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grocery prices going up, not down

grocery prices going up, not down

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices going up, not down
2/27/2024 at 5:02 PM

I thought I heard on the news that grocery prices were going to ease in the near future, and were lower in some categories already. My local West End grocery store didn’t seem to get that message. Instead
their prices are up. A one litre of pop is now $1.99 and was $1.69 last week. They were also selling limes, the size of a golf ball for $1.99 and every other store in town sells them for $.89 . I just don’t get it and I’m sick of it! Walked next door to the Dollarama store and bought the pop for one dollar. At this rate me, and a lot of other people will be shopping at the dollar store for everything we can. No wonder all the parking lots at the dollar stores are always full.
Meteor Garden
Joined: Before 2007
Posts: 303

Meteor Garden
Joined: Before 2007
Posts: 303

so true
2/27/2024 at 5:44 PM

It’s getting harder to make ends meet with the price increases. Some things have doubled in price yet my paycheck remains unchanged. Gas was supposed to stay low but just days after going down to $1.15/L it shot up by ten cents. I’m at my wits’ end right now as to how much more stressful this is.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/27/2024 at 5:49 PM

What makes it even more infuriating to me is when you hear that the grocery stores have made record profits the past two years. They are making those profits off of people who are struggling like me and you. Maybe it’s time to get together and picket
in front of the store. Nothing else seems to help?
Trevor B

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 8881

Trevor B
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 8881

These companies
2/27/2024 at 5:50 PM

ALWAYS have an excuse to raise prices, mostly to increase profit for shareholders. Always must have increased profit every quarter. As long as the CEO's and shareholders profit, they don't care about anyone else.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/27/2024 at 6:08 PM

I talked to one of the cashiers that works at this particular store, and she told me that even she doesn’t shop there . Said she can’t afford it.
ynot
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 730

ynot
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 730

Groceries
2/27/2024 at 6:19 PM

The big grocery retailers profit about 3% annually or $3.00 on a $100.00 purchase. The idea that profits are excessive has been invented by the NDP & Liberals in Ottawa. Price increases are due to inflation mainly caused by government policies & taxes such as the carbon tax.
I agree that the West End Sobey's prices have jumped in recent weeks.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/27/2024 at 6:28 PM

It was just a few months back on the tv news that Loblaws had recorded record profits not 3%. When you’re doubling prices on items, how can you not make a record profit? It’s just unacceptable! In my opinion, Sobeys is the worst culprit.
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5038

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5038

Discontinued generics
2/27/2024 at 9:31 PM

I noticed this past week that many of the regular generic products (no name brand) that I regularly bought at Superstore no longer seem to exist. There's not even shelf space anymore, just the name brand's space expanding. Using generics when they are acceptable quality is a large part of how we save money on groceries. I guess I'm buying name brands, shopping elsewhere, or doing without.
Gussins
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 380

Gussins
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 380

Post facts.... not propaganda.
2/28/2024 at 3:13 AM

ynot said "The big grocery retailers profit about 3% annually or $3.00 on a $100.00 purchase. The idea that profits are excessive has been invented by the NDP & Liberals in Ottawa. Price increases are due to inflation mainly caused by government policies & taxes such as the carbon tax.
I agree that the West End Sobey's prices have jumped in recent weeks. "
All you have to do is Google Grocery Store Profits 2023 to receive all the information required to make an informed, intelligent post. Record-breaking far exceeds "excessive" by definition alone. The rising cost of groceries is raising inflation levels. Are you posting from Alberta by chance?
Mater
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 63

Mater
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 63

2/28/2024 at 4:20 AM

Funny enough, I just googled "Loblaws profits" and 4th quarter revenue was up 3.74% year over year and net income 2.26% for the same period. Cost of revenue for that time frame was up 2.8%.

There are many reasons for inflation. Saying groceries prices are causing inflation is a little off base I think. It's more of a result, not a cause. Devaluing of the dollar, increase in wages, increase in labor and production costs are causes for inflation.

Do people really think stores are going to eat the increase in cost to them? Of course not, it gets passed on to us. They have to eventually have "record revenues" just based on the simple fact of their prices going up. 10 years from now I'm sure you'll still be seeing them have record revenues. Costs are going to follow with that as well though. My point is, they're probably not stuffing as much money into their mattress as you think they are.
PrimeConvoy

Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

PrimeConvoy
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

....
2/28/2024 at 8:16 AM

ynot said "The big grocery retailers profit about 3% annually or $3.00 on a $100.00 purchase. The idea that profits are excessive has been invented by the NDP & Liberals in Ottawa. Price increases are due to inflation mainly caused by government policies & taxes such as the carbon tax.
I agree that the West End Sobey's prices have jumped in recent weeks. "
This is complete and utter bull dung!

I manage a group of individuals with a small fleet of vehicles. The cost of fuel made up exactly 3.72% of my annual budget. Roughly 10% of that fuel cost is the carbon tax. So, the carbon tax makes up exactly 0.372% of my department's annual budget.

It get's me really upset when I see people stand in line to stroke the ego of those exploiting poor people and blaming the excessive costs of EVERYTHING on the government.

Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2024-02-28 08:17:42
CountryGirl5
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 95

CountryGirl5
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 95

Thank the three month prize freeze :)
2/28/2024 at 9:29 AM

"Each year, from late October to early February, the Canadian grocery industry engages in something known as the blackout period. During this time prices for specific national and private brand products are frozen."

https://nationalpost.com/news/food-blackout-period-prices
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/28/2024 at 11:23 AM

Well the price of pop and limes for just a couple of examples were certainly not frozen!. How do you charge $1.99 for a lime when every other store in town even including Safeway was charging between.79 and .99 per lime . After seeing that price, I went to every other store just to check and see. I then asked one of the clerks if maybe that was a typo error? It was not she said the prices are set by the managers. It’s the same as the 900ml jar of cheese whiz that sells for $13.79 at one particular store and a few hundred feet away at another store it sells for $6.99. I’m sorr
y but it’s the customer that’s getting the shaft here. So shop around if that helps or like someone else stated do without!
Indadumps
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 91

Indadumps
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 91

You have to remember that.......
2/28/2024 at 1:05 PM

PrimeConvoy said "This is complete and utter bull dung!

I manage a group of individuals with a small fleet of vehicles. The cost of fuel made up exactly 3.72% of my annual budget. Roughly 10% of that fuel cost is the carbon tax. So, the carbon tax makes up exactly 0.372% of my department's annual budget.

It get's me really upset when I see people stand in line to stroke the ego of those exploiting poor people and blaming the excessive costs of EVERYTHING on the government.

Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2024-02-28 08:17:42"
The carbon tax doesn't just apply to your truck drivers. It is on electricity, natural gas , propane and basically every form of energy. So if you take your number of .372% and apply that to every aspect of the supply chain. Every level of the chain has higher costs on each of these. Now multiply the cost by every link in the chain that handles the supply. Your .372 becomes 10 to 15% pretty quick.

Now inflation is strictly due to over spending by government. The spend more money than what exists so they print more money. Every dollar they print de-values our dollar a little. So now our dollar isn't worth a dollar. Maybe its worth 80 cents because of inflation. That means you now need $1.20 to buy something wort a buck. Now that 10% to15% became 20% to 25% compared to before.

Next look at our dollar worth 0.74 US. Now take that dollar worth $1.20 to buy American Produce Paid in American dollars and every dollar costs about $1.70.
I may not be exact on the numbers but pretty close since this is just off the top of my head. So to say the government is not the blame, you are wrong. They are completely to blame. Every dollar they overspend abroad, inflates the value of everything here
Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5038

Abbysmum
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5038

Hmmm...
2/28/2024 at 2:13 PM

Indadumps said "The carbon tax doesn't just apply to your truck drivers. It is on electricity, natural gas , propane and basically every form of energy. So if you take your number of .372% and apply that to every aspect of the supply chain. Every level of the chain has higher costs on each of these. Now multiply the cost by every link in the chain that handles the supply. Your .372 becomes 10 to 15% pretty quick.

Now inflation is strictly due to over spending by government. The spend more money than what exists so they print more money. Every dollar they print de-values our dollar a little. So now our dollar isn't worth a dollar. Maybe its worth 80 cents because of inflation. That means you now need $1.20 to buy something wort a buck. Now that 10% to15% became 20% to 25% compared to before.

Next look at our dollar worth 0.74 US. Now take that dollar worth $1.20 to buy American Produce Paid in American dollars and every dollar costs about $1.70.
I may not be exact on the numbers but pretty close since this is just off the top of my head. So to say the government is not the blame, you are wrong. They are completely to blame. Every dollar they overspend abroad, inflates the value of everything here "
So you're saying, "Don't be overly simplistic when talking about the carbon tax, because it's complicated and multi-faceted".

But someone blaming The Government for inflation isn't overly simplistic?

The reality is that inflation is a worldwide phenomenon. No one has been immune. If it is what you're describing, Canada would stand alone, but it's not. Among the (many) factors that have contributed, there are (in no particular order):

- Government spending (yes, that is part of it, but not really in the way that you're describing from what I understand)
- Shifts in demographics and wealth
- Supply chain and interruptions in shipping/receiving
- Wages
- Weather and/or Climate Change
- Human migration
- Changes in consumer habits
- Greed
- Housing costs (tied to wealth building and management)
- Interest rates and our propensity for borrowing
- There are probably easily a half dozen factors, I just don't know what they are.

Inflation has been really quite low for several decades now - my whole adult life certainly. It's a shock to see prices increase as rapidly as they have, and I have no expectation for them to come down, despite what "they" are saying.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/28/2024 at 3:43 PM

Bottom line is does the consumer ever win? Prices over time will eventually creep up at least they always seem to but doubling prices in a short span of time is just gouging! Doesn’t take long for word to get around that a certain store is sticking it to the customer and that’s exactly what’s happening here! Again, it’s unacceptable.
Cheezies
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1623

Cheezies
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 1623

Grocery
2/28/2024 at 11:20 PM

I hear you at the westend store. We have been loyal shoppers there through name change, etc for 24 years. But since they’ve renovated we can’t afford it. The prices have skyrocketed, they got rid of a lot of product and started carrying bigger bottles of things (example olive oil), and eliminated most smaller bottles selection , which are more money. Noticed a lot of the products we always bought, as they were more affordable, are no longer available.
I think we are paying for the renovations ourselves, in increased prices. As we ended up hitting the other store with the same name and they had way better pricing on many items.
Unfortunately we are now transitioning to using other stores around Brandon/Winnipeg for better value. Sad as we loved our westend store before.
PrimeConvoy

Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

PrimeConvoy
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

it is complicated
2/29/2024 at 8:47 AM

Indadumps said "The carbon tax doesn't just apply to your truck drivers. It is on electricity, natural gas , propane and basically every form of energy. So if you take your number of .372% and apply that to every aspect of the supply chain. Every level of the chain has higher costs on each of these. Now multiply the cost by every link in the chain that handles the supply. Your .372 becomes 10 to 15% pretty quick.

Now inflation is strictly due to over spending by government. The spend more money than what exists so they print more money. Every dollar they print de-values our dollar a little. So now our dollar isn't worth a dollar. Maybe its worth 80 cents because of inflation. That means you now need $1.20 to buy something wort a buck. Now that 10% to15% became 20% to 25% compared to before.

Next look at our dollar worth 0.74 US. Now take that dollar worth $1.20 to buy American Produce Paid in American dollars and every dollar costs about $1.70.
I may not be exact on the numbers but pretty close since this is just off the top of my head. So to say the government is not the blame, you are wrong. They are completely to blame. Every dollar they overspend abroad, inflates the value of everything here "
Yes, it is complicated, but none of what you factored in are part of my budget. And you have to remember that with each cost you are actually seeing a diminishing effect, not a stacking one.

Another anomaly is that inflation has been higher in the United States (go check for yourself), and they don't have a carbon tax....yet certain politicians in Canada blame ALL of inflation on teh carbon tax, and they have some people brainwashed...which is obviously a dangerous game.

Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2024-02-29 08:49:07
Old Lady
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 30

Old Lady
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 30

Truth
2/29/2024 at 11:35 AM

ynot said "The big grocery retailers profit about 3% annually or $3.00 on a $100.00 purchase. The idea that profits are excessive has been invented by the NDP & Liberals in Ottawa. Price increases are due to inflation mainly caused by government policies & taxes such as the carbon tax.
I agree that the West End Sobey's prices have jumped in recent weeks. "
Thank You for stating an inconvenient truth. The prevailing narrative wants to point blame away from where it should be.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery prices
2/29/2024 at 4:04 PM

I agree with cheesie’s post that the West end store has become an undesirable place to shop now because of the exorbitant price hikes. I too have shopped there for 24 years because I live close by but now I will go somewhere else. I overheard them saying today that they will start the looney in a cart thing tomorrow.
ZedGuy
Joined: This month
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ZedGuy
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Posts: 12

On a lighter note
3/1/2024 at 10:57 AM

Bugles are back at Sobies South along with Dot pretzels.
B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 124

B.MacIntosh
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 124

Little competition among corporate giants
3/1/2024 at 2:24 PM

This problem is also being seen in the United States. I think President Joe Biden just prevented another merger there. Here is a link from a news article about what's going on in Canada - dated last summer.
https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2023/07/increasing-retail-monopoly-power-poses-a-threat-to-canadas-post-pandemic-economic-recovery-op-ed/#:~:text=Canada's%20grocery%20industry%20is%20aSobeys)%2C%20Walmart%20and%20Costco.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
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Posts: 1360

grocery prices
3/16/2024 at 2:13 PM

I stopped shopping at Sobeys West End store because it has become the most expensive grocery store in town. I guess they need to pay for those renovations and new sign somehow. While the store needed an upgrade and looks nice now the prices don’t look nice at all. When you compare them to some of the other grocery stores in town, the prices are not even close on most of the more popular items. Maybe we need a No Frills or Save on food store to move in to bring some of these prices down. I have no other answer.
TheBrofessor
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 161

TheBrofessor
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 161

.
3/16/2024 at 11:04 PM

Save On Food is pretty expensive. It's on par with Safeway and Sobeys. A No Frills or FreshCo would be good though.
Iceman69
Joined: This month
Posts: 513

Iceman69
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Posts: 513

Sobeys and safeway
3/17/2024 at 8:09 AM

Yeah Sobeys, safeway, co-op are all expensive. I only go to them for sale items only.

Brandon does need Freshco and No frills. Save on foods can be cheap,however, for sale items only.
Irie Mon
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 368

Irie Mon
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 368

No Break From Them
3/17/2024 at 9:40 AM

Iceman69 said "Yeah Sobeys, safeway, co-op are all expensive. I only go to them for sale items only.

Brandon does need Freshco and No frills. Save on foods can be cheap,however, for sale items only. "
Seriously! Freshco is owned by Safeway/Sobey's and Nofrills is Lawblaws/Super Store. Then can open a store in Brandon and have everything the same price if not higher, because, as they will say, "we want to stay competitive with the other stores". Competitive just means high prices, just spread the wealth earnings around for the big wigs.
Remember when Target came to Canada and we all said, great, now we get a store with American pricing. Didn't happen because they said they wanted to be "competitive" A box of Canadian made pencils in the USA was $0.99, same box in Canada was on sale for $4.99. Market Place did a whole show on that back in the 80's and 90's
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Grocery inflation
3/19/2024 at 8:23 AM

Canadian inflation comes in cooler than expected, part of the reason being grocery price inflation of 2.4% in Feb. The first time grocery came in under overall inflation since 2021.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240319/dq240319a-eng.htm?indid=3665-2&indgeo=0

For context the rate was 9.7% last Feb and Prices overall are up on average 21.6% since 2021.
Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

Home Slice
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1360

grocery pricies
3/26/2024 at 3:34 PM

Does a grocery store think we are stupid to charge $13.79 for a 900 ml jar of cheese whiz? I won’t even name the store you can probably guess.
PrimeConvoy

Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

PrimeConvoy
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561

Honestly though,
3/27/2024 at 8:36 AM

Home Slice said "Does a grocery store think we are stupid to charge $13.79 for a 900 ml jar of cheese whiz? I won’t even name the store you can probably guess. "
I have always drawn the line at cheez whiz...there has never been a time in our history where cheez whiz has been something that I would look at and say, yeah, that would be a smart purchase. It's basically overpriced processed american cheese in semi-solid form.

Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2024-03-27 08:37:06
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Groceries
3/27/2024 at 9:31 AM

Home Slice said "Does a grocery store think we are stupid to charge $13.79 for a 900 ml jar of cheese whiz? I won’t even name the store you can probably guess. "
I understand the frustration. Costs really are up, the number since 2021 shows it even if it looks like the rate of increase has really slowed. Maybe we aren’t the norm but I just have never felt over these last few years that our household has personally been a ton further off when we've:
-shopped sales
-stocked up on the non perishables we do use when on a good sale
-stayed flexible on which exact items we need from week to week
-avoided brand loyalty where possible (have discovered some house brand stuff that's better than I thought, others that still suck)
-stayed flexible with which store I shop at
-used app spend-get offers (this has been a big one)
Would you feel comfortable sharing an average basket of everyday items that would cover a full day’s eating just to see if we can drill down a little further?