Supermarkets 'offer' to end affordable health care

SF Gate ^ | 12/8/03 | Richard Brown and Richard Kronick

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The strike by 70,000 grocery store workers, now joined by 8,000 truck drivers, has been taking its toll in Southern California. Shoppers are inconvenienced by half-empty shelves and closed stores. Supermarket workers are trying to cope with meager strike benefits and mounting bills.

[Smogger]

No wonder storesa are moving to self check out lines. At $15 a week, a family is getting health coverage for $780 a year for bagging groceries

Self-check out lines are total friggin junk, and a total failure. They tried to put them in the local K-Mart. The stupid thing won't let you proceed to the next item until you place the one you just scanned in a bag. EVEN IF IT WON'T FIT IN A BAG! It just repeats "Please place the item in the bag" until you ready to smash it and burn the store in the ground. I have seen them at Ralph's too. The most expensive supermarket in California. Gee I gotta scan AND bag my own friggin groceries? At least Food 4 Less passes on the savings when you bag your own, wheras Ralph's tried to pocket the difference while forcing you to be a "member" so they can track everything you buy and sell the info to advertisers.

Automatic checkers are a joke.

[50sDad]

When I had to go to the Emissions Testing facility here in Cincy-town (D@mn the EPA!) the sign on the wall read: "Remember your attendence bonus!"

Can you imagine, expecting to get PAID just for SHOWING UP? Whatta world!

[concerned about politics]

Worker: "Oh, they went out of business."

OMG! That is soooo true. (They moved to Mexico for cheaper labor).

[Smogger]

Supermarket workers strikers are trying to cope with meager strike benefits and mounting bills.

Only Von's/Pavillions employees and Teamsters are on strike. Albertson's/Ralph's employee are locked out.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

I pay $435 a month for my family health coverage.

These whining brats can stuff it.

[CdMGuy]

Let me see here. I am looking at my medical insurance costs for 2004, as it is open enrollment, and my employer just renewed for 2004. The employee cost of insurance is going to be $37 a week for an employee and spouse to be in an HMO plan and $80 a week to be in a PPO plan. For family coverage, those premiums are $50 for HMO and $103 for PPO. That's per week folks. So, if I want to ensure my spouse and children in a PPO plan, the annual cost to me is $5,356. By the way, my employer pays a good bit more of the premium cost than do most other manufacturing concerns in Southern California.

All employees in my company pay the same - the union employees, salaried employees and management. So, I should care because the supermarket workers are not willing to pay any of their health insurance costs?

These people are dumber than Rodney King. Talks broke off again over the weekend. At this rate, the strike will go into next year. When it finally is over, many of them will be let go because shoppers have found other alternatives. Can the strikers say Trader Joes, Costo, Walmart, Sam's Club, Stater Brothers, etc??????

Right now, walmart is making a big push into Southern California with their Walmart Superstores. For example, in the Palm Springs area, one just opened, and two more are about to start construction. Three Walmart Superstores in a valley with a population of around 300,000. I wonder just how many Ralphs, Vons, and Albertsons will be closing their doors in a couple of years.

Food prices in the union stores are outrageous. It can be cheaper just to eat out at family type restaurants. To top it all off, there is a over-abundance of super market stores in So Cal on a population basis. This over-capacity situation alone will result in many store closings in the years ahead. The impact on the other stores in any shopping center anchored by a supermarket will be staggering when the super closes.

[50sDad]

Automatic Checkers are wonderful 99% of the time. When they work, I don't have to go through "happy talk" at the checkout where the checkers pretend I'm their best buddy, and try to get me to use my Kroger card on stuff that I know is not on sale so they can track my purchases better. I can zip through fast, and rarely have to wait for obnoxious drunk guys, little old ladies and indecisive shoppers.

Where those things really rock is in my Home Depot! Dang, no waiting, just blow right through and get on with life!

[Joe Hadenuf]

Self-check out lines are total friggin junk, and a total failure. They tried to put them in the local K-Mart. The stupid thing won't let you proceed to the next item until you place the one you just scanned in a bag. EVEN IF IT WON'T FIT IN A BAG! It just repeats "Please place the item in the bag" until you ready to smash it and burn the store in the ground.

LOL! I've heard similar stories.

Thanks for the laugh...

[Henrietta]

"Unions destroy jobs! For example, the Dole Pineapple plant in Hawaii is a tourist attraction and nothing else. You see, their unionized $19/hr pineapple pickers were simply too unproductive and too expensive for Dole to continue in Hawaii. They now grow pineapples in the Philippines. "

This is so true! My dad used to have a good job with Freightliner. Now at age 55 he is laid off, because the company just couldn't afford to pay the wages the unionized employees were demanding. Now those jobs are in some other country, Mexico, I think. Of course, he blames Bush for the loss of his job. I told him he should blame his union instead, and patiently explained why. I think he's starting to understand....

[finnman69]

Compared to the brain dead checkers at my K-mart, nothing could possibly be worse. These people are stumped adding two pennies together.

[CdMGuy]

FYI, Ralphs and Food4Less are both owned by Kroger. I agree with you about prices. I went to a Ralphs last week to avoid the picketers at Vons, as I didn't want my car damaged by the strikers. Wow, prices were well above Vons for the frozen lunch entrees I buy every week. I heard that Ralphs has raised prices since the strike started, but have no way of confirming that. A friend has commented on the higher prices as well.

[.38sw]

I haven't shopped regularly at a Safeway or Albertson's for quite some time now. I shop at Lunardi's (Walnut Creek). They have a full-service meat counter and deli which are far superior to the other supers. Their meat and fish is much better, as is their produce. The prices are lower than I find at Albertson's and Safeway. Lunardi's has seven locations in the Bay Area.

[kmiller1k]

I have used the self check-out at Home Depot and at K-Mart and like them both. At Home Depot the set up four self check-outs with one employee overseeing the units. It runs very smoothly and fast. Which begs the question--if I can do it for myself quicker, why can't I do it elsewhere? I hope the grocery workers understand this self-check out may eliminate them all together.

[concerned about politics]

This is so true! My dad used to have a good job with Freightliner. Now at age 55 he is laid off, because the company just couldn't afford to pay the wages the unionized employees were demanding.

Same thing with the A&P food plant in NY. The unions broke them. They closed the doors.
My brother lives in Corning NY. Everytime the company comes up with a new product, it gets moved out of NY. Most new products go to China or Mexico. NY is too expensive. It's the AFLCIO union.

[Smogger]

Compared to the brain dead checkers at my K-mart, nothing could possibly be worse. These people are stumped adding two pennies together.

Yeah? Well that's what I thought until I tried to use one. Completely worthless junk. God help you if you scan the wrong thing or the price doesn't come up as expected. It takes human intervention to reset it. Anyhow the market disagrees with you and they were gone the next time I came back to K-Mart.

[subterfuge]

"employers should give each employee a comprehensive list of what all of these benefits"

My company does this occaisionally. They want us to know it costs them a lot more to employ me than what my paycheck says. And I do pay a good portion of my medical/dental/life insurance fees.

[FairOpinion]

Ralph's always had higher prices than Vons and Albertsons.

[Wright is right!]

"Michael- That is how much the BUDGET shows for the cost of having that employee----BUTTTTT- the employee only makes what gross he shows on his income tax return, and he only spends the net paycheck."

Nope, you've fallen for the Great Scam. What you make is what the employer has to shell out. Now, OVERHEAD is a different deal. Overhead is building, utilities, equipment, raw material, debt service, etc. No personnel costs.

I know. I'm an employer. And I employ ME. I pay it all.

Michael

[Smogger]

Wow, prices were well above Vons for the frozen lunch entrees I buy every week. I heard that Ralphs has raised prices since the strike started, but have no way of confirming that. A friend has commented on the higher prices as well.

Ralph's is the most expensive grocery store in the state. In my experience they are generally located in upper middle class neighborhoods, where I guess people don't care if they pay a couple of bucks more for what could be bought elsewhere for less. They also tend to be located where there is little in the way of competition. Where I live in Ontario California we have Ralphs's, Vons, Pavillions, Albertson's, Stater's, Trader Joe's, several local Market's, and dozens of Mexican markets (and those are chains too.) all within maybe a 2 mile radius. So I never waste my money buying anything at Ralph's.

I can understand why people in many more densely populated areas of the state (most of LA for example) shop at Ralph's and Vons. Usually they're the only stores around for miles. I feel sorry for you though.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

The unionized Safeway workers went on strike in the city where l live... The shoppers ... shopped for a year at the A&P ... liked it much better

I'm watching a similar phenomenon here in West Virginia where Krogers are still closed because of strikes. In one area of town a Food Lion opened up a few years back right next to a Kroger.

Folks were striking back then in front of the new Food Lion (I think it had to do with non-union construction contracts, but not sure). Not sure if this was part of the reason, but it seemed the Food Lion parking lot was always near empty while Kroger's was packed.

I often commented with friends about how it seemed that Food Lion most certainly must be losing money, and how is it they could stay in business. But now the tables have turned, and with Kroger's lot empty, I've never seen so many cars at Food Lion. I now wonder if the Kroger re-opens, if maybe their loyal customers have already switched allegiance.

In my experience, folks become comfortable with a certain grocery store and learn to become familiar with the layout. Going to other stores becomes a chore as they are unfamiliar with what is where. I know that my girlfriend, once loyal to Kroger, is now quite pleased with the local Giant Eagle. And she has the striking workers to thank.