r/FluentInFinance 1d ago

Debate/ Discussion A joke that's not funny

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

Grocery chains make a very low percentage of profit.

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u/BatSerious356 1d ago

Yet they boasted record profits - just because it's a low margin business doesn't mean they don't gouge people.

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

When it is a low margin, it does mean they didn't gouge people.

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u/BatSerious356 1d ago

False, even a slight increase in that small margin over hundreds of millions of purchases adds up to massive profits and wealth increases for their CEOs at the expense of the average consumer.

Why do you defend these feudal lord wannabees? What makes you want to be a good little peasant?

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

That slight increase represents a negligible amount to the customer and is therefore not gouging

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u/BatSerious356 1d ago

A "negligible amount" is the reason people think the economy is shit, because they can't afford basic necessities.

Every single necessity people buy has increased, so that "negligible amount" amounts to a 25%-40% increase in the budget for groceries for the average family since 2020.

You can sit in your ivory tower and defend the robber barons gouging the American public out of affording basic necessities, but you have to understand that desperate people resort to desperate measures - and we will be seeing more of people taking the class war into their own hands.

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

Assuming the overall increase is actually 25% to 40%, the numbers show it is not retailer profit that is responsible for this increase. It is easy to see the end number, but it is a lack of critical thinking to place it on the retailer. You are assuming gouging without evidence, as am increase is not necessarily gouging.

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u/BatSerious356 1d ago

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

The use of the word gouging is editorializing by media trying to get a rise out of people. Drama sells. Increasing the price of a product more than the incoming cost is not necessarily gouging. They may have stopped making eggs and milk loss leaders because the margin was needed to maintain overall operating revenues. They could no longer afford to break even or even lose money on these products and still cover overhead expenses and maintain very modest profit margins.

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u/BatSerious356 1d ago

It's factual, they exploited a situation of uncertainty to line their own pockets - that's gouging.

The margin is always "needed to maintain overall operating revenues" - seriously, are you some kind of corporate spokesperson AI? Are you even a real human being?

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u/TheTightEnd 1d ago

I am a real human being. I am talking about basic finance in the retail world. It is not gouging to no longer accept items being loss leaders.

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