Kroger projects $4.9 billion in profits in 2022.

Now it's purchasing Albertons, the second largest grocery store chain, for $25 billion.

Albertsons previously acquired Safeway for $9.2 billion.

Why are grocery prices up? Grocery store goliaths are buying the competition.

@rbreich do you have a good figure that shows the web of recent acquisitions? I'm having a hard time keeping up tbh

@rbreich This is ABSOLUTELY outrageous! Why are we allowing these mega monoliths to smother competition in every sector of the economy? This cannot stand.

@rbreich One of the many reasons I shop at Costco and Trader Joe’s!

@rbreich Kroger is like half the size of Amazon, and Amazon is half the size of Walmart. Maybe Kroger is just trying to stay competitive by scaling up so we don't get left with just two places to buy groceries.

Graphic source: https://www.howtocook.recipes/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/largest-grocery-stores-sales-5b_recipes.jpg

@rbreich That's not good.

@rbreich How did the SEC let that one happen?

@rbreich Greed is sickening.

@rbreich Remember the good old days when phone companies weren't allowed to monopolize the market?

@rbreich shopping the smaller, regional chains is a way of fighting off the big chains.

@rbreich Arrrrgh this is no good! Intense market concentration in this space really diminishes regional/local #foodsecurity. We should be trying, whenever possible, to use CSA, independent grocers, farmers’ markets, and smaller chains. But those options tend to be cost-prohibitive for many.

@rbreich Food manufacturing & distribution are too important to trust to the free market.

@rbreich
Supermarket chains cry crocodile tears about having to raise prices, but make record profits. Same goes for oil companies.
Sadly plenty of people buy into their lies and there is no outcry about it.
Us customers get squeezed more and more. Any excuse is used to raise prices and increase profits.

@rbreich

I'm relying more and more on my local independent carniceria. Good avocados, meats, fish, cheeses, peppers, melons, fresh herbs, all the staples.

@rbreich You know, while the local Albertsons has higher prices, they don’t have the constant problems with keeping stock the way the local Ralph’s (Kroger) does.

Hopefully this does mean Albertsons starts having problems keeping the shelves stocked.

@rbreich in much of Oregon, it’s already Kroger vs Winco. This would only solidify the position.

@rbreich

Last I checked, Kroger already owns 20 grocery store brands.

Last time I shopped there, variety was way down, and prices way up. Even on rubber bands. (Why rubber bands?)

@rbreich
Capitalist dynamics lead to the concentration of capital and therefore to the end of competition.
Karl Marx says hello!

@rbreich

I thought monopolies were illegal and this is why AT&T/MaBell was broken up back in the day.

@rbreich Trickle up economics in action.

@rbreich

1. Greed
2. Greed
3. Greed
4. Greed
5. Greed

@rbreich Kroger is known to underpay and treat it's workers poorly, so why should it be allowed to dump on even more workers? Indeed, perhaps breaking it up would favor the workers.

and their house brands.

@rbreich I absolutely refuse to buy from Kroger or Walmart. Mostly Costco & trade extra produce with coworkers.

@rbreich I’m new to this App. Can you suggest some sincere, good accounts to follow?

@rbreich is this how monopolies get going?

@rbreich

@rbreich monopolies are bad for consumers

@rbreich Will the middle class survive in the US? Or is the US now a country divided between the ultra-wealthy and the struggling poor? The divide will likely get worse by the day. The future is full of smiles and sunshine.

@rbreich ... The grocery chain's name is Albertsons. In California, Kroger is also known as Ralphs grocery stores.

@rbreich it's interesting that the FTC looks at big tech aquisitions but not these massive food chain consolidations.

@rbreich where is the anti trust agency here? Can this be stopped?

@rbreich

@rbreich What ever happened to monopoly laws? Are theyjust for punishing companies that anger the gov?

@rbreich

Why do we not enforce anti-monopoly laws?

I always hated that stupid game.

@rbreich aren't monopolies like .. bad? Could have sworn my econ teacher taught me monopolies were bad

@rbreich Well, at least they pay their hourly workers like crap! Wait, what?

@rbreich This kind of thing is why there are food deserts and is bad for local economies and the environment. Mega grocery chains = mega farms = mega shipping = food waste + meh food

@rbreich on the good side. We’ll only need a single frequent shopper card

@rbreich shhhhh inflation. The only thing that’s inflating is the tops bank accounts. Don’t worry some day the trickle will start.

@rbreich anti trust issues. Thank you Ronald Reagan.

@rbreich an $8 box of goldfish crackers are now $12 ...that's ridiculous. They shouldn't have even been as high as $8.

@rbreich Received a digital coupon from my bank for $25 off a $50 Kroger purchase. Not a deal. Passed. Their staff is not treated well. My local store (1 mile away) is filthy. The prices are exorbitant.

@rbreich here in Oregon, where I live, we have Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyer (Kroger), QFC (Kroger), and Winco (independent). With the take-over of Albertson’s/Safeway, it leaves us with Kroger and Winco.

@rbreich toss in the fact that farmers struggle, in most cases, to make ends meet. Buy direct from the farmers where possible. May not be cheaper, and in some cases can be a tad more expensive. However, without proper support the farmers will fail and go to corporate farms, where more greed happens.

@rbreich I buy most of my groceries now on Amazon Fresh. The prices are old-fashioned low, and they deliver for free. What are you gonna do?

@rbreich I was working for Safeway in 1987 when the KKR leveraged buyout laid off all of us in Texas.