[BatGuano]

Unions think that they can run the show.

Kroger and Albertsons should close their doors and tell the teamsters to “take care of your 22,000 members.”

[DarrellZero]

“our members need more than vague promises about their future.”

As if anyone alive has anything more than that. They act like children.

[pierrem15]

All the merger will do is increase profits for the unified company by monopoly pricing, increasing inconvenience to find a store for customers as competing locations are closed, and increasing unemployment.

Most places I've seen have very few competing large grocers. Approving the merger will just mean higher prices and more inconvenience and probably a decrease in quality even as prices increase because of the lack of choice. The FTC answer should just be, "No."

[Eva]

In our county, the Kroger Stores are now higher end stores and Albertsons are the lowest end. It wasn’t always that way, but there were a few things that happened that caused Kroger to step up the quality.

Kroger products are pretty good quality, too, and well priced. I can’t say the same about Albertson’s.

[NorthMountain]

Teamsters is “the mob”.

[ConservativeInPA]

I don’t like unions or their reasoning. There is an economic reason to block the merger. Grocers sell homogeneous products. More grocers will increase competition and reduce prices for consumers. The move towards oligopoly is an inherent form of artificial price fixing. Worse yet would be a monopoly. America needs far more smaller businesses. Perhaps we need some trust busting for large grocers and start breaking up the Krogers of America. It’s not like they are operating efficiently and providing maximum value to customers nor are they maximizing shareholder wealth. Look at all the DEI, Green, ESG chit these companies have. It’s all waste. It increase prices. It reduces profits. Look at all the charities and NGOs they donate to against the values of both customers and shareholder values.

Grocery stores are a perfect use case for breakup vs. merger.

[Falconspeed]

Part time employees are preferred by Kroger. Sad. I talked to a grocer at Ralph’s last month. He said he started working in 1985 and was ready to retire today. But all new hires at Ralph’s are part time and won’t have enough for retirement.
In other news, Trump hosted a roundtable with food executives on May 29, 2000, where Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger said, “We developed a 59 page blueprint that we made public and shared it.” It’s all about washing hands, wearing masks and cleaning workspaces. Looking back, the focus on covid was a huge distraction away from focusing on the Lord, family and country.
https://www.thekrogerco.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Krogers-Blueprint-for-Businesses.pdf

[Vaduz]

Unions plus inflation keep ankles warm with hands.

[minnesota_bound]

There are hardly any checkout clerks and they are not fulltime as obamacare wrecked any career in the grocery business. Instead of 40/hrs it is 29/hrs and random schedule to fill slots as people quit all the time.
The .10 a bag charge I bet is kickback money to the democrat party.