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Ethical Consumerism @sh.itjust.works

DominusOfMegadeus @sh.itjust.works

6mo ago

Kroger said it plans to lower grocery prices by $1 billion if federal regulators approve the proposed $25 billion merger with Albertsons

www.aier.org Kroger Invests $1B in Antitrust Defense

"Consumers would be better served if companies could spend more time on improving their services and less on fending off litigation." ~Noah C. Gould

Kroger Invests $1B in Antitrust Defense

I don’t know about y’all, but I will not ever be going shopping here.

News @lemmy.world

101 @feddit.org

6mo ago

Kroger Invests $1B in Antitrust Defense.

www.aier.org /article/kroger-invests-1b-in-antitrust-defense/

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61 comments

Kroger promises to lower grocery prices by $1 billion after artificially inflating them by $3 billion.
- Oh, so just like their normal “sale” items.
  
  Prices are probably skyrocketing as we type in preparation for this "massive" amount of savings.
  
  This item is $9000, but if you let us track your purchases and give us all of your personal information, it's $3.

Blackmail
- Literal blackmail. Agreed
- More like extortion.

Why would anyone trust them right after the price gouging during the pandemic and long after logistics had adapted?
- That’s the neat part, we don’t.

Fuckin lies.... No for profit business ever said hey let's spend a bunch of money to buy another business to make less money.

They aren't even saying that.
After the merger closes, Kroger will invest $1 billion to lower Albertsons’ prices, consistent with Kroger’s track record of fighting inflation and providing value to customers.
So, they're going to invest $1 billion to lower prices (which the writer speculates will be through "increasing efficiencies and improving its supply chain").
- Which they already claim they actively do in order to lower prices
- consistent with Kroger’s track record of fighting inflation
  LOL, fucking what? They're literally one of the major causes of inflation.
  which the writer speculates will be through "increasing efficiencies and improving its supply chain
  Oh, so firing more people, adding more self-checkout lanes, charging more for bags, and extorting distribution centers so they also have to fire a bunch of people?
- Kroger’s track record of fighting inflation and providing value to customers.
- increasing efficiencies and improving its supply chain
  That just sounds like sourcing lower quality food stuff to save their bottom line
- Nah it's going to be a billion dollars and putting those prices that can change at the drop of a hat with AI is help The digital ones. They're expensive

"You should let us reduce competition in the grocery space, because with less competition prices will be lower."
That's a bold take.
- $omething tell$ me it will probably $till work though.
- Walmart has been doing it for decades to achieve its low prices. The problem isn't that it won't work, it's just still a shitty thing to squeeze every cent from your suppliers.
  
  WalMart does definitely squeeze their suppliers, and it does have relatively low prices, but it's hardly a charity. It squeezes suppliers, not so that it can supply customers with low prices but so that it can provide profits to investors.
- Economies of scale do allow for lower prices. Problem being, monopolies do not.
  
  Economies of scale allow for lower costs, not lower prices. Lower prices are a choice that companies make, and it's a choice they don't have to make if they don't have competitors.

You didn't lower prices when you put in self checkout. Don't piss on me and call it rain.
- Self checkout did lower the prices if you play the game right.
  For example, one time I had 2 donuts in a bag, but I rang them up as just 1 donut. Please dont tell the cops.
  
  If I see you stealing food, no I didn’t.
  
  How did two donuts become one donut though? Are you a wizard?
  
  I always seem to lose count when scanning the same item repeatedly. I'm sure I got close to 12, and that's close enough.

This is where we're at now, corporations are issuing demands to the government, and the government is appeasing them.
- Sounds like extortion to me. Revoke their licenses to do business until they replace their C-suite.
- We passed that when the government order Microsoft to break up.
  
  huh?

Those blackmailing fucks can go to hell

No that sounds an awful lot like extortion. That's a crime you know.

'improving their services'
=
extracting more value from their consumers

Do it right now then.

Force them to break up into all their constituent companies.
Competition and the free market, also free of M&A's, will help pricing for everyone, including suppliers and customers.
Be great if we could elect anti-merger reps.

Darth Kroger after the merger: "I have altered the plan, pray I do not alter it further"

They have a concept of a plan to lower the prices.

First they added self checkout to reduce headcount, then came the price fixing/gouging. Then their shrink increased because people got tired of being fucked by Kroger. Then they had that shady deal with the UFCW. Then they decided to treat everyone that shops there like a criminal.
I'll never return.

Someday, maybe soon, you won't have a choice but to shop at a Kroger grocery.
- Enhance your calm, friend! 🙂

“Sure, Jan.”

And then immediately raise them 5x a week later

I’m glad I have other options where I live.

Ok. But your tax base is tripled and we set price ceilings on certain goods.

Yes. If there's one thing that all corporations want, it's to MAKE LESS MONEY.
That's why they want to reduce competition. It's so people can give them less money.
Now, some people might suggest that this sort of selfless generosity might go against their fiduciary obligation to increade stockholder value. But those people would be wrong because of course they're only doing this to eliminate competition and gouge customers, you bunch of gullible idiots.

*terms and conditions apply. This offer is subject to change after one year of operation

Yeah sure they will.

If they take them over and can't fix Albertsons ( supply chain inefficiency is what I've been told), then the whole organization is gonna go under within a few years.
That almost sounds like a good thing, but I know that it wouldn't be .

Plans change

I thought "bidenomics" inflation dictated prices?? /s
?????
So it really is corporate greed then
(I know it's corporate greed, but I wanted to counter all the naysayers that say the price of groceries is strictly because of inflation)...

They will lower prices but will still be price gouging. I spread my money around these days to Aldi, Food Lion, and unfortunately Kroger as they have items the others do not.

Thank the gods I have HEB

61 comments