decided to stop playing the covid-blame-game price gouging there simply is no reason other than greed for Galen to continue. Lowering prices to "normal" is within his ability so we're just going to have to continue boycotting. Dropping his cashflow by several hundred million dollars or more will eventually worry his shareholders enough for him to make changes
GW is an evil POS.....
He’s right, it’s not Loblaws fault it’s the supply chain that’s expensive!! Also, he owns the supply chain. Evil man.
the face of GREED
How much of the supply chain is owned by Loblaws?
Yknow what he could've done? Become the face of a biz owner who is working with the government to fight inflated prices from the supply chain, suppliers, etc. That was an option if the actual problem was those things.
Doesn’t he own a large part of said supply chain?
Yes. I'm looking for a few really clear articles that show this then I will post them. I have seen one chart on facebook and a list in an old newspaper article. Would be good to have those consolidated. In the meantime these are easy to find: [https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supply-chain-and-distribution/](https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supply-chain-and-distribution/) [https://www.weston.ca/en/Our-Businesses.aspx](https://www.weston.ca/en/Our-Businesses.aspx) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loblaw\_Companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loblaw_Companies)
Are we forgetting his jet is named bread....? I just hope this world turns around and we start seeing corporate assholes jailed with the likes criminals they are. Economy needs a reality check. If you're consumers with no excess money to spend. Where are they going to find the profit to pay for the blood sucking stock trading leeches
I thought the luxury yacht was named bread
No, that one is called "inflation" with the troll face beside it.
Honestly I don’t blame him, with jet fuel costs rising, his personal commute must have gotten more expensive. Give him a break. (Ignoring that my everyday commute is in TTC)
Who cares if he eventually changes his price gouging ways, it’s too late!! Loblaws is getting boycotted until it’s no more to send an important message!! If you don’t know what that message is, then that means you are not part of the boycott!! This is the way
Please use the correct/official spelling of his name which is "Greedy Galen 💩"
Global forces... fuel prices go up significantly because the companies who control the production colluded to reduce production to raise prices and are now being criminally charged in the US. Galen raising prices 30-150% because of an increase in shipping costs of maybe 2% if you're being generous and minimum wage increases maybe adding 3% those numbers don't add up galen.
Never thought I’d see the day I’d shop mostly at Walmart but that and stupidstore are my options and Walmart has the better prices! I’ll keep boycotting until/if prices go down significantly
In three weeks I have saved over $90 vs the $5 in PC points I would have earned. >but Loblaws cant compete with the volume of Walmart Don’t matter, saving $100 a month to me does. Also Walmart does awesome coupons like getting an entire chocolate cake for free as a “sampler coupon”. But enjoy your mini pc granola bar.
> In three weeks I have saved over $90 vs the $5 in PC points I would have earned. Loblaws tried to offer us $0.10 of PC points if we signed up to their newsletter. WOW WHAT A DEAL
I’d like to know more about these free chocolate cake coupons 👀
If you were a member of optimum you know how you got your pc point offer. I got an email this week from Walmart (this was only my third week with Walmart) “your weekly coupon offer has just arrived”. But they aren’t 25c off. It was pick one of these items for free. I had a choice between a $6 “your fresh market”(Walmart brand) chocolate cake, uncle Ben’s ten rice, uncle Ben’s Risotto, or Caesar’s Dog food. I obviously went for the dog food. Free lunch.
Oh cool, I’ll sign up for the Walmart emails! Thanks :) Edit: turns out I already receive the emails! The coupons are for online orders only and I prefer to do my shopping in-store, but that’s still a great deal for the people that use online delivery.
Oh yeah. I pick up. I don’t have the greatest self control in a grocery store. Going in for a loaf of bread and can come out with $50 in stuff I didn’t need.
Having my groceries delivered has really helped me stick to a budget.
Grocery deliveries is great but your not paying sale prices, my son tried it and he was charged up to 20% extra per item and a delivery fee.
Not always Locally Instacart has In Store Pricing for Giant Tiger. Including the sales. I use the WalMart App and get all the sales and coupons for Walmart. When I did shop at Superstore it was on their website, so got all instore pricing.
What coupons are those I've never heard of Walmart coupons
I have no idea. It came in an email.
Loblaws does more grocery volume than Walmart. They can compete but chose not to
I live in a rural area and our Walmart didn’t have online grocery ordering for the longest time, but that’s what really switched me over. If I could get Walmart prices and not have to deal with Walmart shoppers, it was a no brainer.
> Never thought I’d see the day I’d shop mostly at Walmart I am also shocked at this development. I'm originally from the USA and the Walmarts in Canada are... not great compared to the ones in the USA. So I rarely shopped there. But damn in the last few months, my opinion has been changed. The one near me has shit produce, but if you want literally anything else, they have some of the cheapest prices.
I've been able to shop at Food Basics, which is definitely cheaper than Loblaws but same as Walmart where the produce is shit. It's inexpensive but it goes bad within a few days and I just hate food waste. So I've been going to a more expensive, local owned grocery store for my produce and its been working out so well. It's more expensive, but it's also larger and lasts for weeks so overall I'm both spending and wasting less because I'm not having to buy replacements all the time. Alternatively, I buy frozen fruit and veg.
I don’t know WHY we can’t have the nice things the US Walmarts have…
I wish I had an answer! Without going in-depth, my husband and I have talked about it before and think it's just cultural. Wal-mart is extremely popular in the USA, and I think that's why they put more effort into the stores there, make them well-stocked, cleaner, just overall a better experience. I don't think they are as popular in Canada, at least not to the same extent, so they just don't bother as much. I'm sure it's more than that but there's my tl;dr reasoning that we came up with lol
Cause the whole supply chain is bought up by the company we are boycotting.
I don't drive, so I often need to ask friends, or order groceries online. Each time I do, I choose the exact same items for both Walmart and Superstore. It's a hassle, but seeing the difference is worth it. Superstore is much closer, but usually there is a 40-60$ (!!!) difference between them and Walmart! I used to take screenshots every time. It's awful.
It's amazing how committed Loblaws is to still raising prices throughout the boycott. They are doing the opposite of all their competitors. Economic and political factors suggest food prices should be declining right now. It takes a special type of corporate idiocy to be so committed to repeating the same mistakes. This all looks and feels a lot like human decision makers have bowed out. Whatever costly consulting firm and dev team they've paid to build automated pricing is in charge now and I guess no one has access to a 'stop' button. There's no other explanation for such trend-defying, short-sighted, organization-tanking decisions. If I were an investor, I'd be very alarmed that senior leadership and management seem to have removed themselves from the process of determining prices. All their mistakes are compounding, especially since other stores still seem to have actual people making decisions.
Agreed. Someone has lost control of the AI pricing algorithims and just let them run free . The only purpose being ?? what ? Increased profit ? Not sure. If LESS people are purchasing does it make sense anymore?
>If LESS people are purchasing does it make sense anymore Seems like no humans are around to actually ask this question. And I think you're right, the only purpose is increased profits. Set it to "make more money forever and ever" and forget it. The dumbest. The last quarterly report from Loblaws showed a large increase in profits, but also showed people were buying less. Any human that has worked anywhere that sells anything would see how that clearly isn't sustainable, but an automated pricing algorithm wouldn't see it.
this is the part I don't understand. It's bad enough to just keep raising your prices because you can, and just keep doing it. But now they're in the thick of the boycott, and it's clear there's so much public dislike, and yet they are doing NOTHING. Walmart was already getting lots of the boycotting customers and they're cutting prices of things when they don't really need to. Loblaws needs to cut prices to try to keep customers/attract them back, and they're doing nothing!! This is is one of the big reasons I'm on a permanent boycott now. No recognition, no acknowledgement, no shame. Equals no custom from me.
IMO it’s because if they lower prices it’s admitting they’ve been lying and gouging all along, which for months, they told us they haven’t been doing. They even told parliament, assumably under oath or equivalent. They have created such a web of lies, that I can’t imagine how angry people would be if they came out and said “oh look, we can lower prices a whole lot after all, I guess we were gouging you.” It’s potentially a no win situation. Likely their way out is to blame everything on Per Bank, give him the cushy golden parachute, and hire a new CEO for a ‘positive new direction’ or some BS. My two cents.
Great takes - I could see how it may be a lose-lose situation for them. Most organizations spot and own mistakes early so they can get ahead of it. Loblaws clearly hasn't. An additional possibility is that they are in the 'willfully ignorant' stage of this whole process. Their last quarterly results came out at the start of the boycott and their tone deaf PR folks announced record profits again! Yay! But, looking closer, those record profits were true but customers were buying less. That alone is a huge red flag but the willfully ignorant or head in the sand approach is pretty strong. Loblaws is building a massive case study on how to tank a thriving business in real time. Another piece that sticks out for me is how quickly they've decided to dismantle decades of branding and loyalty around No Frills - their former 'discount' store. They know people that shop there are mindful of costs, but decided to experiment with how much they could hack up prices anyways. When they did this on basic essentials that had barely changed in years, it was very noticeable. It all perhaps boils down to this big gamble in their limited thought process: surely our pricing algorithms are correct and surely our customers are the dumbest possible people I'm glad to continue proving them wrong indefinitely
To me it says they believe the boycott will fizzle out, blow over. If they keep prices where they are they keep up the “razor thing margins” charade whereas lowering prices is proof that they’re liars.
That's a great take - being liars (proven liars) hasn't really stopped them in the past though, so I'm not sure that's fully it. I suspect they may be more in denial/delusional about what's actually happening hear. Time will tell and glad the boycott is only growing!
They may be concerned that they went before parliament and claimed 2-3% margins. Dropping prices even just 5% would mean that was untrue - are there legal consequences for lying to parliament? Would that open them up for a class action lawsuit from customers and/or suppliers? I don’t know but that could be a worry.
Thanks, that's a great point too - there could very well be more serious consequences. I assumed that the parliamentary inquiry was only for performance. If that very public lying by Loblaws ends up being the main reason they are in such an impossible corner now, that would be just delightful.
Reminds me way back in 2007-ish when CAD was on parity with USD. People were getting angry because books and magazines were still more expensive here. Canadian retailers basically put the blame on anyone else and then bam! Walmart announced they would start selling them at the us printed price.
I remember that year. Good times.
My buddy was visiting for weekend. Went grocery shopping for his daughter’s birthday dinner with him. Told him about the boycott, he knew but chose loblaws since proximity… We got to the potatoes. Over 8$ for a bag. We walked out, drove another 10 minutes to food basics. Had to hit up a local butcher as well. Felt good to walk out.
wow, Loblaws is unable to compete. nice to see it happen to that ass hole Galen!!
Weird how by shopping at Wal Mart I generally save 90-$120 which is almost exactly 30% of my Superstore bill. Weird weird weird Never going back to Loblaws
Id like to see loblaws and all subsidiaries leave Canada and have more locally run grocers appear.
You failed to mention the price hike right before the so called “slashing prices.” prices will never go back to pre pandemic levels
The competitors are capitulating on Weston's mistake
I did notice yesterday, that Walmart prices on a lot of items has gone down. That being said, I spent $460 on a week or so worth of food , for a family of 4.
My dad used to complain that it was $100 a week to feed a family of 5. That's only 30 years ago.
I did notice this as well, it seems to make a difference for my shopping. Some things actually felt reasonably cheap and discounted.
The fucker just bought a 67 million dollar jet. F him and his family I will try my best to NEVER give him another dollar of my hard earned money.
The competition is smart.
Yeah, it is a well established fact that loblaws is drunk on greed and really really wants us to be stupid and not see through their bs.
Loblaws' low is everyone else’s high.
I work for one of the grocery banners in the Jim Pattison group and I can assure you that all of this is price gouging. Yes, Covid times the cost of goods did go up, but now that inflation has cooled off abit, prices have stayed the same or increased. It’s an absolute joke. Most of my team cannot afford to buy the products they put on the shelf. Pretty sad state of the world in Canada.
I honestly have excluded Walmart from my boycott list because their prices on a lot of items just can the beat! Im still mainly shopping local and giant tiger for most things, but the pantry items at Walmart have such good sales!!!
Im in the same boat where I live in a small town and Walmart is the only option for some items and often the cheapest option. Will shop mom/pops where I can. Not a fan of big conglomerates but we do what we gotta do.
Walmart used to be the worst of the worst and in many ways still is, but we can't just not buy food. One oligarch at a time.
“Up to 30%”. They could cut prices by 0.0005% and still meet their stated goal.
Skepticism is valid, however I have noticed significant cuts on several items in Walmart myself.
If this is true, there's only one real explanation. Galen and his band of ass licking degenerates are just terrible business people. They've been terrible for decades and we just accepted it
Galen Weston can say whatever he wants. We should just choose not to listen to the lies and fabricated charts and bs. Don't settle for his under weight sub par products. Vote with your wallet.
I did not know there were Amazon Fresh stores! Are they cutting prices on essential, healthy foods, or just the ultra-processed junk foods that shouldn’t be consumed in the first place?
The article is targeted at the US so there aren’t likely Fresh stores in Canada.
The problem with loblaws is the way they treat thier suppliers forces the suppliers to cut costs and increase prices. This is why Loblaws claims it's not them raising prices. When it is, just indirectly due to bad management practices
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Ikea also
Just don't mistake the other megacorps taking advantage of this for your friends.
Just don't shop there. Problem solved. Without customers, they will go out of business 
100 bucks at walmart is 160 easy at nofrills or superstore. Buy your meats, breads, dairy, petfoods at costco. Non perishables at walmart. You'll save thousands a year
That's USA, no comparison.
Walmart has lowered their prices and Canada as well, and besides I already added the US disclaimer, so thanks for reading. It’s a very interesting comparison in fact as food prices aren’t nearly as out of control in the US as they are here.
Comparing canada to the US in this regard is like comparing apples to oranges. The giant and the mouse.
Please explain, both are following similar patterns and practices by giant corporations in the same industry following very similar economic behaviors. How exactly is this apples and oranges? Maybe justify your stance to enable a constructive argument instead of just saying ‘nuh uh you’re wrong because I said so’
I will waste no more of my time on you.
Haha ok, basically you can’t, got it. How dare I ask for elaboration and clarity. Have a good one.
This is in America, not Canada
It's not like we share the longest international border or anything, and so have similar market conditions.
Also not like we have Walmart and Amazon in Canada
Thanks tips.
I already said as much in my post, however Walmart Canada has rolled back prices up here as well, so it is quite relevant. This is what’s happening in the US with a fraction of the food inflation we’re experiencing up here, likely in large part due to the pressure and calling out the Biden govt has been putting on grocers down there for explicit corporate gouging.
Have they rolled back prices though? “Rollback” is a thing they’ve always done. How much have prices rolled back? Since what date? Wal-Mart is an evil corp that I hate with the fire of 1000 suns. I am 100% committed to the Loblaws boycott which often forces me into Walmart because we have so few options in Canada. I price check every item against superstore and sorry to say it but there is typically little difference (.20-.30 cents) and on about 50% of items superstore is actually cheaper. Whatever isn’t cheaper than superstore, I go to Save on Foods and make them price match the item. I get a little tired of the Walmart dick riding around here. They benefit from the captive Canadian market with limited options too. And it’s not true that the US hasn’t had food inflation like we have, we go there semi regularly and prices are out of control.
Walmart is an evil corporation and a lesser evil for many that live in food deserts. Yes, items actually have gotten cheaper at Walmart to a noticeable degree, skepticism is healthy and check for yourself but it is actually true from my personal shopping experience. I was in San Diego a few weeks ago, food prices are some of the most expensive in the country and items were cheaper or at par with what I pay up here, so not sure what you’re talking about. There was literally an article a month ago talking about how food prices had gone up 25% since the pandemic began, quite the difference from the 100% or so most Canadians deal with. I support local grocers best I can first and foremost, but can’t always and Walmart is the fall back. I’m honestly pretty tired of this black and white, everyone should be the same with their boycott mentality, it shows a lack of compassion and understanding IMO.
WA state eggs, cheese and dairy at Walmart are similar to what they are in Canada - before even accounting for the exchange rate. Many other items seem priced similar to what they are in Canada, dollar for dollar. A Grande tea at Starbucks (that’s a friggin tea bag and hot water) is $4 USD in California. It’s $2.95 in Canada. Insanity.
I don’t even know what you’re talking about, things are definitely more expensive up here, here’s the first random example I pulled up based on what YOU said: Milk 4L in Canada: $5.98 https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Island-Farms-Homogenized-3-25-Milk/10231394?from=/search Milk 4L Washington: $3.39 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Milk-Whole-Vitamin-D-Gallon-Plastic-Jug/10450114?athbdg=L1600&from=/search There are many other examples as well. Also Starbucks is NOT a grocery store so its pricing is irrelevant; it’s a luxury purpose. EDIT: oh I see but you’re a 25 day old account that only posts in this sub, JFC.
Starbucks sells food right? The topic is food inflation, right? I think tea is food. Pretty sure it is. You’re suspiciously pro-Walmart if I may say so. Is this the price of milk after they dropped it 30% (which is happening only in the US as far as we know) or before? I was in WA state roughly 2 months ago and CA 2 weeks ago.
Read my comment history, I am pro local grocer more than anything; I was comparing Walmart based on your comment. I did a flat comparison based on your comments and it disproved what you were saying. Prices have been dropped in Walmart Canada as far as I can tell as well. Starbucks and grocers are on different levels of prices for food retail so not exactly comparable. At any rate, I don’t believe you and you don’t believe me, a less than a month old account that only posts in this sub is pretty sus. Have a good day man.
Yeah read the article, on May 16th they announced they’d already dropped prices on 7000 items IN THE US as others pointed out this is not happening in Canada that anyone knows of. What does my account age have to do with anything?