@mistercheap Ms SOZ got her flu shot today at JewelOsco and received the 10% off coupon. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are 99 cts/lb. It was a good time to use the GC.

Wow, here at an Albertson’s family store boneless skinless chicken breasts are on sale this week for $2.99/lb. Anyone wanna move to California and pay three times the price? You can fill your gas tank with $6.50 a gallon gas while you are here.

@sonofzeus said in Possible Albertsons Chains/Kroger merger in the works:

@mistercheap Ms SOZ got her flu shot today at JewelOsco and received the 10% off coupon. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are 99 cts/lb. It was a good time to use the GC.

Wow, here at an Albertson’s family store boneless skinless chicken breasts are on sale this week for $2.99/lb. Anyone wanna move to California and pay three times the price? You can fill your gas tank with $6.50 a gallon gas while you are here.

That’s how much chicken is here in KY too. Way too expensive. Our gas is not that high, thankfully.

If the Feds approve this deal, this is bad news for consumers in our neck 'o the woods. We currently enjoy very strong price/sku competition among WM, WF, ALDI, Marianos/Kroger, Jewel/Albertsons, and many regional chains. We’ll never see 99 ct/doz eggs again! https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/business/kroger-albertsons-merger/index.html

They may have to sell off a % of stores in areas where they’d run afoul of anti-trust issues. That’s happened with many retail mergers. We don’t have Kroger in my area, so likely only a wash or improvement since there’s a TON of grocery competition around here.

Reaction in Calfornia @MrVietnam

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/kroger-vows-lower-food-prices-170619410.html

Reaction in Calfornia @MrVietnam

Ralphs owner vows lower food prices in Albertsons bid. Consumer advocates are doubtful

I am one of the doubtful ones.

Magic 8 Ball says: They might reduce prices from painful to simply annoying levels.

The big supermarket chains have made billions in record breaking profits (after costs) by using the pandemic and ensuing inflation as excuses to price gouge consumers. They’ve raised prices much higher than their actual costs increased. For example: …“little of that seems to have harmed the company’s bottom line. In the most recent quarter, which ended Aug. 13, Kroger’s operating profits grew 13.7 percent from a year earlier, allowing it to boost its dividend to investors by 24 percent. It has also repurchased $975 million of its own shares this year.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/business/kroger-albertsons-merger.html

Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen (who would take over as CEO of the combined company) recently said “a little bit of inflation is always good in our business” because “customers don’t overly react to increases in prices.” Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran made similar comments. https://prospect.org/power/proposed-kroger-albertsons-merger-would-create-grocery-giant/

Kroger CFO Larry Millerchip told shareholders in October: “We’ve been very comfortable with our ability to pass on the increases we’ve seen at this point. And we would expect that to continue to be the case.” https://www.fastcompany.com/90797301/kroger-albertsons-deal-antitrust-grocery-merger

They have one narrative for the regulators and consumers. and a different (more candid) one for their shareholders. For the sake of consumers, I hope this merger is blocked, like they blocked the merger of Office Depot and Staples.

IF this goes through I see prices going up even more than they went up before.

You don’t believe a CEO when he says they will go down?

At the hearing Tuesday, McMullen said that the combined company could help lower food prices

@mrvietnam said in Kroger buys Albertson's Co (including all related chains - Acme, Shaws, Safeway, etc):

IF this goes through I see prices going up even more than they went up before.

You don’t believe a CEO when he says they will go down?

At the hearing Tuesday, McMullen said that the combined company could help lower food prices

His nose must be growing!

I was going to buy a Safeway GC from Amazon and found that it’s no longer available, not even the eGC.

Good catch, Albertson’s is gone too, I purchased an Albertsons Family of Stores GC after Thanksgiving. page for the item has been removed.