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Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

theguardian.com

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Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#251

Post by nebula8804 »

thefurdrake wrote: post #7

I think we should place a QR on every product label, and scanning that QR takes me to data about the product such as its historical mass/volume, cost, and unit price, as well as its brand owner right on up the chain. I see you, Nestle. Of course, giving customers information to make an informed decision is Bad For Business.

In this day and age the best you can do is to fight back against business but indirectly benefit some other. In this case an AR app that you wear on say Apple Goggles could benefit from its advanced cameras to ID all this stuff in real time as you walk through the store. Sure it might be weird walking around with those goggles but that will probably become the norm soon. The real winner is Apple though(as they usually tend to be)

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#252

Post by Miraste »

vkou wrote: post #232
Miraste wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rather soulless economics answer is that the companies want to make the same profit as before the inflation, so they need higher margins on individual sales to make up for the reduction in volume. Since demand doesn't drop, this is a feasible strategy.

That answer doesn't make sense, because surely, companies want to increase their profits regardless of whether inflation is happening or not. The real answer is that when inflation is happening, it provides an easy excuse for raising prices far beyond the cost of your inputs. Everyone expects prices to go up, so they don't balk at yours going up faster than inflation.

The idea is that the company normally prices their products at the intersection of supply and demand, where there is maximum profit. When supply is artificially constrained, they raise prices to the corresponding spot on the curve. This is not as profitable as before, but it's the new local maximum.

It's one of those simple macro-econ models that sound good, but never play out in real life because humans aren't calculators. The reality is a mix of both, probably more of your explanation.

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#253

Post by m000 »

deelowe wrote: post #203
m000 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do not buy into that narrative. ... Carrefour's profits in 2022 were about the same as in 2019. Isn't this exactly why we should buy into this narrative? The manufacturers increased their margins, so Carrefour sells more expensive, but in the end gets the same total profit.

The parent is saying that these "increase in margins" are companies trying to get ahead of inflation. The media narrative has been to blame the corporations, despite the real issue being the economy. There are elections to worry about, so we can't have that. Smart businesses don't wait until they start losing money to make adjustments. They plan ahead. These "margin increases" are literally increases due to inflation…

Manufacturers trying to get ahead of inflation and ending up with record profits. How convenient.

I'll buy the media narrative this time, thank you.

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#254

Post by kergonath »

bombela wrote: post #227
somsak2 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As sibling comment said, I think this is bound to cause unintended side-effects. I think it would be simpler to require per-unit pricing alongside overall cost, and regulate that amount. Nothing more frustrating than seeing a per ml or oz cost on one item and a per-count cost on one right next to it.

In France, there is always the price per unit. And since the units are not in grain of barley nor a game of guess work (is this ounce dry or wet today?), it's obviously much easier to compare.

Isn’t this a European regulation? In any case, it is obviously a good thing for consumers and it is difficult to argue against this.

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#255

Post by polygamous_bat »

josu wrote: post #235
justinclift wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Australia we seem to be having high inflation of food, which the main supermarkets (a duopoly) are blaming on the cost of goods. Meanwhile, they've both reported their highest ever company profits. :( So, clearly they're full of shit about the cost of goods being the cause rather than their own price gouging.

I'll just quote myself. >Do not buy into that narrative. Would you mind sharing the data? I've done a quick search, but I can't confirm what you said. I found this, which contradicts what you said, but Statista is not super reliable: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1116200/australia-net-pr... But even if it's true, and they recorded the largest profits, the catalyst still is the monetary policy. If businesses cou…

> But even if it's true, and they recorded the largest profits, the catalyst still is the monetary policy. If businesses could just price gauge their clients, they would have already done it before.

You can't think of any major global event that happened since 2020 that may work as a "distraction" and a cover while businesses engage in monopolistic/anti-competitive behavior?

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#256

Post by kergonath »

ochoseis wrote: post #177
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was legislation in place that sets legal standard sizes; for one, it would allow for more uniform packaging, allowing reuse between brands and reducing trash. It would be more predictable box / pallet sizes, reducing transport costs. And it would give consumers more security, even with the mandatory price per liter / kilo notices which are often hard to read. One example of shrinkflation / cost fuckery h…

If you regulate packaging sizes it’ll just cause unintended side effects, like weird fillers in your food.

Even with unregulated sizes, Amazon’s boxes contain mostly filler. (I wrote Amazon, but it is common for other online stores as well).

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#258

Post by Dylan16807 »

mannerheim wrote: post #166
effingwewt wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the reason why is price gouging. Or as companies like to call it 'not leaving money on the table'. Prices have outpaced inflation. Everything has, except worker pay and minimum wage. Profits are record-breaking while laying off workers. CEO compensation and bonuses are insane. Housing prices are out of control. Gas is still $5/gallon where I'm at. It all boils down to one word: GREED.

Looks like we're in the 'blaming suppliers for being greedy' stage of inflation. Haven't seen that one before.

I don't see how "they have increased prices more than inflation" is blaming them for inflation.

Though that assumes the "everything" in the post is an exaggeration because I think the price of "everything" is inflation.

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#259

Post by [deleted] »

Loughla wrote: post #245
deelowe wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent is saying that these "increase in margins" are companies trying to get ahead of inflation. The media narrative has been to blame the corporations, despite the real issue being the economy. There are elections to worry about, so we can't have that. Smart businesses don't wait until they start losing money to make adjustments. They plan ahead. These "margin increases" are literally increases due to inflation…

>The media narrative has been to blame the corporations, despite the real issue being the economy. This might be a really, really stupid question, but aren't corporate decisions sort of the economy?

[deleted]

Re: Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands

#260

Post by kortilla »

milesvp wrote: post #219
josu wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not buy into that narrative. This inflationary process has been mostly driven by monetary policy. Margin increases are the result of businesses trying to navigate an inflationary period. These margin increases are not resulting in increased profits across the board (there are some notable exceptions). For example, Carrefour's profits in 2022 were about the same as in 2019. [1] From the article you linked: "Profits…

Without a doubt monetary policy has fueled inflation, but do not ignore the policies of allowing corporate mergers for the last 40 years. Lack of competition reduces price elasticity, and the end game of every monopoly is to raise prices. We are living in a world of global monopsonies, and my expectation is to contine to pay this monopoly tax for years. Worse, is it’s never been easier to collude. It used to be you h…

There are 20 different burger restaurants within 10 miles of me. Some are chains, some are local. Some use major beef suppliers, some use local organic ones. All of their prices have gone way up.

There is no collusion here and this has jack shit to do with mergers. If those were the causes, inflation would have been a crisis 10 years ago.

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