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  #1  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 1:45 PM
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The not-so-Great Canadian Corporate Greed thread

Corporate pressure led Shoppers Drug Mart staff to bill unnecessary medication reviews, pharmacists say

Quote:
Internal letter describes push for billable work as as 'borderline abusive'
Quote:
CBC News spoke with former Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy employees who believe the company is taking advantage of the MedsCheck service by pushing staff to bill for consultations patients don't necessarily need. The company can then bill the province up to $75 per call.

Eight former Shoppers Drug Mart employees said intense pressure from management pushed staff to cold-call customers regularly. In an internal letter obtained by CBC News that was emailed to company leadership last July, a group of pharmacy owners said the "borderline abusive" pressure to do more MedsCheck calls was affecting their ability to provide the best patient care.

...
Several pharmacists said top-down pressure from "corporate" or "upper management" led them to schedule or make "unnecessary" MedsCheck calls to customers who were technically eligible for the program but not what they would consider to be high risk.



Over the course of the pandemic, the value of Galen's shares in George Weston Ltd., founded by his great-grandfather and led by Weston as CEO, have swelled from $5.9 billion to $10.8 billion.
https://macleans.ca/culture/food/the-power-list-galen-weston-is-the-countrys-most-powerful-and-controversial-grocery-mogul/
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 3:14 PM
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Galen Weston's biggest mistake was to think he could step into the role played by the head of President Choice in advertisements during the 80s and 90s. In 2023, all he has done is made himself a media target for the like of Molson to obsess about.

Canada is a country of oligopolies with eyes focused on the US. Nearly everyone hired into a "C" position is a privileged elite that will layoff one below the minimum for a mandatory public release to cover their signing bonus or severance

In my opinion that is more egregious than Galen Weston's wealth doubling in size due to the value in shares in his family business which has nothing to do with sales. See Tesla's capitalization vs General Motors.

Groceries in Toronto have doubled everywhere. I personally find Metro to be a lot more expensive than Loblaws. Sobeys is not cheaper than Loblaws. The higher prices have blow up revenues however, the profit margins have been stable. As far as I know, both Metro and Sobeys are faceless corproations.
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  #3  
Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 3:11 AM
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Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper View Post
Galen Weston's biggest mistake was to think he could step into the role played by the head of President Choice in advertisements during the 80s and 90s. In 2023, all he has done is made himself a media target for the like of Molson to obsess about.

Canada is a country of oligopolies with eyes focused on the US. Nearly everyone hired into a "C" position is a privileged elite that will layoff one below the minimum for a mandatory public release to cover their signing bonus or severance

In my opinion that is more egregious than Galen Weston's wealth doubling in size due to the value in shares in his family business which has nothing to do with sales. See Tesla's capitalization vs General Motors.

Groceries in Toronto have doubled everywhere. I personally find Metro to be a lot more expensive than Loblaws. Sobeys is not cheaper than Loblaws. The higher prices have blow up revenues however, the profit margins have been stable. As far as I know, both Metro and Sobeys are faceless corproations.
Galen Weston is definitely no Dave Nichol. Him still doing the ads is such a big mistake. While I can't stand Weston, at least he is visible and makes himself a target whether good or bad and to me he is bad. The top people at Metro and Sobeys (also known as Empire) are pretty much invisible except when called to a parliamentary committee and they are just as bad. All three companies have been able to get away with so much with very few consequences.
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  #4  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 3:41 PM
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Pointing out examples of corporate greed isn't meant to imply that those examples are unique or are worse than others. It's to highlight general problems with the system. Like if you're in a dictatorship and complain that your dictator isn't very nice, the complaint isn't that the dictator should be nicer but that dictatorships suck and you want democracy. Even though many democratically elected politicians also suck. You just don't want whoever it is who happens to suck to have complete control.
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  #5  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 9:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse View Post
Pointing out examples of corporate greed isn't meant to imply that those examples are unique or are worse than others. It's to highlight general problems with the system. Like if you're in a dictatorship and complain that your dictator isn't very nice, the complaint isn't that the dictator should be nicer but that dictatorships suck and you want democracy. Even though many democratically elected politicians also suck. You just don't want whoever it is who happens to suck to have complete control.
Well said.
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 8:01 PM
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^thanks for "getting it".

Plus, I just don't like Galen. Who could? His company conspired with other oligopolies in the grocery industry to control bread prices, for more than a decade. His PC/no-name products often weigh half of what is listed on the packaging. Blatant false advertising, at best, and more likely outright fraud. Not an obsession, but the guy is certainly an asshole (there are just so many examples to corroborate this), so I don't understand at all why someone without any connection to Galen (presumably?) would feel personally slighted. Such as the likes of Whippersnapper. Galen brought it completely on himself.


‘It’s crazy how much more we pay for less now!’: Loblaws customer buys chip bag labeled as 200 grams. It only weighs 103 grams.

For sure, Galen is not the only case of corporate greed in Canada. But he has become the face of it.

Shoppers discover boxes of Cheerios, bags of Loblaws chips that weigh far less than advertised

The banks are similarly engaged in such egregious behaviour, basically forcing their hapless employees (many of whom seem only slightly more intelligent than a bag of hammers) to upsell customers into financial products and insurance that they don't need/want.
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Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 10:09 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Plus, I just don't like Galen. Who could?
He is uniquely loathsome, with his "Aw shucks/Who, me?" grin and milquetoast pullovers only exacerbating the repellent impact of his avarice and indifference.
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 10:30 PM
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My contribution to this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oeCaDC-mUE

Brad Lamb. A critter amongst critters. Greed for the sake of greed.

Another one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJN7BJuLUFI

Molson..I think he grew up in your neck of the woods. The entitlement from Kevin is so awful. He does stretch the truth about Brador and its %.
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  #9  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2024, 5:36 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
^thanks for "getting it".

Plus, I just don't like Galen. Who could? His company conspired with other oligopolies in the grocery industry to control bread prices, for more than a decade. His PC/no-name products often weigh half of what is listed on the packaging. Blatant false advertising, at best, and more likely outright fraud. Not an obsession, but the guy is certainly an asshole (there are just so many examples to corroborate this), so I don't understand at all why someone without any connection to Galen (presumably?) would feel personally slighted. Such as the likes of Whippersnapper. Galen brought it completely on himself.


‘It’s crazy how much more we pay for less now!’: Loblaws customer buys chip bag labeled as 200 grams. It only weighs 103 grams.

For sure, Galen is not the only case of corporate greed in Canada. But he has become the face of it.

Shoppers discover boxes of Cheerios, bags of Loblaws chips that weigh far less than advertised

The banks are similarly engaged in such egregious behaviour, basically forcing their hapless employees (many of whom seem only slightly more intelligent than a bag of hammers) to upsell customers into financial products and insurance that they don't need/want.
I suggest that you step away from the TikTok... I finally clicked on this thread today, saw the chip conspiracy theory and recalled I happen to have an unopened bag of those exact chips that I bought for 2/$4 last week. Curiosity got the best of me, and since I happened to have a pet scale handy (it reads in kg, so it doesn't read to the gram), I put them together, and:



The scale could be off a little (though I did "calibrate" it with a pound of butter - 454g - and it read 0.45 kg...), but even if it's off by 10 or 20g, there's definitely more than half of the advertised chips in the bag.

So, the TikTok case... a manufacturing issue? Creative scale calibration in order to get attention on TikTok? We'll never know...

I just love the internet...
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  #10  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2024, 6:25 PM
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Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark View Post
I suggest that you step away from the TikTok... I finally clicked on this thread today, saw the chip conspiracy theory and recalled I happen to have an unopened bag of those exact chips that I bought for 2/$4 last week. Curiosity got the best of me, and since I happened to have a pet scale handy (it reads in kg, so it doesn't read to the gram), I put them together, and:



The scale could be off a little (though I did "calibrate" it with a pound of butter - 454g - and it read 0.45 kg...), but even if it's off by 10 or 20g, there's definitely more than half of the advertised chips in the bag.

So, the TikTok case... a manufacturing issue? Creative scale calibration in order to get attention on TikTok? We'll never know...

I just love the internet...
I've never used tiktok

Good then, it was fixed. This was not the case originally. I suspect that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Let's face it, Roblaws has a history of ripping off customers (the great bread pricing debacle). I am sure it is not just a Roblaws problem, and probably extends to many other retailers.

The combination of shrinkflation, underweighting and inflation are killing consumers.

I worked for years in retailing, and I can say, with confidence, that price changes are asymmetrical in terms of what consumers end up paying. For example, prices go up but this may not be reflected on the label/tag. So consumers pay more than they should. Companies argue that sometimes consumers get a better deal, when prices drop and said price drop is not labelled/tagged, but an investigation revealed that in almost every such instance of a discrepancy between the advertised price and the actual price, overwhelmingly consumers pay more (not less) than the advertised price. Guess what firm was one of the worst offenders? Yep, you guessed it, the place with already inflated prices, Shoppers Dog Fart. Which is now owned by....Roblaws.
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  #11  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2024, 3:14 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is online now
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
I've never used tiktok

Good then, it was fixed. This was not the case originally. I suspect that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Let's face it, Roblaws has a history of ripping off customers (the great bread pricing debacle). I am sure it is not just a Roblaws problem, and probably extends to many other retailers.

The combination of shrinkflation, underweighting and inflation are killing consumers.

I worked for years in retailing, and I can say, with confidence, that price changes are asymmetrical in terms of what consumers end up paying. For example, prices go up but this may not be reflected on the label/tag. So consumers pay more than they should. Companies argue that sometimes consumers get a better deal, when prices drop and said price drop is not labelled/tagged, but an investigation revealed that in almost every such instance of a discrepancy between the advertised price and the actual price, overwhelmingly consumers pay more (not less) than the advertised price. Guess what firm was one of the worst offenders? Yep, you guessed it, the place with already inflated prices, Shoppers Dog Fart. Which is now owned by....Roblaws.
Hey, I am squarely in the camp of believing that the grocery chains are profiting greatly at our expense, on items that we can't do without (food). My opinion is that Covid supply chain issues got consumers accustomed to the idea that we may have to pay more for less, and that the grocery chains have taken advantage of our acceptance of higher prices to their financial gain. I think it's scandalous.

I've been watching shrinkflation for years, like 20 anyhow. Companies have long adhered to the practice of plateauing pricing for a period of time while shrinking their content weight (but usually maintaining the same packaging size so that the customer doesn't notice). After some period of time they will then bring the contents up to the previous weight with "new larger size" or such printed on the package, with a 'new larger price' attached. Or keep the shrunken product at the same price, while introducing a "jumbo size" of the old content weight at a higher price. It's slimy and it pisses me off... and everybody else out there who are struggling to keep their heads above water.

As far as the chips go, that's not 'shrinkflation'... IMHO it's most likely a supplier fuck-up, and also IMHO a poor example on which to base a conspiracy theory. If folks want to do it up, then find out who the supplier is, talk confidentially to the employees to see if there have been some directives from Loblaw's to intentionally remove content, randomly or whatever. That won't happen because it's difficult and risky, unless the CBC or somebody gets their hooks into it... but I suspect they won't because it's more likely that somebody pushed the wrong button on the bagger and accidentally changed the weight calibration, or something like that.

Anyways... I'm in agreement with you. I hate them and how much money they are taking out of my pocket for items that I can't live without (and I'm not talking about chips).
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 9:32 PM
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Loblaws and Sobeys run the roost in Canada's food & pharmacy retail and it shows by their prices and often complete dominance in smaller markets. Even in the big cities, it's hard to go shopping without setting foot in one of the too. Empire is just an also ran as is Save-On being just small regional market providers. I'm surprised Loblaws hasn't bought them out yet.

Last edited by ssiguy; Feb 29, 2024 at 8:46 PM.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 3:20 AM
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Loblaws and Metro run the roost in Canada's food & pharmacy retail and it shows by their prices and often complete dominance in smaller markets. Even in the big cities, it's hard to go shopping without setting foot in one of the too. Empire is just an also ran as is Save-On being just small regional market providers. I'm surprised Loblaws hasn't bought them out yet.
The Empire Company (Sobeys, etc.) is also a major player and bigger than Metro as far as I'm aware. Empire has the largest market share in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. In Quebec they own the IGA banner which has an almost monopoly in some areas of the province. Empire also dominates many smaller markets and smaller towns in Ontario and Atlantic Region with their Foodland banner.

And I should mention that Empire has really been moving into urban markets by buying up other banners and creating some new ones which include Farm Boy, FreshCo, Longos and I think a couple more.

The company also owns Lawton's pharmacies and Needs convenience stores in the Atlantic provinces.

As far as the Western provinces and Northwestern Ontario they own the Safeway banner in Canada, Thrifty Foods and operate Sobeys stores and liquor stores.
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Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 4:17 AM
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The Empire Company (Sobeys, etc.) is also a major player and bigger than Metro as far as I'm aware. Empire has the largest market share in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. In Quebec they own the IGA banner which has an almost monopoly in some areas of the province. Empire also dominates many smaller markets and smaller towns in Ontario and Atlantic Region with their Foodland banner.
Hence the red bolded part. Which I can never un-see, after seeing it while glancing at a store sign.
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  #15  
Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 12:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Loco101 View Post
The Empire Company (Sobeys, etc.) is also a major player and bigger than Metro as far as I'm aware. Empire has the largest market share in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec. In Quebec they own the IGA banner which has an almost monopoly in some areas of the province. Empire also dominates many smaller markets and smaller towns in Ontario and Atlantic Region with their Foodland banner.

And I should mention that Empire has really been moving into urban markets by buying up other banners and creating some new ones which include Farm Boy, FreshCo, Longos and I think a couple more.

The company also owns Lawton's pharmacies and Needs convenience stores in the Atlantic provinces.

As far as the Western provinces and Northwestern Ontario they own the Safeway banner in Canada, Thrifty Foods and operate Sobeys stores and liquor stores.
True, IGA is the only grocery chain a small town will have, when it’s large enough to have one. The other banners require a bigger base, it seems. So for many regions, IGA is where they shop, no choice.

IGA is like Subway — the very first “chain” you’ll find.

Not sure it’s true everywhere but in Quebec it’s automatic for towns, this chain tier system:

Very small — no chains
Slightly bigger village — has a Subway
Bigger little town — has a Subway AND a Tim Hortons
Small city — has Subway AND Tim Hortons AND McDonald’s (and other chains too, often; when you’re big enough for a McD’s you’re big enough for any others, A&W etc.)
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Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 2:34 PM
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True, IGA is the only grocery chain a small town will have, when it’s large enough to have one. The other banners require a bigger base, it seems. So for many regions, IGA is where they shop, no choice.

IGA is like Subway — the very first “chain” you’ll find.

Not sure it’s true everywhere but in Quebec it’s automatic for towns, this chain tier system:

Very small — no chains
Slightly bigger village — has a Subway
Bigger little town — has a Subway AND a Tim Hortons
Small city — has Subway AND Tim Hortons AND McDonald’s (and other chains too, often; when you’re big enough for a McD’s you’re big enough for any others, A&W etc.)
Back in the bon vieux temps, two-bit villages/towns would have a "Richelieu" grocer (which was the second part of the formerly known "Metro-Richelieu" chain).
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  #17  
Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 2:51 PM
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Back in the bon vieux temps, two-bit villages/towns would have a "Richelieu" grocer (which was the second part of the formerly known "Metro-Richelieu" chain).
This one still exists right now (I pass in front of it several times a week, these days).

https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.00434...8192?entry=ttu
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  #18  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2024, 9:34 PM
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Have any of you actually met Galen? I ran into him and his girlfriend (now wife) years ago at Toronto Fashion Week. He's a typical rich kid, probably similar to Ssiguy, or my cousin lol. (My cousin won't allow me, a pauper, near her mansion.)

Aside from the Sobeys, the real assholes in the grocery biz are the middle managers who run the supply chain and especially the franchise/store owners. I'm thinking about the time I caught Bob, of Uptown Waterloo's Independent Grocer, screaming, kicking and throwing things at his employees.

Thrifty Foods and Save On are absolute robber barons. So are those small town Co-ops/Sobeys on the Prairies.

Last edited by urbandreamer; Feb 28, 2024 at 9:45 PM.
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Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 1:38 AM
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I couldn't watch that Brad Lamb video. Not sure if coke head or just has a cold with the relentless sniffling
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Old Posted Feb 29, 2024, 1:48 AM
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Extra Virgin Olive oil, only 20$ a litre.

It's no-name brand too, so you know it's just a blend of the shittiest stuff they can find.

Get lost, Roblaws.

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