Safeway warned branded food markers to lower price

[moribundman]

 Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

I think anything made in Europe that's imported here at a discount is to hide prohibited products inside them. They're importing butter and milk ..which our ag sector effectively blocks from entering. It's a way to vent a surplus. Our pharmaceutical manufacturers do the same ..except they don't have to hide the ingredients. They pay the bills at home ..and dump the surplus at a discount out of country.

The following applies to much of Europe, but specifically Germany: Underproduction of agricultural products in the 1950s led to government subsidies that guaranteed farmers and ranchers a fixed price for their products. These subsidies led to an overproduction of grains, dairy products, and meat products. By the late '70s, production exceeded demand. That led to deteriorating prices in the free market, while the government bought the excess -- hence the creation of the so called "butter mountain," "meat mountain," and "milk lake." Much of the excess production had to be continually destroyed). By 2007 the stored excess production could be completely reduced due to increased demand and exports. Those increased exports have lately caused in turn an increase of prices of basic foods such as dairy products.

 

[Cutehumor]

 Originally Posted By: ravenchris

Every purchase is a vote...

What's wrong with buying groceries at walmart? I'm pretty much assuming all the food there is made in U.S.A. milk, eggs, meat, soda, etc

 

[PandaBear]

 Originally Posted By: Cutehumor

What's wrong with buying groceries at walmart? I'm pretty much assuming all the food there is made in U.S.A. milk, eggs, meat, soda, etc

I'll tell you what's wrong: they don't sell fresh produce here, so I have to stop somewhere else to get those, so why should I make a special stop at Walmart for milk, eggs, meat, etc? Soda is not a grocery.

 

[moribundman]

 Originally Posted By: PandaBear

Soda is not a grocery.

Groceries include any kind of food stuff and drink as well as common household supplies.

 

[peterdaniel]

geez, get real people... I know for a fact that the majority of store branded items are made by the same people that make the stuff we all know and like. Did you really think there is someone that makes Toast e o's? Of course not... its made by the same folks that make Cheerio's. Good business sense. Some people will never buy premium brands while others would never buy generic. Its also a good way to maximize efficiency at the plant.

 

[PandaBear]

 Originally Posted By: peterdaniel

geez, get real people... I know for a fact that the majority of store branded items are made by the same people that make the stuff we all know and like. Did you really think there is someone that makes Toast e o's? Of course not... its made by the same folks that make Cheerio's. Good business sense. Some people will never buy premium brands while others would never buy generic. Its also a good way to maximize efficiency at the plant.

Yes and no, some store brand food are made by the same company to the same standard as the premium brand (Safeway Select), but others (Safeway regular) are made in generic factory or in their own plant, that really taste different. It is a hit or miss and your taste buds could tell the difference in many cases.

 

[Gary Allan]

Many are the same thing ..or off grade ..or custom spec'd. Most outfits run 24/7 until they idle the plant (if needed). If demand for the high $$$ stuff is met, they may continue to produce the same product, do intermediate process changes ..or any number of swaps/label changes. Some outfit like Aldi probably buys ONLY surplus capacity.

 

[MNgopher]

In some cases, yes, it is the same factory, but in many cases, no it is not the same factory. For example, nearby to me is one of the major "off brand" manufacturers of bagged cereal - Malt O Meal. Their Honey Nut Scooters are the "off brand" Honey Nut Cheerios - and usually waaaaayy cheaper and taste pretty good too. Be careful though, lately we've been noticing the "house" brand isn't always the cheapest - watch for those sales and buy accordingly!

 

[PandaBear]

Very true, IMO the typical price of a house brand is about 50c to $1 cheaper than the regular. When not on sale they are both rip offs. When on sale they are about the same price. $2/box

 

[tom slick]

One of the reasons you see a price difference between Walmart, Trader Joe's, and regular supermarkets is the way the retail space is managed. Walmart and Trader Joe's purchase and resell the products on their shelves. By paying for products up front (store brands included) they get a price break because they are shouldering all of the overhead costs. Almost all other supermarkets lease their shelving space to the product distributors. That's why you see the Budweiser guy stocking the beer, Sara Lee guy stocking bread, etc in a chain supermarket. There are companies in the sole business of generic/store brand food. Also, even if the product is made by a name brand it can be made of cheaper ingredients. I sometimes find a store brand tastes better than the name brand sitting next to it.

 

[nthach]

 Originally Posted By: mstrjon32

 Originally Posted By: lewdwig

Aldi or Sav-A-Lot.

Aldi??? Blech, I'll have a Crab Juice.

Aldi has a stake in Trader Joe's if that makes you feel better. I've always preferred Safeway over Albertson's but since Lucky came back it's a moot point. I still prefer Costco or Trader Joe's though. I won't step foot into FoodMaxx/Food 4 Less or any "warehouse" supermarket. Makes the redneck/ghetto trash in me come out.

 

[moribundman]

 Originally Posted By: nthach

Aldi has a stake in Trader Joe's

That's not quite right. Theo Albrecht, one of the 20 richest people on the planet, owns Trader Joe's and his brother Karl owns the Aldi stores in the US.

 

[Shannow]

Special K...with chocolate ? You've got to be joking.

 

[Gary Allan]

Does kinda defeat the purpose of an alleged lean and trim cereal, doesn't it

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

 Originally Posted By: Shannow

Special K...with chocolate ? You've got to be joking.

No joke. We tried those a couple weeks ago. In theory, it's good, however they didn't execute the idea quite right. The little chocolate flakes fall to the bottom of the bowl, making for a chocolate & milk few last bites. The chocolate tastes better mixed in with the Special K flakes. Alas, we buy generic nearly all the time. Total, my favorite cereal, is wildly priced at over $4/box. The generic from Kroger or Kmart is nearly always $1.75/box. Tastes the same. The Kroger product uses HFCS, the WM product uses sugar. Target has generic cereal that we like at a fraction of the name-brand price.

 

[PandaBear]

 Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn

Total, my favorite cereal, is wildly priced at over $4/box.

Not sure about in TN but every cereal here goes on sale once in a few months for $2 to $2.5 a box, and we stock up. The only ones that doesn't go on sales are the snob cereals with exotic ingredients, all natural, organic, and what not. They are not volume movers anyways and can keep them all to themselves. In CA, there are enough impatient customers that want things NOW, and patient customers like me always have a cabinet full of premium brand cereals and generic cereals (only those who taste good) that we like at <$2.5 per box. They tried those $4-5 prices here, didn't work too well.

 

[Gary Allan]

I was hoping that we would be reduced to buying ONLY sale items in bulk as they appeared. We never quite made it though. What I've tried to get my wife to figure out (it's harder than you can imagine) is to buy in advance of need. She can't handle any concepts of "cost averaging" in anything. It's always shoot from the hip. I don't like to do without. I know that we go through tons of tuna over the summer. She wonders why I grab a can or two whenever I find it on sale all year round. Same with stuff like mayo. I have to petition to have a full one sitting on standby. I've been trying to operate in a PID loop with a perfect proportional band/interval/duration ....and she has been my wild card process variable.

 

[moribundman]

 Originally Posted By: Shannow

Special K...with chocolate ? You've got to be joking.

They stole that idea from Nestlé Chocolait Chips, which are a snack and not a cereal. Those are also conflakes, though in a different shape, covered in chocolate. Not available in the USA... picture

 

[Gary Allan]

The image on the box looks like chocolate covered caterpillars.

 

[PandaBear]

 Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

I was hoping that we would be reduced to buying ONLY sale items in bulk as they appeared. We never quite made it though. What I've tried to get my wife to figure out (it's harder than you can imagine) is to buy in advance of need. She can't handle any concepts of "cost averaging" in anything. It's always shoot from the hip. I don't like to do without. I know that we go through tons of tuna over the summer. She wonders why I grab a can or two whenever I find it on sale all year round. Same with stuff like mayo. I have to petition to have a full one sitting on standby. I've been trying to operate in a PID loop with a perfect proportional band/interval/duration ....and she has been my wild card process variable.

I'm fortunate that my wife got addicted with my bargain hunting and is not even more aggressive than me, plus we stock pile on sales items to a point that almost no one can make a great deal of money from us over cost.

 Originally Posted By: Gary Allan

The image on the box looks like chocolate covered caterpillars.

Sounds delicious.