Free Republic

Walmart’s Replace Brand Name Food with Their Brand “Great Value”. Who Will This Really Benefit? Published by diamondpoet December 4, 2009 What is Walmart really up to. Walmart is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world. As of August 31, 2008, Walmart has as many as 100 food categories: United States 4,227 total units. Discount Stores (914)Super-Centers (2,576)Sam’s Club (594)Neighborhood Markets (143) International 3,210 total units Argentina (24)Brazil (320)Canada (309)China (Wal-Mart 108; Trust-Mart 100Costa Rica (156)Guatemala (149)Honduras (48)Japan (392)Mexico (1,081)Nicaragua (47)Puerto Rico (55)El Salvador (74)United Kingdom (347) This is a time where families needs to make every penny...

PORTLAND, Ore. - With many families suddenly struggling to feed themselves, the big warehouse clubs known for king-size packages of steak and jumbo boxes of Cheerios are increasingly competing with grocery stores for the 36 million Americans now on food stamps. Costco Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that it would start accepting food stamps at its warehouse clubs nationwide after testing them at stores in New York. That is a big about-face for a chain that has catered to the bargain-hunting affluent with its gourmet foods, and a reflection of the fact food-stamp use has hit new highs.

Frugality. That's been the buzzword of the Great Recession.   Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence. Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more and increasing savings to 4.8 percent of disposable income in December, up from near zero before the recession.   In the past year, blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.   Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: Frugality fatigue. But...

I want people to store food not only for their sake, but for mine as well. I don’t want to decide which of my kids have to go hungry when you and your unprepared kin come knocking on my door. Contrary to progressive-collectivist thinking, every individual who takes care of themselves and their families benefits society by not becoming a burden. So take responsibility now and start today. Don’t expect the Feds to come by to hand you your ration of government-rationed cheese. You could be in for a long wait. Wait too long, and you may end up with...

These are more "jobs Americans won't do," according to Publix supermarkets. In southwest Florida, where there's 14 percent unemployment, the supermarket chain is importing Brazilians and Peruvians on J-1 "cultural exchange" visas. Unbelievable. I'd boycott the chain if I lived down there.

Responding to customers' complaints, Publix has stopped distributing a free 2010 calendar that marked Dec. 7 as the start of the Islamic New Year but excluded the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joyce Kaufman, whose radio talk show on WFTL-AM 850 is broadcast from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties, criticized the supermarket chain on her show Wednesday, saying the company failed to include Pearl Harbor in a calendar that it had widely provided at supermarkets in recent weeks. Kaufman, a Coconut Creek resident, said omitting the Pearl Harbor anniversary would disappoint World War II veterans. She told the...

Responding to customers' complaints, Publix has stopped distributing a free 2010 calendar that marked Dec. 7 as the start of the Islamic New Year but excluded the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Joyce Kaufman, whose radio talk show on WFTL-AM 850 is broadcast from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties, criticized the supermarket chain on her show Wednesday, saying the company failed to include Pearl Harbor in a calendar that it had widely provided at supermarkets in recent weeks. Kaufman, a Coconut Creek resident, said omitting the Pearl Harbor anniversary would disappoint World War II veterans. She told the...

I noticed that December 7th is highlighted as the Islamic new year with no mention of Pearl Harbor Day. This was an important date in the history of our nation that affected all of us from that day forward in so many ways. The sacrifice that our grandparents made during those war years influenced how children learned to live their lives...and then there were the those fathers, sons, and husbands that never came back. Shame on you for deleting part of American history from your calendar in favor of political correctness. I plan to publish this letter on several forums...

The ‘Coupon Mom’ went on the Today Show this morning and showed the hosts how she was able to purchase $100 worth of groceries for only 25 cents. Her handy tips will help you save money every time you go to the supermarket.

Residents of the US capital may have to dig a little deeper into their pockets when they go grocery shopping once the city slaps a five-cent levy on each plastic bag issued at the checkout line. The measure, which takes effect on January 1, 2010 and is the first such initiative in the United States, seeks to make consumers bear the brunt of clean up costs for the bags which currently are dispensed for free with a customer's purchases.

A DECLINE IN FOOD SPENDING confirms a deflationary undercurrent. Consumers are still spending less on food, even while pushing a touch less forcefully on the usual money-saving levers – suggesting disinflationary retail prices may have worsened to end 2009. The deflation-induced operating deleverage that plagued food retail over the past three to six months leaves little room for further price declines – just as we enter a tough holiday season. The table is set for a competitive holiday season. Consumers continue their trend of "shopper activism" (coupons, promotions, etc.) and plan to spend less this holiday season. Twenty-four percent of...

How often do you shop for groceries? I don't mean for the last-minute half-gallon of milk or package of cigarettes from the convenience store, but the heavy-duty grocery shopping. All the older siblings and their spouses appeared to shop once a week, filling up the automobile or van to the rafters. I on the other hand have always emulated the parents, who shopped for groceries every single day excepting Sundays (but then and again, it needs pointed out franksolich has no spouse and dependents, so it's a somewhat different sort of thing). In the town of circa 3,000 alongside the...

In response to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Whole Foods’ Chief Executive Officer John Mackey, activists, consumers and labor groups around the country have been organizing in opposition to his efforts to undermine meaningful health care reform. Over the course of the next few weeks, members and staff from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) will be disseminating educational information to Whole Foods shoppers. The purpose of these efforts will be to set the record straight about health care reform and to raise serious concerns about Whole Foods CEO’s position on this critical issue. These events...

The usual cadre of ignorant prominent conservatives is urging us to support of Whole Foods because left-wingers are boycotting the overpriced gourmet food chain since CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed against ObamaCare in the Wall Street Journal. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the guy. What goes around in his store’s behavior, comes around, even in organics. (snip) But, unlike them, I look beneath the surface of silly, shallow talking points and principle-free partisan knee-jerking. And I’m not upset that Whole Foods is being boycotted. In fact, I love it. It’s a great episode in poetic justice for...

I've written several columns over the last couple months about the attempts by Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress to impose nationalized health-care insurance -- so-called "Obamacare." I've said it's bad for corporate profits, bad for the stock market, bad for the economy -- and even bad for people seeking quality health care. I've never had such a huge volume of reader response to anything I've written here, and never so polarized. To half of you, I'm a messiah. To the other half, I'm a pariah. So I was glad to find support in this perilous position from one of...

As a leftist up until last year, I know what liberals are good at:  emotion and righteous indignation.  And they're experts at channeling that fury into concrete action.  So Moveon.org and other far left groups are e mailing and twittering and Facebooking like crazy to mobilize the troops into doing whatever they dictate. Their tactics can be so cruel and chilling, that those of us with a conscience can be left hanging in the dust.  Meanwhile, a la Saul Alinsky, the Left isolates, demonizes and destroys their "enemies," that is anyone who disagrees with them. When a person or company is...

Around a dozen protesters were in front of the Whole Foods on Route 9 in Framingham this afternoon, handing out fliers calling for CEO John Mackey to be fired. Mackey recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that against more government involvement in health care and saying that people do not have an “intrinsic right to health care.” “My heart wouldn’t bleed if he left,” said Dean Ethier, an organizing director with the United Food and Commercial Workers. “You need a compassionate person who’s for reform.” The opinion piece has become a target of supporters of...

“A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America,” Mackey wrote in the piece. In response, a Facebook group called, “Boycott Whole Foods,” was founded, and today it has almost 23,000 members who have pledged to stop shopping there. Whole Foods spokesperson Libba Letton said “there’s no telling,” whether or not the company’s bottom line will be impacted by the boycott.

I plan to do a lot more shopping at Whole Foods in the coming weeks. Mostly in response to the moronic boycott of the store now gaining momentum on the left. Let me see if I have the logic correct here: Whole Foods is consistently ranked among the most employee-friendly places to work in the service industry. In fact, Whole Foods treats employees a hell of a lot better than most liberal activist groups do. The company has strict environmental and humane animal treatment standards about how its food is grown and raised. The company buys local. The store near...

Protesters are hoping a boycott will cut into the success of Whole Foods, the 10th largest food and drug store in the U.S., which reported sales of $1.8 billion for last quarter, a 2 percent increase from the previous quarter. Calls to boycott Whole Foods Market are growing louder and more sophisticated following a Wall Street Journal opinion article by the company's chief executive, John Mackey, in which he criticized President Obama's health care plan and offered his own alternative. Mackey's article first prompted individuals to threaten taking their business elsewhere. But now the Progressive Review, an online alternative publication,...