Live data from Hacker News

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

theguardian.com

341–350 of 535 posts

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

#341
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)

Safeway is somewhat insidious with things like this. They'll have a relative price (per pound/oz) for one size of an item, and then for the same item, different size, they'll use a different metric (per packet/slice, etc.) to make them not (easily) directly comparable.

[deleted]

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

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you get it yet. If I pour water into a cup and the line says 100 ML there's 100 ML of water. That measurement of 100 ML is a descriptor of how much water that is. Inflation is a descriptor of how much prices have increased. If we measure the line a second time and it says 120 ML then the water level has increased (i.e. inflation occurred). But why inflation occurred is not know _just_ by measuring the w…

> I don't think you get it yet. Au contraire. Inflation comes from too much money chasing too few goods and services. How does too much money come about? The government prints money to deficit spend. Why does this cause inflation? The Law of Supply and Demand. Too much money means the money is worth less. Individual companies cannot cause inflation, because they cannot increase the money supply.

> Individual companies cannot cause inflation, because they cannot increase the money supply.

No, you really don't know what the word inflation means in the economic sense.

>> https://www.google.com/search?q=define+inflation

>> ECONOMICS

>> a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Also companies can 100% increase their prices and if a singular company such as Exxon does it then pretty much every company will also increase their prices because their cost of revenue went up.

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

#343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll need some citations on those numbers. In states like Texas minimum wage is still $7.25/hr and many places pay just that. How do you reconcile your numbers with that? Bills have outpaced wages to the point nearly a whole generation of young adults have given up on home ownership and have had to move back home. Mortgages are increasing in years and rates, even new cars have. Income inequality has never been higher…

> How do you reconcile your numbers with that? https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w31010/w310... It doesn't matter what the minimum wage is though, it matters what people are actually paid. Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage and they're doing okay. > Bills have outpaced wages to the point nearly a whole generation of young adults have given up on home ownership and have had to move back home. Not true,…

> Denmark doesn't have a minimum wage and they're doing okay.

It’s more complicated than that, and you know it, or you’re using that fact to further your point somewhat disingenuously. Yes, there in no minimum wage defined by law, but in practice it’s around €20 due to the collective bargaining agreements (read: unions) in most industries.

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

#344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the increase in prices was because there were too many buyers and too few cars, not because the owners of used cars suddenly because significantly more greedy overnight. No it’s literally greed. You can choose to not raise the price of your used car when you sell it. “Market price” is a hallucination that you can ignore. You’re not forced to go along with it. As you said, sellers of used cars didn’t have their cost…

So what price do you sell it for and who do you choose to sell to at your below market price?

I usually list slightly above market then knock a bunch off if the buyer seems like a decent person with a real problem.

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

#345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Corporate profits are high. Inflation increases profits, too (but not in real dollars). > This is one of the reasons why. The reason why is inflation.

Inflation can allow corporations to be less price-competitive, because it gets harder for consumers to judge price competitiveness. For example, you sit down at your favourite burger restaurant and see on the menu the price is now $12 instead of $8. Are they just passing on increased costs? Or are they taking the opportunity to pad their profits? I can't really tell, not without seeing if prices have gone up comparab…

That is called the "cost-push" theory of inflation, and its giant problem is it doesn't explain where the extra money comes from that is necessary for sustained price increases across the economy.

It's sibling is "demand-pull" where customer demand causes inflation, but it equally does not explain where the extra money comes from.

A theory that does explain it is the government dumping cash into the economy - inflation consistently picks up about a year after this is done.

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

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think you get it yet. Au contraire. Inflation comes from too much money chasing too few goods and services. How does too much money come about? The government prints money to deficit spend. Why does this cause inflation? The Law of Supply and Demand. Too much money means the money is worth less. Individual companies cannot cause inflation, because they cannot increase the money supply.

> Individual companies cannot cause inflation, because they cannot increase the money supply. No, you really don't know what the word inflation means in the economic sense. >> https://www.google.com/search?q=define+inflation >> ECONOMICS >> a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. Also companies can 100% increase their prices and if a singular company such as Exxon does it then pretty m…

Where does the extra money come from, lesuorac?

> companies can 100% increase their prices

Only if the consumers have the money, and are willing to pay it and not their competitor.

Where do they get the extra money?

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

#347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Corporate profits are high. Inflation increases profits, too (but not in real dollars). > This is one of the reasons why. The reason why is inflation.

> 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.

Profit margins stay roughly the same for the last century.

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

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation can allow corporations to be less price-competitive, because it gets harder for consumers to judge price competitiveness. For example, you sit down at your favourite burger restaurant and see on the menu the price is now $12 instead of $8. Are they just passing on increased costs? Or are they taking the opportunity to pad their profits? I can't really tell, not without seeing if prices have gone up comparab…

That is called the "cost-push" theory of inflation, and its giant problem is it doesn't explain where the extra money comes from that is necessary for sustained price increases across the economy. It's sibling is "demand-pull" where customer demand causes inflation, but it equally does not explain where the extra money comes from. A theory that does explain it is the government dumping cash into the economy - inflati…

(I'm sure you're aware of this, but price increases only require increased spending from customers if transaction volume is held constant. It's entirely possible for prices to rise to arbitrary heights even as the economy contracts and customers become poorer, either because supplies dry up, or because high-volume demand dries up and companies are forced to shift to a smaller but wealthier customer base with high spending power.)

More importantly, this is why I said that inflation becomes more unstable when it is higher. Dramatic price increases can happen as companies become less competitive, and then price collapses can happen as well as consumers tap out and companies are forced to compete for a shrinking pie. Economists generally prefer low inflation rather than high inflation, even if all else is equal in real terms, because higher inflation brings higher volatility.

Lastly, this isn't necessarily the driver that initiates inflation, but it is a feedback loop that can propel it to overshoot an increase in the volume of money.

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

#349
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Record profits as a percentage of revenue. The problem in Austrialia is a lack of competition, hence Woolworths can get a 5.9% profit compared with say Tesco in the UK with 3.8% profit (the UK having far more competition) Not only that but while demand is decreasing, profits are increasing. That's a ridiculous system and shows a broken market.

Plenty of competitors have prepared to enter Australia, and then left after finding there is no money to be made.

Too few people spread too far apart.

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

#350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The way inflation is measured is debatable. It's in the government's best interests to measure it in such a way as to make the number as small as possible.
Post reply on HN