“Mistake” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
More of a “well we got what we could get while we could get it”
It was almost comical the way they all rode the inflation train. Like they all went to same business school and learned exactly the same thing about pricing strength .
Either that, or they were fact a cartel
Will we ever know ?! 🤷♂️
Amazon, Walmart, and Target finally realize their colossal pricing mistake—now they’re slashing costs to win back customers
We will. It was the second one.
And now they expect us to go into a spending spree with these “new amazing low prices”.
I think they ought to prepare for disappointment.
One thing the pandemic “shortages” taught me is that in most categories I really do have enough stuff already.
Oopsy, the credit cards are maxed out already due to their gouging So purchasing will remain low until credit card debt declines.
Oh wait, that’s not going to happen anytime soon because the landlords are price fixing.
Amazon Fresh just became the latest big-box retailer to cut costs on thousands of items, following in the footsteps of Walmart and Target in reversing course on years of inflation-induced price hikes
Greed-induced. Inflation-excused.
It should say inflation-causing.
Corporations are always greedy, so this factor never changed. It could not have been the cause of inflation, since we had greedy corporations and more inflation before.
I want to point out that your reasoning is irrational which makes your conclusion nonsense.
You didn’t root cause or analyze anything, then declared yourself to be right “because”.
Here I’ll show you, let me use your method to “prove” something.
“The Potato Party has always been in charge in Tombo County, the hungry kids in schools are not the fault of The Potato Party because kids here have been hungry before.”
We can “prove” so many things this way!
The Potato Party could have changed its policies, so your comparison is not apt. Corporations have never been not greedy, so what changed?
…a global pandemic? That excuse let them raise prices far beyond their actual cost inflation.
Yes, so the issue was people could afford to pay more when they got their stimulus. Which is the point of the stimulus, it worked 100%
The question is whether the skeptics that said the stimulus would cause inflation were right. Is it the corporate greed or does giving everyone money increase prices?
No, that’s not what the issue was. The stimulus was a drop in the bucket, and I think it’s insane to talk like people “have more money now” because they got a check for like a thousand dollars 4 years ago. That shit was gone the week after it was given, probably to rent in most cases.
The price increases were blamed on supply chain issues, which did exist, but not to the degree that could justify the increase.
There were several stimulus checks, so maybe some people spent it on rent and some saved it and spent it on going out when the shutdowns were over
You can see that people spent a whole lot more on food in 2022
The pandemic, constant coverage of inflation giving them a shield to raise prices and blame inflation even when their SEC filings indicate that this is complete bullshit, and crucially greater consolidation resulting in fewer options for grocery shoppers.
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Are you sure? Here’s the markup since the pandemic
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Probably that the greedy became greedier. Greed isn’t exactly linear, it’s exponential. It used to be:
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime
Today’s version goes something like:
Boss makes a million, I don’t make jack
that’s why when I’m at work
I like to smoke crack
The greed is constant, but the opportunities to excuse price increases are not. Egg prices jumped up about 6x because they had the excuse of bird flu, but the prices magically went down (but stayed elevated) after the government threatened an investigation. As ineffectual as our government has been made, increasing prices out of nowhere with no plausible excuses will invite an investigation.
So my point is instead of blaming greedy corporations, we just discussed possible causes and solutions. Isn’t this a more constructive conversation?
You admit that corporations are always greedy, so how is out of the realm of possibility that an excuse like supply chain issues (which have since been resolved) would provide the perfect opportunity for these greedy corporations to jack up prices far beyond those underlying causes and get away with it?
The margin hasn’t changed much
So that means the corporations got the same % on their sales
What you thought would happen: thing X cost the corp $10 and they sold it for $15. When it costs $20 they sell it for $25
What actually happened: it cost $20 and they sold it for $30
That’s because investors hate it when the margin goes down
What’s the source of this graph?
So my point is instead of blaming greedy corporations, we just discussed possible causes and solutions. Isn’t this a more constructive conversation?
Corporations all raised prices at the same time. No competition to offset the greed. Normally that level of coordination is impossible among different companies, at least some would keep prices lower to retain customers.
Normally that level of coordination is impossible among different companies, at least some would keep prices lower to retain customers.
The biggest con in the world. You would think people are not capable of organizing for a common cause.
That level of coordination IS possible when all you need is a bunch of CXOs and investors in a union.
You think collusion to keep prices is not possible? Does that people people agreeing on a specific set of laws and policies living in a demarcated region (a country) is not possible?
About two years too late for me to accept apologies on post pandemic price gouging, already cancelled prime and use local groceries over corpo stores. In general they have better quality of selection and prices most of the time, plus it encourages me to explore more variety of small groceries from other cultures, farmers markets, etc.
Similar with fast food if you want to charge me 16 bucks for a meal I’m going to an actual restaurant instead
The chain stores are more than the co-op stores in my area too. And with summer coming farmers markets are definitely a better value AND quality option, too
Big-box stores lowering prices wasn’t an altruistic move to throw customers a bone during tough times. Retailers have suffered from weak sales due to customers’ struggle with high prices. Target reported a 3.1% drop in net sales from a year ago and a 3.7% quarterly dip in comparable sales, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of declines. Though Walmart has continued to soar, it owes much of its 6% revenue growth to its e-commerce successes and wealthy customer base, the latter of which makes up a growing chunk of its audience.
This trend has continued in fast food, with McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King all announcing meal deals following earnings reports that suggest customers are losing their taste for high-priced fast food, including $18 Big Mac meals and threats of surge pricing.
No one could have anticipated this outcome
You have to be wealthy to shop at Walmart now. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Nah. I’ve already gotten used to not buying random crap anymore. I’d rather have the cash.
“I promise I’m not gonna hit you baby if you come back, honest i won’t. You know i just get excited because i love you too much…”
I hear those big box stores will shut down immediately if someone, anyone, just scatters union pamphlets around the store.
Exactly. Local Walmart (Pico Rivera, ca) shut down for “plumbing” issues for 8 months when union activity started. The building was less than 10 years old
It wasn’t a mistake. Did they make money? … Checks notes … lots of it.
Isn’t price gouging illegal? 🧐
So is price fixing.
I walked into a Whole Foods for the first time a little while back for an Amazon return, I saw the $9 gallon of milk and walked right out.
Hopefully the price slashing is significant.
Whole Foods has always been ridiculously overpriced though.
At my first job in 1988, milk was $4.10g. Just bought some for the first time in ages and it was $3.79g.
It comes with free bird flu particles now
That’s only in raw milk.
Pasteurized milk only kills/deactivates the virus. The fragments are still in it. Raw milk has free floaters
If it’s deactivated, then it’s just free protein.
Anyone noticed a pricing difference with “local” grocers? Obviously there aren’t many left and at least in my area they rely on a regional distributor that’s pretty consolidated. Just curious if they’ve been treating consumers any better.
The spouse does most of the shopping but I was in a Harps the other day and saw that a medium (shrinkflated) bag of Cheetos was $8.75 USD.
Harps isn’t super local but… Holy shit. Who can afford Cheetos at that price? I used to buy them as an occasional treat but fuck that noise.
EDIT: for fun I just searched Walmart and they’re $5.94 there. I’m still not spending that much for a garbage treat.
Don’t worry. They’ll be “marked down” to regular price (still overpriced) on the sell-by date so people think they’re getting a deal.
I got a 6-pack of a Korean drink I enjoy called Milkis in an Asian grocery for about the same price as a 6-pack of Coke at a Kroger.
The imported Korean drink and the American drink are the same price except one’s in a local store.
Not local, but I’ve been shopping at Lidl and Aldi for years and while their prices raised some with inflation, it was negligible compared to bigger grocery stores. I pay less than half at Lidl than I would at another store.
I’ve been seeing the horror stories of $9 milk for years but I’ve never paid more than $2-3 for. Gallon of milk.
We’ve got a local grocer, their prices tend to be even higher - probably because they have no negotiating power when everyone else is jacking up prices
Walmart is still cheaper then local basic stores like Price Chopper and Hy Vee
Funnily enough I haven’t really used a big retailer in ages. I might hit Walmart on very niche items, though only if I’m not aware of a local alternative. Same for Amazon: Go on there, look for stuff, check who makes a thing, go to that website or spend a minute and scroll through Etsy. Amazon: The worldwide product distributor info marketplace.
Aldi for life.
