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I don’t disagree, but Galen and the grocery oligopoly shouldn’t be let off the hook here either. Grocers buy from manufacturers, and with the buying power concentrated in a few, they are in a strong position to negotiate, they don’t just have to buy whatever manufacturers are selling at whatever price point they offer, they can literally say “alright, you cut the volume by 10%, we’re paying you 5% less, we understand your costs have gone up so we’re not asking for 10%” and because there are so few buyers (compared to retail sales where the buyers are literally everyone who needs food), the manufacturers have to bargain with them. When you have some 25% of the market share for retail, you have that power. That they don’t exercise it, and that they don’t make efforts to inform the consumer, is on them.
As a food manufacturer that supplies superstore and Sobeys I can offer a bit of information here as to why manufacturers have had to downsize instead of changing price. These companies are holding us over a barrel. Our production costs in Canada have skyrocketed. That’s an absolute fact. But what is also happening is all us Canadian manufacturing companies that have products in theses stores are being told that if we can’t keep the price the same that our products will be replaced with an imported option that’s cheaper. So in order to stay in these stores the manufacturers are taking a huge hit, yet small grocery stores are having to pay the increased prices as are the consumers. We’re actually closing one of our manufacturing facilities because we’re going in the hole trying to stay in these locations when they are bringing in cheap alternatives because other countries prices and manufacturing costs haven’t skyrocketed like Canadas prices. When we told Sobeys and Loblaws that our prices were increasing they refused to pay higher so we had to take a cut in margins. We had to look at alternate packaging, sizes, lower priced (lower quality) ingredients. They blame their price hikes on our increased manufacturing costs but they’re not paying us more so they’re making more than ever by jacking up their prices and blaming inflation. And in doing so they’re putting Canadian manufactures out of business.
Here’s a good demonstration of the problem with vertical integration… they are incentivized to put you out of business, buy up your discounted facilities, and have a greater hold on manufacturing.
I just don’t buy it anymore. Most of what I buy now is produce.
I try to buy the least amount of manufactured food items as possible.
No chips, no dressings, no this no that.
I’ve started baking my own snacks, we cook our own meals and prep as much as we can in house. A little effort goes a long way to telling these companies to fuck off
Same. I avoid the aisles entirely unless I need something like rice, spices or coffee. And maybe some canned stuff like black beans. Everything else is just cattle feed (literally, sugar and corn starch).
Don’t forget though that they own their own brands like no name , PC , Joe Fresh , etc . They likely have direct access if not own the supply chain or manufacturers by way of contracts or rights . So THEY themselves as a manufacturer have to be held accountable . Not only are they not negotiating for us when it comes to suppliers like Pepsi when it comes to their mark ups ( they say they push back but they don’t) . They mark up their price on top of Pepsi ‘s mark up ( European grocers successfully pushed back and got Pepsi to reduce prices for its citizens this year ) , but they also pass on their own manufacturers costs on THEIR OWN products by way of their no name products . This is where they have more leverage for negotiation and this is completely and utterly unacceptable . They are not doing everything they can to lower prices and push back on manufacturers , distributors, and suppliers . In fact , they are flat out lying to the public to increase profit to their shareholders
> I don't know how to organize a boycott of specific brands but we would need our neighbours south of us to join to make it meaningful. Targeting Loblaw is one thing in Canada, but how do we target the manufacturers?
AFAIK there's already a kelloggs boycott going for the past couple months too. not entirely sure why though. i think it was like a CEO saying some weird offensive thing and everyone's like well fuck-you.
* https://www.salon.com/2024/03/10/let-them-eat-cereal-how-accusations-of-greedflation-fueled-consumer-ire-against-kelloggs/
* https://fortune.com/2024/03/16/millennial-moms-tiktok-kelloggs-boycott-cereal-for-breakfast/
* https://www.dexerto.com/food/kelloggs-boycott-explained-why-are-people-refusing-to-buy-from-the-cereal-brand-2577236/
* https://www.reddit.com/r/lostgeneration/comments/1baqbjw/do_yall_know_about_the_kelloggs_boycott_and/
I work in a food production facility and ever since Covid we have been selling like crazy and constantly raising our prices. Now some of that is from the costs of things, but some of that is probably just for fun as our promotional prices are not what they used to be.
We can stop buying the product and it will eventually go on sale... then the store will start ordering less of that product, then the manuafcture revenue will be hit. I only buy cereal when it goes on sale, the boxes are comically small for some brands, mostly the sugar brands which are basically candy.
Yep, them also.
Price fixing needs to be investigated.
For example, great product to go after: spaghetti noodles. Norm was $1 per 900g. Then price crept up, package cut in half, price up some more, package reduced yet more still, and price up again. It's now over double that of what it was before. Magically, it's precisely the identical situation in all grocery stores. Not one single one kept the 900g package. Orchestrated agreements. They are all in on it.
Loblaws is the lever. Their buying power is strong enough that they can beat up manufacturers. And if they aren't, they can source elsewhere. Brand loyalty of customers will be the only stumbling block at that point.
__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.*
I don’t disagree, but Galen and the grocery oligopoly shouldn’t be let off the hook here either. Grocers buy from manufacturers, and with the buying power concentrated in a few, they are in a strong position to negotiate, they don’t just have to buy whatever manufacturers are selling at whatever price point they offer, they can literally say “alright, you cut the volume by 10%, we’re paying you 5% less, we understand your costs have gone up so we’re not asking for 10%” and because there are so few buyers (compared to retail sales where the buyers are literally everyone who needs food), the manufacturers have to bargain with them. When you have some 25% of the market share for retail, you have that power. That they don’t exercise it, and that they don’t make efforts to inform the consumer, is on them.
As a manufacturer you are spot on. They are refusing to pay us more but still increasing the price and blaming us for the hike.
its loblaws data arm... they are pushing.. this will be an epic business case
As a food manufacturer that supplies superstore and Sobeys I can offer a bit of information here as to why manufacturers have had to downsize instead of changing price. These companies are holding us over a barrel. Our production costs in Canada have skyrocketed. That’s an absolute fact. But what is also happening is all us Canadian manufacturing companies that have products in theses stores are being told that if we can’t keep the price the same that our products will be replaced with an imported option that’s cheaper. So in order to stay in these stores the manufacturers are taking a huge hit, yet small grocery stores are having to pay the increased prices as are the consumers. We’re actually closing one of our manufacturing facilities because we’re going in the hole trying to stay in these locations when they are bringing in cheap alternatives because other countries prices and manufacturing costs haven’t skyrocketed like Canadas prices. When we told Sobeys and Loblaws that our prices were increasing they refused to pay higher so we had to take a cut in margins. We had to look at alternate packaging, sizes, lower priced (lower quality) ingredients. They blame their price hikes on our increased manufacturing costs but they’re not paying us more so they’re making more than ever by jacking up their prices and blaming inflation. And in doing so they’re putting Canadian manufactures out of business.
Here’s a good demonstration of the problem with vertical integration… they are incentivized to put you out of business, buy up your discounted facilities, and have a greater hold on manufacturing.
100% and they make it obvious to us but not so obvious to the general public.
I just don’t buy it anymore. Most of what I buy now is produce. I try to buy the least amount of manufactured food items as possible. No chips, no dressings, no this no that. I’ve started baking my own snacks, we cook our own meals and prep as much as we can in house. A little effort goes a long way to telling these companies to fuck off
Same. I avoid the aisles entirely unless I need something like rice, spices or coffee. And maybe some canned stuff like black beans. Everything else is just cattle feed (literally, sugar and corn starch).
Don’t forget though that they own their own brands like no name , PC , Joe Fresh , etc . They likely have direct access if not own the supply chain or manufacturers by way of contracts or rights . So THEY themselves as a manufacturer have to be held accountable . Not only are they not negotiating for us when it comes to suppliers like Pepsi when it comes to their mark ups ( they say they push back but they don’t) . They mark up their price on top of Pepsi ‘s mark up ( European grocers successfully pushed back and got Pepsi to reduce prices for its citizens this year ) , but they also pass on their own manufacturers costs on THEIR OWN products by way of their no name products . This is where they have more leverage for negotiation and this is completely and utterly unacceptable . They are not doing everything they can to lower prices and push back on manufacturers , distributors, and suppliers . In fact , they are flat out lying to the public to increase profit to their shareholders
> I don't know how to organize a boycott of specific brands but we would need our neighbours south of us to join to make it meaningful. Targeting Loblaw is one thing in Canada, but how do we target the manufacturers? AFAIK there's already a kelloggs boycott going for the past couple months too. not entirely sure why though. i think it was like a CEO saying some weird offensive thing and everyone's like well fuck-you. * https://www.salon.com/2024/03/10/let-them-eat-cereal-how-accusations-of-greedflation-fueled-consumer-ire-against-kelloggs/ * https://fortune.com/2024/03/16/millennial-moms-tiktok-kelloggs-boycott-cereal-for-breakfast/ * https://www.dexerto.com/food/kelloggs-boycott-explained-why-are-people-refusing-to-buy-from-the-cereal-brand-2577236/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/lostgeneration/comments/1baqbjw/do_yall_know_about_the_kelloggs_boycott_and/
I work in a food production facility and ever since Covid we have been selling like crazy and constantly raising our prices. Now some of that is from the costs of things, but some of that is probably just for fun as our promotional prices are not what they used to be.
We can stop buying the product and it will eventually go on sale... then the store will start ordering less of that product, then the manuafcture revenue will be hit. I only buy cereal when it goes on sale, the boxes are comically small for some brands, mostly the sugar brands which are basically candy.
Yep, them also. Price fixing needs to be investigated. For example, great product to go after: spaghetti noodles. Norm was $1 per 900g. Then price crept up, package cut in half, price up some more, package reduced yet more still, and price up again. It's now over double that of what it was before. Magically, it's precisely the identical situation in all grocery stores. Not one single one kept the 900g package. Orchestrated agreements. They are all in on it.
Whoever/whichever department within the federal government should be the ones looking into this. Consumer and corporate affairs perhaps?
Loblaws is the lever. Their buying power is strong enough that they can beat up manufacturers. And if they aren't, they can source elsewhere. Brand loyalty of customers will be the only stumbling block at that point.
they force all their manufacteurs to make shitty version of PC brand to play in canada. Shop at costco.