I know it sounds crazy – on one level, at least. We’re all hyper-aware of the rising price of food, price fixing and gouging. So it’s not all that hard to believe food prices have shot up far faster than inflation. But the exact same order tripling in price in just 2 years?
I was at first flabbergasted… But soon after, I found myself taking the story more seriously. An X user modestly (not) who calls himself @internet hall of fame decided to conduct an empirical experiment to determine just how much his average grocery shop has risen in price since 2022.
The ugly truth
Webster’s Dictionary says ’empirical’ means, “originating in or based on observation or experience.” Observed. Factual. Verifiable. Firsthand. Real. Indisputable.
“I found this Walmart order from two years ago, for the whole month’s worth of groceries,” HoF ex-plained. It was his own order, which the store’s IT system had conveniently archived. He also noticed, for the first time, the ‘REORDER’ button on the Walmart shopping page. So, on a whim, he decided to see how much the order had increased in price. And hit the button.
‘Flabbergasted’
He was ‘flabbergasted’ by the result.
HoF reports the original, 2022 order totaled $126.67 with free delivery. The exact same order, if pur-chased this past week, would have cost him $414.39. Needless to say, he cancelled the new order. InternetHOF’s grocery order more than tripled in price over the past two years.
The inflation story
The official cost of living index rose 16.0 percent between 2022 and 2024 in Canada. In the US, it rose 12.9 percent. Those are official government figures.
Canadian food prices, on their own, are expected to rise by as much as 20.7 percent by the end of this year, over the level they were at in January, 2022. In the US, food prices are officially expected to in-crease similarly.
So why have food prices soared to previously unimaginable heights?
Many reasons..
There are probably many reasons – including shrinkflation, raw ingredient price increases from the producers to the manufacturers/packagers, manufacturer price increases to the retailers… Maybe even increases in profit margins tacked on by retailers.
Loblaw’s reported a 10 percent increase in its profits for the first three months of this year. When I was in culinary school, I remember a supermarket chain rep telling us their profit margins were perennially at a bare 5 percent. But they were doing alright, at that – thanks to moving gargantuan volumes of products.
A realtime measure
A Reddit thread started 5 months ago, r/povertyfinance, is keeping track of consumers’ experiences with supermarket shopping. Some of their ‘reports’ bear reposting here…
Thread originator StcStasi was motivated to start the conversation after discovering, “Prices on items I buy increased 75 percent from 2022 to 2024.”
Americasycho‘s latest grocery order was, “$22 higher this week with the same items.”
TheGame81677 reported: “Kroger’s is the worst, hamburger meat is $7 a pound at the one’s in my area. That’s almost double from 2022.”
some_boring_dude flagged shrinkflation: “I am curious to know if you took note of any difference in net weight as well? I buy Folgers coffee myself, and it was around $11/can 48 0z., now $13ish/can 40.8 oz.”
jc428 elucidated the corporate angle: “This is what happens when corporate concentrations over the last 20 years are allowed to occur. It’s not even a Walmart issue per se, their COGS and profit increased at around the same pace looking at the last four years. The Great Value brand for the most part is just a relabeling of other companies product like ConAgra who saw revenue increase around 10 percent since 2020 but operating income increase by 33 pecent since 2020.”
My take
The overall increase in retail grocery prices we’re all experiencing is way out of whack with respect to what we should be paying. The folks at r/loblawsisoutofcontrol have called for an across-the-board 15 percent cut in food prices. And that’s just the start of what they demanded when they launched the Loblaw’s boycott earlier this year.
I’ve said it before. But I’ve never been more adamant about it than now: Loblaw’s and the other members of the supermarket cartel needed to step up and take responsibility for the social and economic damage they’re causing by pushing for greater and greater profits, quarter after quarter.
The Big 5 literally own the supermarket industry, on which millions of folks rely to provide their sustenance. With ownership comes responsibility.
And if the supermarkets don’t step up… The government has to step in with decisive, substantive action on food prices. People are starving.
~ Maggie J.