CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Australia’s supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have both revealed to the media this week that their honest business model is currently being plagued by an emerging trend of shoplifting across the country, as inflated prices push more people to literally steal food in order to survive.
Representatives from both sides of the duopoly say they are attempting to fight the spike in thefts, but have chosen to blame the trend on ‘organised crime’ rather than starving Australians struggling to keep their heads above water in the face of the cost of living crisis that both corporations have gleefully exploited.
This horrifying display of civil disobedience has been noted by both our state police forces and the very top of every level of government, as the our elected officials work tirelessly to stop poverty-stricken citizens from affecting the share price of Australia’s free-marteteering supermarket barons.
Despite Coles delivering a net profit of $1.09 billion, up 4.8 per cent – off the back of a pandemic that they undeniably benefited from with an unregulated injection of JobKeeper stimulus payments and the ability to fire whoever they wanted and replace them with labour hire casuals, things could be better for both of these two corporations that have crushed independent greengrocers and family supermarkets.
Australian farmers, who have been gouged down to $1 per litre of of milk and whatever bullshit price the duopoloy names for beef, have not been approached for comment – as they might change have something to say that our politicians and media bosses do not want to put into print.
Ever since the pandemic, or the War In Ukraine, or whatever they want to blame this all on – dairy products have led the price increases, up more than 15 per cent, followed by breads and cereals, up nearly 12 per cent. Processed foods like coffee and tea are up more than 11 per cent – outpacing any additional increase in input costs.
The duopoly are this week begging for help from law enforcement, and cannot understand why this has happened in their local stores that have completely automated any humans with self-check-out computers that don’t have any fucking eyeballs in the store.
However both companies say they are investing in a variety of methods to combat this, including the rolling out smart gates that stop consumers from exiting a store without paying, and implementing trolley locks, all of which do not require salaries or insurance.
