SHOPPERS have added another demand to their list of changes they want grocer Loblaws to institute ahead of a planned boycott of the national chain next month.
Customers began organizing a boycott at Loblaws a few months ago to confront high prices and increased safety measures at the supermarket company with thousands of stores across Canada.
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The rumors started when a customer posted a Reddit wire describing his complaints about the supermarket titled “Loblaws is out of control, but why does everyone still shop at Loblaws?”
As more and more dissatisfied shoppers left reviews, people soon began calling for a total boycott of Loblaws for the entire month of May.
Protesters wanted the store to reduce food prices by an average of 15% and eliminate member-only prices.
“It’s getting ridiculous to just be able to live,” Kelsey Netherlandsa longtime Ontario-based Loblaws buyer told Canadian national broadcaster TVC News.
Read more about inflation
One 2022 report from the Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analysis Laboratory found evidence supporting some of the petitioners’ claims about Loblaws’ profitability.
The grocer’s gross profit for the first half of 2022 surpassed the previous record by $180 million, earning the equivalent of $1 million more per day, according to Forbes.
Another shopper named Noreen Campbell also complained about Loblaws’ prices and was pessimistic about things getting better.
“I think the government has to do something about this,” she said.
“I don’t know how people are feeding their children or themselves. I mean, I got a small bag today, that’s all I can afford.”
A NEW PROBLEM
Now, dissatisfied Loblaws customers are taking their demands a step further, asking Loblaws to stop using receipt checkers in its stores.
More than 6,000 people have already signed a new shopper petition calling on the store to immediately change its receipt checking policy.
“New scanners that prevent shoppers from leaving unless they scan a receipt are creating confusion, bottlenecks and an unwarranted sense of embarrassment for Loblaws customers,” the petition said.
The petition goes on to say that the policy is particularly offensive given Loblaws executives’ higher profit margins in recent years.
“Loblaw executives have more than doubled their profits since the pandemic – while increasing food prices by 22.5% since 2020,” the petitioners wrote.
“Instead of increasing customer surveillance, Loblaws executives are the ones who deserve to be in the spotlight.”
Protesters wrote that reaching the goal of at least 9,000 in the petition will put necessary pressure on store leadership to change their policies.
“But if thousands of us flood your inbox, we could increase pressure to revoke the receipt verification policy and send a message that Canadians expect Loblaw to deliver on a higher priority: affordable food prices,” they wrote.
Latest self-checkout changes
Retailers are evolving their self-checkout strategy in an effort to speed checkout times and reduce theft.
Walmart shoppers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at several locations were made available only to Walmart+ members.
Other customers reported that self-checkout was closed at specific times and more cashiers were offered in its place.
While shoppers feared that shoplifting would fuel the updates, a Walmart spokesperson revealed that store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.
One bizarre experiment included an RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would thwart fiercely contested receipt checks.
However, this test has been discontinued.
At Target, items are being limited in auto-checkout.
Last fall, the brand researched new express self-checkout lanes in 200 stores with 10 items or less for added convenience.
In March 2024, this policy was expanded to 2,000 stores in the US.
UNAFFORDABLE FOOD PRICES
Although economic inflation has been cooling in the US, the overall cost of food compared to pre-COVID-19 levels in 2020 or earlier shows a stark contrast.
The wholesale cost of food increased by 22% between January 2020 and January 2024, according to government report Producer Price Index for commodity foods.
Even worse, the cost of food in restaurants increased by 26% over the same period.
Fast food, specifically, was hit hard: its average prices rose 30%.
In Canada, food cost inflation has also been a serious problem since the pandemic and recently the subject of congressional hearings with market leaders.
Loblaw President Galen Weston Jr. refuted accusations of profit-making at the company at a recent congressional hearing and said the grocer’s profit margins remain small at about 4%.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
