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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWalmart hikes house brand food prices, rewards shareholders
Link to tweet
"Walmart hiked prices on its Great Value food brands.
The result? Its net income spiked 93% to $10.5 billion towards the end of 2023.
Walmart rewarded shareholders with $5.9 billion in buybacks and dividends.
When I say price gouging is driving inflation, this is what I mean."
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bucolic_frolic
(55,141 posts)because I noticed prices kept rising, and when I explored other retailers they were cheaper on many items, sometimes a few cents, sometimes 40 cents or more. I find no bargains, no value in Walmart groceries. Yes, they have a few items I can't get elsewhere but I found substitutes. So Robert Reich as usual is onto something.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)(very expensive), Aldi (very little stock on hand), Piggly Wiggly (very expensive), Rouse's (not bad but still more expensive than WM), Greer's (homegrown and expensive), and Fresh Market (exorbitantly expensive).
Now, if I were to be willing to go to each one and itemize my shopping, I might be able to catch things on sale and save a few cents, but who has the time or the gas to do such a thing.
Until I hit the lottery, unlikely since I don't play it, I will buy most of my groceries at Walmart.
For those of you who can afford to shop elsewhere, 
.
global1
(26,507 posts)Where are you located? I'm in the Chicagoland area and have noticed that we have the same issue at Aldi's here.
As one walks around the store - one notices a lot of empty shelf space and empty freeze coolers lately.
They aren't getting deliveries of foods to their stores and are always out of things.
I asked one of the employees at the Aldi's I shop at and he said that they were having issues with the delivery trucks in the area.
But now seeing the same comment coming from perhaps some other area of the country - I'm beginning to wonder if they have even some bigger issue that prevents them from providing a fully stocked store.
If your having the same issues of 'stock outages' at Aldi's - please post here and let us know where in this country you are located.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)Yeah, I wonder that too.
AllaN01Bear
(29,496 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)
Doc Sportello
(7,964 posts)You dissed Aldis because of stock but they have many of the same food items that Walmart does but at much lower prices (the point of the story) and their fruit and veggies are much better quality. Also, dollar stores sell items like soup, tortillas for far less than Walmart. A dollar store near me is $1.25 for everything, including Progresso soup which is $2 at Walmart.
I think people fall into these traps at having formed opinions about their usual store and its competitors that don't comport with reality. I started going to Aldis and dollar stores because their prices were often 20 to 50 percent lower than Walmart on food items. You just have to be open to checking them out.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)They treat their employees like SHIT. Moreso than any other chain. The working conditions are deplorable. As far as ALDI, our local store is more expensive than Walmart. Your milage may varry.
Doc Sportello
(7,964 posts)Your claims are too broad and too ironclad to be considered realistic. I was talking about food items as should be clear. I think if you actually compared food prices you would find out differently as far as Aldis and Walmart.
Funny that you won't shop at Dollar General (which I never mentioned, just dollar stores in general) because of your high ethics but you will shop at Walmart, which as pointed out in the OP is screwing the working and poor families who used inflation to making a family of billionaires even richer. Corporate greed, as Robert Reich has pointed out, is what is driving this most recent inflation. So go make the Waltons richer and keep paying more at the store that screws workers and families everyday.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)I was trying to be nice. Oh well.
Doc Sportello
(7,964 posts)I rarely read his threads or replies. So I think it's going to be ok.
magicarpet
(18,514 posts)But down the road once they drive the competition out of business or force them to consolidate/merge..... then Walmart becomes the only game in town and prices skyrocket being they are the only ones left in town.
It is like big box stores as Lowe's and HomeDepot. They under cut the local hardware stores in pricing. Drive the competition out of business. Capture an increasing share of retail hardware sales. Cause the mom and pop operations to fold. Then when they are the only game in town prices explode upwards.
A retail store monopoly is not beneficial for consumers in no way, shape, or form.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,926 posts)And they built a new store within two miles of us. I like shopping there.
LiberalFighter
(53,544 posts)I noticed that their prices were not competitive enough compared to Krogers or Meijers.
tavernier
(14,443 posts)astounded by the price hikes throughout the store, the recorded voice on the speaker system kept telling me repeatedly how great the new price cuts and savings were for their customers. I felt like someone was purposely playing a mind game on me to the point where I had to walk out of the store.
bucolic_frolic
(55,141 posts)Giant pulled that one several years back. Raised prices on everything, cut sale prices to a nickel, and hung huge banners from the parking lot lights saying 'We have the LOWEST prices!'. I couldn't see how anyone could believe it.
global1
(26,507 posts)I stopped shopping at Jewel.
rpannier
(24,924 posts)So, it only looks like the prices have been lowered, when they're really a little more expensive than they were a month ago
global1
(26,507 posts)we're really getting ripped off by these food stores.
Shrinkflation is when the cut the contents of a particular item - but keep the price the same as the fuller previous package of the item.
I've been noticing this happening to more and more food items every time I go to the store.
One of the most obvious items this has happened to is 'ice cream'. But you see it happening to coffee items; candies; potato chips/pop corn/tortilla chips; etc.
I can't believe how expensive bags of potato chips have gotten and the bag size remains the same - but the contents are less than before.
One other area this is happening to is 'shampoo'. Only the tactic there is to minimize the sudsing agent it the shampoo to encourage you to use more of the contents faster - because the shampoo you've become use to using - isn't providing as much sudsing action as it did in the past.
wolfie001
(7,667 posts).....I will NEVER set foot in a wallFart. EVER!!! That is all. 
Vinca
(53,994 posts)I'm sure that's what Fox will be telling them.
Patton French
(1,824 posts)Just have to look for them and plan meals accordingly.
2naSalit
(102,796 posts)There's an employee owned grocery at the county seat and an Albertson's, I don't care for Albertson's.
Have to go to a different county for anything bigger.
orangecrush
(30,261 posts)
Dave says
(5,425 posts)Corporations don’t make record profits during periods of 8%+ inflation without gouging going on. Basically it was theft from the American people initiated under cover of COVID and continued beyond.
global1
(26,507 posts)Remember when you took your life in your hands to go to the store because you feared getting Covid and dying. Remember when they had arrows on the floor and one-way aisles. Remember when you cruised down and aisle and many of the shelves were bare. Remember one of the things they blamed that on was ports were backed up. Trucks weren't delivering food.
At the beginning it WAS a panic and some of those shortages did occur as a result.
BUT
After the panic rush to clean the shelves of toilet paper and other items - I talked with some personnel at a Wal-Mart I was shopping at - and was told that they were instructed by their bosses to not fill the shelves up to make it look that there was a shortage of a particular item that they had ample supply of in the back room.
This tactic created an artificial shortage of that particular item and allowed the store to raise the price of the item to 'feed the panic' and sell more of that item. They made more money that way on the bumped up price of the item that they artificially created a shortage of.
Dave says
(5,425 posts)Which obviously we are not.
Goodheart
(5,760 posts)Generally tasteless shit.
doc03
(39,086 posts)club. I go to Walmart once in a while and find their prices are overall much higher than Kroger. I had a Sam's card
several years ago that I paid $30 for, it wasn't long I realized I could just get a one day pass and pay the 6%
up-charge and save money. I would have to spend over $400 to just pay for the card. A Sam's card makes sense
if you have a business or a large family but for me it is a waste. I found some of the items I bought were actually
higher priced in Sam's than at Walmart. Sam's has gas pumps now and the price is a couple cents lower than the Kroger
gas but you have to buy a lot of gas to pay for the $60 card. I don't know maybe it is even more than $60 now. Like James Carville said "it's the economy stupid" and inflation is a part of the economy.
niyad
(132,440 posts)you? A free Kroger loyalty card and free digital account? I know they help me significantly.
doc03
(39,086 posts)near Pittsburgh about an hour drive from here. I used the Kroger points last week I got 30 cents a gallon off on
gas.
AllaN01Bear
(29,496 posts)
GuppyGal
(1,748 posts)spending and say FUCK YOU CORPORATE AMERICA.
TexasBushwhacker
(21,204 posts)When these decisions are made, it's because the winners of the genetic lottery want it that way.
patphil
(9,068 posts)Not since before the Covid epidemic. I've cut the cord, and will never look back.
JT45242
(4,043 posts)Precovid, a ten pack of the iced tea mixes to add to water bottles was $1.29 now they are $2.29.
Great value cereal used to be 10-12 cents er ounce, now it is 14 cents or more.
Same for frozen vegetables, canned veggies, and soups.
Still cheaper than Target, Hyvee, and Fareway the other options near Iowa City. About the same as Aldi.
Wish we had actual competition rather than near monopolies.
Freethinker65
(11,203 posts)Perhaps Walmart has a business model in which their "Great Value" store brand is to sell for not less than a certain percentage of the National Brand Price? This is to ensure enough cost savings for the consumer, and budget consumer, to buy the store brand, but not enough difference from dissuading too many from buying the National Brand. Walmart needs to be able to control inventory and shelf space, and yes, even Walmart, has an interest in keeping major large producers happy.
I just bought some Equate (Walmart generic equivalent) personal care items that I have had luck with. My cost savings was worth it compared to National brands. One item, had been almost always sold out...leading me to frustration in having to buy the National Brand. When I would find the generic, because of the current sizable price difference I felt I might as well buy multiples. This depleted the shelf faster than had it been priced closer to the National Brand.
So yes, stores are profiting by increasing prices, but is the reason some store brand generics are going up in price 100% nefarious? Perhaps not.
highplainsdem
(62,145 posts)how much their Great Value prices have gone up, but they're still much cheaper than the grocery store 5 minutes away that I shop at more often (the nearest Walmart is closer to half an hour away).
The last time I ordered from Walmart, a few weeks ago, their Great Value milk was just half the price of the store brand at the closer grocery, their generic cereal was about 2/3 the price of what I usually pay, and the Daisy brand of cottage cheese I always buy was about $3.75 instead of the $5 I pay at the nearest store. I saved on frozen blueberries and lots of other items.
I'm not arguing that they haven't raised their Great Value prices. I believe Reich. But they're still a cheaper alternative to lots of grocery stores. The savings on the total bill more than paid for the cost of delivery plus tip, and on a day when winter weather made the streets a nuisance.
redqueen
(115,186 posts)Can't afford to move out of a slum and I know I'm not alone.
I hope we see more acknowledgement of the bind that low income US citizens are in
redqueen
(115,186 posts)Which is why it will likely never get out of committee
Xolodno
(7,350 posts)Every time I do, I'm stuck in a long wait time via a long line or just a new employee. I go to Stater Brothers most of the time and Target when I need an item they don't carry. I may a bit more, but not that much more, plus they pay their workers better and often appear happier. And the quality of the meat dept. is often better as well.
I did use their online shopping and pick up service a few times, but now the other stores have that, I don't bother with them.
But in some places, Walmart is the only gig in town. So I can see how they can get away with it. But they will have to be careful, hit a certain price point and people will buy less and/or someone will realize an opportunity to compete with them.