Dear Editor,
There is no shortage of articles containing, opinions, stats, profit denials, excuses etc. from the government, the farmers, and the big grocers regarding the cost of eating. It is definitely a sad situation we are all in…we have to eat, we have to buy groceries, we are at the mercy of the big chains…they set the prices.
A few questions that never seem to be answered:
We are seniors who do not need to have a “grocery inventory”. Why are we forced to buy multiples of an item to get the discount price? For example ,why do I have to buy 3 x 4 yogurts to get the $3.33 price, 2 loaves of bread, 4 cans of soup, and even produce! Why are we penalized for purchasing only one? We do not need twelve yogurts, they expire before we consume them. If a grocery store has 30 units of yogurt, and 10 people buy the three at the $3.33 per price, why would the store not offer the same price to 30 people for one unit; wouldn’t the revenues be the same?
If a grocery chain is able to offer a multi-buy discount, why is it not obligated to offer the same pricing to seniors at the very least? I assume that a multi-buy discount price is based on selling all the inventory at the sale price, so why not just have a set price?
Why isn’t the Consumer Council of Canada or the Canadian food Council policing “shrinkflation”. Do the big chains have to report profits tied to products that have been “downsized” by weight or units?
It is equivalent to a reverse price gouge. Why aren’t there restrictions on “shrinkflation”, the percentage a product can be reduced by? It is only a matter of time before we open a carton of eggs and there are only 11.
The government has so many restrictions, laws etc. in place to protect increases in rent, gasoline prices, bank charges, credit card interest etc. Why the blind eye to this growing issue?
Frustrated,
Jolene Stover
