Over the weekend, this published…. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair to Attend Las Vegas Sessions on Kroger-Albertsons Merger: “Kroger is the parent company of Smith's Food and Drug, while Albertsons owns Safeway and Vons stores.The Latest from Seton Motley is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
As a consumer who shops at Safeway (Albertsons), I disagree with you. First, there is no comparison between Safeway (Albertsons) or Fred Meyer (Kroger) and Walmart or Winco even when it comes to meat. Walmart's meat (and Winco's meat) is terrible. They also do not have the range of food items that Safeway and Albertsons carry.
Amazon does not have a store as far as I know and purchases must be delivered. Therefore, you can't really consider Amazon in the same category as Kroger or Albertsons. Delivery-only food creates a number of problems for people who work for a living and do not work from home. In Portland your groceries have a high chance of getting stolen. I have never used Amazon and hope to never have to.
Costco is membership-driven and does not carry many items. I belong to Costco and still have to buy half of what I need from Safeway. Costco is not in the same category as Kroger or Albertsons. Also, Costco meats are not the best quality either.
Obama allowed the Albertsons to buy Safeway. Since then, Albertsons closed the stores that were near each other and also stores that were near Fred Meyer (Kroger). Most of those stores are still vacant today. It created an effective oligopoly, where it seems they are no longer competing in the same area with each other.
A Kroger/Albersons merger would allow Kroger to get rid of long-time, higher paid Safeway (Albertsons) employees, because that's what they did when they bought Fred Meyer. They will also close stores, because why not? Since they will have no effective competition, they will probably get rid of products that don't give them enough profit. If people want or need those products, they will have to go to New Seasons or Amazon.
I disagree the merger will be better for the consumer.
As a consumer who shops at Safeway (Albertsons), I disagree with you. First, there is no comparison between Safeway (Albertsons) or Fred Meyer (Kroger) and Walmart or Winco even when it comes to meat. Walmart's meat (and Winco's meat) is terrible. They also do not have the range of food items that Safeway and Albertsons carry.
Amazon does not have a store as far as I know and purchases must be delivered. Therefore, you can't really consider Amazon in the same category as Kroger or Albertsons. Delivery-only food creates a number of problems for people who work for a living and do not work from home. In Portland your groceries have a high chance of getting stolen. I have never used Amazon and hope to never have to.
Costco is membership-driven and does not carry many items. I belong to Costco and still have to buy half of what I need from Safeway. Costco is not in the same category as Kroger or Albertsons. Also, Costco meats are not the best quality either.
Obama allowed the Albertsons to buy Safeway. Since then, Albertsons closed the stores that were near each other and also stores that were near Fred Meyer (Kroger). Most of those stores are still vacant today. It created an effective oligopoly, where it seems they are no longer competing in the same area with each other.
A Kroger/Albersons merger would allow Kroger to get rid of long-time, higher paid Safeway (Albertsons) employees, because that's what they did when they bought Fred Meyer. They will also close stores, because why not? Since they will have no effective competition, they will probably get rid of products that don't give them enough profit. If people want or need those products, they will have to go to New Seasons or Amazon.
I disagree the merger will be better for the consumer.