Translation Needed On Aisle Three

[+ Lucky]

As grocery chains lose customers in droves to WalMart, they are engaging in campaigns to reduce "thousands" of items to "new everyday low prices."

 

My local chain has a flier explaining what is happening. "You can count on these prices everyday." "We will still have promotions." How do you know if it is on promotion? It has a yellow tag on it saying "Club Price." (That's how they get you to let their computers know everything you buy and when and where you buy it.)

 

But the translation comes in towards the end.

Why Are We Lowering Prices? "This is an ongoing effort we started several months ago to aggressively lower the price of thousands of items during these tough economic times." Translation: We didn't mind ripping you off when we could get away with it.

 

Why Do I Occasionally Find A Better Price on Some Items At A Competitor? "We believe We offer the Best Grocery Value and Shopping Experience Everyday." Translation: We can't answer that question, because if we did, you'd shop at the competitor everyday!

[jackcali]

Supply and Demand, Lucky

 

Lucky, give them a break. Your supermarket charged higher prices in the past because customers were willing to pay higher prices. Now, with so many people earning less than before, many customers who used to shop there aren't willing to pay those prices, so they go to WalMart, which they could have done before but didn't because the savings weren't enough of an incentive then.

 

It's just the law of supply and demand. And you shouldn't really expect anything different. The supermarket is in business, it's not your friend and it doesn't owe you any favors. It prices the way it does to maximize its profits.

 

Towards the end of the financial bubble, I thought that escort rates (here in New York, anyway) were going up very fast, probably for the same reason -- clients were flush with cash and insensitive to price. Now, I think rates have stabilized or even dropped a bit as the demand decreases and clients are more price-sensitive. Do you blame the escorts you saw two years ago for charging market rates, just because the rates they charge now are lower?

[+ g56whiz]

Towards the end of the financial bubble, I thought that escort rates (here in New York, anyway) were going up very fast, probably for the same reason -- clients were flush with cash and insensitive to price. Now, I think rates have stabilized or even dropped a bit as the demand decreases and clients are more price-sensitive. Do you blame the escorts you saw two years ago for charging market rates, just because the rates they charge now are lower?

 

Mind if I borrow those rose colored glasses of yours Jack? Here in New York, there were a lot of good escorts available at $200 a pop when this all began. Now they are few. Most are at the $250 level, and the top guys who once got $250 are asking for $300 or more. Apparently they are attempting to make up in price what they may be losing in volume. But you're right: like supermarkets, it's all a matter of supply and demand.

[jackcali]

Maybe I am moving down-market, G, as I adjust my own spending (or as my eyesight gets worse), but my sense was that the move to a base of $250 happened two or three years ago, and that now there are more back at the $200 level than before.

 

If the theory of supply and demand holds, then your observation that prices are going up suggest that clients have a greater demand for escorts than before -- maybe because they're not busy with work. But, then again, it's only a theory.

 

Thanks for your observations.

[+ Charlie]

In her new book "Cheap," Ellen Ruppel Shell has some interesting stuff on Wal-Mart prices. She claims that, although grocery item prices are lower than at most food stores, on about a third of all Wal-Mart merchandise the prices are actually higher than average for other vendors. "On those items for which prices are lower, the average savings is 37 cents, with about one third of items carrying a savings of no more than 2 cents." She also questions the quality. "How are consumers to know whether the lower price of chicken breasts at Wal-Mart signifies a good deal on a superior product or a bad deal on an inferior product?"

[KMEM]

Let us not forget "loss leaders" a very common way of promoting business in super markets. There is no reason not to take advantage of those each and every week as they occur. I always look at the weekly ads to see if and what I wish to plan for that week.

 

For those not familiar with loss leaders, it is a supermarket method of advertising. Often these items are below cost or below what they might be bought for elsewhere. i.e. my local Kroger might be selling tomatoes for less than I can buy them for at farmer's markets or the local produce discount store.

 

Yes, I cook.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[jackcali]

I do, too, KMEM, and I'm fascinated by the "science" of supermarkets. For example, milk and bread, the two items people most commonly come to a grocery store to buy, are put in opposite corners of the store as far away from the door as possible to increase the distance the customer walks through the store in the hope of increasing impulse buying. Store managers often get kickbacks from distributors who want their products displayed on eye-level shelves and competitor's products displayed on higher or lower shelves. Products customarily bought by older consumers should never be put on high shelves because they have trouble both seeing them and reaching for them. It's all common sense, but it's all stuff I never would have thought of had I not been told about it.

[+ Lucky]

Lucky, give them a break.

 

The supermarket is in business, it's not your friend and it doesn't owe you any favors. "

 

And I should give them a break because...?

[KMEM]

Because, like escorts who you might give a break even though they also are in business, they might provide a product or service that you enjoy for a competitive price.

 

If you only have one source for groceries, I could understand better how you would be unhappy. There definitely needs to be competition. I am more than willing to suppose that you have plenty of competition in your choice of shopping. I don't think you live in a town of 50 folks or so far from other stores you cannot be served.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[MsGuy]

"How are consumers to know whether the lower price of chicken breasts at Wal-Mart signifies a good deal on a superior product or a bad deal on an inferior product?"

 

By cooking & eating the chicken?

 

Walmart's innovations in suppy chain management, distribution and inventory control has challenged its competitors to up their game to stay in business. To return to the original post, the lower prices at Lucky's local grocery chain are testimony that we all benefit from that competition. Even Ms. Shell, a lady with a very large ax to grind, is forced to admit Walmart's price structure is lower. Is that such a bad thing?

[Lookin]

Even Ms. Shell, a lady with a very large ax to grind, is forced to admit Walmart's price structure is lower. Is that such a bad thing?

I guess it depends on want you mean by "bad". For the folks saving money at Walmart, it's not such a bad thing.

 

For folks eating food sourced as cheaply as possible from whoever sells to Walmart at the lowest price, maybe not so good.

 

And for the folks who used to sew Levi's or build bicycles here in the good ol' USA, pretty bad.

 

As jackcali observed, there's a lot that goes on behind the shelves that we consumers don't know about.

 

For example, I think Lucky's question about why he sometimes sees lower-than-Walmart prices in another store has to do with the way manufacturers promote their products to retailers. Every few months, Quaker, for example, will cut a buck or two off the price of a case of Life cereal (one of my favorites!) Walmart will probably take the discount directly off each box they sell. My Safeway, on the other hand, had a store special with a huge savings if you bought five boxes. So I did. A week later, Safeway's price was once again higher than Walmart's.

 

But I've got plenty of Life, so I'm good.

 

http://christiancarguy.com/ccg/ccg/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/life1.jpg

[+ Lucky]

You don't have to be a kid to love the sweet and crunchy goodness of Life cereal, and you don't have to be a grown-up to benefit from the whole grain Quaker Oats baked inside each square. Wholesome with just the right touch of sweetness, Quaker Life Cereal is a healthy, delicious choice for everyone.

 

• Excellent source of B-vitamins to help convert food into energy
  
• Helps promote healthy hearts
  
• Good source of calcium
  

[Guest greatness]

oh Lucky

 

You are so witty. Did you come up with these lines or are these from a commercial. You could make a good copywriter.

 

You don't have to be a kid to love the sweet and crunchy goodness of Life cereal, and you don't have to be a grown-up to benefit from the whole grain Quaker Oats baked inside each square. Wholesome with just the right touch of sweetness, Quaker Life Cereal is a healthy, delicious choice for everyone.

 

• Excellent source of B-vitamins to help convert food into energy
  
• Helps promote healthy hearts
  
• Good source of calcium
  

[+ Lucky]

greatness, keep this between us, but I copied them:

 

http://www.quakeroats.com/products/oat-cereals/life-cereal/regular.aspx

[BewareofNick]

The High Cost of the Low price

 

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

[Guest greatness]

oh

 

You've updated your avatar. I should come up with one too. Something nice... I don't want to be too political... hmm..

 

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

[Lookin]

Still looking for a nice boy . . .

 

I should come up with one too. Something nice... I don't want to be too political... hmm..

 

Here's something nice. It's linked to an eBay auction, but you could use it till you find something better, or until next Tuesday, whichever comes first.

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/15/!B,qD)h!Bmk~$(KGrHqEH-DcEq)OO+!TqBKsctmn76!~~_12.JPG

[+ purplekow]

Ah Georgia Engel. I saw her in the Drowsy Chaperone. An amusing play and she was quite good and did a very nice spit take.

[Guest greatness]

hmm

 

It is nice but I don't want people to think that I am a woman hanging around at a bi/gay forum looking for her husband who left her for a guy.... But thanks for your suggestion. I really appreciate it.

 

 

Here's something nice. It's linked to an eBay auction, but you could use it till you find something better, or until next Tuesday, whichever comes first.

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/15/!B,qD)h!Bmk~$(KGrHqEH-DcEq)OO+!TqBKsctmn76!~~_12.JPG

[seaboy4hire]

Think that ground beef is such a deal? How about those veggies? http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html

 

Hugs,

Greg

[Guest DuchessIvanaKizznhugg]

Food Inc.

 

An excellent documentary that I saw earlier this summer.

 

Informative and thought-provoking about a system in which we all have a stake (steak?).

 

Waaaay more than a low price and dubious marketing practices.

 

Highly recommend.

 

 

More to be found here:

 

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I

 

[+ Lucky]

The Washington Post apparently followed this thread as today they have a full article on the declining prices at groceries:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091603540.html?hpid=topnews

[JoshAB]

As grocery chains loose customers in droves to WalMart...

 

Have you been to Walmart? I don't care how cheap it is - I'll hit my local grocer anyday over the Walmart experience.

 

http://peopleofwalmart.com/

 

J.

[+ Lucky]

Yes, of course I have. My first visits found the store to be such a dump that I wouldn't return. But WalMart has been making progress and their stores are now clean and they are more conscious of their image. That's all to the good. The fact that they have found a business model that is shaking up the grocery industry is obviously working for the benefit of all consumers. I do admit that we don't buy meat there or deli items, but when they sell the same brand name items as my local grocery at considerable discounts, I'd have to be a fool not to shop there.

 

My local upscale grocery provides no better service than WalMart, and it was that realization that had me out the door. I even wrote them about the constant understaffing of the deli, but they simply didn't care.

 

We have another high end grocery here, but their prices are also so high that their brand new outlet is a virtual ghost town.

[jackcali]

Well, watch that new outlet, Lucky. Maybe they'll realize that they've got to lower their prices to attract customers. I'm sure they'll never be the cheapest place in town, but they might become reasonable enough for you to be willing to pay the extra to shop in a clean, well-staffed store.