this post was submitted on 31 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 187 points 5 months ago (2 children)

“Mistake” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 5 months ago (2 children)

More of a "well we got what we could get while we could get it"

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 months ago (2 children)

And now they expect us to go into a spending spree with these "new amazing low prices".

[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

The pandemic made me a much better cook. I wasn't bad before, but now I can do it without wrecking the kitchen.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 164 points 5 months ago (25 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 114 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 55 points 5 months ago (1 children)

look at this fucker, with his local grocery stores. They're all but extinct out here on the prairies

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Yeah definitely a privilege of living in a pretty densely populated area with lots of options and even here some have closed, including some of the larger populations of Asian and middle eastern immigrants in the area running many of the smaller shops.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 61 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If you think this was "inflation", I've got a bridge to sell you.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And the price of that bridge has doubled. :-)

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Due to impacts of COVID 19 on the supply chain, the bridge price has doubled again, and lead time is now 18 years.

If you have questions about your purchase, you can call our support line, but please know were experiencing longer than usual wait times due to the pandemic - we anticipate your current wait time at the heat death of the universe.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Due to this fuckery, my family will literally never by fast food again unless we are traveling.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Cross-country road trips now have the sandwich fixings stored in a cooler in the car. Pre-make the next day's sandwich the night before and toss it in the cooler.

Honestly it's much nicer sitting at a picnic table at a rest area, which generally has nice views, than going into a restaurant or eating drive-thru in the car.

At least the pandemic had some silver linings, would not have necessarily thought to do this otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago

You have to be wealthy to shop at Walmart now. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

wtf

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

You know shit is bad when you need to be making $80,000 a year to afford to shop at Walmart.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 months ago

"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..."

[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Nah. I’ve already gotten used to not buying random crap anymore. I’d rather have the cash.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

These are stores which also sell necessities, not just random crap. Based on the article, it sounds like mostly food is having its prices scaled back.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

And they rely on selling both to be profitable. But now their customers are used to not buying the latter (random crap) so that they can afford the former. And the retailers are realizing they may not begin buying random crap again even when prices decrease, because life without the random crap isn't much different.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I hear those big box stores will shut down immediately if someone, anyone, just scatters union pamphlets around the store.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago

It wasn't a mistake. Did they make money? ... Checks notes ... lots of it.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t price gouging illegal? 🧐

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

...i quit shopping brick-and-mortar after target routinely charged more in their stores than online + shipping...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

They've even started getting worse with their apps. I got a notification recently that one of the apps (target) will have fluctuating prices. My understanding is it's demand based increases. While walking around the store one time I looked at items in the app and most of them were higher than on the shelves.

They've spent years pushing people to get comfortable with app shopping and easy pickup... Now they're going to squeeze every penny out of that crowd that they can.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

Whole Foods has always been ridiculously overpriced though.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (15 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Hope Loblaws here in Canada follows suit

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