LETTER: Price gouging by the numbers
I guess Wayne Schaack (Aug. 20 letter) and I look at things differently when it comes to inflation. He speaks in generalities. I speak in hard numbers.
Most people are currently feeling higher prices in grocery stores. Mr. Schaack says that, when costs go up, prices must also go up. Well, let’s look at the largest grocer in America, the Kroger company, owner of the Smith’s grocery store chain. According to its audited financial records, costs of goods sold increased 8.5 percent ($116.7 billion vs. $107.5 billion) from January 2022 to January 2024 (the last year of complete data). However, pretax income skyrocketed 33.3 percent ($2.8 billion vs. $2.1 billion). Pretax income includes all expenses (labor, utilities, etc.). If the company is only passing on rising costs, as Mr. Schaack maintains, how did profit expand nearly 400 percent higher than costs?
Corporations know that, if they are selling items that people need to meet their daily obligations (food, fuel, rent, etc.), the customer is at their mercy. I hope some organization in the federal government does pass stopgaps so that corporations can provide essential goods and services without pillaging their customers’ savings.
