Submitted 20 hours ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to workreform@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/8b8cda89-8f3a-4a74-87fd-43d7951163a4.jpeg
UK supermarkets have started to compete on selling veg for almost nothing just before Christmas.
And I really mean almost nothing. Went into Aldi and got over 10kg of various vegetables for like £0.20
Probably a loss leader but I bought that and nothing else like 5 times. Still got a couple jars left that I pickled.
Jealous! I’d do so much canning and preserving!
Maybe it was a loss leader to get me buying loads of vinegar. Not that vinegar is overly expensive though.
I also did a little bit of lactofermenting which is cheaper. One of the jars leaked and the brine bubbled over the metal clips causing it to corrode and snap which is a shame. And to buy just that part costs almost as much as an entire jar when I last looked. Did leave some head space but I guess not enough. Or there was brine around the rim already and the bubbling pushed some out.
Maybe worth checking if I can get a bunch of clips for a more reasonable price
The war prevented critical fertilizer from being delivered. The crop yield will be lacking and food costs will increase, not decrease. Trump is very good at destroying.
Oh and don’t forget that sweet sweet Canadian potash the american people will now be missing.
Issue is that entertainment and electronics are getting easier to produce. Food does not. And the free market is coming for you.
A lot of it is actually data collection (mass spying and surveillance) being used to harvest and sell vast quantities of data… and that subsidizes the price of the device.
Basically, if we make the devices cheaper and spy on every customers, it becomes more profitable to sell at a loss to get more customers to spy on.
If they could spy on your eating habbits with food
They kind of do this with your “rewards card” or “club card” though.
Maybe. But the tech is getting cheaper to produce. Monitors are very cheap, and they aren’t part of this business model.
That’s not really the only thing going on in tech. Sure TVs are a very competitive market where that is being done in part. But a vast majority of the price cut must be attributed to technological advancement.
Production difficulties are less impactful on the price than post-purchase monetization. Which is a fancy way of saying “they collect watching behavior and other metadata that the device can detect (WiFi/bluetooth devices in your house, for instance), send it back to their servers, and sell it”.
Production difficulties are extremely important to the price. 10 years ago displays were much small not for lack of ads, but because semiconductor manufacturing changed. You used to be unable to produce them in that size and error rate.
Considering the entire production chain, from mining and extractivism, to engineering, design, manufacturing, logistics, etc, I strongly believe that it’s only possible through a strong exploitation and asymmetrical relationships between countries in many ways. Also, electronics are only cheaper than groceries in very few countries
My local Sprouts occasionally puts old or discontinued products for 99 cents and I end up feeling like it’s a fucking holiday. Like, fuck yeah I’ll take these discontinued lemon and poppy seed cookies no one wanted.
I think they have an anti waste policy, cause those sales get real heavy sometimes.
A small recompense for the huge prices they charge the rest of the time!
Seriously… It’s so randomly priced, lol. $13 soup? 25 cent bell pepper? $40 herbal supplement?
But I will defend their $4.50 milk, everyone caught up on prices anyway but I swear it tastes better. Same with the $4 eggs that… At one point during the eggdemic, was the cheapest eggs on market. They didn’t even raise their price, they just have different suppliers than Target next door selling shit eggs for $8 a dozen. Lol
I bet those ‘sale’ prices are what the actual sale price should be before the corruption and collusion taxes are applied
I mean, yes and no, there are transport costs and stuff, plus you have operational costs. But they definitely mark up prices by a lot, especially things made in house like their cookies and muffins. Muffins start at $6, they get a mark down to $4 after a day, and probably more but they usually sell at $4. If you consider labor prices, energy cost, and ingredients, that day-old price is still pretty profitable.
You want corruption though, I’m glad Albertsons didn’t get the merger with Kroger/Ralph’s. They already do piss poor quality at high prices for no reason, but I’m also certain they’ve tried to bribe their way into that merger.
They’re hoping that if you watch the circus hard enough through the big electric circus window in your home, you’ll forget that you don’t have any bread.
In Canada I saw Black Friday in July ads. Which is really weird considering we don’t celebrate Black Friday. We have Boxing Day instead.
Celebrate is an odd word choice but it’s definitely a thing here.
Black Friday has been a thing in Canada for well over a decade at this point. It’s never been as crazy as in the States, but it’s been around for sure.
Some American companies announce it and put things 10% off. It’s still not a thing.
The day after thanksgiving is not the best time for grocery sales as people haven’t even finished their leftovers yet.
But Black Friday’s in November.
Black Friday is a scam anyways. Just use money on food. Problem solved
Food shortages are expected starting in winter or spring and persisting likely for a few years minimum. Maybe just buy shelf stable food.
How much of it though, and what is likely with shortages?
Not like we can store a year of food.
owl@infosec.pub 56 minutes ago
“Your biggest fan, this is Stan.”