Boycott Loblaws?

[gunluvr]

I've read somewhere that a group of disgruntled shoppers are planning a boycott of Loblaws and their other affiliated stores for the month of May. Would like to hear what members here think of it.
Personally, I don't blame just Loblaws for food inflation. Prices are high everywhere but a boycott of a major grocery chain would send a message and just complaining never gets anything done. This might have some positive effect if enough people follow through.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

We would get much better results if people would boycott the Liberal Party of Canada.

ARG

[Twisted Canuck]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

We would get much better results if people would boycott the Liberal Party of Canada.

ARG

Exactly. Grocery store margins are under 4%, they aren't causing inflation. The politicians know this too, but it's a convenient scapegoat for their incompetence and economy wrecking policies.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

We would get much better results if people would boycott the Liberal Party of Canada.

ARG

Exactly, the liberals cause inflation, then they blame the stores for gouging.

[creeky]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Exactly, the liberals cause inflation, then they blame the stores for gouging.

Both Loblaws and Safeway reported record profits last quarter of 2023, IIRC 12 million available alone to "common shareholders" (Loblaws).


Creeky....


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[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by creeky

Both Loblaws and Safeway reported record profits last quarter of 2023, IIRC 12 million available alone to "common shareholders" (Loblaws).


Creeky....


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Solvent grocery stores is kind of a win. For people that like to eat anyway.

[Sundog57]

A 4% net income?
Not a stellar performer, and not one that i would hold in my portfolio
While the numbers available for distribution through dividends appear impressive, Loblaws only pays a 1% dividend
Most retail investors are looking for a better rate of return.
That being said one of the investors in Loblaws is the Canada Pension Plan - their holding is not large but they do receive about $750,000 in dividends a year which go toward paying out CPP payments - no profit, no dividends. No dividends, no pension payout

Jagmeet and the Clown Prince's bleating notwithstanding, inflation, carbon tax and corporate income taxes play a huge role in the cost of groceries.
While my company normally pays a fuel premium on our trucking contracts, the Carbon Tax has added between 3 and 8% to my company's transportation costs. Think about it for a second - transportation makes up a not insignificant part of the cost structure for any retailer - raise the cost of transportation and ???
Unlike what the Clown Prince says, companies are not willing or able to absorb this increase in costs.
Then we have heating in retail outlets and distribution centres, fuel used in production of the groceries themselves, that would be farm fuel and processing fuel, etc.etc. etc.
Then you have increased interest costs as a result of the Clown Prince, Jagmeet and Freemoney's complete disregard for anything that remotely resembles fiscal discipline.
Input costs go up - retail costs go up, simple as that.

I imagine that that buffoon would be singing a different song if he was trying to live according to his means on a part-time drama teacher's salary

[creeky]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

Solvent grocery stores is kind of a win. For people that like to eat anyway.

Solvent is indeed a win-gouging the general population for an essential service in the toughest of times is a whole other creature.


Creeky....


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[-JR-]

If there is a small group that wants to boycott them they better stand in front of the door with their picket sighs ,other wise it will do nothing. That place is so full of shoppers a few hundred people not shopping there will do nothing .

[-JR-]

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 .

[-JR-]

I happened to drive by Super Store in Edmonton on 137 ave May 8 around 2 pm and the parking lot was full of cars !
Looks like no one got the memo .

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by creeky

Both Loblaws and Safeway reported record profits last quarter of 2023, IIRC 12 million available alone to "common shareholders" (Loblaws).


Creeky....


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Lets see, last quarter they sold $100 worth of goods and had a $4.00 profit, this quarter they sold the same goods, but they sold for $105. With the same 4% profit margin they made a record $4.20 profit. So inflation drove up their sales value and along with it their profits. Yup, round 'em up and hang 'em high!

ARG

[dmcbride]

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/mat...cely-competing

Matthew Lau: Loblaw and other grocers are already fiercely competing

International grocery chains don't come here, because prices are already 'good'

Here’s an analogy to help describe the Trudeau government’s industrial policy shambles: Suppose Gary Bettman decides the NHL is not competitive enough, and so to “increase competition” for the Stanley Cup and make things more exciting for fans, he handpicks two dozen teams from other leagues — the Finnish Elite League, the Swedish Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, and the National League in Switzerland — and invites them to join the NHL.

One problem with this scheme is that teams from those leagues aren’t as good as existing NHL teams. So to even things out, suppose Bettman decrees existing NHL teams must forthwith play the last three minutes of every period shorthanded, their goalie must use a regular player’s stick, and the goal they are defending will be widened by six inches for the last ten minutes of the game. Moreover, the newly joining teams will be allowed to ice the puck even if not killing a penalty and will be given an extra skaters during the first, third, and fifth minutes of play in each period.

As hockey fans would regard this attempt to “increase competition” in the NHL as preposterous and absurd, so too should Canadians regard as preposterous the Trudeau government’s recent efforts to increase competition in the grocery sector. These efforts began in earnest in 2022 with a series of attacks on the grocery companies currently serving the market. Members of Parliament from all parties interrogated executives from Loblaw, Empire Company (owner of Sobeys and other brands), Metro, Walmart, and Costco about their financial and corporate strategies, castigating the companies for allegedly earning too much money, making grocery prices too high, and paying employees too little.

Then came the Trudeau government’s threats of special taxation and random government orders that changed the rules of the game in the grocery sector in ways that made no sense. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne issued instructions to the five major grocery companies to stabilize prices and promised that unless they offered aggressive discounts on key food products there would be more government action to enforce “food price stability.” The government established a “Grocery Task Force” to monitor grocery stores actions and investigate them for supposed practices the government considers to “hurt consumers.” The government then forced a “Grocery Code of Conduct” onto the industry to tighten its grip on how companies operate and gave the Competition Bureau more power to investigate grocery companies if they are “behaving unfairly.”

After slapping these penalties and restrictions onto existing grocery companies and the consumers they serve, the federal government now claims to be working to increase competition by luring new companies into the Canadian market. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the industry minister “is weighing a list of a dozen foreign grocery companies — from the U.S., Germany, Turkey and Portugal, among others — to potentially lure to the country in a bid to increase competition in the domestic food-retailing sector.” Luring two automobile companies to set up electric vehicle battery plants in Ontario last year already cost taxpayers nearly $30 billion; what market distortions the federal government might impose and how much taxpayers’ money it spends on this latest initiative is anyone’s guess.

Why are international grocery companies reluctant to come to Canada as it is now? One explanation is that over eight years of reckless fiscal and regulatory policy from the federal government have depressed investment all around. Additional explanations have been given by those international grocers themselves. The Competition Bureau asked international grocers what keeps them out of Canada and reported, “All of the international grocers we spoke to said that they would face tough competition from Canadian grocers if they entered Canada.” Moreover, existing private labels in Canada are very popular: all the international grocers “believe these are high-quality products and good prices.”

In other words, we don’t have more international grocers in Canada because the existing companies serving the market are already competing fiercely with each other and are providing shoppers with excellent prices and quality. The Trudeau government’s reaction thus far has been to try to take control of grocery prices and quality through “price stability” diktats, codes of conduct, and threats of punitive taxation — and then try to lure international grocers to Canada for no apparent reason other than to be able to say it increased competition. But when the government centrally plans who will compete and how they must compete, that’s not real competition. That’s just preposterous.

National Post

Matthew Lau is a Toronto writer.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

Lets see, last quarter they sold $100 worth of goods and had a $4.00 profit, this quarter they sold the same goods, but they sold for $105. With the same 4% profit margin they made a record $4.20 profit. So inflation drove up their sales value and along with it their profits. Yup, round 'em up and hang 'em high!

ARG

Inflation also drives up the cost of the goods for the seller.

BW

[creeky]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

Lets see, last quarter they sold $100 worth of goods and had a $4.00 profit, this quarter they sold the same goods, but they sold for $105. With the same 4% profit margin they made a record $4.20 profit. So inflation drove up their sales value and along with it their profits. Yup, round 'em up and hang 'em high

ARG

Yup. Honey git my rope!


Creeky....


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[Pathfinder76]

This whole thing makes zero sense. If they want to go on a hunger strike for a month, or eat their food storage instead that may be one thing. But to boycott $7 bread at on place to buy $7 bread at another is, well, ridiculous.

[gunluvr]

You see grossly inflated items all the time. Whether it's just an honest mistake or not, it's bad optics for food stores and gets plastered on social media.You have to know your prices and keep a well stocked pantry and freezer so you don't have to buy things at a higher price. I try to mostly only buy pantry items when they're on sale. Funny how nesecities like milk and eggs are never on sale. Beef is pretty much unaffordable. A moose in the freezer helps a lot.
I agree that inflation is a product of liberal government more than anything else. This boycott thing will probably fizzle quickly but would be interesting if it gets noticed.

[dmcbride]

All part of the liberals and NDP plan to pass the buck on the true effects of the Carbon tax. The $3.74 Loblaws makes on $100.00 worth of groceries isn’t the problem. Even the complaining about Weston’s $11.8 million salary isn’t outrageous when Loblaws has 221,000 employees. Which works out to roughly $53 per year per employee.

[Trochu]

I have no issue with Loblaws making money. I do have an issue with the Liberals making it expensive/difficult for companies to operate, while encouraging inflation, so they raise their prices so they can still make money, then blaming a company for raising their prices.

[leo]

Large corporations are run by people who are well paid and usually very good at their job. I have no issue with this. As a matter of fact it is the very foundation of a free market. These companies and CEO’s take the risks and deserve to make a profit and be well paid. Politicians on the other hand take very little responsibility risk as they’re too busy pandering to everyone. If anyone is overpaid it’s them!

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by leo

Large corporations are run by people who are well paid and usually very good at their job. I have no issue with this. As a matter of fact it is the very foundation of a free market. These companies and CEO’s take the risks and deserve to make a profit and be well paid. Politicians on the other hand take very little responsibility risk as they’re too busy pandering to everyone. If anyone is overpaid it’s them!

Agree and look how many people they(and other big corps) employ across the country.

[jstubbs]

Originally Posted by Sooner

Agree and look how many people they(and other big corps) employ across the country.

Yes, all the smaller, independent grocers they helped force out of business is wonderful. So instead of the money being in local hands, it's in the hands of overseas investors.

[jstubbs]

Originally Posted by dmcbride

The $3.74 Loblaws makes on $100.00 worth of groceries isn’t the problem.

I worked with a guy who used to be a store manager for Superstore. He said their 3-4% margin is a lot of smoke and mirrors--Loblaws is fairly vertically integrated in the grocer business, owning a lot of the distribution, warehousing and logistics--and also owns all real estate that Superstores sit on. Individual Superstores are then charged much higher than market value rent on their leases, and higher costs on distribution, cutting into store margins significantly, while the overall holding company profits happily.

That is still not to say that they aren't still making relatively thin margins, but their claim of $4 per $100 of groceries spent is probably closer to $7-8 he figured if Superstores were could competitively use market rate leases and distribution + some other aspects of the value chain I can't recall that Loblaws owns as well.

[dmcbride]

Originally Posted by jstubbs

I worked with a guy who used to be a store manager for Superstore. He said their 3-4% margin is a lot of smoke and mirrors--Loblaws is fairly vertically integrated in the grocer business, owning a lot of the distribution, warehousing and logistics--and also owns all real estate that Superstores sit on. Individual Superstores are then charged much higher than market value rent on their leases, and higher costs on distribution, cutting into store margins significantly, while the overall holding company profits happily.

That is still not to say that they aren't still making relatively thin margins, but their claim of $4 per $100 of groceries spent is probably closer to $7-8 he figured if Superstores were could competitively use market rate leases and distribution + some other aspects of the value chain I can't recall that Loblaws owns as well.

Even if is was 7-8%, $7-8 dollars on $100 dollars of groceries isn’t the problem.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by dmcbride

Even if is was 7-8%, $7-8 dollars on $100 dollars of groceries isn’t the problem.

X2, the problems are beyond their control, everything from fertilizer to trucking, etc, etc.

[Fradaburidi]

Boycott Loblaws and do what? Buy cheaper from where?

I already boycott Safeway, Sobeys, Co-Op, Save-On-Foods and others like them.

[Trochu]

Originally Posted by dmcbride

Even if is was 7-8%, $7-8 dollars on $100 dollars of groceries isn’t the problem.

Agreed. Many, many retailers, it's 50-1000% markup.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by dmcbride

All part of the liberals and NDP plan to pass the buck on the true effects of the Carbon tax. The $3.74 Loblaws makes on $100.00 worth of groceries isn’t the problem. Even the complaining about Weston’s $11.8 million salary isn’t outrageous when Loblaws has 221,000 employees. Which works out to roughly $53 per year per employee.

Absolutely. The grocery retailers aren't the problem. From the producer to the retailer the carbon tax in multiplied at least 5 times, then GST is added to the tax.

BW

[32-40win]

Bunch of political smoke & mirrors drummed up by the NDP in my opinion. It's a distraction to keep their fans occupied with anything other than looking at what the NDP & Libs are really doing.
I'd hate to see the utilitiy bills and maybe the property taxes they pay on those stores, freight expenses, spoilage & damage rates, various cooling/heating system maintenance expenses. The one thing that makes it able to work, is the sales volume and a pretty much guaranteed market.
Ya, the refridgeration deal the Libs gave them was an unnecessary and dirty subsidy, that kind of krap probably ought to be investigated deeper, but, it was given some window dressing, and it won't be. Seems to me that was where the rhetoric started and Jaggy boy has kept it up since then, few Libs jump on the bandwagon to make themselves look good once in a while, keep the narrative alive.

[Fradaburidi]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

Jaggy boy

He makes me puke, and he is to blame as much as the other one if not more since he's the one that keeps him in power. What a total jerk, to put it mild.