Federal Budget 2023 | Page 3 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Galen can't control food prices, what some people expect is that he take some money out of his and shareholders' pockets to subsidize our food costs.

Just the usual politics of envy to target one rich guy. But to me the modern grocery store (along with hospitals) sits right at the top of our civilization's miracles that benefit the 99% and I can't believe how cheap it is for me to get other people (farmers all over the world, processors, commercial shippers on land, sea and air, grocery store employees, etc) to bring me my daily sustenance. For my whole life now. Hunting's way harder, and much worse food selection. So I'm happy to pay everybody involved well, I say.

Bill said
Galen can't control food prices, what some people expect is that he take some money out of his and shareholders' pockets to subsidize our food costs.

Just the usual politics of envy to target one rich guy. …

I agree. That's all it is.

People's basket of groceries goes from $100 to $110 and people are blasting Galen and Loblaws for now profiting on the basket at $4.40 instead of $4.

They are even making even sillier suggestions that maybe Loblaws should reduce its profit to the original $4. As if that $0.40 of the $10 increase is what is causing their affordability issues!

That's right. Our factory's widgets are now $80 each instead of $40 because of supply chain costs. I'll just tell the sales reps that I'm cutting their commission rate from 25% to 12.5% because they shouldn't be making that much more this year.

Why are we even challenging price variability? If they got the price/service combination wrong then they will suffer.

agit said
"the 4% margin"

You will be the judge

Last Week Country Harvest bread price

Nofrills $2.77
RCSS $4.49

This week

Shoppers 2 for $7.00
RCSS 2 for $8.98

Giant Tiger 2 for $5.94  

The No Frills $2.77 was indeed last week's sale. No Frills is actually usually more expensive than Loblaws on Country Harvest as is the case this week ...

No Frills $4.49 each.

Loblaws $4.49 each, $4.00 each for 2 or more.

savemoresaveoften said

yet most hate banks ??  

Because they're banks. We need banks and since they make money many hate them.

We need supermarkets and since they make money many hate them.

How dare my essential service/product suppliers profit from ME?

Makes no sense to me but that's the Me Me world nowadays!

Galen & Cos have stated that their grocery profits are flat, but that they are doing better on drug and other business ventures. But he's not mentioning that their gross margins ignore the kickbacks they get from manufacturers and distributors for carrying or promoting products.

They get kickbacks for how much shelf space a product gets, whether they get a special promotion, an "end cap" at the end of an aisle, how high their shelf space is, and many other charges I for one don't know about. Actual "loss leaders" are not really part of our food market system these days - the sales are paid for by subsidies from suppliers.

Beyond that, there is no sense in any merchant to continually eat all of the increased costs and see their already-thin margins whittled away to zero. By then they'd have no investors left anyway, and no business.

The "grocery rebate" is indeed a silly name for the same GST rebate boost we saw last year. And there is no dental plan - there wasn't time to set it up or even plan it! At the moment, the "dental plan" is:

/www.savvynewcanadians.com/canada-dental-benefit/

From that source:

You can only claim benefits for children under the age of 12 who do not have access to a private dental insurance plan and are a recipient of the Canada Child Benefit (CCB).

Lastly, you can claim the Canada Dental Benefit for dental service costs incurred during these two benefit payment periods:

October 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023
July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024

For THIS year, it will be based on dental billing for kids under 12 with about a $650 maximum for the lowest-income families The plan will be set up later, planning to assist seniors and kids under 18 within the next two years - like, probably after federal elections.

The explicit reality is that both these programs (dental and grocery) are NOT based on policy, but on the NDP's need for some quick wins to campaign on. Policy will have to come later.

Not that we aren't glad to have them, but they certainly won't bring Canada into the club of nations with full dental care. The costs are shockingly high - and dentists are already boosting prices and dropping kid/senior discounts in an attempt to recoup losses during COVID-19 panic.

FOOD STAMPS: The US experience with them is overwhelmingly positive. Yes, there were a very few people who sold their stamps at a discount to buy booze, cigs or drugs, but that was almost entirely eliminated by the Electronic Benefit Card sysem used now. EBC benefits don't judge their users - if they want to skimp on other stuff, they can have lobster for their grandma's 100th birthday.

It was the famous "Hunger in America" broadcast that got food stamps going, and the program is a constant target of Repiblicans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/h.....ed-america

The increase in taxation on cross-corporate Dividends is welcome in my book. Concentration of ownership and anti-competitive practices are a real threat to us all. Banks, like lawyers, are largely able to write their own rules to their own benefit. For banks, that is the price of a safe, stable banking system. Why we let lawyers get away with their fat cushions - and so many of them disregarding their duty to their clients - is harder for me to accept.

The increase in carbon-based taxes is a long-established policy, its level long priced into everyone's calculation. At least (in BC) it's no longer just money taken from the poor (a consumption tax) and given to the rich (income tax reductions). Some of it now goes into actual emissions reduction support.
RetirEd

savemoresaveoften said

Changing banks may take more work initially, but once done, years of benefit so to speak. Also with digital banking, I don’t see it being hard….

It is not hard. In reality, most people don't want to switch. The banks know that.

The big banks know how to serve their target client base well and know not to waste effort trying to serve those who aren't their target.

Willing to pay around $10/month for banking? All the big banks have packages that provide just that.

Want banking for $0/month? The big banks rather you go to another provider.

There is a reason why people continue to pay their $4, $11.95, $16.95, or $30 per month for a RBC Royal Bank chequing account, for example, when others, like Simplii Financial, offer one for free.

But yes I certainly hope our govt won’t provide liquidity to grocery stores.

The government should actually. The federal government made billions of dollars from the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program around 2008 by offering to buy insured mortgages from the banks at a discount!

Just make sure the grocery stores are charged a premium for the support as well.