Inflation
Posted by: marty
31st May 2024 10:30am
With supermarkets cashing in on their profits and very little action by the government to stop these two large companies from coulooding we the public are paying the price. As a disabled pensioner who has been bleeding internally for 12 months now and they still haven’t found where yet and I’ve been diagnosed with Metastatic Prostrate Cancer which has increased my medical bills on top of the inflation has caused me to use my small savings to keep my head above water. I don’t want any sympathy for my health issues it would just be good to get pricing on both of these down to a manageable level.
Kind regards.
Martin.
Kind regards.
Martin.
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Comments 1
jtmorri
All manufactures will tell you that their costs have increased which gets passed along the supply chain to retail for profit businesses and ends up being passed onto consumers.
Yes, I agree that the supermarkets are price gouging for sure. For example, the farmers are having to sell livestock at a lower price as the land can't support them (drought) but the prices in the supermarkets aren't lower. Some products haven't been able to be supplied to the supermarkets due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict causing disruption to supply chains and some crops failed cacoa and coffee. One major issue Woolies didn't manage well was they introduced a new warehousing system and it failed which meant they couldn't distribute from the warehouses.
However, overall, they have continued to increase their prices and blamed freight costs. That is down to their business model where they buy many products from overseas countries (you see it in fresh fruit and vegies, tinned vegetables, frozen fruit and vegetables to name a few). If they bought local and supplied local, then these costs wouldn't be applicable. It is a reason I don't buy from either of them. I shop at a local supermarket who support local business.
The manufacturing/supply chain costs is the argument used by business here too. I see another major issue - The medication and medical expenses being down to the greedy pharmaceutical companies and the Doctors charging high hourly rates, especially specialists and surgeons (I am sure GP's and specialists make enough money for their 15 minutes poor consultations). It would be better if Medicare and the PBS worked better for everyone, and you didn't have to spend over a certain amount in a year before you receive more discount. A pensioner, health care card holder etc would possibly get a better deal. I doubt having private health insurance would help overall, so the cheapest way would be in the public health system (I'm not up to date with all the detail around medication and medical expenses and who qualifies for discounts).
Unfortunately, once prices increases, they don't generally go down again even when economic conditions stabilise. It comes down to greed and screwing over the little guy.