Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wal-Mart puts the squeeze on food costs
CNNMoney.com ^ | May 29, 2008: 4:25 AM EDT | Suzanne Kapner

Posted on 05/29/2008 2:07:14 PM PDT by GulfBreeze

The retailer is using its clout with vendors to hold onto its everyday low prices.

...With gas, grain, and dairy prices exploding, you'd think the biggest seller of corn flakes and Cocoa Puffs would be getting hit by rising food costs. But Wal-Mart has temporarily rolled back prices on hundreds of food items by as much as 30% this year. How? By pressuring vendors to take costs out of the supply chain.

Shrink the goods....some of its vendors have reengineered their packaging. General Mills' (GIS, Fortune 500) Hamburger Helper is now made with denser pasta shapes, allowing the same amount of food to fit into a 20% smaller box at the same price. The change has saved 890,000 pounds of paper fiber and eliminated 500 trucks...

Cut out the middleman...In April the chain began buying directly from a cooperative of Brazilian coffee farmers for its Sam's Choice brand, cutting three or four steps out of the supply chain...

Go locovore...Bushwick Potato Co. supplies Wal-Mart stores in the Northeast, says the cost of shipping one truck of spuds from his farm in Maine to local Wal-Mart stores costs less than $1,000, compared with several thousand dollars for a big rig from Idaho...

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: food; foodsupply; inflation; walmart
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last
To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Are you kidding. Walmart sells top of the line steaks, brats, and Angus Beef burgers now.

No, I'm not. Wal-Mart sells crap meat compared to the butcher I normally go to.

21 posted on 05/29/2008 3:07:15 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Party ahead of principles; eventually you'll be selling out anything to anyone for the right price.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: basil

If you ever step out of your bunker and talk on your cell phone they (telecoms)know where your calling from too. Isn’t that scary! scarc/off


22 posted on 05/29/2008 3:10:16 PM PDT by kempo (c)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: All

I have been on FR for about eight years. Could someone please tell me what happened to FR ? I am astounded that every thread has MANY views, but VERY FEW posts. And it is like that for almost every post !

What’s going on ? Did I miss something ? I would really appreciate one of you old time poster’s to help me with this. I remember a time when almost every post had hundreds of posts on a thread. I miss that.

Something is different. Thanks.


23 posted on 05/29/2008 3:12:55 PM PDT by Neenah ( Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - it's about learning to dance in the rain.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze

Don’t get me wrong, I shop at Wal-Mart but they also screw their suppliers and that is the reason that we no longer sell to them.

If the suppliers are still supplying at a cheaper price, I will take advantage of it.


24 posted on 05/29/2008 3:13:52 PM PDT by tiki (True Christians will not deliberately slander or misrepresent others or their beliefs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pollywog

I’ve never shopped at Cosco and Sam’s only a few times.


25 posted on 05/29/2008 3:15:11 PM PDT by Graybeard58
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze

My local Safeway has declared war on prices, apparently on WalMart too, as many items are more reasonable than ever. Not meat, though there are lots of “specials,” which essentially claim last year’s prices as today’s sale prices.


26 posted on 05/29/2008 3:18:09 PM PDT by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze

I normally buy some of the Campbells soups at Wal-Mart for $1.72 or I can by it at a hispanic store aptly named President Supermarket (where they are 99.9% cuban!) for the whopping price of $2.92+


27 posted on 05/29/2008 3:28:57 PM PDT by prophetic (God, let Obama speak utter foolishness and confound the wisdom of his counselors)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Neenah

You would prefer hundreds of posts on every thread? I view a lot of threads but usually I have nothing to say and I expect that is the case with many other viewers.
Think of it quality over quanity, but if posts is what you want I can post to you endless tales of how my cat Fluffy spent his last days or something. Maybe something about another subject you’re interested in? O.K.?


28 posted on 05/29/2008 3:29:13 PM PDT by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: basil

Got news for you, Basil-they photograph EVERYBODY who buys ANYTHING. Thanks for making the store a little less crowded.


29 posted on 05/29/2008 3:36:01 PM PDT by mozarky2 (Ya never stand so tall as when ya stoop to stomp a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze
allowing the same amount of food to fit into a 20% smaller box at the same price.

That's something that has irked me for years. The box of stuff you buy often only takes up 1/4 to 1/3 of the boxes volume.

30 posted on 05/29/2008 3:39:53 PM PDT by steveo (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop

Liberals want their grifting Unionized hooks in Walmart. With enough Political power that will happen. Then kiss those savings goodbye!


31 posted on 05/29/2008 3:41:26 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze
Cutting costs without subsidies or tax hikes. If only our government could learn from this.

Walmart doesn't buy all of their food from China and they sell the same stuff all other retailers do.

32 posted on 05/29/2008 3:50:41 PM PDT by varyouga ("Rove is some mysterious God of politics & mind control" - DU 10-24-06)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: misterrob

We could outsource the US Govt to Walmart and Sams club and save a lot of tax money.


33 posted on 05/29/2008 4:13:38 PM PDT by x_plus_one ("let them eat cake, drive small electric cars and take the bus")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: x_plus_one

Amen to that.


34 posted on 05/29/2008 4:24:07 PM PDT by misterrob (Obama-Does America Need Another Jimmy Carter?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Centurion2000

They are good for some things. But if I want higher end stuff I go elsewhere.


35 posted on 05/29/2008 4:25:11 PM PDT by misterrob (Obama-Does America Need Another Jimmy Carter?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: rawhide

Walmart has done more to make prescription drugs available to anybody than all the government programs. My mother who is on Medicare hit the donut hole in Bush’s prescription drug program almost immediately. We switched all her drugs to generics at Walmart and she gets them all there now regardless.
The billion dollar program Congress approved and the President signed did absolutely nothing for her.


36 posted on 05/29/2008 4:59:37 PM PDT by sheana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: GulfBreeze

WalMart eliminates the need for 500 trucks by one change in Hamburger Helper? When will we hear the greenie-weenies congratulate them for saving the environment? {{{crickets}}}


37 posted on 05/29/2008 8:33:01 PM PDT by TigersEye (Berlin 1936. Olympics for murdering regimes. Beijing 2008.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Neenah
Something is different. Thanks.

Neenah, it's my opinion that a large number of the better thinkers of the forum no longer post, or very little.
When was the last time you saw a post from OWK?
Many members that used to discuss, dissect, and look at a lot of points of view no longer post here for what ever reason.

38 posted on 05/29/2008 8:42:16 PM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Just another Joe; Neenah
OWK isn't a poster here anymore. Must have gotten the zot somewhere along the line.

As far as shorter threads I have a simpler theory. There are about 100 times as many threads per day as there were a few years ago but not 100 times as many active posters.

39 posted on 05/29/2008 8:55:41 PM PDT by TigersEye (Berlin 1936. Olympics for murdering regimes. Beijing 2008.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye
OWK isn't a poster here anymore. Must have gotten the zot somewhere along the line.

That's sorta my point.
There are many whose point of view I respected, even if I didn't agree with them, that no longer post here for what ever reason.
You could discuss things without getting into flame wars.

40 posted on 05/29/2008 8:59:53 PM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson