http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/supermarkets/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/coles-woolies-shoot-each-other-but-farmers-get-shot/ Last week Coles announced that it plans to cut the price of fruit and vegetables by up to 50 per cent. Its major competitor, Woolworths soon followed. The price war sounds like great news for Australian consumers. But while it may provide relief to hip-pockets around the country in the short-term, questions are now being asked about the true impact of bargain basement pricing. For most Australians, grocery shopping is a chore we have to squeeze into our busy lives. We rush up and down the aisles, tossing products into our trolley while we mentally juggle the household budget and keep the kids entertained. With all that in mind, it’s not surprising that we embrace bargains, specials and sales with enthusiasm. But how often do we stop to consider the impact our shopping habits have on the wider community? The truth is that someone always bears the cost of cheap produce, whether it be small retailer, distributor or farmer. It may be beneficial to our hip pocket today, but tomorrow that sale price may have untold social or environmental costs. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/coles-woolies-shoot-each-other-but-farmers-get-shot/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/coles-woolies-shoot-each-other-but-farmers-get-shot/#item7701 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Regional-australia-is-being-shafted-at-the-bowser/ Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Regional-australia-is-being-shafted-at-the-bowser/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Regional-australia-is-being-shafted-at-the-bowser/#item7312 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/ Forget about the 3 Rs. In schools these days it’s all about the 3Cs: Consumerism, Capitalism, and Coles. Store managers are giving prizes to Sydney schoolkids for singing the “prices are down” jingle wearing company t-shirts, surrounded by advertising banners, at school assemblies. What next? A scholarship to the McDonald’s University for writing a dissertation on how burgers qualify for the Heart Foundation tick? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Aisle-be-damned-if-ill-cop-this-not-so-super-marketing/#item6658 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Dont-let-your-little-darlings-near-the-Kit-Kat-aisle/ The mere thought of taking a small child to a supermarket makes me tense. I twist up like a pretzel. One is bad enough, passing through the turnstile with two or more is basically extreme sport. I watch in awe when I see an adult with a veritable litter in and around their trolley. I try not to stare when the adult agrees to: a fistful of Wiggles toothbrushes; the laxatives that their two year old is convinced are a chocolate bar; and a Disney torch, just to keep the peace, just to keep moving. Then, and only when the trolley is half full, the one year old has commenced imitating a car alarm and the two year old is opening the laxatives, I overhear the four year old make a most compelling and specific case for locating the bathroom instantly. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Dont-let-your-little-darlings-near-the-Kit-Kat-aisle/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Dont-let-your-little-darlings-near-the-Kit-Kat-aisle/#item6473 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ACCC-boss-departs-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/ Well, the time has come for Graeme Samuel to finish up as ACCC Chairman. His departure will no doubt provoke mixed feelings and for that reason it’s worth pondering some of the alternative perspectives on Samuel’s tenure at the ACCC. There will be those that will applaud his departure for the simple reason that they believe that Samuel could have done much more to promote vigorous and effective competition in a wide variety of sectors. With key Australian sectors having become more highly concentrated during Samuel’s time at the ACCC, there is a real and growing danger that consumers will increasingly be price gouged. Samuel doesn’t appear to be too concerned about the growing concentration in key sectors. Free market theorists like to say that Australia is a small market and because of that we shouldn’t be too concerned if we end up with just a couple of large and powerful companies dominating particular sectors. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ACCC-boss-departs-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ACCC-boss-departs-not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper/#item6419 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-carbonwatch-to-stop-price-gouging/ With the debate raging about the carbon tax and whether the initial carbon price of $23 will lead to any meaningful reductions in greenhouse tax emissions, a new front has opened up in the debate concerning the real possibility that businesses will use the carbon tax as an excuse to price gouge. Price gouging is already a problem in such areas as petrol, airport parking and even groceries. The petrol rip off is now ongoing in many regional areas and even in the city average petrol prices do not come down as quickly as they should when there are falls in the Singapore benchmark price used to calculate local prices. Airport parking rates keep going up and visitors to major airports are held hostage to the monopoly power of the airport owners who get nasty with parking infringements if you dare to pick up a loved one from the “wrong” area. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-carbonwatch-to-stop-price-gouging/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-need-carbonwatch-to-stop-price-gouging/#item6320 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cut-cheap-imports-not-just-prices-at-the-checkout/ Tailgating a fussy grocery shopper is a bit like watching porn. All that squeezing, rubbing and sniffing of the stone fruit and the long, fawning glances at the root vegetables.  It’s enough to make you grow your own. Or shop at midnight. Unfortunately for those of us put off by “touch-feely shoppers”, things are about to get worse. Cue Woolworths new “try before you buy” policy on fresh produce, with Coles expected to followed suit. Woolworths says their policy is aimed at boosting the “quality of their fresh foods”, but to the shopping weary it’s just another chapter in the “great Australian supermarket wars”. A tiresome battle between our major food suppliers with scant regard for what we actually want from our grocery chains. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cut-cheap-imports-not-just-prices-at-the-checkout/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cut-cheap-imports-not-just-prices-at-the-checkout/#item6220 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/check-out-the-hypocrisy-in-the-war-on-supermarkets/ There is a glossy protest poster which rural conservative MPs put up in their parliamentary offices in Canberra last month. It features a bag of groceries under the words “Can you afford to pay Labor’s carbon tax?” It’s a fair question. Oddly it’s a question being put by the same group of people who are conspiring to make sure that we all pay much more than we need to for our milk. The National Party and country Liberal MPs have been joined by consumer advocates and competition crusaders in denouncing the conduct of supermarket giant Coles in forcing a price war not only over milk but beer, petrol, even barbecued chooks. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/check-out-the-hypocrisy-in-the-war-on-supermarkets/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/check-out-the-hypocrisy-in-the-war-on-supermarkets/#item5541 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/ VB doesn’t strike you as a brand that needs protecting from being viewed as overtly cheap piss. This isn’t to bag VB, but there’s probably a reason it chose David Boon and not David Marr as a mascot. News yesterday that Foster’s stopped supply of its beers to Coles and Woolworths for a short period this month, after it emerged the warring retail giants were planning to sell VB (and possibly other brands) for as low $28 a case. Carlton & United, Foster’s beer division, have said that they stopped supply to the supermarkets out of fear their beer brands were being undervalued; according to CUB it was done to protect “the brand equity – the image of our brands”. Now you might be asking yourself how it’s possible to undervalue the Australian gold standard of cheap beer? Well you can, and it’s got something to do with the amount of beer we’re drinking - or more accurately, not drinking. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-cheap-beer-can-be-too-cheap/#item5464 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-of-brands-is-much-closer-than-you-think/ The so-called supermarket milk price war is not the only thing heating up. The debate surrounding the future of brand name products on our supermarket shelves is also heating up. Central to both is the growing power of Coles and Woolworths. Together the supermarket giants operate 87 per cent of full line supermarkets over 2,000 square metres. As we know, they have spread their tentacles to petrol, liquor and banking services. Like major armies on the march, Coles and Woolworths first establish a beachhead in a particular targeted sector of the economy and then spread out to take more and more territory in that sector until they are either stopped or they march their way to “victory.” Once victorious they can impose their “way” on those they deal with, including suppliers and even consumers. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Antony McMullen) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-of-brands-is-much-closer-than-you-think/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-death-of-brands-is-much-closer-than-you-think/#item5388 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:12 +0000 Have you ever driven around regional Australia and found large discrepancies in the petrol prices at different regional centres? Do you ever wonder why petrol prices are different in different suburbs? And have you ever been annoyed that the price of the same item may be different at different Coles or Woolworths supermarkets in the same neighbourhood? Well, what you’re witnessing is the practice of geographic price discrimination. It’s common among our major supermarket chains and oil companies. At its simplest, geographic price discrimination means that consumers in some areas are paying a higher price for the same item than they would otherwise have paid elsewhere. There are plenty of examples of geographic price discrimination. Petrol pricing is a well known example. Those who live in the city see it every day when they drive to work, school or the shops. Petrol prices will vary from suburb to suburb with the same petrol retailer charging a different price for the same petrol at their different outlets.