Supermarkets gouging customers

Bretrick

Bretrick

SF VIP
Location
Perth Western Australia
Farmers say they are not benefiting from any price-rise of fresh produce at supermarkets, amid accusations that retailers are price gouging.
"People are paying more for their fruit and veggies at the supermarket, but the farmers aren’t selling them for more, so who's really raising the prices here?" he said.
"Sure you’ll get a little lift in prices because of the cost of fuel, but not like we’ve seen at the checkouts recently.
"They're ripping off the farmer and they're ripping off the consumer."

This is what happens when a country - Australia - has only two major supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles.
Obviously the supermarkets are blaming inflation and supply chain issues.

Woolworths made a $1.79 billion profit last year.
Coles made a $1.1 billion profit last year.
 
Not too bad here, fresh produce isn't up too much..even tho' we're at the highest inflation for 13 years..... price have certainly gone up but not so much with fresh produce..

We're suffering some shortages caused by the Russia/Ukraine war.. like Oild.. I took this photo today....usually we have at least 20 different brands of oil if not more, and altho' this was more than was available just a few days ago..it's still quite sparce comparitively..

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Don M. said:
I browse prices when I'm following my wife around at the grocery store. There is NO doubt , in my mind, that food prices are up at least 25% in the past year. Combine that with gas prices doubled, and this "official" inflation rate of about 8% is a Joke, IMO.
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My favorite gas station raised the price of gas by 22 cents per gallon overnight! I could cry. Just when things began to get a little better. This is worse than they admit, I agree with you.
 
The Bank of England today warned families to brace for a bleak Christmas with the cost-of-living crisis set to reach an agonising climax at the end of this year - and potentially drag the country into recession for the second time in barely three years.

Governor Andrew Bailey laid out the storm clouds that are gathering over the UK, with CPI inflation now expected to peak at 10 per cent - the highest level since 1982 - in the last quarter when the energy cap soars again.

In a brutal hit on families, GDP is projected to plunge by around 0.9 per cent over those three months - and will be in the red through 2023 as a whole, declining by 0.25 per cent.

The Bank suggested the country will avoid a technical recession - defined as two consecutive quarters of falling activity - but experts warned the risk is 'intensifying'. UK plc has barely clawed back the ground from the Covid-triggered downturn in 2020, which was the biggest in a century.

In a desperate bid to control rampant inflation, the Bank has pushed up interest rates once more despite the danger of choking what little growth is left. The latest 0.25 percentage point hike takes them to a 13-year high of 1 per cent and will add to the mortgage burden for many Britons already struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis. It is the fourth increase the Monetary Policy Committee has ordered since December.

The Bank admitted that the balance of risk on inflation is still that it could be even higher than anticipated, with the shock bigger than the oil crisis of the 1970s but lasting less time.

At a press conference, Mr Bailey warned that the Ukraine war had 'sharply intensified' inflationary pressures. He said the 1.75 per cent squeeze on incomes this year would be the worst on record apart from 2011 and he 'recognised the hardship that this will cause for many in the UK'.

'The biggest driver is the real income shock which is coming from the change in the terms of trade, particularly from energy prices, and from some core goods and some food,' he said.
 
chic said:
My favorite gas station raised the price of gas by 22 cents per gallon overnight! I could cry. Just when things began to get a little better. This is worse than they admit, I agree with you.
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It looks like fuel/oil prices will remain very high for the rest of the year. Between the chaos this Ukraine invasion has created in the global oil markets, and our government "discouraging" oil production, I don't see any relief at the pumps for quite some time. Bidens "release" from the strategic reserves is just a drop in the bucket compared to what we will need.
 
Supermarkets are happy to raise prices, for sure. But their margins are always pretty low. If there is real gouging it goes on at the wholesale level with meat processors, manufacturers, and distributors.

On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that the government pumped trillions into the economy for Covid-related stimulus over the past two years. That money chases goods and drives up the price of everything.

Add in fuel prices, housing costs, supply chain disruptions and a terrible labor shortage and you have a real mess.
 
Lara said:
I bought canned and dried dog food, an unbaked whole chicken for the dogs, and four 2.5 gallon jugs of drinking water for $100 at Publix grocery store last night. I looked at my cart and felt like there was hardly anything in there.
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Ouch! We don't count dog food and other pet supplies in our grocery budget, although we probably should. If we kept a close count of what little Maxine is costing us we would probably have to send her off to work. (As a model, of course.)
 
chic said:
My favorite gas station raised the price of gas by 22 cents per gallon overnight! I could cry. Just when things began to get a little better. This is worse than they admit, I agree with you.
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that's as it is here @chic.. fuel prices just climb overnight... at the beginning of this year fuel was £1.22 a litre... that was expensive.. now today, I paid £20... for slightly over 10 litres... almost £2..per litre...:eek:
 
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I drove by my local gas station yesterday on my way home from running a few errands. I keep hoping the price of gasoline will drop. It was $4.39/gallon (regular). I feel like it's a crap shoot....should I fill the tank now anticipating that prices will rise or hold off and hope they drop?
 
I wish the politicians hadn't taken the pressure off the car manufacturers to make more fuel efficient cars, if only my car got 50 miles per gallon instead of 35 mpg I'd save so much on gas. At least the silver lining of the current gas prices is that my daughter has finally noticed the difference between her mom-enforced boring Honda Civic car choice (since I had to sign she was stuck ha ha) and her boyfriends big pickup truck. She used to want a big pickup but she's now looking at more sensible choices, yay! (when she was a teenager she always said she was going to get a Hummer when she grew up, don't hear any of that talk now, heh heh heh).
 
I'm tired of being ripped off for food. 6 months ago I was paying an average of $52.00 a week for groceries at the supermarket. For the last few weeks I have been paying an average of $92.00 a week for the same amount of food. I don't buy frozen meals or any fancy stuff. I cook from scratch and I live alone. Fresh fruits and veggies go up in price every week. I love grapefruit, but passed it by this week because the price was $2.67 per grapefruit. Outrageous!
 
mellowyellow said:
$11.50 for a kilogram of broccoli. $8 a bunch for fresh celery. The price of some vegetables in Australia is out of control. So many excuses as to why, but the reality remains – weekly food shopping bill has almost doubled.
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OMG...Ruby and Mellow Yellow... our prices have risen very noticeably but nowhere nearly as high as yours...( except for Fuel)
 
I was going to get eggs at Aldi until I saw the price of $2.99 a dozen. It was 1/2 that only recently. I'll wait hoping it goes down since I have some left. Their red potatoes cost the same as my other grocery too so I'm thinking they are not such a bargain store much anymore.
 
Chet said:
I was going to get eggs at Aldi until I saw the price of $2.99 a dozen. It was 1/2 that only recently. I'll wait hoping it goes down since I have some left. Their red potatoes cost the same as my other grocery too so I'm thinking they are not such a bargain store much anymore.
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My eggs were $3.99 a dozen this past week.
Up from $2.19 months before.

I bought a dozen.

I've really only seen meat go up by a couple of dollars a pound.
 
Chet said:
I was going to get eggs at Aldi until I saw the price of $2.99 a dozen. It was 1/2 that only recently. I'll wait hoping it goes down since I have some left. Their red potatoes cost the same as my other grocery too so I'm thinking they are not such a bargain store much anymore.
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Yes, I was gonna buy eggs...not at that price.
I found a substitute..that I will be having for a breakfast.

Wondering if others have made adjustments...given up things?
Will not pay the ridiculous increase in price for some items?
 
I’ve experienced a lot of the same outrageous hikes in basic foodstuffs. Gas here is hovering around $3.99 a gallon. It’s very depressing, and I think it’s our very own American Oligarchs who refuse to take even a little cut in their massive profits who are causing it. Yes,Jace I have given up buying things I used to get often. Too boring to mention what, haha.
 
Chet said:
I was going to get eggs at Aldi until I saw the price of $2.99 a dozen. It was 1/2 that only recently.
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I made a quick grocery store run a couple days ago, and eggs were on the list. A few weeks ago, the price was about $1 a dozen. Now, they are $3/dozen. However, the "Eggland's Best" organic eggs....which are usually far more expensive....were $2.60/dozen. I picked up a dozen of those.

I know that chicken farmers have purged millions of chickens in recent weeks, due to Avian Flu, but the EB brand doesn't seem to have been impacted.
 
I'm just wondering if there's a "boycott" on certain foods...that they "sit on the shelves"...would that "work" (help)to bring the prices down.

I know, I'm "doing my part"...not exactually becoming a martyr..but it's"the principle...of the thing!!" 👍
 
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