https://www.newsweek.com/kroger-executive-admits-company-gouged-prices-above-inflation-1945742
Kroger's senior director for pricing Andy Groff said the grocery giant had raised prices for eggs and milk beyond inflation levels.
Anakin and Padmé meme: So we're going to fine them that amount, or force them to refund it to their customers, right?
Right?
To be pedantic, in the meme format (as in the original movie), Padmé asks the same question twice. The second question is not just "Right?" https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/for-the-better-right
Oh goodness, you're very good at getting my goat.
"Pray I don't alter it any further." https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-am-altering-the-deal
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of memes suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
I'm not usually a stickler for adhering closely to meme "rules" but this one drives me batty. I never have the courage to correct folks though, so have your lemmy gold!
I'm honored! I'll never have mutton chops like Kilmister's, and I'll gladly accept this honorary form of them instead.
Ah, I'm not familiar. I couldn't name a single member of most bands that I like, and while I've surely heard them before, I couldn't name a single one of their songs.
Why though, what did they do wrong? They're allowed to set their prices how they like as long as they're not coluding with competitors.
(I'm not saying it doesn't suck, obviously, but they are just doing a capitalism)
When you say "wrong," what do you mean? Are you arguing that their actions are morally just, or merely not too illegal?
Capitalism violently forces people to serve capital for food, shelter, and other basic human needs.
This situation is slightly worse than usual.
I'm questioning whether they did anything illegal. It's quite obvious (to me, at least) that what they did is morally wrong
"Wrong" is certainly the wrong word, then.
Price gouging does run counter to some states' consumer protection laws.
Were this capitalism, the competition would simply win by offering lower prices, but Kroger was allowed to grow to monopolistic proportions so that they've either bought up any and all serious competition already, muscled rivals out of business or settled on quasi-gerrymandered spheres of influence with their equally monopolistic competitors, so that nobody undercuts them when they abuse their status to not offer the best deals, but instead price-gouge the people stuck in their sphere of influence.
First, I'd argue this was doing business in bad faith - they took advantage of a crisis to jack up profit on staple foods. That's extremely unethical
Second, they effectively did collude. McKinley is a consultant hired by Kroger (which owns many different regional chains) as well as their largest competitors and suppliers. They coordinated the price gouging - it doesn't matter if an algorithm does it or a third party does it, it's still collusion. Adding a degree of separation doesn't change the nature of the act
Price gouging is immoral and illegal in many states. Especially for needed things like food.
Saying this is fine is cheering for the poor to starve.
Yeah, he was literally bragging about it on the quarterly earnings calls as it was happening. They’ve only paused the price gouging now that it’s a hot topic, don’t think for a minute prices will go back down or that this won’t resume in a year or so when there’s some other distraction available.
We need regulations to stop this predatory behavior, and we desperately need to break up monopolies like Kroger, if this problem is to be mitigated.
Nono, you misunderstand! Prices going down is a very bad sign as it means something is very wrong!
-Every economist ever without explanation or clarification whatsoever
They don't clarify, because if they did it would be clear who it's "wrong" for.
Spoiler alert: It ain't you and me.
The problem is we talk about the economy in terms like "revenue" "profit" or "prices".
We need to change the language of the economy to appeal to its true creed: line go up. It's Economics 101. Line go up, forever.
Hence, I propose we talk about the cost of things on units of "not getting fucked"
Use phrases like, "the not getting fucked on tomato sauce has been dropping lately"
Why break them up when you can just let them get bigger. I'd bet my job the fucking merger is still happening.
Of course it’s still happening, this is just a side puppet show to distract from that fact. Now they’ve realized most of the population would vote in an uneducated felon again, so they see they faked having a heart for nothing. Which was cutting into their profits all along.
Until there’s serious consequences and bankruptcy looming, they’ll continue shitting on us like we’re Japanese businessmen with a fetish.
Lina Kahn has been going hard after monopolies lately. I will take that bet so long as she is FTC head.
What merger?
And Kroger is a monopoly? I see Walmarts everywhere. Target to a lesser extent. Definitely an oligopoly.
Kroger & albertsons\safeway. I'd still have Costco Walmart and winco but a lot of locations don't have as much competition.
We price gouged the plebs. We know the government isn't going to do anything and if they try our good ol' friends at SCOTUS will make sure nothing happens to us. Long live the line always going up!
-Andy Goff
"There is not just one bad apple in this bunch," Powers said, adding that most companies who engage in price gouging receive limited consequences.
Because customers generally still have choices to shop at other grocers like Walmart, Thompson said Kroger is unlikely to experience any severe consequences from the FTC.
Despite the fact that this is likely a larger problem in the grocery sector, Ryan said consumers could react swiftly with their wallets.
Yeah, and go to the next grocery store with the same prices and behind-the-scenes policies, and buy the same overprices eggs... But hey, at least they didn't admit to the lie.
Unfortunately Kroger is the cheapest option where I am. I refuse to support the dumpster fire that is Walmart. Every item at Albertsons and Safeway, especially produce, is at least 50 cents more expensive than at Kroger. Too bad Trader Joe's doesn't offer a little more selection. You can't even get a whole cabbage there.
Hmmmm. Maybe, since all stores are doing this, we should just institute price fixing on certain goods? Oh but I forgot, that'd be bad for the corporation and their profits, and that's obviously more important than citizens being able to afford groceries at a reasonable price.
Not anymore. They recently added those locks that lock up the wheels when they get too far away from the store. And they also threw out all the shopping baskets.
they also threw out all the shopping baskets
I hate stores with a passion that do this. If I'm getting a basket amount of stuff why must I either juggle everything in my hands or shove a cart with broken wheels around?
I live in a pretty conservative area. I think they were stealing them because they refuse to buy reusable bags since plastic bags were banned.
My apartment building doesn't have a flat roof. And has shingles. I wish I could pirate a roof.
Throw that god damned bastard in the deepest, darkest, most permanent prison we can find, then poor rabid rats down the hole. This shit has caused children to go to bed hungry. Execute everyone of the bastards.
For sure, literally starting people for money, how disgusting. Don't execute them. Starve them to death. Like they did to their fellow Americans. Or better yet, their fellow humans.
so there's already not enough competition in the grocery store market. Why is kroger being allowed to merge at this point?
And yet they may still be allowed to merge with assimilate Albertson's, leaving so many neighborhoods with less (or even zero) choices for where to buy groceries get price gouged
For all of these companies trying to merge the default answer should be no. Merging companies isn't good for capitalism at all in any way so if any company wants to merge they should have to get special permissions. This shit is out of control.
Agreed. I have no issues with capitalism but I have a huge issue with monopolies. Just buying out the competition isn’t competing.
One of the possibilities would be a cooperative chain. They don't go for profit so can seriously undercut these price gougers.
I stopped getting my groceries at Kroger unless I need just a few items quickly (I have 2 less than 2 miles from my house). Most stuff is more expensive at Kroger than Meijer or even Walmart and if doing the whole list it ads a lot to my expenses
Harris will be painted as socialist/communist. It will be interesting to see how much stigma those labels still carry.
I mean it would be funny to turn the tables on their nationalist rhetoric by noting the USSR wasted a lot of resources on border security and stupid walls. We've gone from a country that celebrates walls coming down to a country that will never be satisfied with the worlds largest contiguous wall.
I feel like that happens no matter what? Doesn't make it right. Like, we install dictators all the time that commit genocide.
I mean you can drop the sarcasm indicator and actually be correct. Every single state has price gouging laws already. However, I know Republicans will now act like it's a terrible "communist" plan just to obstruct it.
It's supposed to be, but laws generally only kick in if there's an emergency like an earthquake or hurricane.
Yup and the argument over if it qualifies or if they were doing it at the time is for the lawyers.
Right? My favorite. It's not really something that's enforceable on that level though. It would be easier to bring prices down by breaking up these large companies. And if that fails, just start a government grocery store that opens up in food deserts first, then in high cost of living areas. See what happens to prices when they need to justify people going there instead of the government store.
Depending on how the recenr precedent curtailing the agency of government agencies holds up, teams of lawyers presenting teams of scientists to judges with political agendas may become the norm.
Legally, criminalizing systemic food waste would be a good step.
Some jackass economist will pop in and say that there's no such thing as price gouging. That prices are set by market demand. It is true to an extent, because if people weren't buying things at those prices, then the store would lower the price. The problem with groceries is that there isn't really a price discovery method for the average person unless they go to every possible store and price compare. It's not like you can go online and find prices for every option and alternative for groceries. People just assumed that prices have gone up due to natural inflation, which isn't the case here.
I've always had a rule that all my decisions should be the ones that make my mother the most proud. Sometimes it's a choice between two things she'd probably dislike (like getting a tattoo or a piercing), but I always do the thing that has the better chance of making her proud.
Recently I've started stealing from large evil corps. Not even gonna sugar coat it. I go to self checkout and just don't scan things here or there. Whoops I left that thing in my cart. Whoops I left half of the bag of lemons off the scale and they rang up for 10c. Whoops, that eyeliner pencil fell into the unnecessary plastic wrap of that other thing and I didn't scan it.
I recently mentioned this to my mum and she laughed. She was proud. Because fuck Kroger, fuck these companies gouging us, stealing our land and food and ability to sustain ourselves without giving them a cut. Fuck people who hoard money so hard that people fucking die because of it. Boycotting shitty companies is what makes mums proud.
I am very much against theft but if you are forced to check yourself out, I consider it wages.
I have no issues with mistakes happening in self check.
Literally starving people for money. If there is a hell, they will go there 100% what shitty humans..... Must be psychotic narcissist. How else would you sleep at night?
outrageous!
Maybe i'll travel to Canada to shop at a non-Kroger grocery store in boycott.
Hopefully Kroger will pay the government a fine and continue to gouge the rest of us.
