New supermarket monopoly conspiracy theory

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Batman

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#2702183 5-May-2021 12:56

Fred99:

Every single item in the supermarket is set at the highest price the market will bear, even if the apples are going off.

Capitalism 101 - "leaving money on the table" is a crime ultimately punishable by business failure.
(Note I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just that it is what it is)

i follow prices of things. a good example is fuel prices - global fuel price goes up - instant price up at pump. global price crash - pump price the same, and the usual excuses when interviewed by media.

many years ago i was researching home insulation and got quotes for my house and i thought it would be a good idea to wait for the govt subsidy of $1800 to kick in. once the $1800 subsidy kicked in guess what - the average insulation price went up by $2000. all sorts of reasons were given.

pom532

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#2702186 5-May-2021 13:01

logo:

Fred99:

The Warehouse / TWG is still hanging in there in a half-hearted way after pulling back from grand plans. Can't say I've ever bought a "supermarket" item there myself, YMMV.

Their grocery range has expanded quite a bit of late and I find myself buying more and more.

The Warehouse regular prices can be quite competitive even against the supermarket "specials"

e.g.

$1 normal price

vs

$2.50 normal price but $1.50 on special maybe

Exactly. The Warehouse always has butter at $5. Their Tresemme shampoo was $6 normal price (looks like it just went up to $7) while Countdown was double. Although Countdown just had theirs on half price.

Remember that The Warehouse also price beat by 10%. You only need to find something 1 cent cheaper. Their staff are also less anal about checking the competitor's price as well (maybe to do with staff training compared with Bunnings etc).

Rikkitic

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#2702194 5-May-2021 13:14

Don't forget smaller packages/hidden price rises.

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MurrayM

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#2702809 6-May-2021 09:13

What annoys me is the price of basic dairy products (butter, cheese, etc). Whenever someone asks why we pay so much, in a country that produces all of this stuff, the answer from Fonterra invariably is "Because we have to charge the same price as the international price, we can't be lower than that". Why not?

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#2702814 6-May-2021 09:20

MurrayM:
What annoys me is the price of basic dairy products (butter, cheese, etc). Whenever someone asks why we pay so much, in a country that produces all of this stuff, the answer from Fonterra invariably is "Because we have to charge the same price as the international price, we can't be lower than that". Why not?

Except that international prices are lower

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#2702818 6-May-2021 09:28

Batman:
MurrayM:

What annoys me is the price of basic dairy products (butter, cheese, etc). Whenever someone asks why we pay so much, in a country that produces all of this stuff, the answer from Fonterra invariably is "Because we have to charge the same price as the international price, we can't be lower than that". Why not?

Except that international prices are lower

Are you paying $20 a kg for Anchor Mild cheddar? We are.

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#2702822 6-May-2021 09:35

Aren't you supposed to adapt to local food customs when you live overseas? Trying to maintain a New Zealand diet seems a bit like cultural chauvinism to me. Good on you if you can afford it, though. Do you have Bluff oysters flown in?

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Fred99

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#2702832 6-May-2021 10:08

Handle9:

Are you paying $20 a kg for Anchor Mild cheddar? We are.

$15.20 at Countdown, but there's often a "special".

*Is there a link to Fonterra actually saying that? I know it's been argued by various commentators that's how local pricing is set, but "the maximum price the market will bear" is still how it usually works.

Some of our trading partners subsidise the crap out of dairy products, the price the market will bear is lowered, so you take it or leave it. If you "leave it", you'll probably end up with a cheese mountain with a storage cost and shelf-life issue, you'd need to discount it to sell it to Mexico or wherever, then you'd have other cheese manufacturing nations accusing you of "price dumping" and face potential punitive actions that would probably increase the size of the cheese mountain.
If they don't take action, then farmers in those countries form convoys of tractors to siege the capital - and gain public support for their cause - despite the inconvenience.

In some countries (ie Australia) dairy products have been used as loss-leaders by supermarkets, so retail price comparisons aren't really a very useful thing when there are so many distortions caused by different things.

*edit to add, that if for example NZ exports product at lower cost than current domestic value (ie wholesale price in NZ), then we'd be sprung for "price dumping" in those markets if they have a domestic producer. I suspect the difference in pricing is due to retail margins - not differential wholesale pricing. Cheaper legs of lamb in UK supermarkets than NZ is probably entirely due to retail margins and scale of economy.

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#2702903 6-May-2021 13:19

Rikkitic:

Aren't you supposed to adapt to local food customs when you live overseas? Trying to maintain a New Zealand diet seems a bit like cultural chauvinism to me. Good on you if you can afford it, though. Do you have Bluff oysters flown in?

Aren't most of the Bluff oysters flown overseas for the export market anyway? Not really a great example.

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#2702967 6-May-2021 14:30

Handle9:

Are you paying $20 a kg for Anchor Mild cheddar? We are.

try $26

https://shop.countdown.co.nz/shop/productdetails?stockcode=226532

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#2702968 6-May-2021 14:33

Batman:
Handle9:

Are you paying $20 a kg for Anchor Mild cheddar? We are.

try $26

https://shop.countdown.co.nz/shop/productdetails?stockcode=226532

Cherry picking the smallest possible package size to try and justify an incorrect point is a nice try. It's been pointed out above the price is ~$15 a kg.

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#2702969 6-May-2021 14:34

Varkk:
Rikkitic:

Aren't you supposed to adapt to local food customs when you live overseas? Trying to maintain a New Zealand diet seems a bit like cultural chauvinism to me. Good on you if you can afford it, though. Do you have Bluff oysters flown in?

Aren't most of the Bluff oysters flown overseas for the export market anyway? Not really a great example.

Don't feed the troll.

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#2702999 6-May-2021 16:17

Varkk:

Aren't most of the Bluff oysters flown overseas for the export market anyway? Not really a great example.

No. Export is forbidden. Of course when you're in xxxx overseas, you'll be told that xxxx oysters are the finest in the world - by people who've never eaten "Bluff" oysters.

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#2703005 6-May-2021 16:24

Fred99:

Varkk:

Aren't most of the Bluff oysters flown overseas for the export market anyway? Not really a great example.

No. Export is forbidden. Of course when you're in xxxx overseas, you'll be told that xxxx oysters are the finest in the world - by people who've never eaten "Bluff" oysters.

Didn't that get revoked?

Fred99

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#2703166 7-May-2021 08:42

Handle9:

Didn't that get revoked?

Crazy how hard it is to find out. I don't know. I think it was proposed to remove the export ban - because of "free market" ideology, but maybe that proposal was sabotaged by bonamia.

NZ exports pacific oysters.

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