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

theguardian.com

261–270 of 535 posts

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

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Inflation increases profits, too (but not in real dollars). [Citation needed] I find it hard to believe that corporate profits rise exactly proportional or less than the inflation rate.

Just compare corporate profits before and after Covid, see e.g. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CA.PA/financials?p=CA.PA Not much of a difference. Certainly nothing that looks outright malicious.

That's Carrefour, not the product manufacturers. In fact, the evidence you present is completely consistent with Carrefour's assertion that they have been doing what they can to absorb the price increases taken by the product manufacturers.

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

#262
post #253

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…

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.

They are only record profits when you don’t adjust for inflation. Companies in Zimbabwe were making record profits every year, what a booming economy!!!

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

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It’s not irrational to be mad. All the poor see is that they are getting screwed and the rich are doing fine (sometime thriving) no platitudes about “economics” are going to make them feel better.

Wages by definition also increase with inflation. (Inflation is a general increase in prices and wages are a price.) Though you can have both unemployment and inflation at once, called stagflation.

Also in the US, the lowest 10% of real wages has grown significantly since 2020, lowering income inequality vs the middle class.

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

#264

A brand of laundry detergent I use recently decreased the size of its 36oz bottle to 28oz. The kicker, however, is the approximate number of loads listed on the bottle changed from 27… to 28. The instructions on the back now recommend filling the cap to a lower bar for “medium” loads. I’ve been meaning to write to the manufacturer to ask if they’ve quietly changed their formulation to something more concentrated, tho…

I doubt they've have done this quietly, as it gives the opportunity for some greenwashing. "More concentrated, so less CO₂ used in transport!"

If it's true, and has no downside, then it's not greenwashing.

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

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you just mentioned the companies that own about 90% of what is in Walmart. So, I wouldn't say, "lots".

My point is stop eating highly processed garbage and start eating whole foods from local sources.

Eating locally is more carbon intensive and only results in worse food. Long distance shipping doesn't matter at all compared to the last mile, and small producers are less productive than large ones. (Also, small business owners are usually evil, especially if they're farmers, who often end up using slave labor because they can't afford an HR department.)

Luckily, most places that claim to serve local food are just lying.

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

#266

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.

Record profits in a period of inflation is not surprising. If the value of the Australian dollar halves, then a company doubling it's raw profit figures is really just staying maintaining the same profits in real value.

Prices are rising because inflation because pricing are rising because inflation

Smart.

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

#267
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price per unit in US groceries is ridiculous. You will literally have 3 packages of soda all of the same size listing the price per unit in completely different units. Some in ml, some in oz, some in pts.

We don't even have standardization on the nutrition labels. The serving size is different for everything.

It's worse than that. The serving size changes the resulting label. A lot of the high-protein breads have the same composition and are sliced slightly thicker to hit the 3.5g mark so they can round up to 4g per slice and appear to be more protein rich in composition.

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

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing that a law to stick to single unit can't fix!

Thinking about it a little more I bet it is very difficult to legally define a product type.

They manage to do it for sales tax.

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

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you just mentioned the companies that own about 90% of what is in Walmart. So, I wouldn't say, "lots".

My point is stop eating highly processed garbage and start eating whole foods from local sources.

I’m pretty sure my meat, vegetables, dairy, grains all have a smaller package now and cost more. Processed vs whole foods misses the issue.

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

#270
post #13

We need laws to require special labelling with the price per net pound or price per net kiloggram clearly shown, and the previous price. Something like: $2.99/Kg (since 18/09/2023) $2.79/Kg (previous price)

I get annoyed for similar reasons when nutritional information on a product is “per serving” and the serving size is arbitrary. Oh, it’s only 4 grams of sugar per serving. Oh, a serving is 1 bite.

2.5 servings per container.
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