92
Yes, Australia’s big supermarkets have been price gouging. But fixing the problem won’t be easy
(theconversation.com)
A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.
If you're posting anything related to:
If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News
This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:
Congratulations to @[email protected] who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition
Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:
https://aussie.zone/communities
Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.
Additionally, we have our instance admins: @[email protected] and @[email protected]
Canada has the same problem, but our monopoly now is an everything company. Loblaws owns pharmacies, financial institutions, telcom infrastructure, and are vertically integrated throughout the logistics and production side of the grocery chain, while also operating the most stores. They got caught price fixing bread for almost 20 years, and they posted the highest quarterly revenue in decades after "adjusting for inflation". The government is talking about trying to more heavily regulate the industry but when there's only basically one guy doing it, he effectively tells you to go fuck yourself because you can't turn to anyone else.
Right now, for the month of May at least, we're actively boycotting their stores, which is quite difficult in a lot of remote regions. It's a good thing that it's springtime though, because farmers markets are opening up more frequently around town where I can get actual quality produce and goods from real people who produced it all themselves. I am with you 100% on wishing we were all market-based and not supermarket-based.
At the very least, we're trying to hit the corps in the wallet and see what happens. The CEO has actually been on record calling the boycott "misguided".
Even if boycotting supermarkets doesn't force them to change, you are at least helping local markets to survive and improve as an alternative. The only reason those markets still existed for you to turn to is because of the work and patronage of people who were there before you, and now you are also playing your part in keeping them alive for future consumers.
I saw the thoughtslime video on loblaws and they did one earlier on the telecom situation in Canada. It should be a warning on how bad things can get herr