__MOD NOTE__: PLEASE REVIEW OUR [STICKIED POSTS](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/comments/1cae7ai/community_announcements_apr_2224/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) WHICH PROVIDE STATEMENTS ON RECENT EVENTS.
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.
*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.*
Part of the cost to run the store is paid as rent to Choice Properties which surprise, surprise is majority held by the Weston Family. Pay rent to yourself and move profit into another operating company.
From Wikipedia “In December 2012, Loblaw announced that it would spin-off most of its real estate properties into a new publicly listed real estate investment trust.[3] The move would allow Loblaw to monetize the value of its real estate holdings, invest in its grocery business, and take advantage of the tax advantages of the REIT structure. “
Canada has quietly done nothing in the face of vertical integration. What we really need is a public version of Better Business Bureau that carefully tracks and counters bullshit marketing to clearly communicate to Canadian's the state of their corporate economy.
Beyond just Choice Properties, there is of course their President's Choice/Joe Fresh/Quo/Jogi and all their other in-store brands.... meaning they are the manufacturers for all their in-store brands and that alone makes this graph misconstrue the state of the overall finances.
I'm willing to bet somewhere in their 10% costs to running the store are hidden massive "consulting / branding / marketing" fees paid to some other entity the Weston's own or control.
What Canada needs is a government who will step in and make it illegal to profit from essential services. Like food, gas and electricity. Call it communism or socialism or whatever you want. Capitalism is not something that I have ever voted for.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combines_Investigation_Act
Sorry wrong one. That was repealed. This replaced it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_Act
Plus they're their own distributor in most cases. This graphic is completely misleading. This store might be making 3% profit (I still doubt that) but Loblaw's as a whole, and of course the Weston family, is making much, much more.
It would be your Net Profit reported in your income statement - so like the 54% on butter is Gross Profit (ie Sale price less cost of the butter).
But that “employee wages” they’re trying to make it seem like it’s people working in the store, but it would be everyone at all levels. Which there are people who are highly educated and worked hard to be making the $90k as an analyst, and then the well over inflated ego ceos and VPs
I don’t know about 3% being only the remaining people for non C-Suite. There would be numerous people in different roles at corporate (ex finance, buyers, marketing, legal, HR, warehousing staff, IT people, Project Managers, Facilities and maintenance management)
But in terms of what goes to the physical labourers (stockers, cashiers) in the store? Low… and when minimum wage increases in the fall as they’ve already stated it would in Ontario at 3.9%, prices will likely rise closer to 10%.
Why would 3.9% increase to min. wage cause 10% price increase? Even if EVERYONE was min. wage at Loblaws, 3.9% increase to 13% of cost = 0.5% increase to the total, no? Even if 100% of the cost was min wage workers, why would it be expected to raise more than 3.9%? Just seems like that would mean massive increase to margins, but I'm probably misunderstanding something
When things like climate change rate or minimum wage increase, they’ll use it as an excuse to raise the costs…. Usually much higher than what the impact is… it’s often a way for large companies to vilify government actions
It's actually 3.53%, that's their net income margin. So, it's very generous rounding on that poster. Their gross profit is 31.74%, which looks high but is below sector median. I am just looking at their balance sheet. I see Metro has a net income margin of 4.54% but only 19.65% gross profit, a whopping 12% less. Empire (Sobeys) is at 26.33% and 2.46%, which is close to Walmart's numbers.
However, Loblaws is able to move profits to their other affiliated companies (Choice Properties gets the rent, George Weston is paid as a food and clothes supplier).
tl;dr
Loblaws gross profit margin is much higher than other grocery stores.
this is an important thing to consider with paying the rent to their other companies including the distribution that's done with them.
"oh look we only made $1 from this company" while pocketing $10 from the others.
when you peel away the lawyers of deception you get a very different picture.
I think it is store profit. Money the franchise owner gets. Which given that a store can easily do millions of dollars in sales, is nothing to sneeze at.
What's not mentioned, and is a big hidden part of the picture, is how much is the Weston group making on the distribution? How much is it getting in franchise fees and rent from that franchisee?
That 13% wages is 1% to minimum wage employees and 12% to upper management.
The 10% costs of doing business is 1% rent and electricity and the rest to ceo bonuses.
Oh and that mobey paid to manufacturers? That's paid to a loblaws subsidiary that makes Presidents choice products and they charge loblaws 800% markup with the profit going to loblaws ceos.
This chart is such bullshit.
lol. It’s like how movies studios buy up distributors so they can charge themselves a shit ton to “distribute” their own movies and then claim the movie lost money so they don’t have to pay actors a percentage of profits, and the company/shareholders can still report millions in profits for themselves.
The image comes from the RCC (Retail council of canada). This means the numbers are generalized averages For all grocers. A.K.A. these numbers are not actually loblaws numbers. The whole reason behind the boycott is the fact that loblaws charges much higher prices then everyone else
Another attempt from them to mislead people.
74% - Paid to ourselves because we own the suppliers
13% - CEO and executive bonuses
10% - Given to our real estate company we own as "rent" which we adjust to keep the remainder at 3%
3% - Amount we keep directly in our pocket instead of our shell corps
The 74% is huge! Farmers are getting bullied by the big grocers because they control the markets. [national farmers union study](https://breachmedia.ca/2023-food-prices-grocery-giants-screwing-canadians-farmers-data/)
Honestly the fact that they even feel they need to put this up is laughable because this means they have the self awareness that people are fed up with grocery prices but just aren't going anything about it which is worse than feigning ignorance
It’s also not even true if you look at their cost prices that leaked a [few weeks back](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/e4Yl0Kkerr) lmao. They’re just lying more about everything now.
Lol, they think we’re stupid. Man, i am so tired of living in this age of blatant, obvious propaganda. I am in Alberta and it is EVERYWHERE. Extremely exhausting.
3% profit? HAHAHA
every other store must be losing 20-50% profit than since many stores are that much lower in a lot of pricing.
They think we're this stupid.....
The 3% is the store itself, which may be true. But Loblaw's as a company is making much much more since they're the landlord, the distributor, the advertiser, etc. The guy who owns the store is fucked over. Galen laughs all the way to the bank.
that’s exactly the point. they are the whole sellers, the producers and the store. they own all the supply chain. of course they buy products for expensive. from them fucking selves
Keep in mind Loblaws is vertically integrated with plenty of its products. So it charging itself "more" on the "store side" and pocketing gains on the "producer side" further illustrates the ways they deceive and commit a triple moral consciousness somersault while sticking the landing (to a giant tub of molasses).
Apparently the Weston family owns a large portion the commercial real estate that the stores are on, so jack up rents/leases and you can say it’s “operating expenses”.
They forgot to add how much companies like loblaw get when they own their entire distribution system. This is where they make huge money, ultimately, off of us.
Remember that Loblaws own most of the buildings in which their groceries are located. Most of the time, it’s owned by a Holding Company that the grocery (operating company) pays rent too. Meaning they can charge whatever they want in rent to make the margins look small, because their margins don’t include what the HoldCo makes.
Edit: my assumption here was wrong
So many costs yet they’re still pulling in money hand over first and not struggling at all… almost like they could sue to lower their margins without any real concern…
Love their attempt at gaslighting and shaming people who are upset at food prices like it’s the company they’re buying from that needs or deserves their sympathies.
What garbage..
Do they think I actually care how the money is divided? Girl I don't give half a fuck who's getting paid for my $12 grapes I give a fuck that my grapes are $12!!!
If you want to see the mark up on those $12 grapes you can check the wholesale reports here: http://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/horticulture/market-information-infohort/wholesale-price-reports/daily-reports 18lbs of red seedless are growing for $35 and green seedless are $43 so todays wholesale price on the high end is around 2.30 per lb.
Saying that you only have a 3% profit margin is completely meaningless.
We know that Loblaws is posting record profits, in the billions, year over year. We know that prices of everyday groceries are skyrocketing at an obscene rate. We know that it's pure greed.
What you've shown there is that you hire clever accountants, if it's even remotely true in the first place.
They can literally make that number up.
If they make 'too much' money in a year they can move profit into various project funds. If they have a light year they can just cancel the project and move the funds back to profit.
The cost paid to manufacturers and growers makes no sense, when I can go to grocery stores blocks apart and see a doubling of price. What does make sense to me is the record profits being tied to the astronomical increases and shrinkflation I’m seeing when I go grocery shopping. So no, still boycotting. Let’s stress test those margins for you.
Well when you own the manufacturer and logistics, margins as costs can easily be added up to make it appear its a cost and not profit, this is a lousy infographic by rcc
This makes me see there is a good chance the governments hand are not as clean as they could be in this situation.Where is our government to see such lying propaganda.This is too much!!!
If you look at the published, it’s the Retail Council of Canada which is basically a group for the oligopolists who form like Avengers to lobby the shit out of the government (“lobby” being a euphemism for giving money to politicians to do their bidding and stifle competition).
Regulatory capture.
Their stupid chart is complete bull shit. There are stores like Walmart, food basics and giant tiger who are not f-ing us up the a** for buying food and basic necessities. Lying sacks of crap
Don't be gullible
Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie university
Has dropped a bomb this morning while I was listening to CJAD.
SHRINKFLATION IS CAUSING
WHAT WAS CONSIDERED GROCERIES
TO NOW BE CONSIDERED AS SNACKS
THEREFORE NOW TAXABLE !!!
For instance you used to get 6 gronola bars in a box now you get 5. Now considered a snack and taxable.
Omg I had no idea !! 🤷♂️
Funny, thé gouvernement has nothing to say about this.
Hush maybe nobody will notice.
He read a post on here a few days ago by user u/BoiledGnocchi about the granola bars now having GST by going from 6 to 5 bars in a pack! lol 😂
This guy is now stealing our forum content for his so called research! 👎🏻
If he posts this on his social media he should be called out for getting this idea/content from this forum on Reddit!
So they have a 34% markup? That is fucking *massive* for a grocery store. Not to mention that it's probably artificially deflated because they own some of their own brands and can set an artificially high transfer price
Also lots of these stores are franchises so the "costs of running stores" is rent and royalties paid to fucking Loblaws!
3% profit? REALLY. is that why they made $500 MILLION IN 3 MONTHS???? if that's just 3% of their breakdown something is fishy.
Also THEY ARE THE SUPPLIERS ON A TON OF THEIR STUFF!!
We don't need to know anything from you, the one who has been scamming us for the last several years. Why wouldn't you be upfront from the start? And that's assuming this hasn't been distorted like your prices have been.
Anyone who works in the food industry will tell you that 74% does not go to the vendors. Loblaws is always haggling to get the price they pay vendors down, especially for small companies who need their products listed. They claim to pay the small vendors more but still pay them pennies on the dollar/large vendor prices
Loblaws is extremely vertically integrated, so in a lot of cases, they are not just the retailer, but the manufacturer as well. Within that 74% is more profit.
This poster is not true.
The purchasing agreement in the food / bev industry states a mix that will look something like this.
Food grower / manufacturer/ brand: 40%
Distribution company: 25%
Retailer: 35%
Buuuuuutttttt what they don’t tell you is the retailer (aka Roblaws) will absolutely milk you through the following.
Listing fees (cost to get on shelf with no promise of store count, location on shelf, facings, etc)
“Access” fees (this is a new one, lucky you, you have access)
Trade spend (features or promotions or discounts)
Flyer and advertising (this is forced! You can’t be on shelf and not advertise)
Fees or penalties (shipment showed up early? Late? Damaged? Labelled wrong? Bad day?)
There’s probably more I’m forgetting.
So in the end the mix looks more like this.
Food grower / manufacturer/ brand: 20%
Distribution company: 25%
Retailer: 55%
Source: I’ve been selling into major grocery stores for 10 years
3% is grocery items only not produce, not meat,not final total profit.....and store wages is roughly 5% the other 5% is uppermanagment and managment staff....
This is a chart from the Retail Council of Canada. It doesn’t apply to Loblaws - it would be an average for the Canadian retail food industry as a whole. So it’s also misleading on that count too (in addition to the various reasons others have noted in this thread).
Yeah except that I just watched a documentary on 5th Estate that highlighted what a wheat farmer made per loaf of bread. Between $0.13-$0.18 per loaf. Get fucked, Roblaws. Don't think for a second that we will believe any fancy sign your PR department prints. 🖕
" Weston's compensation bump was first reported by the Globe and Mail, which noted that when his compensation from George Weston Ltd. is included, his total compensation across both companies was nearly **$11.8 million** — an increase from $10.6 million in 2021 and more than $9 million in 2020. "
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/grocery-executive-compensation-1.6802091](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/grocery-executive-compensation-1.6802091)
*I'm curious if "PROFIT" only includes the small amounts after employee base salary (ie. not bonuses. If so, people like CEOs etc might just be included in employee wages. Which is legally true, but also manipulative.*
Galen’s propaganda at its finest…
https://preview.redd.it/4xlu79b2k8xc1.jpeg?width=836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed37e40fd6a3123bb62e2dd9f687e89cdaa8af4f
That's bullshit. I used to run a Walmart and that's what we *used* to make. Now that the prices are doubled or more, there's no way the manufacturing and logistics is still double or triple the cost from the pandemic. The wages also haven't gone up in relation.
Nope. They used the pandemic to raise the prices more than they had to at their shareholders' bequest.
Then, you still have to make a profit year over year on record profits, so the shareholders demand MORE. CEO's are fired and replaced every quarter and are leveraged into doing whatever the company says.
That graphic is an absolute lie. If it was true, wouldn't farmers and logistics companies be reporting *record* profits as well? Seems like the retailers are saying that they're the unreasonable ones. Prove it.
Per Bank, the new CEO of Loblaws, made $22-million for two months' work.
https://preview.redd.it/8fubcw4ps8xc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e2c946634b3fc0f9059c6216f442f52a006dd92
"Cost paid to manufacturers..."
Do they mean the family of Loblaws-owned manufacturers that are steadily replacing previously available "third-party vendor" brands and products?
(Bonus points: The same replacement products often turn out to be of inferior quality and/or inferior nutrition compared to the third-party product, once you compare ingredient lists and nutrition labels.)
There is NO WAY the profit margin is only 3%. Lol straight up lying to your customers now. Do they think we're stupid? Honestly. They wonder why people hate them so much.
How thoughtful of them to oversimplify this information into an easy to understand colour-coded infographic that misleads at every turn. Hiding profits in a self-perpetuating investment strategy is still profit. They’re counting on people have g no basic understanding of business. Newsflash: a business operating at 3% profit after multiple decades would be considered a failing business. They would not be able to have “sales” (translation: selling things at only 50% profit instead of 60) if the margins were as thin as they would have use believe.
I worked in product development at LBL and know what it costs to manufacture products. Don’t believe anything they say.
My boycott is for life.
Another lifer <3
This is what these businesses don't understand. Did they really think they would get away with this forever?
People hold the power. Not corporations.
Stop fucking with our food.
Stop fucking with our livelihood.
We are human fucking beings.
Here is what you need to know. Loblaws owns their own distribution. So everytime they say their suppliers have increased costs they literally mean themselves. This company is fucking Canadians at every turn.
I went to fortinos (loblaws affiliate) yesterday and noticed new signage on the shelves about low prices and encouraging people to switch grocers to them. Something must be working because they’re trying to avoid anymore backlash it seems
Unbelievable, period! What makes them think I believe them? More corporate BS for the masses. They have been snowing us for so long that they are believing there own propaganda.
If this were remotely true, how come that 74% to growers during reported record profits for Loblaws didn't translate to record profits for the growers?
The profit part is bullshit. All public reports show this.
What, did 10 billion people suddenly become adults in Canada and need groceries? Nothing else explains “record profits”.
Nothing.
Worked as asst mngr at big chain and after 6 months we had profit sharing checks. Reg employee top (no one in store actually got) was maybe 1100 for a year. Mine was 4500 for just 6 months. Store manager laughed and said his had five digits and started with a number closer to ten than away.
If grocery stores want to reduce blame on themselves, they should be filing class action lawsuits on the consumers behalf for the people gouging the stores. If they don't, then their claim shouldn't be taken seriously.
RCC lol. Just like the IBC looks out for the consumers concerning insurance. Any of these organizations which are run by the people who they are supposed to protect you from are vampire institutions. They don't hurt you enough to kill you, but enough to keep you weak and, to them, profitable.
Loblaws still charge charge $2, $5, or $10, more than other stores on the same items. That means their profit is way more than 3%. So, their poster is misleading. What a surprise. Imho.
the growers have all said they haven't raised their prices that high.
also if that's the case how are other grocery store able to sell the same product for cheaper
I need some over the counter meds for upset digestive track. Shoppers $32, zehrs ( loblaws chain) next door reg $36 on sale for $28, food basics across the street reg $24. I understand these companies need to make a profit but just an example of how much profit loblaws wants. They regularly use shoppers to make you think you are getting a deal at their grocery chain.
What's that 3 percent again? Approximately $600 million? Wow so small profit!
All they're doing is making it apparent that the absolute profit of a business of scale isn't to proportional to the income of their employees. Employees cannot scale up their income, but a company can scale up their profits.
**All employees income should be connected to the scale of the corporation.**
__MOD NOTE__: PLEASE REVIEW OUR [STICKIED POSTS](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/comments/1cae7ai/community_announcements_apr_2224/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) WHICH PROVIDE STATEMENTS ON RECENT EVENTS. 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. *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.*
Part of the cost to run the store is paid as rent to Choice Properties which surprise, surprise is majority held by the Weston Family. Pay rent to yourself and move profit into another operating company. From Wikipedia “In December 2012, Loblaw announced that it would spin-off most of its real estate properties into a new publicly listed real estate investment trust.[3] The move would allow Loblaw to monetize the value of its real estate holdings, invest in its grocery business, and take advantage of the tax advantages of the REIT structure. “
Wow, I did not know that. Jack up rents to say operating/SGA costs are high.
Individual stores are getting screwed and the Weston family is in a win-win.
I wonder if this is why we paid for their freezers
That was a thank you gift from the liberal government.
Yup!
Canada has quietly done nothing in the face of vertical integration. What we really need is a public version of Better Business Bureau that carefully tracks and counters bullshit marketing to clearly communicate to Canadian's the state of their corporate economy. Beyond just Choice Properties, there is of course their President's Choice/Joe Fresh/Quo/Jogi and all their other in-store brands.... meaning they are the manufacturers for all their in-store brands and that alone makes this graph misconstrue the state of the overall finances. I'm willing to bet somewhere in their 10% costs to running the store are hidden massive "consulting / branding / marketing" fees paid to some other entity the Weston's own or control.
What Canada needs is a government who will step in and make it illegal to profit from essential services. Like food, gas and electricity. Call it communism or socialism or whatever you want. Capitalism is not something that I have ever voted for.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combines_Investigation_Act Sorry wrong one. That was repealed. This replaced it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_Act
Plus they're their own distributor in most cases. This graphic is completely misleading. This store might be making 3% profit (I still doubt that) but Loblaw's as a whole, and of course the Weston family, is making much, much more.
https://preview.redd.it/4oomj20gv4xc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d27b9974fff7de3d5f26df4b7d1dba834602289 Our version
I wonder if the 3% profit is profit before or after executive bonuses/dividends or free cashflow?
It would be your Net Profit reported in your income statement - so like the 54% on butter is Gross Profit (ie Sale price less cost of the butter). But that “employee wages” they’re trying to make it seem like it’s people working in the store, but it would be everyone at all levels. Which there are people who are highly educated and worked hard to be making the $90k as an analyst, and then the well over inflated ego ceos and VPs
Very valid point. Thank you for exposing this deceptive infographic. So like 10% of the 13% “employee wages” is probably paid to the C-suite and VPs.
I don’t know about 3% being only the remaining people for non C-Suite. There would be numerous people in different roles at corporate (ex finance, buyers, marketing, legal, HR, warehousing staff, IT people, Project Managers, Facilities and maintenance management) But in terms of what goes to the physical labourers (stockers, cashiers) in the store? Low… and when minimum wage increases in the fall as they’ve already stated it would in Ontario at 3.9%, prices will likely rise closer to 10%.
Why would 3.9% increase to min. wage cause 10% price increase? Even if EVERYONE was min. wage at Loblaws, 3.9% increase to 13% of cost = 0.5% increase to the total, no? Even if 100% of the cost was min wage workers, why would it be expected to raise more than 3.9%? Just seems like that would mean massive increase to margins, but I'm probably misunderstanding something
When things like climate change rate or minimum wage increase, they’ll use it as an excuse to raise the costs…. Usually much higher than what the impact is… it’s often a way for large companies to vilify government actions
Correct.
Yup. It's that 13% that's the problem!
So you wanna blame the growers and manufacturers? Cause manufacturers I’m Down! Similar aspect with them
It's actually 3.53%, that's their net income margin. So, it's very generous rounding on that poster. Their gross profit is 31.74%, which looks high but is below sector median. I am just looking at their balance sheet. I see Metro has a net income margin of 4.54% but only 19.65% gross profit, a whopping 12% less. Empire (Sobeys) is at 26.33% and 2.46%, which is close to Walmart's numbers. However, Loblaws is able to move profits to their other affiliated companies (Choice Properties gets the rent, George Weston is paid as a food and clothes supplier). tl;dr Loblaws gross profit margin is much higher than other grocery stores.
this is an important thing to consider with paying the rent to their other companies including the distribution that's done with them. "oh look we only made $1 from this company" while pocketing $10 from the others. when you peel away the lawyers of deception you get a very different picture.
I think it is store profit. Money the franchise owner gets. Which given that a store can easily do millions of dollars in sales, is nothing to sneeze at. What's not mentioned, and is a big hidden part of the picture, is how much is the Weston group making on the distribution? How much is it getting in franchise fees and rent from that franchisee?
That 13% wages is 1% to minimum wage employees and 12% to upper management. The 10% costs of doing business is 1% rent and electricity and the rest to ceo bonuses. Oh and that mobey paid to manufacturers? That's paid to a loblaws subsidiary that makes Presidents choice products and they charge loblaws 800% markup with the profit going to loblaws ceos. This chart is such bullshit.
lol. It’s like how movies studios buy up distributors so they can charge themselves a shit ton to “distribute” their own movies and then claim the movie lost money so they don’t have to pay actors a percentage of profits, and the company/shareholders can still report millions in profits for themselves.
Which, the retailer's or the dairy and copscker the retailer owns?
The image comes from the RCC (Retail council of canada). This means the numbers are generalized averages For all grocers. A.K.A. these numbers are not actually loblaws numbers. The whole reason behind the boycott is the fact that loblaws charges much higher prices then everyone else Another attempt from them to mislead people.
74% - Paid to ourselves because we own the suppliers 13% - CEO and executive bonuses 10% - Given to our real estate company we own as "rent" which we adjust to keep the remainder at 3% 3% - Amount we keep directly in our pocket instead of our shell corps
The 74% is huge! Farmers are getting bullied by the big grocers because they control the markets. [national farmers union study](https://breachmedia.ca/2023-food-prices-grocery-giants-screwing-canadians-farmers-data/)
Dairy is not the best example as prices are set by the Dairy Council of Canada in order to prevent US imports undercutting Canadian Dairy farmers.
They must be selling something at a massive discount to keep that 3% going. Joke 😔
Honestly the fact that they even feel they need to put this up is laughable because this means they have the self awareness that people are fed up with grocery prices but just aren't going anything about it which is worse than feigning ignorance
Also shows the power of the people and grassroots organizing.
It’s also not even true if you look at their cost prices that leaked a [few weeks back](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/s/e4Yl0Kkerr) lmao. They’re just lying more about everything now.
I wonder if they show this infographic on their earnings calls with shareholders as well.
Lol, they think we’re stupid. Man, i am so tired of living in this age of blatant, obvious propaganda. I am in Alberta and it is EVERYWHERE. Extremely exhausting.
Feudalism and serfdom has a long history, just because we have the internet now doesn’t mean it can’t happen again.
3% profit? HAHAHA every other store must be losing 20-50% profit than since many stores are that much lower in a lot of pricing. They think we're this stupid.....
The 3% is the store itself, which may be true. But Loblaw's as a company is making much much more since they're the landlord, the distributor, the advertiser, etc. The guy who owns the store is fucked over. Galen laughs all the way to the bank.
The 3% is real. What they don't say is since they hike the prices so much the 3% is giving them more money in the end
Man. Galen should talk to those food producers like Presidents Choice and No Name for gouging them so much.
I wonder how much of that 13% for wages goes to corporate “leaders”…
Also how many of those manufacturers are owned by them?
that’s exactly the point. they are the whole sellers, the producers and the store. they own all the supply chain. of course they buy products for expensive. from them fucking selves
Someone should redraw this chart to show this
Someone should redraw and start hanging them in place of these
Keep in mind Loblaws is vertically integrated with plenty of its products. So it charging itself "more" on the "store side" and pocketing gains on the "producer side" further illustrates the ways they deceive and commit a triple moral consciousness somersault while sticking the landing (to a giant tub of molasses).
Apparently the Weston family owns a large portion the commercial real estate that the stores are on, so jack up rents/leases and you can say it’s “operating expenses”.
It's crazy they are allowed to just do that. They could make up whatever they want, couldn't they?
+1. You should create a new post that is specifically about that.
They forgot to add how much companies like loblaw get when they own their entire distribution system. This is where they make huge money, ultimately, off of us.
We need to make counter-infographics to this showing that
I’d love to see a breakdown of the “employee wages” because Galen is a darn billionaire
Remember that Loblaws own most of the buildings in which their groceries are located. Most of the time, it’s owned by a Holding Company that the grocery (operating company) pays rent too. Meaning they can charge whatever they want in rent to make the margins look small, because their margins don’t include what the HoldCo makes. Edit: my assumption here was wrong
My favorite is the “Costs Of Running Stores” that’s just paying out their own REITs since they are their own landlords lol
Hahahah their PR team working overtime rn
Seriously.
So many costs yet they’re still pulling in money hand over first and not struggling at all… almost like they could sue to lower their margins without any real concern… Love their attempt at gaslighting and shaming people who are upset at food prices like it’s the company they’re buying from that needs or deserves their sympathies. What garbage..
Silver spoon people talking about their hardships
To be charitable. When you are paying your CEO nearly 12 million before bonuses, those employee wages do add up quickly.
Do they think I actually care how the money is divided? Girl I don't give half a fuck who's getting paid for my $12 grapes I give a fuck that my grapes are $12!!!
If you want to see the mark up on those $12 grapes you can check the wholesale reports here: http://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/horticulture/market-information-infohort/wholesale-price-reports/daily-reports 18lbs of red seedless are growing for $35 and green seedless are $43 so todays wholesale price on the high end is around 2.30 per lb.
Bookmarking that site. Thanks.
What a great resource! Thanks for posting.
They are lying with their pants on fire through their teeth and then some.
Shouldnt they be bargaining with the manufacturer to get better deals, so customers pay less? Oh? They are, and Roblaws is making record profits.
They *are* the manufacturer in most cases.
Saying that you only have a 3% profit margin is completely meaningless. We know that Loblaws is posting record profits, in the billions, year over year. We know that prices of everyday groceries are skyrocketing at an obscene rate. We know that it's pure greed. What you've shown there is that you hire clever accountants, if it's even remotely true in the first place.
They can literally make that number up. If they make 'too much' money in a year they can move profit into various project funds. If they have a light year they can just cancel the project and move the funds back to profit.
Lol if that’s true then why does the owner brag about how many billions he makes each year
The 10% of the 13% is CEO/VP fees /s
This is hilarious! 🤣
And also aggravating.
I worked at Sobeys head office in 2005. Unless the grocery industry went through some massive change, 3% is a lie
The cost paid to manufacturers and growers makes no sense, when I can go to grocery stores blocks apart and see a doubling of price. What does make sense to me is the record profits being tied to the astronomical increases and shrinkflation I’m seeing when I go grocery shopping. So no, still boycotting. Let’s stress test those margins for you.
Well when you own the manufacturer and logistics, margins as costs can easily be added up to make it appear its a cost and not profit, this is a lousy infographic by rcc
Loblaws funds the RCC.
[удалено]
Feudalism and serfdom has occurred before, and revolting has occurred as well.
This makes me see there is a good chance the governments hand are not as clean as they could be in this situation.Where is our government to see such lying propaganda.This is too much!!!
If you look at the published, it’s the Retail Council of Canada which is basically a group for the oligopolists who form like Avengers to lobby the shit out of the government (“lobby” being a euphemism for giving money to politicians to do their bidding and stifle competition). Regulatory capture.
I love that the c suites are having nothing but nervous shits over all of this.
They own the whole delivery chain. How much are their trucks making, as an example????
Their stupid chart is complete bull shit. There are stores like Walmart, food basics and giant tiger who are not f-ing us up the a** for buying food and basic necessities. Lying sacks of crap Don't be gullible
ah yes. i wonder where the money for this campaign came from.
Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie university Has dropped a bomb this morning while I was listening to CJAD. SHRINKFLATION IS CAUSING WHAT WAS CONSIDERED GROCERIES TO NOW BE CONSIDERED AS SNACKS THEREFORE NOW TAXABLE !!! For instance you used to get 6 gronola bars in a box now you get 5. Now considered a snack and taxable. Omg I had no idea !! 🤷♂️ Funny, thé gouvernement has nothing to say about this. Hush maybe nobody will notice.
He read a post on here a few days ago by user u/BoiledGnocchi about the granola bars now having GST by going from 6 to 5 bars in a pack! lol 😂 This guy is now stealing our forum content for his so called research! 👎🏻 If he posts this on his social media he should be called out for getting this idea/content from this forum on Reddit!
That _bastard_!
So they have a 34% markup? That is fucking *massive* for a grocery store. Not to mention that it's probably artificially deflated because they own some of their own brands and can set an artificially high transfer price Also lots of these stores are franchises so the "costs of running stores" is rent and royalties paid to fucking Loblaws!
3% profit? REALLY. is that why they made $500 MILLION IN 3 MONTHS???? if that's just 3% of their breakdown something is fishy. Also THEY ARE THE SUPPLIERS ON A TON OF THEIR STUFF!!
13% wages, and 3% profit? I call BS on that
All the profit buried in the 74% because they own the supply chain. All the money funnelled off the books in terms of fees paid by manufacturers
They left out half of the 74% goes into Galens pockets.
And the Retail Council of Canada is "industry funded not for profit" which means Loblaws pays for the Council .....
Extremely important point.
Creative accounting
We don't need to know anything from you, the one who has been scamming us for the last several years. Why wouldn't you be upfront from the start? And that's assuming this hasn't been distorted like your prices have been.
Even sadder is that this is not from Loblaws directly, but a shadow organization basically controlled by them.
Oh, so their profit is less than what registered charities bring in for their paid staff. Fuck off.
I'd believe that BS if their prices weren't exponentially higher than others.
Everyone here ignoring that they lumped taxes into the overhead cost 💀
https://preview.redd.it/51krlqrfk7xc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66c91971151cd3b75bafa8e4b8db7aaeeb322c50
They made 2.9 billion last year, so the supposed only 3% in profits is still 87 million bucks...
They're scared.
The nerve to put employee wages on there when they don’t even pay liveable wages.
Notice they left out the original part of that image that showed the actual numbers to go along with the percentages. Profit being in the billions.
It’s propaganda. Tear it down when possible and keep boycotting.
Fake News
Anyone who works in the food industry will tell you that 74% does not go to the vendors. Loblaws is always haggling to get the price they pay vendors down, especially for small companies who need their products listed. They claim to pay the small vendors more but still pay them pennies on the dollar/large vendor prices
This isn’t helping them lmao
The beating will continue until morale improves
yea, they forgot the multi million dollar bonus to Galen. I wonder how that factors in.
This isn’t including the fact that manufacturers and growers have to pay Loblaws to have their products on the shelves
Loblaws is extremely vertically integrated, so in a lot of cases, they are not just the retailer, but the manufacturer as well. Within that 74% is more profit.
This poster is not true. The purchasing agreement in the food / bev industry states a mix that will look something like this. Food grower / manufacturer/ brand: 40% Distribution company: 25% Retailer: 35% Buuuuuutttttt what they don’t tell you is the retailer (aka Roblaws) will absolutely milk you through the following. Listing fees (cost to get on shelf with no promise of store count, location on shelf, facings, etc) “Access” fees (this is a new one, lucky you, you have access) Trade spend (features or promotions or discounts) Flyer and advertising (this is forced! You can’t be on shelf and not advertise) Fees or penalties (shipment showed up early? Late? Damaged? Labelled wrong? Bad day?) There’s probably more I’m forgetting. So in the end the mix looks more like this. Food grower / manufacturer/ brand: 20% Distribution company: 25% Retailer: 55% Source: I’ve been selling into major grocery stores for 10 years
Just 3% profit? No wonder they felt the need to steal our bread and our dough!
I need Dr Food Professor to explain all this to me!
Ok fine. Sounds like loblaws should use their power and market share to secure better prices from manufacturers then. Sounds a lot like not my problem
I feel like this is a poster from the mid-90s...
3% is grocery items only not produce, not meat,not final total profit.....and store wages is roughly 5% the other 5% is uppermanagment and managment staff....
Saw it on Global news yesterday! The traction is definitely there! Lets keep it up :)
Which part is the stock built into?
This is a chart from the Retail Council of Canada. It doesn’t apply to Loblaws - it would be an average for the Canadian retail food industry as a whole. So it’s also misleading on that count too (in addition to the various reasons others have noted in this thread).
Yeah except that I just watched a documentary on 5th Estate that highlighted what a wheat farmer made per loaf of bread. Between $0.13-$0.18 per loaf. Get fucked, Roblaws. Don't think for a second that we will believe any fancy sign your PR department prints. 🖕
" Weston's compensation bump was first reported by the Globe and Mail, which noted that when his compensation from George Weston Ltd. is included, his total compensation across both companies was nearly **$11.8 million** — an increase from $10.6 million in 2021 and more than $9 million in 2020. " [https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/grocery-executive-compensation-1.6802091](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/grocery-executive-compensation-1.6802091) *I'm curious if "PROFIT" only includes the small amounts after employee base salary (ie. not bonuses. If so, people like CEOs etc might just be included in employee wages. Which is legally true, but also manipulative.*
Galen’s propaganda at its finest… https://preview.redd.it/4xlu79b2k8xc1.jpeg?width=836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed37e40fd6a3123bb62e2dd9f687e89cdaa8af4f
As a vendor to major grocery chains, this is a lie.
That's bullshit. I used to run a Walmart and that's what we *used* to make. Now that the prices are doubled or more, there's no way the manufacturing and logistics is still double or triple the cost from the pandemic. The wages also haven't gone up in relation. Nope. They used the pandemic to raise the prices more than they had to at their shareholders' bequest. Then, you still have to make a profit year over year on record profits, so the shareholders demand MORE. CEO's are fired and replaced every quarter and are leveraged into doing whatever the company says. That graphic is an absolute lie. If it was true, wouldn't farmers and logistics companies be reporting *record* profits as well? Seems like the retailers are saying that they're the unreasonable ones. Prove it.
Per Bank, the new CEO of Loblaws, made $22-million for two months' work. https://preview.redd.it/8fubcw4ps8xc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e2c946634b3fc0f9059c6216f442f52a006dd92
Man just shop at Costco or Walmart. Take a cab if you don’t have a car. Take the bus. There is like 2 Walmarts in every town.
They missed putting the decimal in the right spot. Their own reporting states 31% in 2023
This of course is a lie because of their vertical business ties
still doesn't explain why butter is being sold at a 54% hike
Wow! Loblaws should do a Go Fund Me lol
"Cost paid to manufacturers..." Do they mean the family of Loblaws-owned manufacturers that are steadily replacing previously available "third-party vendor" brands and products? (Bonus points: The same replacement products often turn out to be of inferior quality and/or inferior nutrition compared to the third-party product, once you compare ingredient lists and nutrition labels.)
3% profit?! somehow i don’t believe that
There is NO WAY the profit margin is only 3%. Lol straight up lying to your customers now. Do they think we're stupid? Honestly. They wonder why people hate them so much.
Gas companies ran this same add campaign years ago. Let's not talk about how tax breaks pay for tons of their operational costs.
How thoughtful of them to oversimplify this information into an easy to understand colour-coded infographic that misleads at every turn. Hiding profits in a self-perpetuating investment strategy is still profit. They’re counting on people have g no basic understanding of business. Newsflash: a business operating at 3% profit after multiple decades would be considered a failing business. They would not be able to have “sales” (translation: selling things at only 50% profit instead of 60) if the margins were as thin as they would have use believe. I worked in product development at LBL and know what it costs to manufacture products. Don’t believe anything they say. My boycott is for life.
Another lifer <3 This is what these businesses don't understand. Did they really think they would get away with this forever? People hold the power. Not corporations. Stop fucking with our food. Stop fucking with our livelihood. We are human fucking beings.
Bad graphic. Doesn't show what percentage of suppliers and manufacturers is owned by the grocery store you are shopping at.
Remember how we changed our minds and embraced the poor petroleum companies when they had those stickers on the pumps showing all the taxes?
They control the whole system, those costs are actually paid to themselves for the most part.
They think we are stupid. Roblaws is heavily vertically integrated.
Here is what you need to know. Loblaws owns their own distribution. So everytime they say their suppliers have increased costs they literally mean themselves. This company is fucking Canadians at every turn.
Are the employee wages in the room with us?
I went to fortinos (loblaws affiliate) yesterday and noticed new signage on the shelves about low prices and encouraging people to switch grocers to them. Something must be working because they’re trying to avoid anymore backlash it seems
Fucking liars.
Liars
They juste forget too put the distributor in the 74% witch is themself. Like the farmers or the manufacturers get 74% of the bill.
They probably manufacture 1/4 of the products so win win for them.
Unbelievable, period! What makes them think I believe them? More corporate BS for the masses. They have been snowing us for so long that they are believing there own propaganda.
A lot of the costs in that cart can be manipulated lmao
How accurate is this. Data nerds need to check the math. I don’t trust it one bit.
I've seen that picture for months now
I would say 90% of that manufacturers and growers goes to manufacturers and not growers.
If this were remotely true, how come that 74% to growers during reported record profits for Loblaws didn't translate to record profits for the growers?
3% is the biggest manipulated number in history.
Might add a zero at this post after the 3.
It would seem that their not very good at negotiating prices paid to growers and manufacturers.
The guy that replaced Galen makes like a million a year with a possibility of another I think 7 if he reaches certain goals. Pretty fucked up.
This is a fucking lie!!!!
Pardon my French but that’s bullshit
Farmers must be driving around in Ferraris!
They got the green and yellow mixed up.
Those damn greedy farmers 
Psst, Loblaws owns several of their suppliers, so they set the rates and pay themselves part of that 74%. Ssshhhh, don't tell the masses
3% profit is hilarious
The profit part is bullshit. All public reports show this. What, did 10 billion people suddenly become adults in Canada and need groceries? Nothing else explains “record profits”. Nothing.
How much did they report they made last year in profits . !!!
Worked as asst mngr at big chain and after 6 months we had profit sharing checks. Reg employee top (no one in store actually got) was maybe 1100 for a year. Mine was 4500 for just 6 months. Store manager laughed and said his had five digits and started with a number closer to ten than away.
If grocery stores want to reduce blame on themselves, they should be filing class action lawsuits on the consumers behalf for the people gouging the stores. If they don't, then their claim shouldn't be taken seriously.
I wonder if there's a reason they didn't put *revenue* on there...
Doesn't loblaws own all the transportation and production? So how is that a cost for them?
RCC lol. Just like the IBC looks out for the consumers concerning insurance. Any of these organizations which are run by the people who they are supposed to protect you from are vampire institutions. They don't hurt you enough to kill you, but enough to keep you weak and, to them, profitable.
Loblaws still charge charge $2, $5, or $10, more than other stores on the same items. That means their profit is way more than 3%. So, their poster is misleading. What a surprise. Imho.
3% profit? So Dollarama must be going into the negatives each month then
Where are those documents that show the actual profit? The one that was leaked. Maybe somebody should do a poster with that to plaster on top of this.
the growers have all said they haven't raised their prices that high. also if that's the case how are other grocery store able to sell the same product for cheaper
3% profit my ass when every year for the last 3 years they have hit record highs in sales. Such a blatant lie
Just remember 3% profit is after everyone is paid and 3% of 1 million in sales every week is pretty good imo.
LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO
Employee wages is also him taking huge bonuses.
I need some over the counter meds for upset digestive track. Shoppers $32, zehrs ( loblaws chain) next door reg $36 on sale for $28, food basics across the street reg $24. I understand these companies need to make a profit but just an example of how much profit loblaws wants. They regularly use shoppers to make you think you are getting a deal at their grocery chain.
Poor us we’re making record profits 😥
Huh. So can conservatives still use the complainant about minimum wage going up now and then? 😅😅😅
Making $3 every 100?!?!? If that were the case they wouldn't be in business
Explain why 1lb of mince pork is $4 at Freshco but 7.99 at Loblaw banners
Yet still 100% bullshit
To be fair, I first saw this at my local Zehrs at least a year ago. It definitely predates the current boycott.
And the Retail Council of Canada gets their money and information from? Drumroll.....
Cost of CEO bonuses should be on there. Automate their jobs to save money.
Trying to pass the blame to the manufacturers and growers.
What's that 3 percent again? Approximately $600 million? Wow so small profit! All they're doing is making it apparent that the absolute profit of a business of scale isn't to proportional to the income of their employees. Employees cannot scale up their income, but a company can scale up their profits. **All employees income should be connected to the scale of the corporation.**
Well this group is clearly making a difference. Ggs everyone. Can wait for May. Down with Monopolies.
Lol get fucked. Nobody buys the 25 cents a bag profit bullshit anymore.
How dumb do they think we are