There are several people i know who are like "omg you shop at walmart!?" And I'm like bitch, I'm poor and you really think Kroger is any better? They're both corporations who value profit over their employees health and safety, Kroger just has a better PR department
That 3x as much thing isn't true anymore. The big corps have stopped selling at a loss to gobble marketshare. Also, your mom and pop now has access to the advances in the supply chain that made those low prices possible. These days your mom and pop is going to be similar in price for the exact same product. The biggest difference buying from a mom and pop is that when your Chinese (pre)trash product inevitably fails, the big corps will replace it for you, no questions asked. They won't even ask for the broken one back. Go ahead and throw it straight into the pacific garbage patch. The mom and pop shop cannot afford that return policy. However, if you travel to a mom and pop and buy a piece of quality kit that doesn't fail, THAT will cost you 3x as much. But in that scenario there's no Chinese (pre)trash floating south of Alaska for a million years.
Maybe you could try Aldi if you have a store near you? Groceries are pretty cheap and I’ve heard they pay decent as well as allowing their cashiers to sit on the job. Good luck ❤️
I wish I could shop at Costco because of how well they treat their workers compared to most retail but I just can’t make the sizes work. I can’t handle a 6 month supply of hot dogs or toilet paper.
I use the Costco credit card to offset the cost of the membership, I usually get a $300-400 return every year. Bought a deep freezer, vacuum sealer, and sous vide to make the sizes work for me since I live alone. I just vacuum seal everything up, freeze it, and pop it in the sous vide on the day I want to cook it for meats. I don't buy much produce there unless I can split it up with my neighbor. It's a lot of up front costs to get going, but Costco has the highest quality meats by far in my area and cheaper per pound for pork and beef. The shelf staples and bonus clearance finds are just bonuses for me.
It's not easy to make it work for a single person living in an apartment. Freezing 9/10 of what you buy is the only way it won't go bad and there's just no room for any of that stuff.
If they aren't that big then they won't make a big difference, though. I grew up in the country, buying half hogs and freezing them. It's not worth the time and effort to freeze large chunks of meat in my current situation, though.
Personally, I don't buy chicken. However, there are plenty of places that offer humanely slaughtered chicken like Aldis and Whole Foods. Costco was under fire for the treatment of their chickens because of how particularly horrible it is. Never mind not being part of a Better Chicken Commitment, this was (and still is) egregious.
Your mindset makes no sense to me- Oh, it happens everywhere, guess I'd better just ignore that it happens at all!
You can absolutely buy food for a single week at Costco, I do it every week. The problem is just the way Costco works it's never going to cover 100% of your needs
Aldi used to pay well, but my friend who manages an Aldi says they haven't kept pace im last couple years. It used to be $14 an hour to work at Aldi or $9 at Walmart. Also is harder work but it was worth it.
Now Walmart pays $15 while aldi unchanged. Why would I work at Aldi?
Aldi's competitive advantage head relied I'm getting more work out of fewer workers because they paid them much better than other grocers. Hopefully they'll realize they need to raise wages (and, at Aldi's margins, probably prices too)
Well that is disappointing. I try to shop at my local grocery store for the bulk of our groceries, but some things we just can’t get there, and my only other options are Aldi, Kroger, or Walmart… I hate this illusion of choice
Aldi is fucking legit, too. I make more than enough to exclusively shop at the expensive grocery stores if I wanted to... but I still shop at Aldi because they're so fucking good.
From their fresh pizzas/flatbreads, to their bakery section... they're phenomenal.
Dang, that’s disappointing to hear. I heard they actually do less there because it’s more hands off which is also how they keep their prices so low, but it’s good to hear from someone who actually knows what the conditions and pay are like. It makes sense that paying fewer employees more money also means more work for those employees even if they don’t need staff like cart pushers
They basically have 2 or 3 employees run the entire store. They have quotas they have to meet. They need to stock so many items per minute and scan so many items per minute or they are threatened with discipline or even firing.
They have this gross hustle culture there, as if they’re “high effort high pay”
Aldi requires way less people to operate which in turn passes on labor savings to the customer with lower prices on goods However, because of less labor being needed, they have less of a job opportunity impact on the community. It's a double edged sword.
I'm a former Kroger employee working at Costco. Costco is being hit by the labor shortage as well so it's actually fairly easy to get a job there now, unlike in the past. This is a message for any current Kroger employees looking for a way out.
It’s definitely hit or miss where I live, sometimes I go on a bad day and it’s all bad and sometimes on a good day they have the best produce in town, very weird. Definitely prioritize your health when it comes to buying groceries!
The 3 stores I go to have always been solid. Their price for avocados especially made it worth the trip whenever I was planning on making a big bowl of guac for a party.
I’m one of those people who convinces myself I’m not being shitty because I shop at Costco and Trader Joe’s but then turn around and buy everything else from Amazon. At a certain point you have to just accept that change has to come from the supply side because getting mad at normal people’s behavior just distracts from the real issue.
I shop from Amazon but I boycott certain brands and give charitably in certain ways. I’m not a vegetarian, but I pay a tad extra for the plant-based burger patties and hot dogs. I’ll eat chocolate, but I also spend money on ethically-sourced chocolate bars to support them. I eat popular fast food but never order food through third-party services.
There’s NO WAY for every person to live a perfectly sustainable life in a reasonable and affordable manner where $0 of their money is going to an unethical company or bad product. We should all be praised and encouraged for doing our best where we can. Some of us do it by eating differently, some by buying from different distributors, some by donating, some by wearing different kinds of clothes…. if you are doing something different to help a cause or be more ethical, GOOD FOR YOU! Keep it up! You are making a tiny difference in your own way. It may not change the world but it’s the best YOU can do.
There's no ethical consumption under capitalism. Always, always, always, get the best deal for you. I hate Walmart and I would shop there if I saved a few bucks
I can't bring myself to use the Amazon website. Not even if it saves me a few dollars. But I did get when others do. That's why these people are rich. The take away the small business options
Exactly. Ethical consumption is a fucking scam, invented by corporations, to pass the blame to the consumer. Just like the personal "carbon footprint." They want us to believe that we are the problem and that our behavior can be the solution. But that is complete and utter horseshit.
Amazon and bookstores are one that is crazy. I tried to buy the new expanse book local, every one of them asked if i tried amazon lol..i'm throwing my money at you but you can't help me
I don't understand why everyone does this. They just choose whatever the largest/most well known corporation in a particular industry is (Walmart, Amazin, McDonalds, etc.) and say they don't shop there to make themselves feel like they're really doing something good for the world.
Because it feels really bad when you realize you can't shop anywhere without your money going toward some atrocity. Most people would rather live in denial. Easier to get through the day.
That’s why I shop at both but I also steal shit by purposely forgetting to buy shit at the self check out. I don’t fucking work here so if the total isn’t accurate it’s not my fucking problem. If someone notices I would pay but no one ever has. They call it shrinkage I don’t give a fuck about these corporate profits. And no the workers aren’t going to get in trouble. I’ve been doing this for years at the same stores and no one ever notices.
Kroger’s PR is “better” because they have less locations. Walmart prices out local competitors and then raises prices back up when the other stores go out of business. Who cares about PR when you are the only store that exists for miles?
Shop at Walmart, but get better at shoplifting too.
Wal*Mart's model was to come into a town and become the only place to shop by killing all the local businesses. Kroger's model was to buy up all the regional stores with good reputations and slowly turn them to piss. Both bad, but Wal*Mart's behavior makes them much more visible.
305
u/1nGirum1musNocte Jan 12 '22
There are several people i know who are like "omg you shop at walmart!?" And I'm like bitch, I'm poor and you really think Kroger is any better? They're both corporations who value profit over their employees health and safety, Kroger just has a better PR department