"Let them eat this cake specifically"
October 18, 2022 10:25 AM Subscribe
Galen Weston Jr has got your back during these financial tough times by price freezing the popular No Name brand products his stores carry. Galen Weston Jr, a true man of the people with his many many vacation homes and inherited wealth, wants you to know that he feels your pain in trying to feed your families.
I mean, that bread price fixing scandal? Pffft!
Sure, Weston could do this for all the products sold at his many many stores but alas, those vacation homes don't buy themselves!
*title of post taken from this tweet
** No Name Guillotines not currently available
I mean, that bread price fixing scandal? Pffft!
Sure, Weston could do this for all the products sold at his many many stores but alas, those vacation homes don't buy themselves!
*title of post taken from this tweet
** No Name Guillotines not currently available
According to something I read on Facebook, so who the hell knows if it is true, it is pretty much a grocery-industry wide practice not to raise prices on packaged goods at Christmas. So, basically, Galen just made a big splashy announcement of a thing that would have been true anyway AND got publicly lambasted for it, so congrats to Loblaws PR on really fucking that one up.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2022 [15 favorites]
I wonder if the head of PR is named Robert Loblaw...
posted by The Power Nap at 10:37 AM on October 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by The Power Nap at 10:37 AM on October 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
#shopping cart trumble
posted by clavdivs at 10:41 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 10:41 AM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
According to something I read on Facebook, so who the hell knows if it is true, it is pretty much a grocery-industry wide practice not to raise prices on packaged goods at Christmas. So, basically, Galen just made a big splashy announcement of a thing that would have been true anyway AND got publicly lambasted for it, so congrats to Loblaws PR on really fucking that one up.
I saw a similar thing on reddit yesterday (also with a linked source): "Loblaws does a price freeze every Q4 until Q1 - this is a PR bs move."
posted by randomnity at 10:57 AM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
I saw a similar thing on reddit yesterday (also with a linked source): "Loblaws does a price freeze every Q4 until Q1 - this is a PR bs move."
posted by randomnity at 10:57 AM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
Yeah it's funny how the new leadership of the Conservative Party is now onboard with making much noise about the 'elites' controlling the country, with their populist rage directed at a few progressive activists or academics or anyone with the gall to point out our growing systemic societal inequities. An all-too-familiar strategy indeed. As for the Westons or the Rogers family or the Thomson clan or the Irvings or their like, not a discouraging word as long as the cheques keep flowing.
posted by hangashore at 11:11 AM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by hangashore at 11:11 AM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
Everything that companies do and that you know about is "a PR bs move," often even including hard-hitting investigative journalism.
posted by chavenet at 11:17 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 11:17 AM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Is he freezing the prices in the freezers we gave him $12 million to buy?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:34 AM on October 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:34 AM on October 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
We really need jail time for white collar crimes.
posted by mhoye at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
This guy (and his father) definitely won capitalism, he should get the prize.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:03 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:03 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
People should boycott the stores, particularly the price fixed products.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:31 PM on October 18, 2022
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:31 PM on October 18, 2022
This guy (and his father) definitely won capitalism, he should get the prize.
You know how on The Price is Right, in order to get on stage you have to guess the value of a thing, but if you guess more than the value of that thing, you automatically get disqualified? We should have that for capitalism: you get to make $N. But once you make more than $N, guillotine. Also maybe keep the value of N a secret, it'd probably keep some unfettered capitalism in check.
posted by nushustu at 12:45 PM on October 18, 2022 [11 favorites]
You know how on The Price is Right, in order to get on stage you have to guess the value of a thing, but if you guess more than the value of that thing, you automatically get disqualified? We should have that for capitalism: you get to make $N. But once you make more than $N, guillotine. Also maybe keep the value of N a secret, it'd probably keep some unfettered capitalism in check.
posted by nushustu at 12:45 PM on October 18, 2022 [11 favorites]
I saw a similar thing on reddit yesterday (also with a linked source): "Loblaws does a price freeze every Q4 until Q1 - this is a PR bs move."
As a veteran No Frills and Independent shopper, yes, they do this every year.
posted by warriorqueen at 12:46 PM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
As a veteran No Frills and Independent shopper, yes, they do this every year.
posted by warriorqueen at 12:46 PM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
"Loblaws does a price freeze every Q4 until Q1 - this is a PR bs move."
Exactly. Freezing the prices for three months every year is the kind of selfish crap that capitalists get away with at the expense of the poor.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Exactly. Freezing the prices for three months every year is the kind of selfish crap that capitalists get away with at the expense of the poor.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:48 PM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Ugh, that Toronto Life article about their vacation home just made me ill. I had never seen it before, and while it's now very dated, it's still really something to read. (It is linked in the above links, but here it is directly.)
I was really shocked last year when the company decided to sell off the bakery business. I mean, who needs bread? And why not sell off to some Americans?
posted by sardonyx at 12:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was really shocked last year when the company decided to sell off the bakery business. I mean, who needs bread? And why not sell off to some Americans?
posted by sardonyx at 12:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's the Schooner Tuna campaign from Mr. Mom.
posted by chococat at 1:16 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by chococat at 1:16 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Congrats to Galen Weston Jr. for finally making enough money to move out of my neighbourhood. I drive by his former manse every day. It's right around the corner from Peggy Atwood's place.
For those who don't know, Weston is basically Canadian royalty. His dad expanded the family bakery and grocery business into an empire - they recently divested themselves of the bakery that started the family biz back in the Victorian era, and for a while were the owners of Selfridges. Because you can't be Canadian billionaire and not want to buy your way into British luxury brands (see Montreal's Lawrence Stroll, current owner of Aston Martin).
Weston's mom was Lt Governor of Ontario. His in-laws had such a prodigious shoe empire that there's now a shoe museum in Toronto named after them.
What I'm saying is that the Canadian powers-that-be will never, ever come for Galen Weston Jr.
posted by thecjm at 1:52 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
For those who don't know, Weston is basically Canadian royalty. His dad expanded the family bakery and grocery business into an empire - they recently divested themselves of the bakery that started the family biz back in the Victorian era, and for a while were the owners of Selfridges. Because you can't be Canadian billionaire and not want to buy your way into British luxury brands (see Montreal's Lawrence Stroll, current owner of Aston Martin).
Weston's mom was Lt Governor of Ontario. His in-laws had such a prodigious shoe empire that there's now a shoe museum in Toronto named after them.
What I'm saying is that the Canadian powers-that-be will never, ever come for Galen Weston Jr.
posted by thecjm at 1:52 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
Why Did Canadian Media Help Loblaw Promote Their PR Stunt?
posted by kitcat at 1:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by kitcat at 1:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [8 favorites]
Apologies for the wall o' text, but regarding the Weston empire more generally, in addition to old-timey criming like fixing the price of bread, they're hoovering up data.
Loblaw’s points economy for private-health data follows Big Tech’s playbook:
Should personal health information be tethered to rewards and leveraged for advertising purposes?
In October, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. unveiled a mobile application that refers shoppers to health services and ties loyalty points to wellness behaviours. Developed in a partnership with digital startup League, the app merges digital health technologies with an established loyalty program – PC Optimum, which has about 18 million users. It’s now available in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario after initially launching in Atlantic Canada.
People who choose to engage with PC Health’s new mobile app are rewarded with modest incentives in the form of PC Optimum points, such as 1,000 points (worth $1) for a “health and well-being reset,” 750 points (75 cents) for a three-week “mental well-being program” or 750 points for a program to “kick-start your fitness routine.” There is also a PC Health Shop that offers personalized products and services and PC Optimum points for some purchases.
Gamification of healthy habits isn’t new, but tethering them to a reliable rewards program is. Governments in Canada have experimented with a mobile application called Carrot Rewards, which was designed to similarly incentivize healthy behaviours. The wellness app accrued more than one million users before shutting down in 2019 and later circulating detailed user data to new owner Optimity.
Loblaw’s move to become the leading Canadian data-driven powerhouse is impressive — and a little scary:
Even if you try hard, it’s difficult to avoid being a customer of the Loblaw Companies.
The 102-year-old Canadian retail giant spans more than 50 popular brands such as Loblaws, President’s Choice (PC), Shoppers Drug Mart, Life, No Name, Real Canadian Superstore, T&T, Joe Fresh and more.
According to the firm’s website, 90 per cent of Canadians are living within 10 kilometres of one of its locations — a vast network of more than 2,500 stores and complementary e-commerce sites.
But Loblaw, which is controlled by the Weston family — the nation’s fifth wealthiest with an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion — is in fact so much more.
Under the PC Financial brand, it’s offering services such as a money (chequing) account and credit cards. Three million customers use its Mastercard. It serves as an insurance broker for home and auto insurance. It has a travel agency. And its PC Mobile subsidiary will sell you cellphones and SIM cards.
Loblaw’s most recent initiative is PC Health, a personalized digital health app which it developed in collaboration with League, a digital startup (in which it owns a stake). The app provides users easy access to a network of nurses, dietitians, doctors and other health-care providers as well as products. It also rewards customers for making “healthy choices.”
And on top of all of that, one of Loblaw’s most valuable assets is its popular loyalty program, PC Optimum. The program, which has 18 million members, is accepted at 4,500 locations coast to coast, as well as in its network of online stores.
With PC Optimum, Loblaw can connect the dots and draw precise profiles of its customers. In a business where what you bought yesterday is the best predictor of what you’re going to buy tomorrow, having access to recent, real data of 18 million customers is a data gold mine, and Loblaw is firing on all cylinders to monetize it.
As part of this effort, the company launched Loblaw Media, a full-service digital marketing agency in 2019. The move, which mimics that of American retail giants Amazon, Walmart and Kroger, allows Loblaw to generate revenue by selling advertising space on its platforms, as well as high-resolution data about consumers.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:03 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
Loblaw’s points economy for private-health data follows Big Tech’s playbook:
Should personal health information be tethered to rewards and leveraged for advertising purposes?
In October, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. unveiled a mobile application that refers shoppers to health services and ties loyalty points to wellness behaviours. Developed in a partnership with digital startup League, the app merges digital health technologies with an established loyalty program – PC Optimum, which has about 18 million users. It’s now available in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario after initially launching in Atlantic Canada.
People who choose to engage with PC Health’s new mobile app are rewarded with modest incentives in the form of PC Optimum points, such as 1,000 points (worth $1) for a “health and well-being reset,” 750 points (75 cents) for a three-week “mental well-being program” or 750 points for a program to “kick-start your fitness routine.” There is also a PC Health Shop that offers personalized products and services and PC Optimum points for some purchases.
Gamification of healthy habits isn’t new, but tethering them to a reliable rewards program is. Governments in Canada have experimented with a mobile application called Carrot Rewards, which was designed to similarly incentivize healthy behaviours. The wellness app accrued more than one million users before shutting down in 2019 and later circulating detailed user data to new owner Optimity.
Loblaw’s move to become the leading Canadian data-driven powerhouse is impressive — and a little scary:
Even if you try hard, it’s difficult to avoid being a customer of the Loblaw Companies.
The 102-year-old Canadian retail giant spans more than 50 popular brands such as Loblaws, President’s Choice (PC), Shoppers Drug Mart, Life, No Name, Real Canadian Superstore, T&T, Joe Fresh and more.
According to the firm’s website, 90 per cent of Canadians are living within 10 kilometres of one of its locations — a vast network of more than 2,500 stores and complementary e-commerce sites.
But Loblaw, which is controlled by the Weston family — the nation’s fifth wealthiest with an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion — is in fact so much more.
Under the PC Financial brand, it’s offering services such as a money (chequing) account and credit cards. Three million customers use its Mastercard. It serves as an insurance broker for home and auto insurance. It has a travel agency. And its PC Mobile subsidiary will sell you cellphones and SIM cards.
Loblaw’s most recent initiative is PC Health, a personalized digital health app which it developed in collaboration with League, a digital startup (in which it owns a stake). The app provides users easy access to a network of nurses, dietitians, doctors and other health-care providers as well as products. It also rewards customers for making “healthy choices.”
And on top of all of that, one of Loblaw’s most valuable assets is its popular loyalty program, PC Optimum. The program, which has 18 million members, is accepted at 4,500 locations coast to coast, as well as in its network of online stores.
With PC Optimum, Loblaw can connect the dots and draw precise profiles of its customers. In a business where what you bought yesterday is the best predictor of what you’re going to buy tomorrow, having access to recent, real data of 18 million customers is a data gold mine, and Loblaw is firing on all cylinders to monetize it.
As part of this effort, the company launched Loblaw Media, a full-service digital marketing agency in 2019. The move, which mimics that of American retail giants Amazon, Walmart and Kroger, allows Loblaw to generate revenue by selling advertising space on its platforms, as well as high-resolution data about consumers.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:03 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
It was chilling for me to find out that Telus was trying to expand into the 'health market', and now Loblaws? Who else? Next thing you'll tell me Air Canada is joining in.
posted by kitcat at 2:12 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kitcat at 2:12 PM on October 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
People should boycott the stores, particularly the price fixed products.
Might be worth mentioning that 3 corporations own 60% of the supermarkets in Canada. This is can be variable across the country but in some areas one or more of these corporations can own almost all of the groceries in a given region. While boycotting can give consumers a powerful voice it can be a challenge when you have fewer alternative choices.
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:13 PM on October 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
Might be worth mentioning that 3 corporations own 60% of the supermarkets in Canada. This is can be variable across the country but in some areas one or more of these corporations can own almost all of the groceries in a given region. While boycotting can give consumers a powerful voice it can be a challenge when you have fewer alternative choices.
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:13 PM on October 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
This is can be variable across the country but in some areas one or more of these corporations can own almost all of the groceries in a given region.
Yeah, this is a good point. For my inlaws to shop at any competitor to the sub-brand of Loblaws store (the only grocery store in their town in northern Ontario), they have to drive a couple of hundred kilometres.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
Yeah, this is a good point. For my inlaws to shop at any competitor to the sub-brand of Loblaws store (the only grocery store in their town in northern Ontario), they have to drive a couple of hundred kilometres.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2022 [5 favorites]
It's my understanding Galen doesn't care about the grocery side of the business anymore and he'd be happy to sell it off and focus on the real estate parts. His father was deteriorating for a long time and selling off Weston's bakery was the signal that Galen Sr. was about to die. The old man was very attached to having his name on at least a few products.
posted by sgrass at 2:24 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sgrass at 2:24 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
It’s wild to spin “we plan on raising our prices again in January” as “we’re freezing prices until January, you’re welcome!” It’s heartening that people are calling bullshit on it, though.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 2:25 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by evidenceofabsence at 2:25 PM on October 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
According to something I read on Facebook, so who the hell knows if it is true, it is pretty much a grocery-industry wide practice not to raise prices on packaged goods at Christmas. So, basically, Galen just made a big splashy announcement of a thing that would have been true anyway AND got publicly lambasted for it, so congrats to Loblaws PR on really fucking that one up.
This was mentioned in another article not included in the FPP (I think it was the Toronto Star, but I'm not sure). They reached out to the other major grocery chains and Metro said, "Yeah, this is common industry practice. We do it, too." I assume the spokesperson then shook their head mournfully over the fact that their company didn't think to make a big splashy announcement about it.
The other chains didn't respond, but I would not be surprised if they also do it.
posted by asnider at 2:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
This was mentioned in another article not included in the FPP (I think it was the Toronto Star, but I'm not sure). They reached out to the other major grocery chains and Metro said, "Yeah, this is common industry practice. We do it, too." I assume the spokesperson then shook their head mournfully over the fact that their company didn't think to make a big splashy announcement about it.
The other chains didn't respond, but I would not be surprised if they also do it.
posted by asnider at 2:55 PM on October 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
I just popped in to say that I’m starting a new in-character blog as a naval surgeon’s assistant, focusing on this grocery store’s exhausting legal issues.
… the Loblolly-Boy’s Loblaws Blahs Law Blog
posted by sixswitch at 3:30 PM on October 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
… the Loblolly-Boy’s Loblaws Blahs Law Blog
posted by sixswitch at 3:30 PM on October 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
Ugh, that Toronto Life article about their vacation home just made me ill. I had never seen it before, and while it's now very dated, it's still really something to read.
Oh no I think it makes them sound super accessible:
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:00 PM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oh no I think it makes them sound super accessible:
In an effort to boost interest in the development, the Westons began offering free weekend visits to prospective Canadian buyers. Jan Gould and her husband, Jay, president of New York Fries and South St. Burger, went down for a long weekend in 1999, along with their two young sons. On the second day, they sent their kids off for riding lessons at the equestrian centre so they could play a round of golf. As they stood outside the clubhouse, about to tee off—there are no tee times at Windsor, which has a walk-on policy for members—they heard their sons calling their names. There they were, waving from atop their horses, faces beaming. “It was right out of a commercial,” Jay says. “Like someone yelled, ‘Cue the horses!’ and along they came.” By the end of the weekend, the Goulds had bought a lot in the village.It seems great. I might head down there for a weekend over the winter.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:00 PM on October 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
Eat the rich.
posted by New Frontier at 4:04 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by New Frontier at 4:04 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
The last anti-capitalism march around Toronto (too long ago) I lofted a sign that said "You'll never be a billionaire but it's not too late to learn what they taste like." Lot of people liked it.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:58 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:58 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
« Older Maintaining in-network provider directories costs... | "Hey Dr. Crane, just one more thing..." Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:30 AM on October 18, 2022 [12 favorites]