Posted on 08/17/2024 7:37:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Kamala, and these who surround her and support her claim that that gross profit margins are up among food producers and retailers and that is proof that they are gouging consumers.
That is BS or pure stupidity. You can tell they never ran a business.
Kamala says she is going to focus like a laser beam on grocery stores who are guilty of "price gauging" as she, sic, put it.
These people get so aggravated if someone pronounces her name wrong but she can't even read a teleprompter and pronounce "gouging" correctly.
They clearly don't understand direct costs and overhead or indirect costs.
A grocery store's net income is very low as a percentage of sales.
Here is an article showing the net profit margin of Kroger, a major retail grocery chain, in each quarter from 2012 to April 2024.
The profits (losses) range from a low of negative 1.44% to a positive 5.37% for one quarter in 2018. The second highest quarter is 2.92% during COVID. In April of 2024, the profit margin is a whopping 2.09%.
Now which of those profit margin numbers indicates that the company is screwing its customers and that the government should come in and control them?
The companies and shareholders risk billions of dollars building grocery store chains and somehow a 2.09% profit margin is too high.
Here are some indirect costs at a grocery store that are not included in the gross margin:
salaries
payroll taxes
health insurance
liability insurance
delivery costs
property taxes
equipment repairs and maintenance
building repairs
supplies
utilities
building insurance
These and other indirect costs have greatly increased because of the inflation caused by Democrat policies, and grocery store gross margins have to increase substantially to end up with the same net margin!
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Supposedly real wages are rising faster than inflation and Democrats want that so they would have to raise gross margins to cover that. They also want to raise minimum wages and always demand more benefits.
How would Kroger cover that without raising prices since their margin is so thin? Think of how many more employees would have to be added to the government and to businesses if they had to comply with these additional regulations.
Think about how much prices would have to go up if the Democrats get their way with their radical green policies.
Democrats also want to raise corporate taxes and taxes on capital gains and dividends which are already double taxed.
The only way to maintain a 2% profit margin is to raise prices further and that exacerbateses inflation. Nothing the Democrats have proposed would reduce inflation.
“SHRINKAGE” is a cover word for THEFT
I wish the ho would talk about the way her government is gouging the bank accounts of American families.
The only price gouging occurs via the government...the subsidies for all this climate crap...which has screwed up our economy and numerous industries.
This will work only if you enact Directive 10-289!
Prior to JFK, Atlas Shrugged was the 2nd most read book in the USA (behind The Bible) for a reason.
they left out shrinkage and spoilage as cost drivers. Consider how much shrinkage - retail theft - it would take to sink a store operating at such tight margins.
Meanwhile, what’s the government’s percentage?
Taxes, paperwork, inspectors, regulators, etc. etc.
Some yahoo here on FR noted that grocery stores are a trillion dollar business.
So what?
I replied that there are 62000 grocery stores. At 1.6% margin,!that works out to an average of $200,000. Then I shared the cost of an eight door freezer. $26,000. That’s razor thin for an industry that has repeat customers every week.
Check out this cool chart.
https://fullratio.com/profit-margin-by-industry
It might be too complex for VP Plan B to figure out.
Another reason why grocery stores are eliminating self-checkout.
TOO MUCH THEFT
Have noticed that some stores have cut down the self-checkout & they have 2-4 persons WATCHING the self check out, plus a person checking your register tape against your basket.
THOSE “WATCHERS” could be actually checking instead & give up ALL the checkouts.
Starbucks is price gouging. Banks are price gouging with mortgage rates. Homeowners are price gouging with homes for sale. Landlords are price gouging with rent prices.
Lawyers are price gouging. Hospitals are price gouging. Doctors are price gouging.
Idiot! It’s called inflation, and you caused it.
Democrats ruin everything
The writer left off the cost of all the merchandise that walks out the front door without paying. That’s a Democrat thing.
Says it all! “That is BS or pure stupidity. You can tell they never ran a business.”
The lefties I’m familiar with will always raise the subject of CEO pay. Always. It’s a single number that they can glom onto and say ”See? This is wrong! Capitalism is a failure!”
How much retailer profit is there in eggs, milk, bacon? If I were to go down my normal shopping items, I bet most are minimal. I recall when I worked in retail that that only things I saw with high margins were toothbrushes costing a few cents and selling for dollars.
“...Democrats ruin everything..”
Imagine how prosperous and great this country would be without these godless, vile, communist bassturds.
Giving away some $250 billion to some 3rd world crap hole when the country is already in debt practically beyond measure is certainly NOT in the best interest of her citizens or the welfare of the country as a whole.
Minimum wage is also important to dems because some union contracts specify X times the minimum wage. Raise the minimum wage and union workers making much more than the minimum wage also get a raise.
If anything , Kroger (in my case, Harris Teeter) has been very measured in how they pass their increasing overhead on to the customer the past few years since covid.
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