I manage a 104 year old small independent grocery store in Berkeley CA. We have been cultivating relationships of trust and mutual support with the neighborhood and broader community, as well as with local and regional food producers and distributors literally for multiple generations ( my boss is 80 and his parents started the store as recently arrived Greek immigrants in 1922. We NEVER gouge. Same tiny markup on wholesale across every product we carry. If we get a promo on wholesale, you get a markdown on the shelf price. There are elderly people on fixed incomes who pay a lower markup on things because we know they need a break. If you forgot your wallet, we make a IOU and tape it up next to the register, even if we’ve never seen you before. 99% of the time these IOUs are paid off within the week. This is not because we’re “woke”. It has been the company culture and practice since 1922. People still recall food the elder Mr Pappas gave their families free of charge during the Great Depression when they couldn’t afford to pay for it. When I stumbled into this job (my mother in law has worked there since 1976, and my husband has worked there since he was 14-I just joined the family enterprise so to speak) my friends and family were befuddled and disappointed that I would give so much of my time to something so low paying and unsexy- something that seemed unworthy of my level of education and my once upon a time dreams of doing human rights advocacy at the U.N or becoming a widely read writer. My “promise”. My “potential to do good in the world”. I find it so beautiful and interesting that as time goes on, those of us who toil in the trenches of the much maligned “essential work” we all learned so much about in the Covid era can experience a little validation of the humble life choices we’ve made. It turns out small independent grocery stores specifically are profoundly important if we are to beat back the Rust and liberate the Gears. And they don’t survive without enough of us rejecting THEIR definition of success and THEIR lessons about what life ambitions do and do not make someone worthy of respect and admiration.
The lastest I have come across, from two retail outlets, is "download this app to track your package" Uh, No! Another way to track and sell your data. One retailer ( Eddie Bower ) was not a surprise. They've been purchased by vultures. But Peruvian connection? I complained both times.
I gave up reward cards years ago. I figured they were tracking my purchases and someone had to pay for that reward. Cards are a way to punish the poor.
I feel it doesn’t matter how you try to save; there are ways to lower costs, like growing your own vegetables and fruit and going green by using reusable towels for cleaning. One-time cost that lasts for many uses.
I pay with cash as often as possible for 2 reasons. #1 the bank charges the store a small percentage when paying by card that's most often passed on to you through higher prices ( gas station higher price per gallon using credit advertised up front is one example of proof). #2 No system is hack proof and fake scanners are everywhere. I don't need the hassle of a breach from a soda or tank of gas.
Grocery stores are the worst scammers and not just in the digital hoops you have to jump. The so called "sale pricing" on fruits and vegetables are sometimes of poor quality and very near the end of the cold storage self life most times in the trash going bad before consuming or taste wise inedible. Then there is the pricing of smaller canned and bottled items costing more per oz. than one of a larger size. There is also the opposite of 2 smaller quantities equal more product than 1 larger at a cheaper price. Same can be said for paper products. Not only is it time consuming to comparison shop but requires math skills or remembering to use the calculator on your phone.
Watch this video about algorithmic pricing -presented by More Perfect Union & Consumer Reports, Lina Khan speaks -there are no guardrails for consumer pricing -it's the Wild West after the pandemic-the tech infrastructure has been put in place for the past 20 yrs-companies big (Amazon, Walmart, Costco ,etc.) & small are using this tech built with the info. on all our purchasing habits to price fix for maximum profit -the companies no longer compete, they are collaborating
Apologies in advance for nitpicking, but your phrase, ‘those with the most time and least money’ seems contradictory to your excellent point. Wouldn’t it be those with the least amount of both time and money be the losers in the scenario that you describe?
Ahh — thanks for clarifying. However, I understood the folks in the scenario described were those who had a limited amount of both time and money and therefore least able to spend time on the fake money-saving apps.
You aren't nitpicking at all, Annetvenom! It's a completely valid point of confusion, and it highlights exactly how insidious this system is.
The distinction lies in how the system defines "free time." You are absolutely correct that the most heavily penalized people are those with zero time and zero money (the single mother working three jobs).
But the specific trap I was referencing targets the illusion of free time. Think of the unemployed, the disabled, or the elderly (as joannegucci and christine pointed out). The system looks at them and says, "You have 24 hours a day of 'free time,' therefore you have the capacity to jump through these endless administrative hoops (clunky portals, endless hold times, fake money-saving apps) just to survive."
What the system refuses to acknowledge is that navigating poverty is a full-time job. It is a massive cognitive and physical drain. I call it the Performance Tax. The system forces those with the least resources to spend their "abundant time" performing endless administrative labor just to stay at zero.
So, they technically have the "most time" on paper, but the system forcibly extracts it all by making basic survival as inefficient and agonizing as possible.
I truly love and believe that your heart driven choice to serve your community will make an amazing difference now and in the future. You are being the hands of Christ.
The digital prison we find ourselves in has been going up for decades. This is just one small razorwire at the top of the perimeter boundary wall. The Bible refers to this digital prison we have willingly allowed, and I dare say, helped to build: "Who can fight against it?"
Yes, we only have ourselves to blame. We participated, we bought "data plans" from our phone companies and dutifully paid our monthly bills, we demanded internet access in our homes and financed the beast system by dutifully paying our monthly bills. We demanded the highest possible streaming rates of data into and out of our homes by volunteering to pay more on our monthly bills.
We wanted the highest speeds so our children would be indoctrinated with transgender ideology, socialist ideology, DEI ideology, LGBTQI plus the rest of the alphabet soup groups ideology, Atheist and anti-Christic faith, COVID scamdemic, the fake religion of "science", the fake religion of Hollywood.... well, I hope you get the picture.
We slaved for corporations, in order to pay the corporations and our Feral Government to turn around and surveil us 24/7/365.25.
I never use those cards here in Australia & I never will, & now activist groups here telling me Coles is working with Palantir to get data on customers, haven't been into Coles now since I read that.
I manage a 104 year old small independent grocery store in Berkeley CA. We have been cultivating relationships of trust and mutual support with the neighborhood and broader community, as well as with local and regional food producers and distributors literally for multiple generations ( my boss is 80 and his parents started the store as recently arrived Greek immigrants in 1922. We NEVER gouge. Same tiny markup on wholesale across every product we carry. If we get a promo on wholesale, you get a markdown on the shelf price. There are elderly people on fixed incomes who pay a lower markup on things because we know they need a break. If you forgot your wallet, we make a IOU and tape it up next to the register, even if we’ve never seen you before. 99% of the time these IOUs are paid off within the week. This is not because we’re “woke”. It has been the company culture and practice since 1922. People still recall food the elder Mr Pappas gave their families free of charge during the Great Depression when they couldn’t afford to pay for it. When I stumbled into this job (my mother in law has worked there since 1976, and my husband has worked there since he was 14-I just joined the family enterprise so to speak) my friends and family were befuddled and disappointed that I would give so much of my time to something so low paying and unsexy- something that seemed unworthy of my level of education and my once upon a time dreams of doing human rights advocacy at the U.N or becoming a widely read writer. My “promise”. My “potential to do good in the world”. I find it so beautiful and interesting that as time goes on, those of us who toil in the trenches of the much maligned “essential work” we all learned so much about in the Covid era can experience a little validation of the humble life choices we’ve made. It turns out small independent grocery stores specifically are profoundly important if we are to beat back the Rust and liberate the Gears. And they don’t survive without enough of us rejecting THEIR definition of success and THEIR lessons about what life ambitions do and do not make someone worthy of respect and admiration.
The lastest I have come across, from two retail outlets, is "download this app to track your package" Uh, No! Another way to track and sell your data. One retailer ( Eddie Bower ) was not a surprise. They've been purchased by vultures. But Peruvian connection? I complained both times.
I gave up reward cards years ago. I figured they were tracking my purchases and someone had to pay for that reward. Cards are a way to punish the poor.
I feel it doesn’t matter how you try to save; there are ways to lower costs, like growing your own vegetables and fruit and going green by using reusable towels for cleaning. One-time cost that lasts for many uses.
I pay with cash as often as possible for 2 reasons. #1 the bank charges the store a small percentage when paying by card that's most often passed on to you through higher prices ( gas station higher price per gallon using credit advertised up front is one example of proof). #2 No system is hack proof and fake scanners are everywhere. I don't need the hassle of a breach from a soda or tank of gas.
Grocery stores are the worst scammers and not just in the digital hoops you have to jump. The so called "sale pricing" on fruits and vegetables are sometimes of poor quality and very near the end of the cold storage self life most times in the trash going bad before consuming or taste wise inedible. Then there is the pricing of smaller canned and bottled items costing more per oz. than one of a larger size. There is also the opposite of 2 smaller quantities equal more product than 1 larger at a cheaper price. Same can be said for paper products. Not only is it time consuming to comparison shop but requires math skills or remembering to use the calculator on your phone.
Who/what is “the Rust”?
I’d like to know also. I assume it is referring to the current administration
Watch this video about algorithmic pricing -presented by More Perfect Union & Consumer Reports, Lina Khan speaks -there are no guardrails for consumer pricing -it's the Wild West after the pandemic-the tech infrastructure has been put in place for the past 20 yrs-companies big (Amazon, Walmart, Costco ,etc.) & small are using this tech built with the info. on all our purchasing habits to price fix for maximum profit -the companies no longer compete, they are collaborating
https://youtu.be/osxr7xSxsGo?si=Qf0e5ER_aYcm9WoG
Apologies in advance for nitpicking, but your phrase, ‘those with the most time and least money’ seems contradictory to your excellent point. Wouldn’t it be those with the least amount of both time and money be the losers in the scenario that you describe?
The unemployed, disabled, elderly on social security. They have lots of time and the least amount of money as opposed to younger employed people?
Unfortunately for many of these people their time is spent navigating life especially the internet . And going to doctors appointments.
Ahh — thanks for clarifying. However, I understood the folks in the scenario described were those who had a limited amount of both time and money and therefore least able to spend time on the fake money-saving apps.
I admit to being easily confused though.
You aren't nitpicking at all, Annetvenom! It's a completely valid point of confusion, and it highlights exactly how insidious this system is.
The distinction lies in how the system defines "free time." You are absolutely correct that the most heavily penalized people are those with zero time and zero money (the single mother working three jobs).
But the specific trap I was referencing targets the illusion of free time. Think of the unemployed, the disabled, or the elderly (as joannegucci and christine pointed out). The system looks at them and says, "You have 24 hours a day of 'free time,' therefore you have the capacity to jump through these endless administrative hoops (clunky portals, endless hold times, fake money-saving apps) just to survive."
What the system refuses to acknowledge is that navigating poverty is a full-time job. It is a massive cognitive and physical drain. I call it the Performance Tax. The system forces those with the least resources to spend their "abundant time" performing endless administrative labor just to stay at zero.
So, they technically have the "most time" on paper, but the system forcibly extracts it all by making basic survival as inefficient and agonizing as possible.
Thanks so much for your excellent clarification! I have seen the light.
I truly love and believe that your heart driven choice to serve your community will make an amazing difference now and in the future. You are being the hands of Christ.
Thank you for your choices.
Thank u for staying woke.
The digital prison we find ourselves in has been going up for decades. This is just one small razorwire at the top of the perimeter boundary wall. The Bible refers to this digital prison we have willingly allowed, and I dare say, helped to build: "Who can fight against it?"
Yes, we only have ourselves to blame. We participated, we bought "data plans" from our phone companies and dutifully paid our monthly bills, we demanded internet access in our homes and financed the beast system by dutifully paying our monthly bills. We demanded the highest possible streaming rates of data into and out of our homes by volunteering to pay more on our monthly bills.
We wanted the highest speeds so our children would be indoctrinated with transgender ideology, socialist ideology, DEI ideology, LGBTQI plus the rest of the alphabet soup groups ideology, Atheist and anti-Christic faith, COVID scamdemic, the fake religion of "science", the fake religion of Hollywood.... well, I hope you get the picture.
We slaved for corporations, in order to pay the corporations and our Feral Government to turn around and surveil us 24/7/365.25.
We only have ourselves to blame.
I never use those cards here in Australia & I never will, & now activist groups here telling me Coles is working with Palantir to get data on customers, haven't been into Coles now since I read that.
Any “value added”feature of a fictitiously valued system has to be this. you know it, man.
I've been shouting (into the worsening storm) about this for close to 30 years. In the UK Tesco we're the 1st but now every major retailer is at it.
How is it the ICO allows it?
Walmart and few big grocery store chains give you the option to receive a digital receipt through your phone number after paying with a card.
I stopped paying by card a few months back since all of your card purchases are tracked.