The not-so-Great Canadian Corporate Greed thread

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

^Is it Becel plant butter? $5.78 @ Walmart. I've debated switching, as getting glutened in December has triggered a big IBS flare and everything is making me sick ugh.

Margarine, yes.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by le calmar

I switched to Freedom recently for their 50 GB Can/US roaming plan. They actually have a new deal starting soon, although you probably won’t qualify. Residents of smaller communities along the St. Lawrence seaway and Lake Ontario qualify for a new $29 100 GB Can/US roaming plan.

I've been considering them, but I spend a fair amount of time in rural SWO, and am cautious about the whole roaming/switching thing. It already sucks getting reception sometimes with Bell.

Virgin's ticked me off so much that I'm switching this month even if I can't find a better deal. I may go to Bell/Rogers just for a Canada/US plan (can't find on on Koodo's website) since I'm going to be in the US for enough days that Roam like Home would cost more than having a pricier plan for a month or so.

[harls]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I've been considering them, but I spend a fair amount of time in rural SWO, and am cautious about the whole roaming/switching thing. It already sucks getting reception sometimes with Bell.

Virgin's ticked me off so much that I'm switching this month even if I can't find a better deal. I may go to Bell/Rogers just for a Canada/US plan (can't find on on Koodo's website) since I'm going to be in the US for enough days that Roam like Home would cost more than having a pricier plan for a month or so.

Fizz is expanding cross country and has (had?) some crazy beta deals.

I switched a year ago and have had no complaints. Worked fine for me even visiting the parents in SW MB (they piggyback off of Rogers in most places where there is no coverage).

[MolsonExport]

of course they do. Galen's Greed, version 2368. No amount of money is too much. His desire for extravagance knows no bounds.

Shoppers Drug Mart says it doesn't have medication review targets, but records show it does

Current and former owners, pharmacists say corporate management pressured them to meet ‘unethical’ targets

In January, a Shoppers Drug Mart district manager in Ontario wrote to store owners in his area to express "deep disappointment" in their performance during the first week of 2024. "Despite clear plans and expectations, it is evident that we fell significantly short of our targets," reads the email obtained by CBC News.

The email is one of dozens of internal records frustrated pharmacists from across the country provided to CBC News to show that the pharmacy chain has targets for professional services like medication reviews — and corporate management pressured pharmacy owners to meet those numbers. This despite president Jeff Leger's denial last month, when he told CBC News: "We don't have targets or any other kind of element like that."

Not that I ever needed another reason to dislike the place with $2.50 chocolate bars and the place that charges twice as much as Walmart for the exact same products. Galen's insatiable Greed.

Describing himself as "very concerned" about Canadian families increasing inability to make ends meet, Galen generously advised: "Let them eat cake!"

[MolsonExport]

Lest anyone take issue with me picking on Galen (and why would they? it is him and his many companies that are (a) pressuring employees to engage in unethical practices and (b) engaging and promoting cartel-like price gouging), let me assure you that I treat all unethical business practices with the same disdain. Once again, the banks are behaving in an unethical manner.

First, from the Robbers Bank of Canada
RBC employee suffering burnout, anxiety and depression loses disability claim

Just a few years ago, the Royal Bank financial planner won performance awards for bringing so much business into his branch in Quebec. But earlier this year, he says, the pressure of hitting sales targets — compounded by the death of a family member and a break-in at home — became too much.

He says he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep for more than a few hours a night and felt constantly stressed, anxious and exhausted. Even getting out of bed was a chore. All of it affected his work. "It was harder and harder every day," he told Go Public. "It was difficult to focus and I would forget things for clients, or appointments."

CBC News is not revealing his identity, as he fears professional repercussions.

After Go Public contacted RBC, the bank sent its employee another letter saying it is reviewing new information, so his termination is on hold.

Toronto Domination Bank is also a naughty boy.

'I will do anything I can to make my goal': TD teller says customers pay price for 'unrealistic' sales targets

Bank employees say their jobs depend on upselling customers for products that can put them into debt.

Three TD Bank Group employees are speaking out about what they say is "incredible pressure" to squeeze profits from customers by signing them up for products and services they don't need. The longtime employees say their jobs have become similar to that of the stereotypical used car salesman, as they're pushed to upsell customers to reach rising sales revenue targets. They say there has always been a sales component to the job, but the demand to meet "unrealistic" quarterly goals has intensified in recent years as profits from low interest rates have dropped and banks became required — after the financial meltdown of 2008 — to keep more capital on hand to protect against a downturn in the market.

"I'm in survival mode now," says a teller who has worked at TD for more than 15 years, "because it's a choice between keeping my job and feeding my family … or doing what's right for the customer."

...
The employees' allegations come amid reports last week of record profits for Canadian banks.

'A pretty greedy time' as profits soar for Canadian banks: Don Pittis

The profits announced by Canada's banks over the last week have been nothing less than astounding.

Whether the banks can keep on doing well matters to all Canadians, but are they being greedy? Yesterday the Bank of Montreal said it had made about $1.5 billion in three months. That may be hard to put in context until you hear that it is an increase in profit of nearly 40 per cent from the same period last year and dramatically higher than stock watchers had been expecting.

[Hecate]

Yup banks are a bitch, but the federal government lets them get away with it. Just be glad you’re not low income dealing with all the charges and fines for missing payments. Banks are killing low income Canadians and the finance minister could care less. Their friends are making money.

[harls]

Not Galen, but 72 bucks for a tomahawk steak at IGA.

Does anyone actually buy these? Or once they don't sell do they cut it up into smaller pieces and sell it as something else?

[urbandreamer]

Uncle Sam's Mart is packed with new Canadians at St Clair & Runnymede. Within a generation, Molson Ex will get his wish as old stock/Euro Canadians shrink in population, killing off many Loblaws & Sobeys locations.

[urbandreamer]

No Frills has launched a 4G mobile phone brand, using Bell's network.

Pretty decent deals:
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/no-f...plans-2686355/

Btw, since I'm unable to carry anything or do any driving etc for the next month, for the first time I'm considering one of those grocery delivery models. I do see the Voila van in my complex frequently, although Sobeys kind of $ucks; otherwise there's PC Express and Walmart. Any recommendations?

[casper]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

No Frills has launched a 4G mobile phone brand, using Bell's network.

Pretty decent deals:
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/no-f...plans-2686355/

Btw, since I'm unable to carry anything or do any driving etc for the next month, for the first time I'm considering one of those grocery delivery models. I do see the Voila van in my complex frequently, although Sobeys kind of $ucks; otherwise there's PC Express and Walmart. Any recommendations?

If your in Metro Vancouver I would go with Stong's Market. The pricing is similar to Sobeys/Safeway but the service, quality and selection is much better.

In Victoria it is the Market in Millstream.

[casper]

Living in BC I can't say I fully understand what is going on it Ontario. Loblaws and Sobey's being held responsible for the waste packaging they sell sounds interesting.

Should we surprised they created a lobby group to change the rules and reduce the financial burden of being responsible for the waste they create.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ford-1.7168813

[MolsonExport]

Anything that would be a drag on Galen Weston's amassing of wealth is obviously a bad thing.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by harls

Not Galen, but 72 bucks for a tomahawk steak at IGA.

Does anyone actually buy these? Or once they don't sell do they cut it up into smaller pieces and sell it as something else?

each bite is $7 dollars. And you have to prepare it yourself. That must be one hell of a good steak, requiring you to give up a pound of your own flesh.

[MonctonRad]

A pound for a pound..............

[MolsonExport]

The CIBC is being bad (again).

CIBC customers dinged when bank adds $5 fee to e-gift cards, calling them a 'cash advance'

Murphy said it was "infuriating" to see a $5 cash advance fee on the purchase of a gift card — a fee that was accruing interest from the day of purchase at a rate of 22.99 per cent — not the usual 19.99 per cent charged on regular purchases only if the monthly credit card balance isn't paid off. On top of that, she says the CIBC rep couldn't explain who was responsible for the charge — the bank itself, or CashStar. Despite having her call escalated to a senior manager and calling back a few days later, Murphy says she couldn't get any clarity about who was responsible for the charges.

Murphy has plenty of company on social media forums such as Reddit, where people with CIBC Visas, CIBC Mastercards and CIBC-owned Simplii credit cards have all noticed the $5 fee on their statements after purchasing e-gift cards.

Business professor Chandrashekaran says while a refund is nice, his research shows that what people want most is to be treated fairly, to hear a genuine apology from a company and a promise that it won't happen again. "The problem is that more often than not, companies will say, 'OK, we'll reverse this $5 dollars, but we're going to do this just this once' — as if they're doing us a favour, and that demeans us," he said. "That lack of respect hurts the very foundation of trust."Despite people like Murphy and others complaining to CIBC about the fee as early as last September, the bank continued to charge the "cash advance" fee.

CIBC did not respond to Go Public's request to comment on the fee being a possible violation of the Competition Act.

[lio45]

CIBC is one of my top three banks-to-avoid (BMO being the first by far).

[harls]

[isaidso]

Canadian corporate greed? The companies that come to mind first:

1. Apple Canada
2. George Weston and the other big grocers
3. CIBC and the other big banks
4. Rogers and the other big telcos
5. VISA Canada

When companies becoming too dominant or enjoy a monopoly, they're more destructive than positive. They use their market power to stifle competition, inflate prices, exercise undo control over distribution channels, and end up with price structures that don't reflect the cost of the product/service they provide. We all pay a huge price when greed is this out of control.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by harls

Rich, smarmy dweeb alert.

And that gal is way out his league. No matter how many buttons he unbuttons to show his scrawny chest. She wouldn't give him the time of day if he wasn't a billionaire. the epitome of an inter-facial couple.

[MolsonExport]

new cibc logo: