Some woke people put up poster in front of loblaws store to encourage others to theft ….

That's nuts. Throw them in jail without bail. Freeze their bank accounts. Call them names and accuse them of arson. Declare martial law. It's been done before so what can possibly go wrong.

Canadian grocers are among the most competitive in the world.
- They give Walmart grocery a run for their money.
- They serve a large geographic footprint with a small population.
- The profit margins on groceries are tiny, as others have said.

This week a sell side analyst published an analysis of the 3 main chains Loblaws, Sobey (Empire) & Metro. Over the past 5 quarters the sales growth of the industry was negative after inflation.

The feds are trying to attract a foreign grocery chain to come to Canada. Yeah, right. Maybe after a $15 billion upfront bribe, oops I mean subsidy. Please don't freeze my bank account for using my inside voice.

That is illegal, and i guarantee isnt happening

How does that work, have you seen a forensic audit (wholesale source to checkout) or are we relying on an exec saying profit margins are slim to none?


Creeky....


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If high grocery prices were because of 'corporate greed', why would Co-op then not have the cheapest prices?

You can look it up yourself. It's not hard, just takes time. That way you will be satisfied. Much better to verify yourself than rely on some third party forensic audit, no?

Industry players publishes audited statements, all available online. Forensic auditors will be relying on audited statements as starting point so you have just as much info as they will. Forensic audits and regular audits involve testing review of source material, it's just that forensics will focus much more on certain parts of the business.

I'm with DK on this. Forensic audit will guarantee there is nothing to see. I am sure the entire industry will happily produce one, as long as you and the government pay for it. Because it will be very very expensive, that's another guarantee.

we are relying on the companies accountants and CFO not committing fraud and breaking accounting laws. They have much more to lose than lying to Canadians.

In the end, they're a private company free to do business as they please. We're getting gouged at the pumps, but that seems to be ok. :confused:

If you believe the crap the grocery chains are feeding you about their profits, you’re pretty niave.

One would think it is not rocket science:

https://i.postimg.cc/tgTZ1vLw/IMG-5740.jpg

I should add that they generally want that number to be as high as possible, if someone talks about “bias” and “cheating”.

Correct but you aren't going to change anyone's mind with mere facts. We are free to think black is white, grass is blue and sky is green, down is up. If that is someone's truth, well ok. We still live in a democracy.

I truly hope these people don't take their biases into their personal investments. They can repeat "down is up!!" as often as they want but the market will deliver their heads on a platter. Market don't care about "my truth", it only deals with reality and no amount of trolling will change reality.

A 5% operating profit for a Canadian grocer is considered excellent. Profit margins have remained in this range over the past 3 years when food costs were going up. Grocery stores aren't ripping consumers off.

It's like blaming gas stations for gasoline prices going up by 5 cents when gas taxes go up by 5 cents. Blame the greedy convenence store for the rising costs of smokes because of new sin taxes.

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

Lol, a parliamentary committee looked deeply into this issue and found nothing.

Yes, on paper, the grocery division only made 3.74% net profit margin in 2023. What doesn't show up, and is not questioned by the auditors (who are all complicit in the smoke & mirrors game) is the increase in overall expenses that reduce the Gross Margin to this single digit value. wink wink

jstubbs explained some of it in Post #8. You have to look at the entire organization, not just the grocery division. Start asking why the landed cost per item varies so much between competing chains.

But, since this has become the MO of all major corporations with integrated divisions, no white collar professional is going to jeopardize their corporate career, or bonuses, to bring this to light.
Greedflation has always been a thing, lately it has been running rampant with zero oversight.

Throw in a few global factors, and an economically incompetent and openly corrupt government, and this is where we are today.

I'm no fan of Loblaw's, but targeting them over Co-Op is ludicrous. IME Co-Op is the most expensive major grocery chain around. I'm certain their books will show a similar single digit net profit margin. How is that? Nobody questions the exorbitant expenses they pay. wink wink

Today George Weston WN.PR.A.TSX at $21.82 is paying a minimal 6.6% dividend. Shareholders are making good returns regardless how the economy is doing. Companies have to make a profit to stay in business. Boycott the Libs/NDPEE that are taking far more than 6.6%.

interesting, the way the Liberals and NDP try to get votes?

in what way? definitely taxes, other than that?
glad I don't live in victoria!

National Post weighs in on the absurdity of blaming a grocery retailer for the obvious effects of sh!t govermnent policies and incompetence of the Liberals for the last 9 years.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/np-...-to-destroy-it

A number of years ago Galen Jr. realized he was screwing up his father's company. He stepped back and Loblaws hired the CFO from competitor Metro, and they've never looked back. The company took on a lot of business risk before they got the formula right. And because they are finally successful they get attacked.

When they were struggling I didn't see politicians saying poor Loblaws, we need to help them (this is well before the $15 million fridges).

The answer is to use your head find the best deal you can and be happy! IF a store is charging to much and their product rots on the shelves then the price comes down. Don't confuse the free market with socialist control which is what some of you are suggesting. If you wish to lower prices? Then you need to identify the problem and TAXES would be a great place to start. Especially a tax, on a tax, on a tax, on a tax like the Carbon tax.

Price of junk foods has skyrocketed so I rarely buy any. I remember when a chocolate bar was twice as big and cost $25.

Must have been a pretty big chocolate bar. Lol.

Freson has one, just your regular size bar, 10.99. Must be really special. :lol:

Use to be able to buy a coke, two chocolate bars, a couple of comic books and a bag of cheesies for less then a dollar. Or two chocolate bars, a coke for about .15 cents if you go back far enough. Also save .10 cents from your .25 Cent allowance once a month, so you could buy your first bike ~$45.00 in a year or two if you were willing to stack the neighbors hay for a penny a bale during the summer. Times do change.

Get rid of the crooked Liberals ! Then we can get back to real life !

good thing loblaws got new freezers
 

https://globalnews.ca/news/5145773/c...w-new-fridges/
just in case the boycott works, all the food will be frozen and discounted next month and the grass is growing nicely to harvest grass clippings for the win

On Global News they said people will not be shopping there for the month of May . I think more months will be needed for them to listen .

I hope it means the stores are less crowded while I'm shopping. :sHa_shakeshout:

And just for clarification, since it is grocery prices everyone is bent and twisted about, is it still OK to shop at the Real Canadian Liquor Stores? Asking for a friend.

ARGS

lol. $0.25. 25 cents.

Olden days.

Use to wander the alleys looking for pop bottles and find enough and buy a chocolate bar. Local convenience store took bottles in exchange for cash when buying stuff. It was awesome.

Cans were 2 cents. Small bottles 5 cents and large bottles 10 cents. Eventually the plastic 2 litre bottles came out and they were worth 20 cents.

I laugh at people threatening to boycott the cheapest store to go buy stuff at a more expensive store. They will learn if they have any smarts.

I have often thought the solution to the grocery price crisis in Canada is a massive shift to decentralization. Let me explain, but I don't think it could happen with western society's ever increasing laziness and loss of old style cultural practices.

The food industry in the west has evolved into a massive centralized vertically integrated monopoly. Basically in Canada, we have Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart and Costco controlling the entire food industry. The corner grocers, bakers, and butchers have been forced out of the market. The monopoly has had an effect of an industry that is overly dependent transportation, packaging, and an over abundance of prepared foods. We have even seen proven price fixing scams like the bread scandal in Canada. This monopoly supports the prepared food industry giants like Kraft, Campbells, Heinz, etc. Now we see a layer of food delivery for the lazy like Voila, Uber Eats, Instacart, etc.

I believe in a system where people would grow gardens more, support local bakers, and butchers that are integrated with local farmers. Farmers markets are evidence that there is a small part of this in practice. Society would have to adjust to get off their asses and prepare foods like our past generations have. Most of our Grandma's baked bread a few times a week and the quality of that needs no explanation to those who have experienced that fresh bread smell and taste. Cultures have developed on locally grown food and food preparation. That is lost today, and is a great shame. Put Heinz out of business; make your own baked beans from scratch from beans you grew or bought a sack full from a local farmer.

I grow a big garden, supply my own produce for half the year, and do preserves for most of the rest. Gardening should be massively promoted and incentivized instead of Wacko policies like carbon taxing. Many of us here reading this eat meat from our hunting efforts, or buy beef/pork, and chicken from local farmers directly. Buy a sack of flour, make your own bread, its is much better. Prepare meals from base ingredients with great cultural recipes. Food is culture! Say no to eating over packaged, terrible tasting prepared foods from the integrated monopoly grocer giants.

Again, people kind of get what they deserve from their laziness and apathy. The food industry giants are preying on this convenience. There is a better way to fight this than temporary boycotts of one grocery chain. Food growing, acquisition of ingredients, and prepartion should be a much greater part of peoples lives instead of finding ways of convenience around it. That would put a big dent in the grocer/processed food industry.