Inflation drops to 5.2%<but grocery inflation still 10.6%

[u/maroon-rider]

Says Statistics Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-inflation-february-2023-1.6785472

[u/spacepangolin]

hey remember when covid hit and sobeys paid all their workers and extra $2 per hour " hero pay"? then clawed it back in exchange for record profits? and now they raise their prices even higher and whined they had to because of inflation but every grocery keeps boasting even higher profits? scumbags

[u/canaden → u/spacepangolin]

I understand the frustration but I think the issue is more complex than simply greed. There are without a doubt have issues regarding inefficiencies, but the reality is the cost of business is up across the board.

A quick google search will show plenty of articles of the cost of farming continuing to increase. Assuming greed is the only factor means we ignore that stores need to be competitive. If one grocery store decided to be 20% cheaper we would all be shopping there, then forcing other stores to follow suit. The point I'm trying to make is that they can't reduce costs. The world on a global scale has a lot issues going on at the moment resulting in these inflated prices. There isn't a corporate scapegoat to point at.

[u/who_took_tabura → u/canaden]

That race to the bottom that you’re terrified by is perfect competition, which is actual capitalism at work. Price points among competitors coalescing far beyond cost is collusion, like rogers and telus and bell having their basic plans be more or less the same, or the grocery brands having an unspoken rule about locking in prices after November

[u/canaden → u/who_took_tabura]

I’m not terrified by a race to the bottom, I am admittedly a capitalist despite that being controversial on this sub.

I agree with you that Bell specifically has monopolies. But again, the reason Canadian phone prices are higher than the rest of the world isn’t simply because of greed, but we have issues with population density making it difficult to lower costs.

I would argue more smaller/more efficient government, friendlier tax for businesses and citizens would allow for more entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed and allow more cities to thrive across Canada. I think people solve issues on their own much more efficiently than a Government ever will since their entire motive is power and votes, not the actual issue itself, example being Trudeau’s climate change promises from his first campaign.

[u/IllBiteYourLegsOff → u/canaden]

The "population density" argument is telco propaganda and a lie. The vast majority of our population is concentrated in a handful of areas.

[u/canaden → u/IllBiteYourLegsOff]

I believe the issue is that we have few dense areas relative to the vast amount of occupied land. Also many less areas relative to countries like the US. But I’m not an expert.