In another one of those “Custer Having Difficulties With The Sioux” headlines, we have this nonsense from the Truly Ignorant:
Supermarket bosses are under fire for charging higher prices in shops serving the UK’s poorer communities while customers in leafy suburbs pay less. An investigation by MPs found food can be up to 38% more expensive in smaller “local” or “express” stores, which typically serve lower-income customers, than in full-blown supermarkets owned by the same company, often in wealthier areas or accessible to customers with access to transport.
There’s so much foolishness in this article that I even hesitate to talk about it. But what the heck, here we are so I might as well.
Actually, as I’ve said before, “zone pricing” is not only common, it’s ubiquitous. That policy is very much driven by market forces — whether it’s a higher incidence of shoplifting, or the higher cost of doing business (compare the rental cost of a city vs. suburban store, for example) — the simple fact remains that in order to maintain profitability (e.g. sales per square foot at x% gross profit), some stores will have to charge more for the same items than others.
Ignore too the wealth envy in the article — “poor people aren’t as mobile as wealthy people, so they’re trapped into paying higher prices” — because it isn’t relevant: organizations don’t charge more because of profit opportunity unless they’re a monopoly and can afford to do so.
Of course politicians (and journalists) are going to get involved because it’s an easy way for them to garner both publicity and popularity. The facts of the issue aren’t important as long as they are Seen To Be Doing Something.
And of course when inner-city stores are forced to close because of government action, the Pore Folx are going to find themselves in a “food desert” that is entirely of their own and their politicians’ making — and I for one will have a simple reaction to this situation:
Stupidity should be punished and not rewarded.
you nailed it.
Higher cost for real estate/rent, higher crime, higher taxes all contribute to the higher cost of the items on the shelf. At some point these costs get too high so the store owner decides to close and move. Sorry dudes, this is a direct result of the decisions made by politicians and the community. This is completely self inflicted pain.
It’s bollocks on stilts anyway.
The local/express shops are in city centres catering for rich people in flats who don’t own a car or who can’t be bothered to go to the big supermarket. You rarely get them in properly run down areas. The locals there go to Lidl or an equivalent.
It’s nonsense anyway: for a few quid you can have your groceries delivered. And unless you’re walking, that’s often less than the cost of going to get them yourself if you include depreciation in your vehicle costs.
Stores in the city have smaller footprints so less inventory which means faster turnover so more and sooner restocking and less selection. Suburban stores have four to 8 times the shelf area so they can do things like have vendors doing the restocking not staff, so thay can fully staff a deli dept or a meat/seafood dept and someone to keep the produce looking good.
Suburban locations also don’t need to plan for periodic ” Exuberant Celebrations ” or the occasional ” Unscheduled Cash Transfers “.
When you get out to the rural areas, you’re back to the smaller footprint and less turn but at least lower overhead. Does the UK really have any truly remote rural area? comparable to the US?
If by “remote” you mean “almost unreachable by any vehicle, of any size”, then the UK has more remote towns than the US.
As others have said, its largely self inflicted. But you know, it’s easier to blame racism or ‘scrimination than look at root causes. In the ‘60’s I want to school with a number of chaldean kids whose families were very involved with the food business in and around Detroit. Along came the ‘67 riots and their new state of the art modern supermarket got burned to the ground. They took themselves and their resources to the suburbs and never built another business in Detroit. The only variable that the locals cant control is real estate prices. As you’ve mentioned, businesses want to sell you product and make a reasonable profit, they dont care about your race, sex or religion and to claim other wise is bull. Except for ‘68-‘80 when I was in the A.F. I lived and worked in and around Detroit, ALL those wounds were self inflicted.