Think Grocery Prices Are High Now? Just Wait.| Robert Reich
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- The ~$25 billion Kroger-Albertsons merger could affect grocery stores relied on by 85 million households. The company could jack up prices even higher and pay workers even less.
This is a disaster in the making.
The FTC has the power to intervene and stop it. They must act.
Inflation is far more harmful to individuals than a collapsing stock or property market because it directly affects people's cost of living, which they immediately feel. It is not surprising that the current market sentiment is extremely pessimistic. In today's economy, assistance is critical if we are to survive.
Indeed, I started investing in 2018 with no prior knowledge or expertise, and by the end of 2019 I had earned a profit of approximately $750k. I had simply been following the guidance provided to me by my financial advisor. This shows that you don't even need to be a great investor or put in a lot of effort; all you actually need is a professional to help you.
@Davies McCamey I encountered Ruth Loralann Brennan through a CNBC interview, and I emailed her. She is guiding me. Since then, she has given me chances to buy and sell the stocks in which I'm interested. You can hunt her up online if you require care supervision.
@@danieljackson87 Insightful... I was curious after reading what you shared, so I Googled her name. I came across her webpage.
But what Mr. Reich is speaking of is not inflation..it is pricegouging. These companies have shown record profits over the past few years..and still raised prices!
@@IMeMineWho I had read somewhere that JP Morgan and others had a gathering and told companies if they were going to raise prices the time was now, they could get away with it because of all the pandemic supply chain shortages. I believe that was back in 2021 or 2020. So everyone jumped on that wagon regardless of whether or not they had shortages. And here we are today.
Most kroger employees are upset about this merger. They have 25 billion dollars to buy another company but can't afford to give us a raise.
Worse, they don't actually use their own money to pay for it anyway. They borrow it from banks who borrow it from the Fed for nearly-free, and it's paid for by our taxes in the end, like almost everything anymore. It's not enough to profti off us once or twice or three times, they have to bleed us five or six layers deep untl there's nothing left.
I have never heard anyone on these finance channels ever mention why there never seems to be money to spare for the workers who made those profits possible in the first place. Wall Street bankers, stock holders, high level executives....they win while the working stiff get just that -- stiffed!
Blame your union. In Arizona, Fry's employees are under a union, as are most Safeway employees in California. I thought the unions are supposed to fight for their people?? From what I heard from more than one Fry's employee, their union hasn't done squat for them the past 10 years, while the union boys get nice a nice bonus. Why pay union dues if the union sits on their hands?? I believe their contract is up in October, guess we'll be seeing some possible strikes later this year.
@@gdobie1west988 Why would I blame the Union? Did the Union make the decision to merge two mega corporations? I doubt Union boys make $18,000,000.00 a year (excluding bonuses and stock options as well).
@@williamyoung9401 Blame the union for not getting better wages, like the video said, some are on assistance programs. I know the union had nothing to do with the merger, that's a no brainer. They are supposed to fight for their members, but apparently that isn't the case always.
I worked for the local Kroger store (Payless) about 2 years ago, graveyard, stocking shelves. It was corporate *policy to not give us the same schedule 2 weeks in a row, even though that would have been easier for the managers to schedule, and not to give us 2 consecutive days off. Policy. They're a terrible company. They not only shouldn't be allowed to merge. They should be broken up.
night stockers are backbone of supermarkets.
@@saynotop2w Thank you, stockers.
What the fuck kind of policy is that?! It literally makes things run more smoothly, saves managers stress and gives workers some kind of work life balance
I suspect that somehow that cut down on employee theft. I think a regular schedule would make it easier for employees to do an inside heist. At Walmart, about 37% of theft comes from employees.
@@razormc954Many corporations control their employees by keeping them off-balance, tired & insecure. (Fearful of losing their jobs.) The idea is to demean employees to the point where they're too scared to ask for raises, better benefits & fewer work hours. I once worked for a company whose lower-level managers openly joked about being told by upper management to apply these controlling fear tactics. One of the worst being sudden before & after work meetings. Pointless endless rambling lectures by managers - aka meetings for the sake of meetings. When exhausted employees just wanted to go home for the night & have dinner with their families after 12+ hours of work.
Here in Wisconsin Kroger goes under the name Picknsave which they bought out a few years ago. Have been boycotting them for their treatment of employees for a while. Thank you Mr. Reich for putting the truth out there. Hope people are listening.
Great store, like Kroger, that label their store brand bread if it's vegan, and about half of it is!! My ex lived in Appleton and we always went there!
Boycotting?? You must be, much older (like I). The braindead younger generation, DON'T EVEN KNOW, what boycotting is😆!! Even if they did, they wouldn't want to be 'inconvenienced'!! As long as they, got Facebook, NOTHING WILL CHANGE😔.
Clearly you're the mentally held back.
@@rogerrendzak8055 Jackass.
I was a lifelong regular customer but started shopping elsewhere after the Kroger acquisition decimated their selection. It got a lot harder to shop there for my dietary restrictions, and they seemed to carry fewer options in general. Sad to hear they are treating employees poorly as well.
They're not usingflation as excuse to raise prices, *_They are raising prices to cause inflation._*
They are excessively greedy and calling it inflation to legitimize the price gauging!
@@Zach-ju5vi As I predicted our corporate bootlicker Zachoff the irrelevant was triggered by this fact filled video from the great professor Reich.
After the pandemic, Kroger did over $2 billion of stock buybacks, but closed four stores in LA because they didn't want to pay those workers an additional $5, hr. for three months. In addition, they recently have cluttered every aisle with obstructive displays that deliberately ruin the flow of customers in the store. This merger cannot be allowed to go through.
They want to keep you off balance!
Excellent idea picking on a company with 1.6% net profit margin. Let put them out of business completely. Maybe they will do better and hire more people if we cut their tinny profit in half.
Good points.
@@Liberty2358 That 1.6% figure is hard to believe when they've done over $2 billion in stock buybacks and gave their CEO a huge raise and are attempting to buy Albertsons. This proposed merger would be a disaster for consumers.
@@Liberty2358 yeah they really seem to be suffering. Boohoo they have 24 billion dollars to buy another chain. Poor them.
My fiancé is manager for the Boulder King Soopers (Kroger's local branding, here). We are against the merger - There are only Safeway (Albertsons) and King Soopers (Kroger) here on Colorado's Front Range, with basically no independent grocers. With the merger, there will be no competition in the channel, here. Kroger won't need to be competitive with pricing, and will have even less reason to be competitive with employee pay and benefits. It is going to be disastrous for both consumers and grocery workers.
Coloradian too here. There are some Whole Foods and Natural grocers in the metro, but they are already expensive because they are "organic" grocers. So, yeah, here in Colorado, we'd be pretty screwed.
Writing in from 'Rado as well here.
Yes; consumers, the planet, employees and society in general all LOSE when these giant monopolies are allowed to form.
WHERE ARE THE SHERMAN ANTITRUST LAWS!!!
Here in my small Western Slope town it's City Market, Safeway and Walmart. Once the merger is complete the Safeway will likely stay open while the City Market closes (Safeway has a better reputation and has just been remodeled). It's already a depressed area. There are going to be a lot of people out of work.
@@dylanwatts9344 And Bezos owns Whole Foods.
Kroger already treats their employees like shit, so I couldn't even imagine how much worse it could get for them. They are the Walmart of grocery stores.
It's not just a monopoly--it's a monopsony. Monopsony is a market situation in which there is only one buyer. In this instance, it's labor and wholesale goods (like produce or yarn). When there are a low number of companies to purchase labor and/or wholesale goods, the price is driven down. So, if you want to sell your labor or your yarn, you have little choice but to take what these massive monopsonies will offer you. It kills not only labor, but small businesses.
I recently bought a book that told me about the word monopsonies, it is definitely something that needs to be brought up more often. RUclips and a lot of tech companies are monopsonies to video and software creators. Sellers and creators are finding it difficult to not sign a contract to sell their art or software on the internet to anything but more and more uncompetitive monopsonies.
I've seen this coming for years. When you have something that everyone needs, food, electric, water, gas, housing. People are forced to pay whatever is presented to them in order to survive. I'm all for free enterprise, but as you pointed out, when a market becomes a monopoly the only thing that can stand in the way of consumers getting crushed is government regulations.
What you write about so-called "free enterprise" got started with "St." Ronnie Reagan (Saint because the Republicans practically called for his canonization to sainthood. And then they named everything after him.) But it was Reagan with his trickle down economic policies, which by the way do not work in anyway shape or form, his union busting (he started with the air controllers) and his complaining about "big" government. Jimmy Carter said it well, when he said that government is in a unique position to do good for people. It makes sense because government at least ostensibly, exists to look after its people, whereas corporations exist only for their shareholders and their vastly over paid CEOS.
Yep: corporations _legally_must_ do everything in their power to seek profit (per their charters), otherwise stockholders can sue them.
Just look at how Southwest catered to stingy internal support for decades, ignoring employees’ pleas for an updated system, and STILL the stockholders are suing.🙄
Government regulations are long overdue. When the riots start, when even the military isn't getting paid enough to feed their families, then we will see change. Until then.....
OR? A complete boycott - and not a temporary one, either. I've been saying for about 6 years now - VOTE WITH YOUR MONEY, AMERICA! STOP SPENDING IT.
@@whatisahandle221 I honestly never understood why giving a company money once (as in buying stocks) entitles you forever to leech money of it for basically forever as long as you hold the stocks. And being piss poor the way I am, I probably never will.
I was raised in the supermarket business when it was easy to be an independent grocer and we gave the chains real competition. After several environmental related careers and semi-retired I got a job at the local health food co-op in their organic kitchen. We bought food from a variety of companies and then noticed several suppliers changed their billing address to one location. They had been bought out by a conglomerate and didn't change the names of the original businesses. Whole Foods did a similar technique when they bought up independent health food stores and kept the original independent's name on the store front. It was very interesting when Whole
Foods also started buying up farms to grow high dollar produce bypassing independent farmers and brokers. They get food produced as cheaply as possible with the incredible profit margin of organic foods. From my perspective these conglomerates are killing free enterprise and democracy.
And it's all legal.
“ethnic” super markets remain a competition to these mega corporations. I honestly see no reason to support any big box grocery chains.
@@saynotop2w I like HEB.
Whole Paycheck is overrated.
If we get rid of Kroger, will we be paying less for our food? Think again, Kroger has a 1.6% profit margin, if I was the boss I would sell every stores and put the money in S&P 500 and make 30 times more profits.
We need to Stop all Monopolies!!!
The laws were there. Now so many vote for the guy that says "I'll cut your taxes!" Instead of the guy that says "I'll stop the corporations from robbing us all!"
@@Zach-ju5vi I'm just saying that monopolies are across our entire economy. Most of the anti monopoly laws have been taken off the books. There was a reason we busted up the Carnegie and Rockefeller monopolies. Now we're growing them again in news, tv, pharmaceutical, steel production, and so on.
We already have food deserts. Some of that is even by design. Wal-Mart local grocery stores open up and occasionally, wallyworld shuts them down after the other local stores go out of business. The laws need to be put back in place. Both sides need to get up off of their duffs and do their jobs instead of pacifying their donors.
@@Zach-ju5vi As I predicted our corporate bootlicker Zachoff the irrelevant was triggered by this fact filled video from the great professor Reich.
The gov creates monopolies by regulating small food sources out of existence
Thank you for this video I worked at Kroger for five years it was terrible I think by the end of the five years they were only paying me less than 10 and some of the new hires being paid eight our manager would constantly push food stamps and welfare even for certain people with children The unions a joke They never did anything for us but take our money I hope this deal falls through Kroger is a terrible company Not only to its workers but also its customers
Why is the government giving companies like this state aid. Surely this illegal. Ireland was accused of giving State Aid to Big company's like Apple , facebook etc due to low tax payments . They were fined by the European Union 17 million for doing this. Its outrageous that these companies their CE0s per year and expecting the public purse to feed their workers?
If ANY employer told me, to file for welfare, 'cause their company wasn't paying enough to live on, I'd tell them to go fuck themselves 😁!!!
Kroger is indeed a terrible company. Thankfully, the union that represents QFC (Kroger owned) is good.
@@jacobv3396 wait are you saying Kroger own the union company managing Kroger?
@@monsalve776 no, QFC is another brand name owned by Kroger.
Thanks Reagan, thanks trickle down. Bout time for a reckoning for the politicians who refuse to use anti-trust laws to hold corporations accountable.
This has NNOTHING do with trickle down. It has everything to do with government overreach. Do the research. Biden's policy to end fossil fuels is dictating all of the money problems we have. The feds are printing money and sending it over seas and give aways to illegals. THAT'S what is causing inflation. Take an Economics class at a real college.
NWO started with him !
Not happening, this generation is even more dependent on corporations than previous... a lot more.
So tired of corporations doing shit like this
There were over 50 supermarket chains in California in the 1960's. However over time most of the stores either went out of business or bought out by larger chains. Kroger was unheard of in California. Now there are only a few chains left and most are owned by either Kroger or Albertsons. Costco, Smart and Final, and Amazon are still big but there are fewer stores to choose from. What happened to the DOJ Anti-trust Division? Reich is 100% right on this one.
What the hell happened to enforcing existing antitrust laws is a valid question!
Does Kroger own Ralphs or Vons? I never liked any Cali supermarkets but if Kroger bought them they might be ok.
@@XVeganDaveGodFreeX both are owned by Albertsons. If the merger is approved, they *would* be owned by Kroger. But remember, Kroger closed a Ralphs in Long Beach and a few more elsewhere in opposition to so-called hero pay during the pandemic, and gave some BS rationale about the stores being underperforming. This merger is bad news... where indeed is enforcement of antitrust laws?!
@@XVeganDaveGodFreeX correction: Kroger owns Ralphs, Albertsons owns Vons and Pavilions.
5 companies owning 60% of the market is about 12% each. That's nowhere near a monopoly.
I worked at Safeway (owned by Albertsons) for 4 years. If this merger goes through it’ll be awful for everyone except the top few execs. Customers, employees, and everyone who’s forced to do business with these already oversized companies will be paying more and making less.
Don't forget the Wall Street investment and private equity firms that always clean up big time when putting these deals together. Stockholders stand to gain as well. Employees get screwed in the end as usual!
@@JoseLopez-tk4tqTop Democrat party donors like Vanguard and Blackrock!
This is so disgusting 🤮. Nothing but greed!
Why not, its isn't like the new generations are going to fight back. They sit at home and whine.
Legal crooks!
Kroger has been known to be anti labor and anti consumer for decades here in their hometown of Cincinnati.
1 in 10 customers are on government assistance but at the same time 1 in 5 employees are? That is crazy!
You are right, Dr. Reich...Thanks for bringing this to our attention...We have to fight against this sort of consolidation...For all of us...
👍😎👍
I live in a small town with only a smiths and an Albertsons for groceries- wages are already 1/3 what they need to be to afford housing, and I'm living in my car working full time as a manager... help 😳
Look for cheap land, skip the permits, build a homestead.
To Mr Reich: Keep these RUclipss coming! You are helping to inform me on so many issues!
The fact that these corporations think this is even possible without breaking monopoly laws tells you everything you need to know of the current situation in America. Our government is in the pockets of corporations.
We experienced those mergers here (Ontario, Canada) and one company owns most of them now. Grocery prices are sky high and their quarterly profits are record breaking, never seen before profit levels. It's eliminated most of the competition and consumers have been shall we say gouged beyond belief, not to mention, powerless because there really isn't anywhere else to go.
I am guessing Loblaws.
I try avoiding them even more than Walmart.
Poor quality products. I swear if you buy something like Oreo cookies they taste worse than Oreo's from their competitors stores.
So I seriously feel they only bring in the rejects the other stores don't accept.
Mega Corporations exist everywhere but monopolies on any staple commodity like food or energy should never occur no matter what the wealthy want!🤬
Capitalism rules!!
@@karlabritfeld7104 Greed would be more accurate.
@@sailorstu I noticed that too, normally I like Oreos but I swear I’ve had a package in my cupboard for months from Walmart and I can’t bring myself to even want to eat them. Do they really do that with food too, cheapen up the brand for certain stores. I heard years ago, they do that with outlet stores. It might look the same but the quality is cheaper than at a department store.
As someone that has been in this industry as a supplier for 40 years I can say with confidence that this video is accurate but may understate the impact. Both chains have long standing operating issues and are difficult to do business with. They will force vendors to "fund" their acquisition costs while cutting costs and closing stores. Consumers and suppliers will foot the bill while investors and corporate leaders benefit. This is bad for the industry, the workers and consumers. I've been though a number of acquisitions and politicsand profits, not the needs of the consumers will be a part of what is sold off to make this work. Contact your US representative to fight to avoid unnecessary closings
Thanks for the FYI.
Part of the problem, though, is surely we consumers not always shopping at lesser stores, smaller stores, or alternatives to the big chains, right?
Every time I read the advice to contact my Representative, I want to gag! Despite the best effort of the Democrats in my area, we are still represented by Lauren Boebert. Her response would be to contact Kroger and see how she can get in on the profits!
Was thinking the same thing, I am also on the supplier side. If the average shopper knew how much we spend just to get products on the shelf, also I am proud to work for a company that hasn't screwed our consumers over on our end, doesn't matter if the retailer passes it on to fatten up their margin.
Support your local Mexican grocery store, they generally have the best prices on fresh fruit and vegetables. Do not, however, buy the fresh rolls, they are terribly habit forming!
Yes🎉 The Buford Highway Farmers Market in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville was awesome. It’s more of a store than a farmer’s market. Tons of fresh produce and fish. A multicultural experience to shop there. Now we live up near SC. No where to shop. IGA is five miles away, and Walmart ten miles. 🤮
I'm not supporting illegal immigrants.
I would agree most of our bigger mexican grocery stores in TX (Fiesta, El Rancho) have The Best fresh produce & sweet breads! However, our local small mexican grocery store (Super Mercado Monterrey #10) DOES NOT!! The produce is always Banged Up, Moldy & Not Fresh. Same goes for their meat! 4+ times the meat I bought went bad/Expired Smelled rotten the next day or two. You have to cook or freeze it that day or else it will go bad! I would only shop there early in the morning when they open but I work mornings 12 hour shifts and by the time I get off work all the good fresh produce/meat has been sold. I hardly ever shop there now because of that. I've gotten fresher produce/meats from our local food banks. Its sad because its like a 2 minute drive from my house.. 😫😢
@@disco_life I bought “hamburger” at one mexican store once from the meat case.. It tasted funny and I swear it could have been horsemeat.. Never shopped there again.
El Rancho is owned by Albertsons....
When I worked at Kroger I figured out that you're just as likely to be rung up by a homeless person as a college graduate. And in some cases both.
Don't forget about the more than 300 stores that will need to be divested or closed in markets with extreme overlap, like California, Colorado, Las Vegas and Chicago. That means loss of choice but also loss of jobs. I worked in the industry for over 50 years in markets with more than one major grocer, and sat in advertising meetings where they debated about about what the other guy was doing and how they could create an ad to beat them (who would have the better price on turkeys at Thanksgiving, eggs at Easter or hot dogs on the 5th of July). It was competition. Without competition, those debates go away, and they would be free to set prices that would not be calculated on competitiveness, but profit, and like every other business, they will want to see increases every single year. Competition is the only check and balance in the system.
Increase in profits every single year is a much better way to explain how prices are rising so often.
You must like it.
I work for Ralph's the southern California version of Kroger. Every Monday we have a company wide broadcast in the breakroom that all the department heads have to watch. Just yesterday I had to watch this billionaire talk about how good our past fiscal year was and how they are going to use their record profits to buy out their competitor. No mention of a raise for our efforts or performance. He only had one real message for us at the end and I quote "This fiscal year we need you to sell your socks off!" That'll be easy because some of my subordinates wont be able to afford new socks with minimum wage. As the highest level non salary manager I can barely afford rent without a roommate.
And some people wonder why Socialism is starting to look good to more and more young Americans. Gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with companies paying and treating their employees like slaves. 🤷♀
Wow
@@carollynt That's because each store has a single person in charge of price integrity. That means one ~30hr employee has to change ALL the price tags in the store when the prices change weekly. No joke. I've yet to meet a single person in that position that can keep up.
As an Albertson's employee, this merger will help no one but the rich. I've seen my company actively overcharge and just shrug. They have told me in private to add water to the meat to increase weights. They flat out intend to just dictate prices without any care for the consumer. We already can't help the customers in most cases with their complaints... Shortages, ridiculous price hikes and skeleton crews are all common practice to increase profits. My company made millions, billions even during the worst of COVID-19. They gave us 2 bucks an hour extra to face customers in 2020. By 2021 they took that raise away and plead broke while taking millions for their worthless corporate snakes. Kroger buys us and they will control the majority of super markets around me. Every store, with only the most broken desperate people working there. The customer service is awful now, soon you'll be glad to even see someone to complain to...
So big business hates big government but will stand in line for a subsidy to defray the cost of slave wages. Vote your interests my friends They do.
@@Zach-ju5vi As I predicted our corporate bootlicker Zachoff the irrelevant was triggered by this fact filled video from the great professor Reich.
@@Zach-ju5vi Trump lost
When I was in college, I learned about the breakup of AT&T/Bell System as a classic anti-monopoly case. Where are AT&T and the baby Bell's today? ~
Love to know this.. our govt quit enforcing this clearly
The Baby Bells have somewhat reconsolidated into major communications companies..
An aside: Too many retail and service employees make so little they need to rely on gov't assistance. They are being supported by our tax dollars while their corporate overlords make record profits. This isn't the way capitalism is supposed to work. Raise the minimum wage, please!
This is EXACTLY the way capitalism is supposed to work. What Europe seems to do (and some other developed nations), only delays the process, prolongs the symptoms without really relieving them or treating the underlying disease.
Capitalism fails. Period. Everything achieved since its first traits began popping up in prior economic models centuries ago, has been achieved IN SPITE OF Capitalism and its progenitor economic systems...never, ever BECAUSE of it.
Capitalism is only capable of corruption, exploitation, and monopoly. It cannot ever be "fixed".
And to-date, Socialism has never been more than a few token gestures of capitalist societies, and Communism has never existed at all. Every "Communist" nation has only been government-monopolized Capitalism, and nothing more...nothing but a single corporate organization that owns everything against the good of the people. An actual Communist society would have the people, not the government, explicitly own all natural resources and means of production, equally, but with government entities acting solely in stewardship-holding, with no rights or authority beyond defending the public's ownership of those resources and means.
44 million people who don't get paid enough to eat without assistance in the US.
22 million millionaires in the US.
Greatest Country in the World's ratio is 2 hungry employees for every millionaire. Holy hell.
What gets me is that workers on government assistance are looked down upon for taking handouts, yet it's the corporate overlords that are the real benefactors of the taxpayers' money.
And no add insult to injury, very little of these mega corporations pay little or no federal income taxes...yet they whine about not being able to pay their workers -- who make those record profits possible -- remind me of the Gordon Gecko character who said "greed is good."
Hear, hear.
Note, though: paying living wages to all-minimum wage jobs, farm workers, restaurant workers, etc-will eventually raise some costs.
We as consumers need to balance price hunting, avoiding money wasting products or services, demand better quality and sustained good service (which requires smart employees!), and be aware of declining choice, quality, or service at big & small vendors.
This scares me so much. My grocery bill has already doubled since last year. It also seems that in my area they are asking Kroger employees to start upselling products at the register or at your car if you pick up. That's really unsettling to see.
Cooperate greed is leaving too many Americans in need.
@@Zach-ju5vi As I predicted our corporate bootlicker Zachoff the irrelevant was triggered by this fact filled video from the great professor Reich.
So should we be calling our state attorney general's office or the FTC with our concerns? Or both?
Unless you are a Corporation, your voice doesn't really matter in Politics.
@@hegyak That is defeatist. I called everyone from my local govt to The President in 2021 to bring mobile vax units to my little city. After an exhausting experience, it was done, some months before it went nationwide. It is tiring, but can be done!
Also, your calls and emails have to be recorded and 1 person is seen as 1000. Do not be so defeatist..and certainly do not urge another to give up..especially if you are young. My folks and their folks fought for rights for you. Do not "oh well" them in vain. They deserve more.
I’m glad and I hope the FTC could block it for that, Robert 🙏🏿
Kroger needs to be broken up, rather than be allowed to buy out its rivals. More competition is better for everyone, customers and staff alike.
Teddy Roosevelt, where are when we need you now! Seriously, have you EVER seen a merger/buyout that has benefited either employees OR customers? I haven't
We someone with the balls like Teddy the "trust buster" Roosevelt to use a big stick to enforce some long overdue antitrust law enforcement!
Similar activity in our grocery sector is happening here in Canada. There are only a handful of 3-4 large corporations which control the overwhelming majority of grocery stores in this country, and have historically engaged in price fixing, wage fixing, and other shady business practices. Both federal Conservative and Liberal parties have NEVER punished them more with just a slap on the wrist, and very little has been done to break this monopolistic behaviour.
Oh it affects us. My local grocer has increased prices substantially!
Need some more Aldis to take over. I wish we had some in the PNW.
I agree we need more Aldi's. I'm grateful that there are several Aldi's in the city I live in.
This is what we get from anti-regulation Republicans AND Democrats. Both parties are complicit. What happened to the anti-trust, anti-“robber barons” laws of a century ago?
I shop often at a Kroger store
It's a constant battle just to deal with "mislabeled" price tags, where I have call it out (self checkout is a must)
It is crazy to have to shop in such a hostile system...and now it will get worse
I love how these companies claim the merger gives them more buying power allowing them to lower prices to consumers.
I have seen many of these mergers using this approach and the only time they have ever lowered prices is when they have slashed the wages and brought in poorer quality products.
The point is to create more food deserts. Gotta keep the poors down.
Stop shopping at these businesses.
Lots of people say that they are against these places, but then they support them.
If eggs are $7.00 a dozen, you don't buy them.
If WalMart is forcing you to work for them in self check-out lines, you don't shop there.
You're the one with the power of your money.
Use cash. Ditch your tracking phone device. A coupon for a dollar off of $7.00 eggs isn't a deal.
The only reason that these places are in business, is because people are spending their money there. K-Mart and Sears died, so can WalMart, and Kroger. They're not invincible.
Watch the whole video. At the 1:27 mark it shows all the stores these corps. already control. It's nearly impossible to avoid shopping at one of these unless you want to starve.
Support local produce and meat. Walmart sells toxic food
@@tommyob4762 Except Costco...
Eggs have come down to less than $3.00 a dozen, you can load up on them now
You can be more prudent on what you buy where-and what you buy anyway.
Eg I’ve gotten into a workout kick for the last couple years, so I price out protein foods for how much it costs for each 10g serving of protein (w chicken winning hands down, but meat aside…). It’s amazing to see the sugar or fat in some foods-and variations in protein-that I would have otherwise assumed were similar. For instance, most chicken stock is just flavored water with very little protein. You’ve got to buy chicken bone meal stock (or such) to actually get protein: it’s more expensive, but it also has 4-8x the protein (4-9g vs 1-2g, 4+ servings both)($3.50 vs $2.50).
I've already stopped shopping at the stores under these companies years ago, like Safeway and Fred Meyer, because they raised prices so much that it makes more sense to shop elsewhere. If they're already price gouging, imagine how much worse it would be under the merger. Luckily a Winco opened up a few years ago. They took advantage of inflation too but are still cheaper.
Winco rocks! Def my favorite store in the country! Sucks they only go as far east as Tulsa. Freddy's has always been expensive though, and Safeway's selection is only so-so.
Winco and Grocery Outlet are the places to go. I believe both are employee owned too
Robert Reich is a man of the people
The real truth is that although most companies preach the capitalist mantra of competition, they would really like a monopoly.
At my local grocery not only are the prices higher but some of the produce sucks
Another example of privatizing gains, and socializing losses.
Another fact filled, spot on video Professor Reich. I t will no doubt trigger Zach and the other corporate bootlicking trolls.
I am terrified Kroger will close our store once the merger is finalized as there are my fred meyer and 2 safeways all close to each other. This also means our union will have even less bargaining power.
Thank you, Robert for bringing this to our attention. Is there anything the average person do to fight this?
Nope! I make minimum wage.
@@williamyoung9401 The more reason for you to do something if you could, no?
You're kidding, right?
Yes. Overthrow the political/legal system that upholds the private ownership of the means of socially necessary production/consumption.
Our only power comes from our sheer numbers. We must let go of any fantasy that a government set up by rich merchants and plantation owners could ever be made to serve the interests of the working class. Nothing will change until we replace it-and that probably won’t happen without a fight.
@@thepeacefulenemy4026 Replaced with what?
The government says inflation is 8.7% but most of the things I buy at the grocery store are 40-100% higher than I used to pay.
Yuban was $5.99 and now $9.99 for example.
Bread, lunch meat and cheese are all up way more than 8.7% .
Tortillas are more expensive... fruits and vegetables are becoming out of reach for many people. Who would have thought that fresh peaches would be $3.49 a pound?
Our elected officials have let Americans down Big Time.... and we keep re-electing
the same people!
The trick to lunch meat... slice your own. A good deli slicer will set you back 60-80 bucks. Then you're looking at the difference between ham they slice (8-10 bucks a pound) or ham you slice yourself (3-4 bucks a pound). Other meats are similar. And with three teenagers making sammiches... that's a no brainer. Slice and freeze.
Yes, and we the People CAN'T BOYCOTT the grocery stores!😠
Since our Attorney General Merrick Garland has just announced an antitrust lawsuit stopping JetBlue from buying Spirit Airlines, logically, he would do the same in Kroger trying to buy Alberstons, right? :-)
Too bad they let all the other major airlines merge into mega carriers, and all the major banks, and other business as well, all leading to less competition and higher prices. And remember, they all said there would be "cost savings through synergies" that would be passed along to the consumer. But the primary synergy was in cutting jobs that were considered redundant, which put some people on unemployment, so their cost savings were passed on to the taxpayer.
Unfortunately, people still think we need more deregulation.
Dr. Reich, America needs you more than ever!
Where I live, the grocery store options are basically just Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons, and Walmart. Safeway is owned by Albertsons, and Fred Meyer is Kroger. If Kroger buys Albertsons, then they'll own 3 out of 4 accessible grocery stores in my area.
If you're lucky, you might have a Winco in your area, or a Trader Joe's, which also has a reasonable amount of affordable options, but those stores are few and far between
This is why I'm stoked to still have 3 Winco's in my area. When Safeway and Freddies got bought up, the first thing to go away was the almighty Bulk Bins, salvation of the truly thrifty shopper who doesn't like getting hosed.
Winco's bulk bin aisles have never been busier than since this price gouging insanity began.
@@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing we recently got one near my home, too, and I almost don't bother shopping anywhere else 💯
Trader Joe's as the budget option? Ye Gods, this really is the darkest timeline. I grew up with TJs being an occasional treat with pricier options.
Winco! I didn’t know they had more than a few stores! I moved nearby one, and while I’m not always able to find 100% of my list, they definitely have helped hold some of the inflationary price grabbing of everyday foods in check.
Aldi is good for that, too-for a select minority of foods.
Lucky to have both Winco and Grocery Outlet not too far away.
Join me in demanding that the Federal Trade Commission intervene and stop this massive corporate merger. bit.ly/3Zyny1x
I just feel so hopeless. What can we do? I don't even know how I'm going to handle another rent increase.
It sounds like you are pretty worried. Did your landlord tell you he was raising your rent?
Real estate is starting to drop in price in many areas, so there should be fewer rent increases.
Property taxes have risen in many areas, but many locales have reduced rates for seniors, if your landlord falls into that category. Make sure he knows that. Insurance rates have gone up, but he should be able to shop around to get a better rate. Maybe you could complain to him about your insurance rates is going up to see if he is facing the same issue.
Perhaps you could create a personal budget to see where you could cut back. Have you considered changing jobs? Could you talk to your present boss about getting more responsibility/more money? Some companies will pay for more college or training. Make sure you take advantage of that perk.
If things get really tight, and funds are low, try calling the United Way 211. They might be able to give you temporary help. Keep the faith.
Your government doesn't allow for housing options, and the government caused the inflation.
Too bad 'no media' (fake or real) covers this shit. This will be a disaster for quality, service, and pricing.
You notice that the mainstream media conveniently ignores this subject as well, right?
I was just at Kroger. They wanted six bucks for a five pound bag of red potatoes. Aldi was about half price for five pounds of red potatoes. Screw monopolies!
When Kroger bought Fred Meyer, wages went stagnate as did employee benefits. I worked for Fred Meyer 20 years and upon leaving my hourly wage was $10.00/hr. Yes, that was in 2000 when I left, but it was happening back then and has now skyrocketed. Corporations don't care as Robert has said many times. I hope it does get blocked. Fingers Crossed!
@@Zach-ju5vi As I predicted our corporate bootlicker Zachoff the irrelevant was triggered by this fact filled video from the great professor Reich.
Groceries are not too expensive. I see a constant stream of door dash and Uber eats into my building 24/7. That is a make up on top of a mark up. True story getting groceries 2-3 weeks ago and guy checking out says "your the only person all day who's bill was under a $100." I told him to look at my cart, all fruits vegetables brown rice black beans. No soda, no brand names. Food is expensive because we want convenience and everything to taste like candy.
Interesting point on the Kroger ppt’s that were shown comparing retention and wages: Kroger sees low unemployment as bad (red) and high unemployment as good (green). Kind of shows where they are coming from.
I worked for Kroger and it was horrible. I moved over to Safeway (which Albertsons owns) and it paid a little less but had a much better culture. I was passed over for a promotion just before this merger and resigned. I feel like I dodged a bullet.
I few years ago, I noticed some fast food restaurants were displaying signs about accepting snap. Thats when I knew corporations were getting involved. Then I realized that if Snap's benefits disappeared, Walmart would be in financial trouble.
I worked for kroger for several months, wage wasn't enough to pay rent i was splitting w a roommate in a 2 bedroom apartment! I think they looked the other way when i stole food and drinks and ate them in the backroom. A union rep came up to me when i was working asking for support and I asked him if he could reduce my union dues so i could make more.. in the end it's not a career job unless you live w your parents rent free
2:33 "1 in 5 associates are on government assistance; 1 in 4 very loyal associates are on government assistance"
So they know they don't pay their employees enough to live on, and specifically know that they're betraying their "most loyal associates" _(which I assume means employees who have worked for them for a certain number of years)_ the most. I genuinely don't understand how a person can earn millions of dollars per year, spend billions more pumping up the stock price, and knowingly starve the employees who are (a) making them all this money and (b) people. It would be so easy to make a few million less per year and be seen as a hero. You still get your mansions and your luxury cars, but now you leave a great legacy, too.
With the millionaires and billionaires, it's a competition in who has the most toys [money]. They have more than enough money for a lifetime, but they still want more.
Big corporations are no better than kings or nobles.
Fight this shit - its not a partisan issue.
This is a terrible idea where I live. We have 2 each but little else. They are already charging ridiculous prices for many items. I have seen products double or even triple in price. And that is after the shrinkage they have been doing for years.
I agree with you, kroger's greed is sickening. There employees are so unhappy, they are over worked and under paid.
As a kroger/dillons employee...this merger/acquisition needs to be stopped.
Watch; there will be people defending this merger who have nothing to gain but stand to lose a lot... talk about a disconnect...
@Zach proves the point I made: there is ZERO basis in economic theory OR real world experience that demonstrates his premise that mergers have EVER resulted in merged companies "providing products cheaper" with "the proof is in the grocery stores" as evidence.
In fact, the EXACT OPPOSITE IS TRUE... and not just in grocery stores but across ALL sectors of the economy. Zach could not be wrong in his assertions, which shows a high degree of ignorance, a deliberate desire to troll, of a combination of both.
Which explains why big corporations get away with exploiting ALL of us, including poor misguided and or misanthropic Zach.
@@Zach-ju5vi More corporate bootlicking from Zachoff the irrelevant troll.
What a sad story Robert. When Krogers mergers with Albertsons then maybe you can build up a new chain of grocery stores and compete with them with lower prices.
Have you noticed as prices increase, so do more fillers in our food. Seed oils, sugars and soy in foods! The healthy foods are even more expensive if you value your health..and they even sneak them into those!
I grew up with Ralphs (now Kroger), and then Vons (Safeway/Albertsons) became my go to. Now, because of the ridiculous prices, I rarely go into either. I fill my needs at Target, Costco, and 99 Cent Store. Almost everything I buy is cheaper at these stores, and they have almost everything I need. This merger will surely mean higher prices, prices that are already outrageous. Corporate Greed is not a good thing.
Consumers have to stay vigilant against price increase-but also be aware of quality and selection, which themselves might cost more.
In the ‘80s in Missouri, my mother figured out where frozen vegetables and meat were cheapest at one store, while other things were cheapest at another. We had at least 4-5 big chains then. (We’re down to 1 big one and 2-3 small ones now.)
In Texas in the 2000s, my wife figured played a game of moving between at least 4 grocery stores-Super Walmart, Super Target, Aldi, and Kroger. I liked going to a small ~healthy chain for produce, nuts, and vitamins/supplements, and I didn’t care for Walmart or Target produce half the time (they’ve improved, some). Additionally, there were Fiesta, Central Market, and Whole Foods, plus the occasional unique ethnic grocer in places.
All that said, too many mergers allow a business or few monopolies to raise prices without any real consumer choice.
The irony is that the bigger these corporations get, the higher the prices go. Quantity-based pricing exists but it just increases their margins, not their prices.
As a customer I don’t have any issue with Kroger, however I try to keep my shopping diversified, i.e. I shop groceries from different places, Kroger, Trader Joe, Whole Foods, Costco, Giant Eagle etc. I also pay attention to prices of products and if I see anything I feel not worth it I will just skip it or at least shop around. It takes a little more work but I guess that’s pretty much all I can do.
One thing I noticed is that very similar products and even exactly the same products can have very different prices in different places. Sometimes I may pick the one with a slightly higher price as long as it’s still in the normal range (according to my own feeling of course) in order to support different brands and encourage competitions.
I do believe that this will always be the future. I wanted to lose more weight. Just not this way.
Someone here with family members who are farmers. So why is never the cost of farming increasing? Fuel prices doubling, fertilizer prices tripling, transportation of product doubling, etc.. why aren't these a factor, do you want the farmers to live in poverty?
I already can't afford to shop at Safeway or Albertsons, and Walmart has raised their prices so high it is absolutely absurd. There is a WinCo being built right now which is employee-owned and I will shop there exclusively
@@PC-zz9cy there are some things that are not a very good price, however as long as I don't have to shop at Walmart never again I'll be okay LOL. Their Bakery and their Meats are awesome
I noticed that my local Fry's has gotten more expensive very suddenly. I only knew Fry's was Kroger because my first job was there. This is awful, we need harder laws for monopolies.
It looks like Kroger has many of Alaska's stores. Fred Meyer, Carrs and Safeway. And it has taken over many California stores. The only store near where I lived, in California, that is not on the list is Raley's. In Minnesota, we had Rainbow, which sold Roundy's Products, but they closed. Have not seen any of the stores near me, on the list under Kroger. Great video, Very informative.
I spend no more than $1 a day per person in my household for food, and we eat healthy, nutritious, and very tasty food. If more people shopped like our household, we could put all the greedmongers out of business.
For dinner tonight, I'm making venison potstickers, dipping sauce, rice, greens with ginger dressing, and sautéed vegetables mostly from our indoor garden. Bulk buying, planning ahead,cooking from scratch, along with zero-waste principles yields maximum savings. There are no labels in our kitchen. Water is a complete beverage, but plain tea or coffee is nice, sometimes.
If this goes through there will be only one company running most of the grocery stores in the Puget Sound region. That means 40 miles in either direction of the SeaTac airport. Kroger bought the regional (Oregon-based) Fred Meyer and the Bellevue-based QFC a few years ago. If Albertson's/Safeway merge with Kroger, there will be no competition among regular super markets. We will still have Grocery Outlet and Winco, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (if you're willing to shop there), and a bunch of local organic grocers and co-ops. But it leaves a huge hole for the average American family. This is a monopoly, pure and simple. Where is Joe Biden and his mandate to execute anti-trust laws?
That is up to Congress (the House) to get off of their asses and do something about this rather than waste time and tax dollars on meaningless cultural war issues.
Another case like Walmart where we the Tax Payers are indirectly subsidizing their massive wealth.
They pay the bare minimum they can to at least keep some kind of workforce there.. and when the workers cant afford life on $7.25 an hour, they go for food stamps or some kind of govt assistance.. which is where you and I come in.. we pay into that system with our taxes.. and it goes to those workers! Since Krogers or Walmart doesn't have to pay a better living wage.. they still get a workforce, but we pay for them to stay there.. the difference is the riches they are getting by NOT paying them more.. Are we OK with that??!!
Look at Costco.. they pay a decent wage.. their employees are happy and stay.. their prices are still low.. the quality is high.. and Im sure the owners are not going thru KFC garbage bins looking for dinner..
Yes.
Workers become the new working poor w/low wages, while big food/CEO's gorge on high profits...disgusting....stop the corporate greed and feed.
I live in the hometown of Kroger, Cincinnati. Only the biggest grocery store chains have survived here. Small locally owned ones are long gone. Kroger employees used to be in a union but, that ended 30+ years ago.
Our Kroger in WV still has a Union
Up the road in Columbus we have Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Aldi. But only in the metro areas. Outside of that, there are few choices. And I'm scared something will happen to Aldi, because I shop there as the prices are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the larger corporate chains.
@@Zach-ju5vi You missed the point - Kroger drove out the union over 30 years ago! I remember that battle very well. My grandson works for Kroger and they are grossly underpaid! Bob’s video covered that, it you had watched the whole thing. They drive out the small businesses by undercutting them. The bigger companies take a loss on certain items to get customers in the door (loss leaders) but charge higher prices on other items to make up the difference. Unions have zero to do with that long standing practice.
@@gbprime2353 We we’re lucky to get a Meijer nearby several years ago. We also have an Aldi but, the parking lot is usually pretty empty. ☹️
I would ignore Zack. He is a stupid troll and feels the need to put in his idiotic comments on every one of Prof. Reichs’s Videos
This isn't the only cause of high groceries. From 2001 to 2016 we lost prime farm land acres equal to the acres in the entire state of New Jersey to urban sprawl. We have to start making companies reclaim and renovate urban areas. Putting restrictions on developing farm ground. The reduction in farm grounds drives up rental prices pushing smaller farm entities out of the industry.
😢😢 but... look over there! WOKENESS needs attention! CRT! Trans rights! The groomers are after your kids!
Hate! Hate and Feeeeeear! Only I can protect you from the hate and fear that you did not know existed until I told you about them! Now look over there while I pick your pocket!
Babble on bbb, it's the fiscal policies of the GOP that allows these mergers and it's the fiscal policies of the GOP that have led to the concentration of corporate power we see being used in this meager between Kroger and Albertsons. You're ridiculing the lies your puppet masters tell you to ridicule. They are all blown out of proportion to distract you from reality... to keep you asleep so they can get away with their horse manure. You are voting for the people who are enslaving you.
@@Construimus_Batuimus uh oh - I was AFRAID somebody would take me literally. That was sarcasm, Construimus!
I have 50 years of retail experience. Yes, some key prices will go down for a very short time. Then expect the worst. Kroger also has a history of dragging their feet in retail modernization and improvement for consumers.
Corporations own the politicians thanks to Citizens United vs FEC. But we can still try by contacting our Congresscritters. Meanwhile, take a look at local small businesses...
Kroger needs to be broken up, Smiths, Dillon's, Baker's, etc. should all be separate companies.