Customers protest after Loblaws demands ID before sending $25 gift card for bread price fixing | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Wayno, your link doesn't work for me, try this one:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/busines.....-1.4569422

11 people who found sending a copy of a utility bill to verify their address an invasion of privacy contacted CBC and CBC runs with it and tries to stoke the usual Canadian "outrage" at nothing. To me, fake news.

"Loblaws said only a small number of applicants are getting this request and didn't specify who's being targeted."  

I received this request.
I wrote my name as "Winnie Pooh" and now Loblaws wants to verify Pooh's address.

For what it is worth, I received said email this morning. I replied with a 'stuff it' response on the basis that if they cannot figure out my residential address credentials from my very active PC Points (now PC Optimum) card, then there is no hope for their competence.

Whoa, whoa, there might be something to this story after all - just checked and my wife and I each got the email asking to verify our address!

Bill said
mmit, you say Loblaws stole from Canadians. Please explain that to me, I don't understand. If Loblaws conspired to keep the price of bread artificially high, then doesn't that mean that Canadians continued to freely buy that expensive bread at the same time they had the option to buy bread from other grocers who were selling at unfixed, lower prices?  

Not only Loblaws. Sobeys, Walmart, Canada bread, Weston, and Save on foods implicated. This travesty did not start last week its been going on for years. I call it theft.
By the definition of price fixing it would be hard to find cheaper bread unless you had a local, independant bakery that didn't mind selling cheaper than the chains.

Smaller grocery stores buying bread from Weston and Canada bread would not be getting the same deal as those involved in the fixing making it difficult to compete price wise as I understand it.

Don't most shoppers buy the in-house baked bread, i.e. the breads baked right no premises? Why buy pre-packaged bread that came from who knows where? There are many fresh baked alternatives in the various supermarkets.

Loblaws admitted it, and is making some kind of voluntary restitution. They wouldn't be admitting it if they didn't do it, surely.

None of the others admitted it as far as I know. However, you can't have a conspiracy all by yourself.

When prices are about the same everywhere, as they often are in the full-price grocery stores, "choice" doesn't mean much. You are choosing the store that is more convenient, has better parking, looks cleaner, or where you prefer their reward programme, etc.

Obviously most people don't necessarily buy "fresh baked" bread in these stores. Some of the packaged bread may be better quality, depending on your criteria and the specific product. Further, the "fresh baked" loaves are often not securely wrapped. If it comes from the factory in a package, it's less likely to have had someone's fingers on it.

Bill said
Whoa, whoa, there might be something to this story after all - just checked and my wife and I each got the email asking to verify our address!  

Wha!? Sorry...I nearly spewed my morning coffee when I read that post, Bill. So now that you and your wife received ID confirmation requests, there might be something to it!?

For the record, I think Loblaw's actions here are reprehensible on several fronts on a number of reasons, perhaps too many to list.

For starters, Loblaw Companies and George Weston, controlled by Galen Weston, admitted to bread price fixing to avoid corporate and, possibly, director criminal liability then proceeded to smear its competitors, including Sobeys, which has almost no bread baking operations (it's primarily a grocery store operator). The fact is, George Weston is literally the dominant player in the bread baking business in Canada, far more than its next closest rival, Canada Bread Company, which is now controlled by, I'm not kidding here, Grupo Bimbo S.A. of Mexico, following its sale several years ago by McCain Foods. Sobeys and Pattison's grocery stores do some bread baking, but they're far behind.

As as a result, Galen Weston, Loblaw Companies and George Weston did this because, frankly, he couldn't stomach the idea of going to a federal prison. He's an attractive, photogenic, seemingly affable character who I'm sure would be "well loved" in a Canadian federal penitentiary.

They say that customers can sign up for a $25 Loblaw gift card without sacrificing their legal right to participation in any class action lawsuits, surrendering only $25 of potential compensation, but that's not been tested in court.

They are, quite likely, doing soft credit checks here for the Loblaw gift cards to try and "root out potential fraud," but the efficacy of that is debateable. Loblaw should've just allocated a larger amount to their writeoff and "baked in" (pardon the pun; it seemed appropriate here) the costs of fraud better. Names like "Winnie Pooh" obviously should be rooted out, but what's saying there's not 8 different people living at a residential address, and why are those under 18 not included if the parent or guardian will authorize their agreeing to the application? They could've bought bread, too.

I used to hate Wal-Mart Canada, but I have to say, I'm liking them more and more. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug

I will stand corrected on Loblaw and Weston being companies that appear to have colluded with each other but they are corporately intertwined. According to wikipedia, Weston is the "parent company" of Loblaw.

While I'm sure Galen Jr wished to avoid Conrad Black's fate, he may have also gotten some clear guidance from his parents. Let's not forget that his mom was Lt-Gov of Ontario not so long ago. Always the epitome of fashion and all the elegance money can buy, I'm sure she would not have wanted to grace the courthouse steps to support her family.