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Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

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Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#321

Post by masswerk »

mrcode007 wrote: post #271
masswerk wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notably, this happened before any of these events, and to help you with Austrian history, the entire "family" has been since dismissed. (Kneissl is now a blogger in Russia, far from Austria or its politics.)

Russian ties in Austria have been strong for a couple of years and they’re simply coming to light (mentioning this in context of energy trade) Austrian spymaster warns of Russian ties as far right claws back support https://on.ft.com/45UTDUp As well in context of security apparatus cooperation Journalist Who Exposed Russia Spies Flees Vienna on Safety Fears https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-02/journalis…

> mentioning this in context of energy trade

This is in historical context rather ridiculous. This is actually related to the Gulf War, and Iraq (yay, the Western ally in the greater region) formerly prominently supplying Austrian demand. With sanctions and then the war, Austria was looking for alternative sources and settled on Russia, which offered long-term guarantees and has thus stepped into the role of the most prominent supplier, since. (I actually do remember the then federal minister stepping in front of TV cameras and declaring supplies secured, thanks to this "historic deal".) In hindsight, this is more a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Not that there hadn't been internal and external pressure to do anything about this, but, as infrastructure had developed, there was – and still is – not much of an alternative. Mind that some German natural gas storage is located in Austria and is supplied by the same sources, as well.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#322

Post by cortesoft »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #197

As an Austrian dev and consumer who has closely followed this throughout the year: it's soo frustrating to see how we're ripped off for no good reason, but nothing changes and nobody cares. Hats off to Mario for sticking with the topic and not losing his mind over this infuriating madness.

> it's soo frustrating to see how we're ripped off for no good reason

It isn’t for no good reason, the prices are higher for the exact same reason they are lower in Germany: the price set allows the company to make the most money.

Whether prices are high or low, the reason is always exactly the same: it makes the most money.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#323

Post by Scoundreller »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #306
piecerough wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is this klima bonus?

It's a nice little scheme that incentivizes saving CO2. There's a CO2 tax on gas and other fossil fuels, part of this tax revenue is then, once a year, distributed back to taxpayers. The idea is that people who don't consume a lot of fossil fuel earn money through this scheme, while those who user above average pay more than what they get back. Of course this is not well communicated from the gov and random cash appe…

Bit of a fail to do it once yearly. Quarterly or monthly would make more sense…

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#324

Post by NKosmatos »

I wanted to do something similar for Greek supermarkets but I never had the time. Great to see something is available and I don’t have to rediscover the wheel.

The situation with inflation, prices, interest rates and the whole state of the European/global economy is so f**ed up that only with tools like this one we can expose what is happening in the market

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#325

Post by harha »

fullstackchris wrote: post #200
KeplerBoy wrote: post #197

As an Austrian dev and consumer who has closely followed this throughout the year: it's soo frustrating to see how we're ripped off for no good reason, but nothing changes and nobody cares. Hats off to Mario for sticking with the topic and not losing his mind over this infuriating madness.

not austrian but I live in austria. at first I was like, okay, higher inflation post covid like everything else, but now at this point where I see prices still rising, it's starting to just feel like a blatant cash grab HOWEVER, i will add - what do people expect when you give everyone 500 extra EUR a year via this klima bonus? how is that supposed to reduce inflation? my guess is the grocery chains are leaning into…

That’s what you get when the population loves to be dependent on their government.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#326

Post by Thorrez »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #306
piecerough wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is this klima bonus?

It's a nice little scheme that incentivizes saving CO2. There's a CO2 tax on gas and other fossil fuels, part of this tax revenue is then, once a year, distributed back to taxpayers. The idea is that people who don't consume a lot of fossil fuel earn money through this scheme, while those who user above average pay more than what they get back. Of course this is not well communicated from the gov and random cash appe…

That's also going to increase the price of goods due to the CO2 tax on goods production and distribution.

But with the klima distribution it evens out. People who consume more will lose and people who consume less will win.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#328

Post by peyton »

happytiger wrote: post #225
KeplerBoy wrote: post #197

As an Austrian dev and consumer who has closely followed this throughout the year: it's soo frustrating to see how we're ripped off for no good reason, but nothing changes and nobody cares. Hats off to Mario for sticking with the topic and not losing his mind over this infuriating madness.

They would care of projects like this generated broad awareness and organized revolt from consumers. Companies need adults in the room to keep them from behaving badly. This operating under the observation that they behave badly when not being watched, so a thesis to be tested more than an assertion of fact. At a minimum they arguably behave worse when there are no consequences, hence inflation becoming air cover to…

Is it possible for somebody to open up a shop that buys from German distributors at up to a 40% discount? Then you wouldn’t need a mass outrage movement to solve the problem.

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#329

Post by evbogue »

manmal wrote: post #109
iraqmtpizza wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So anti-competitive practices are the norm in Austria but no one would dare try it in Germany? Truly bizarre theory.

Matter of fact is that crossing the border to Germany will make your shopping 30+% cheaper. Make of that what you will, but it’s the same companies (Rewe, Aldi, Lidl).

I do this in Chicago ... Every time I could shop at Jewel or Mariano's I instead cross the border into Aldi and get similar stuff with less choices for 30% off!

Re: Tracking Austrian grocery prices by scraping store sites

#330

Post by happytiger »

peyton wrote: post #328
happytiger wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would care of projects like this generated broad awareness and organized revolt from consumers. Companies need adults in the room to keep them from behaving badly. This operating under the observation that they behave badly when not being watched, so a thesis to be tested more than an assertion of fact. At a minimum they arguably behave worse when there are no consequences, hence inflation becoming air cover to…

Is it possible for somebody to open up a shop that buys from German distributors at up to a 40% discount? Then you wouldn’t need a mass outrage movement to solve the problem.

I would suggest that AI tech will open up more arbitrage opportunities for retailers as their price strategies come under pressure from inexpensive monitoring and reporting. Already I’ve worked on prototypes where shopping lists are fed into the system and the retailer that would give you the lowest price nearby is suggested.

Imagine the optimization possibilities where you have shared borders like you’re talking about, or where digital intelligence can be injected to optimize purchase prices among consumers for larger ticket or recurring items.

A lot of room for new and better strategies here.

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