How can they be doing so well when we’re doing it so tough?
The other day I watched someone put their groceries back. They were at the checkout anxiously watching the tally. I know that feeling. It’s something I’ve done many times in the past. Especially when I was a single mother. It’s humiliating. Having to declare your financial strain by returning items until the number on the screen matches the numbers in your account. In public. Under pressure. Usually with screaming kids hanging off your trolley.
There are no sneaky chockies or delicious treats for many people in this country. For many there aren’t even the basics. The cost of living crisis means some people are struggling to pay for the essentials. It’s going to be a very lean Xmas for many Australians whose lives don’t look like the shiny insta ads.
The big supermarkets make me angry.
They are raking it in. In fact, while single mums have to decide between toilet paper and bread, and settling for bread that tastes like toilet paper – business is booming. The profits of the big two are through the roof.
This year Woolworths posted a whopping $1.62 billion annual profit with Coles coming in at around $1.1billion.
How can they be doing so well when we’re doing it so tough?
Apparently, according to the PR spin, this is directly related to global inflation. Supply issues. Post pandemic blah blah. Well if according to the ABS, annual food inflation is sitting at 7.5%, why have dairy products risen by 15.2% in the last 12 months? Bread is coming in a close second at 11.2%?
The increase in price is significantly more than inflation.
Could this be corporate opportunism? A little bit of grinchy gouging?
The issue for many is that we don’t have much choice. Especially in regional areas where the duopolies have little to no competition.
A recent news story had a jar of Vegemite going for almost $10. It was a big jar, but it’s vegemite. Not caviar.
The average spend for groceries for a family of four is around $336 per week. That’s not even a full trolley. There is strong wage growth, but it’s just not keeping up with prices. According to an article from The Guardian earlier this year, wages have risen only half the speed of prices. You don’t have to be a maths genius to know that it doesn’t add up.
Apparently, we’ve started stealing. Ironic, because that’s how most non-Indigenous Australians arrived here. As convicts convicted of stealing bread. Talk about full circle. Here we go again. While supermarkets are bitching about stock loss of up to 2-3 % – somehow they are still making massive profits.
Maybe forget about installing more surveillance to track desperate people, just dial back the cost of cheese and milk. It’s cheaper and it’s more humane.
And frankly, if you get people to do an impromptu shift on the self-checkout – expect a loss. Big supermarkets are basically getting us to do their work for free. And cutting out the employment of attendants. Stop bitching about losing an onion or two.
My view is, if you self-checkout then you should be given a 10% discount.
Bring on the parliamentary inquiry into price gouging. And maybe instead of criminalising the poor we can point the cameras where we really need the surveillance – on corporations.
– Mandy Nolan
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
