31,000 Stop & Shop workers on strike.

Current contract expired in February. S & P's "final offer" included cuts to and increased deductions for health care premiums. Wage increases are to be replaced by "bonuses."


Meanwhile, S & P's parent company reported $2 billion. in profits last year.

The strike is in New England stores.


I remember working for Pathmark in the Pharmacy dept.  Going full time (store wide, not just my dept) was done on a lottery system. I had co-workers who had been there over a decade without making full time status.  As a part time employee our health benefits consisted of one “well visit” per year.  Our Christmas “bonus” was a coupon for $5 off that could only be redeemed if we spent more than $25


Best part?  I had a woman come in, her daughter had died from cancer, and her granddaughter was just diagnosed with cancer.  The drugs they had prescribed were crazy expensive and the insurance company was fighting on paying for them, and she had no way of affording them on her own.  She was in tears.  Because I wouldn’t just abandon this woman and was staying on the phone to fight with the insurance company until a co-worker was able to free up and take over the phone call, I ended up punching out 8 minutes after my scheduled end of shift.  This did NOT incur overtime, it only meant that my check would be $2.13 higher than originally scheduled for.  I was written up for that.  Seeing what that woman was going through and no co-worker was available to take over the call from me for those 8 minutes, I’d do it again in a heartbeat 


Years before I had briefly work at the A&P at Ivy Hill, I was in the HBA dept, but we all did returns as needed.  I found a can of Goya beans that was puffy.  I brought it to my manager as puffy cans can mean botulism.  He said he didn’t care, and to put it back on the shelf and hopefully someone would buy it so the store wouldn’t have to take the loss.  I hid it in the back room in the HBA section and when the Goya vender came by I showed it to him.  He freaked and took it immediately and thanked me for not allowing it to be purchased.


Supermarkets have no soul.  




They get treated like crap.  I hope they win.


Are the stores able to remain open?

TomR


Tom_R said:
Are the stores able to remain open?
TomR

 Some closed. I don't know the percentage of closed stores.


Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Current contract expired in February. S & P's "final offer" included cuts to and increased deductions for health care premiums. Wage increases are to be replaced by "bonuses."


Meanwhile, S & P's parent company reported $2 billion. in profits last year.

The strike is in New England stores.

 I remember in the early 1980's I did some work for a major airlines.  they had made billions the year before.  When doing an analysis we projected the impact of dropping prices by 1% or if fuel prices increased 10%.  Both scenarios put them in the loss column.  So making 2 billion is only relevant if we know what the margins are and what would be the impact of raising prices and wages.  




this is a dying, low margin business. Expect the Aldis and Lidls of the world to take over one end, with Whole Foods/Amazon At the other.  Would not surprise me, given its European owners, they want to re make the chain ala European offerings.


peteglider said:
this is a dying, low margin business. Expect the Aldis and Lidls of the world to take over one end, with Whole Foods/Amazon At the other.  Would not surprise me, given its European owners, they want to re make the chain ala European offerings.

I disagree.  Everyone needs groceries, and the jobs in many chains have been union for a long time without problem.  Not all of us are happy to cross a picket line and go to lidle, or to cash our entire paycheck and go to whole foods.  Reasonably priced groceries that provide lots of decent jobs in a community can survive 


I worked for years for the company that had the same relationship with Foodtown as Wakefern has to Shop Rite.  A few poor business decisions and enough corruption brought the company down.  As an example the pensions of the professional non union people disappeared.  Fortunately our 401K monies were administered by a separate investment house.

Pete Glider is most correct..........the industry will need many changes in order to survive.   Witness

the disappearance of Acme,  Pathmark..........the down sizing 0f Foodtown from 110 stores to far fewer.  

With the dicount ALDI's taking hold and there will be more of that ilk...........the margin becomes smaller and smaller



Buy your groceries at Shop Rite stores. They are owned by US Citizens and have some of the best employee benefits in New Jersey. 


truth said:
Buy your groceries at Shop Rite stores. They are owned by US Citizens and have some of the best employee benefits in New Jersey. 

 When Billy Sumas came over from the other side they lived in a small apartment above the South

Orange Shop Rite.  It is the Amazing efficiency of Wakefern........the coop whose members own the

Shop Rite stores that make them the chain to beat.


author - Acme is still very much in existence. There's a big one in Kenilworth, also Montclair,etc.


galileo said:
author - Acme is still very much in existence. There's a big one in Kenilworth, also Montclair,etc.

 I don't doubt that but I would wager they their total number of stores has shrunken greatly

I think I will research some of the major supermarkets and see how their numbers compare with

say 10 years ago.


A+P closed their last store in 2015

Finast Supermarkets purchased by Royal Ahold and are now Edwards stores

Royal Ahold is the European food concern which purchased

14 Foodtown stores and effectively doomed my co-op.  You can imagine what my Teamsters did with the name Ahold

Pathmark closed in 2015

Food Fair chain entered bankruptcy 1978

And this is a tiny fractions as defunct


truth said:
Buy your groceries at Shop Rite stores. They are owned by US Citizens and have some of the best employee benefits in New Jersey. 

 The services is also better.  I do most of my shopping at Shop Rite


peteglider said:
this is a dying, low margin business. Expect the Aldis and Lidls of the world to take over one end, with Whole Foods/Amazon At the other.  Would not surprise me, given its European owners, they want to re make the chain ala European offerings.

 Looks like it will be the Dollar Stores, and those of that ilk, that are taking over the low end of the market.

https://civileats.com/2018/12/17/dollar-stores-are-taking-over-the-grocery-business-and-its-bad-news-for-public-health-and-local-economies/


author said:

With the dicount ALDI's taking hold and there will be more of that ilk...........the margin becomes smaller and smaller



You can call it ilk but shoppers in need probably consider it a blessing. Not everyone has the luxury of living so well as to be able to disregard low priced budget stores as ilk.

I visited an Aldi and looked at the prices. 

How do they manage to sell a 1 lb loaf of bread for 67 cents and that's with sugar not the high fructose corn syrup crap? Heavy cream at 1.67 a pint? Organic milk at 2.67 per half gallon? Chiquita bananas at 43 cents per lb? Haas avocados for 59 cents? Sour cream for .89 a lb? Its unreal.

Either they are paying their workers starvation wages compared to regular supermarkets which I doubt considering supermarkets are not known for decent wages. Or supermarkets way overcharge. Or something else? 


BG9 said:
You can call it ilk but shoppers in need probably consider it a blessing. Not everyone has the luxury of living so well as to be able to disregard low priced budget stores as ilk.
I visited an Aldi and looked at the prices. 
How do they manage to sell a 1 lb loaf of bread for 67 cents and that's with sugar not the high fructose corn syrup crap? Heavy cream at 1.67 a pint? Organic milk at 2.67 per half gallon? Chiquita bananas at 43 cents per lb? Haas avocados for 59 cents? Sour cream for .89 a lb? Its unreal.
Either they are paying their workers starvation wages compared to regular supermarkets which I doubt considering supermarkets are not known for decent wages. Or supermarkets way overcharge. Or something else? 

 At Aldis they don't bag your stuff and it's minimal staff.  I don't know about pay, but they are owned by Trader Joes, so it might be similar to that, whatever that is.


nan said:


BG9 said:
You can call it ilk but shoppers in need probably consider it a blessing. Not everyone has the luxury of living so well as to be able to disregard low priced budget stores as ilk.
I visited an Aldi and looked at the prices. 
How do they manage to sell a 1 lb loaf of bread for 67 cents and that's with sugar not the high fructose corn syrup crap? Heavy cream at 1.67 a pint? Organic milk at 2.67 per half gallon? Chiquita bananas at 43 cents per lb? Haas avocados for 59 cents? Sour cream for .89 a lb? Its unreal.
Either they are paying their workers starvation wages compared to regular supermarkets which I doubt considering supermarkets are not known for decent wages. Or supermarkets way overcharge. Or something else? 
 At Aldis they don't bag your stuff and it's minimal staff.  I don't know about pay, but they are owned by Trader Joes, so it might be similar to that, whatever that is.

 Aldi split into two companies in 1966 over the issue of whether to carry tobacco.  Trader Joes is one company, Aldi is the other (in the USA).

FWIW, Aldi in Union is currently advertising an entry-level associate's position at $13.10/hr with full benefits including medical and dental.

The Lidl store recently opened on 22 (Aldi's major competitor in Europe for the Aldi format, not TJ's) has no openings but is being picketed by the grocery workers' union.


Aldi and Lidl share a business model that has a passing resemblance to Costco and Sams Club.  Limited assortment of mostly store-branded merchandise (the two Aldi's work together on negotiating with vendors sometimes) presented on pallets or in case-packs cut open and stacked entire on shelves reduce the cost of goods, shipping, assortment management, and labor for stocking.  

You cannot use the New Jersey suburban market to judge the grocery business.  Legacy stores here tend to be smaller than stores in newer suburban areas in the rest of the country.  That's why successful regional chains such as Wegmans are not here -- they cannot get the square footage for the price they need.  The mid-tier market, the part of the market that will compete against Amazon -- looks more like Wegman's, or the bigger Shop Rites like rt 22 or West Orange than more local stores like the Stop and Shop in South Orange.  The Dollar Stores and Walmart are taking the bottom end, but I think Aldi can hold its own there.  These customers will probably not be shopping online for groceries.  The competition at the low end is getting fierce and the mid tier stores that are in the cross fire, like the various A&P chains were, will not survive.  The upper end will be interesting -- how much will Amazon get placing convenience over cost and the ability to choose your own fruit?  I do think the brick and morter upper end, which was growing, is going to suffer, but if the biggest player is Whole Foods and Amazon, who is actually losing?


How are the 31,000, Stop & Shop strikers doing?

TomR


both Aldi and Lidl are playing online and home delivery too.  The infrastructure investment of Stop n Shop et al will eventually kill them. 


Tom_R said:
How are the 31,000, Stop & Shop strikers doing?
TomR

 From here they look striking.

peteglider said:
both Aldi and Lidl are playing online and home delivery too.  The infrastructure investment of Stop n Shop et al will eventually kill them. 

 I dunno about that. I think it will take a while for home delivery of groceries to achieve critical mass. I mean, how will I get my monthly pint of Haggen Dasz? Via UPS? Packed in a square foot of dry ice? 

Anyone know how well Amazon Prime Pantry is doing?


Tom_R said:
How are the 31,000, Stop & Shop strikers doing?
TomR

 NYT article 4/14, strike is ongoing. Stores are shut or skeleton staff. Article does not state how many stores are in each category.


One of the company's bargaining points is to change Sunday compensation for new hires. Then, only new hires will get Sunday work.


I just want to mention something that many of you may already know.  Supermarkets do not make all of their money from the actual selling of the food item itself.  I don't know if I've phrased this well.

They charge companies stocking fees for the placement of their foods.  Ever wonder why some foods are at eye level and some are at the very bottom of the shelf or way up high?  They charge for a good placement so consumers can easily see your particular item and are more likely to buy it instead of a competitor.  They also charge in some instances for the end caps.  

Also those magazine pockets by the checkout which hold magazines.  The magazine companies pay the supermarkets a quarterly fee for those. I know that back in the 80s it was $25 a quarter for each pocket.  I don't know what it is now. 

I presume there are other ways they make money off of their markets. 

I'm glad that Max Weisenfeld explained the Trader Joe's does not own Aldi's info.


  




The Shop Rite Stores / Wakefern charge manufacturers / producers for even carrying a product, let alone where it is placed on the shelves. One of the greatest strengths of the Wakefern cooperative is its extensive warehouse system which allows major buy-ins at extremely discounted prices. Wakefern executives have told me that no matter how low the price, no item listed in the weekly mailer is sold at a loss. Because of the this warehouse and purchasing system, Wakefern supplies other supermarket chains. It even supplies Kings since the collapse of White Rose.  


Looks like the strike is over and union won.


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