Grocery stores are out of control

A top Kroger executive admitted under questioning from a Federal Trade Commission attorney on Tuesday that the grocery chain raised its egg and milk prices above the rate of inflation, a concession that came as no surprise to economists who have been highlighting corporate price gouging across the U.S. economy in recent years.

The U.S. grocery sector—dominated by Kroger, Walmart, and a handful of other major companies—profited hugely during the Covid-19 pandemic as corporate giants exploited supply chain disruptions to aggressively jack up prices.

"The grocery industry, as represented by four of its largest players, became more profitable in the pandemic, and it has stayed that way for a couple of years at least," The Financial Timesnoted Monday. "It is a good guess that price increases in excess of cost increases have played a role in this."

When I see absurd prices, my mind leaps to cascading climate disasters and corporate monopolization. Someone on the other end of the spectrum might think of the carbon tax and global governance. But on one level, we’re both trying to explain away an encounter with our own insignificance as confirmed by the new price of, say, a can of Campbell’s Chunky soup.

They tell us there are a myriad of complicated kinks in the omnipotent supply chains that stretch across the earth—war, interest rates, climate events, dollar rates—that no one, not the state and certainly not you, can do anything about. The infinite web of multinational trade organized by ravenous corporations is outside of anyone’s control. Everything is to blame, so no one is to blame. We’ve built a food system that no one can do anything about other than keep making money.

This helplessness is emphasized by the impotent responses of the federal government so far: sending minister of innovation, science, and industry François-Philippe Champagne on a global hunt for competition, like some sort of disgraced royal trying to marry off his impetuous daughter, or begging said grocery overlords to sign on to a code of conduct, which I assume will be about as effective as when I asked my university roommates to sign on to a chore wheel.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16216017

My grocery store wants to know my BMI

If they were interested in my location they could request location data. What are the odds they are doing this to directly market products to people based on health data?

Inb4 “They already do that based on what you regularly purchase”

Of course, yes they do. This appears to be one more layer on top of it. And surely they wouldn’t share that information with the pharmacy, right?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16298012

Iced tea is now a 20 pack instead of a 24 pack

I am outraged about this. Went to my local Maxi to pick up eggs (they were half price than others) and I saw this on top of something else. I get them from costco anyways, but this kind of shrinkflation is really annoying. Other soft drinks are probably going to get the same treatment