It’s been a solid year of Canadians being fed up with unreasonably high and ever-increasing food prices while grocery store profits go through the roof, and as many continue to air their grievances about greedflation and supermarket CEOs’ salaries, there is another new move some retailers are making that is really enraging customers.
Price gouging at its best! PC table napkins $6.99 one week $9.99 the next week. Justify this Galen Weston!
— Carol Hayden-Mead (@Chayden123456) February 24, 2023
A few months ago, Loblaws shoppers began noticing new signs asking them to donate to the company’s President’s Choice Children’s Charity to help feed children in Canada — something that came off as tone deaf as the grocer was among those being investigated for profiting off of food inflation.
Now, consumers are noticing a different series of signs in the same vein, identifying certain items as most-needed by local food banks to ostensibly encourage residents to purchase and donate them.
The reaction to these stickers has been the same, with one person sharing a photo of one of the signs in question to the Ontario subreddit along with the caption “Grocery stores in this province now label foods as a ‘most needed [food] bank product.’ Instead of donating food or slashing prices, grocery chains prey on the poor.”
Hundreds of comments on the post share the same sentiment, and encourage people to instead donate money directly to food banks in their area.
“I hate when grocery stores do the ‘would you like to donate $1 to xyz?’ Like no, fuck you, donate it yourself you greedy capitalist bastards,” one comment with 277 upvotes reads.
“It’s all slimy PR. When Galen Weston was prancing around complaining about making too much money, local Loblaws amped up the charity appeals. It’s just projection, you feel like they are doing something charitable because they ask you for money,” another says.
And yet another, very aptly: “I’m sitting here price matching flyers to save money & you have the audacity to ask me to donate $2 to the food bank? You made hundreds of millions in profits this past quarter — YOU donate $2 to the food bank!”
A few noted, though, that like the donation bins at the front of some supermarkets, there is a chance that these signs were placed by local food banks themselves.
But, representatives for both Daily Bread and Food Banks Canada said their organizations are not behind the signs, and instead list most-needed products on their respective websites.
Daily Bread also emphasized its partnerships with grocery stores like Loblaws, where they install donation bins for customers to contribute to on their way out of the store, if they so choose.
Food Banks Canada added that visits to food banks are at an all-time high — something that is a direct result of unaffordable food prices at grocery stores like Loblaws.
If you want to donate to charity (which is certainly a noble thing to do), ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do it directly.
Corporations will use YOUR donations as an expense write off against their own revenue, whereas you can do that yourself (as long as it’s over a certain amount…)
— Sir Daniel Wigginbottom Fortesque IV (@bibowski) March 1, 2023
As one commenter noted, “These stores breaking records in profits and then continue to pull heart strings and put you on the spot at the check out as food prices spiral out of control for consumers and they try and gouge us even further.”
“Everywhere you go, I’m sick of these companies asking for money when they make so much they could solve world hunger.”
