More Shenanigans by not-so-super markets

Look down below this post for the “related post” links, it seems that supermarkets (such as ColesWorth, perhaps not so much others) will always be twisty conniving cheating bastards selling you a $3 block of cheese for $12 and saying they have no control over increasing supplier prices while also stashing away another large profit.

When is a pea not a pea?

Trick question. They’re all peas. But only peas grown here are “Australian grown.” Coles say they sell Australian grown peas but they also sell other brands that aren’t Australian grown. And they’re cheaper. And the reason they’re cheaper is because Coles is making obscene profits on the Australian grown varieties.

The fidgetty bit that Coles are doing the dirty on us with is that some of the cheaper brands are wholly owned by Coles. As the article finds, “… supermarkets still get a cut, even as consumers turn to cheaper options …” Seriously, can I get a “FY” for these bastards?

Here’s one cartoonist’s take.

That’s bastardry in my books. But there’s more: “Despite its decision to source its frozen peas offshore, Coles said ‘it’s committed to sourcing Australian grown vegetables as part of its frozen range…’“

That’s one bald-faced lie after another, one deception heaped on another. Coles are Bastards. They have no intention to commit to Australian grown as they’ve so amply demonstrated.

The sadness about this is that Coles are using overseas produce to rob the farmers of income, are not lowering prices in consideration of the cheap produce coming from overseas so they’re screwing both ends of the chain and raking it in hand over fist.

The worse thing is that Australia’s economy suffers because of Coles’ action, with the money – that should have gone back into the economy via those farmers – going offshore. The farmers will be placed in an untenable situation and have to accept even lower prices. The supermarkets will be creating another economic disaster.

This is what a duopoly of thirty or forty years does. We should be eating Australian peas at the price they were ten years ago and Coles would still be well in the black. But greed – and particularly shareholder greed – is robbing us blind.

The pity is that we’ve let them get away with it for decades and we’ve let our government get away with it as well and now we’re screwed. It is going to take effort – real effort, a great deal of effort – to make a dent in the situation. Civil disobedience is becoming an option, because if food and housing become unaffordable and wages don’t rise to bring them back into the affordable range – then what would we have to lose?

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