So let's take a look at the profit margins of one grocery chain, Kroger, that Kamala claims is 'price gauging'

American Thinker ^ | 08/17/24 | Jack Hellner

[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!

[nopardons]

BTTT

[Newtoidaho]

I just got out of the hospital after a 3 week stay. The bill was $156 000 for just the room. That did include several hours in the emergency room and 2-3 days in intensive care.

But they saved my life and I’ll happily pay it.

[wgmalabama]

In most places the government makes more off the sale due to sales tax vs the profit margins of the company. In addition the multitude of regulations again costs the consumer more than the profit margin.

The single biggest cost driver for almost every product is the Government.

[Fester Chugabrew]

I’m not so sure it is grocery store chains she is concerned with. More like the food producers and their mark ups. In any case, she is not qualified in the matter.

[sten]

check the union labor wages used while shipping goods.

remove the union and wages will drop which would effect pricing.

[Brilliant]

The price of government is taxes. The government is price gouging.

[SERKIT]

To quote a line from the series “VEEP”, and seeing Harris’s first attempt at controlling inflation by communistic price controls, “It’s like watching a goat operate an ATM machine.”

[MayflowerMadam]

“grocery stores who are guilty of ‘price gauging’ as she, sic, put it.”

Except she said “price GAGE-ing”. Cannot read a Teleprompter and never learned the lingo of economics. Even if the Teleprompter spelled it incorrectly, someone with a 50 IQ would recognize that and say the correct word.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

Let’s do some math. Assume profit margin 2% before taxes and gross margin 20%. Assume 1% more “shrinkage”, which is theft.

That little 1% theft will eat up 40% of the profit (.01x.80)/.02. In fact, all it takes is 2.5% theft to wipe out ALL profit.

At least during the Great Depression people understood work and tried not to take handouts. An overlooked side effect of Keynesian debt-based economic policy is weakening the moral fiber and social standards of a nation.

[cyclotic]

Keep in mind that you are under no legal obligation to allow the store to examine your receipt at the door. At that point, the stuff in your basket is your property and they don’t have the right to make you prove it.

As Dionne Warwick sang: Walk on by

[Salman]

Those who created Kamala’s policy (not her) are *not* stupid. Creating shortages is on purpose. It is part of the same larger policy as the war on farmers.

[P-Marlowe]

The author left out workers comp insurance. That’s a direct cost paid by the employer on the employees’ salaries, usually from 5% to 25% depending on the job title.

[eyeamok]

And I thought it was the moneychangers aka The den of vipers at the Federal Reserve diluting our currency

[Jeff Chandler]

Ever since Covid Kroger steaks suck. On the other hand, their wild caught Argentinean red shrimp is the best.