Supermarkets call out petty theft, then two days later face criminal charges themselves
Big Supermarket got caught in a very "Curb Your Enthusiasm" chain of events last week...
Behind The Panels
There are a lot of bad things happening in the world, and sometimes it’s nice to have a little win here and there as a little treat, a little reward for having a little faith in humanity, in karma, in the scientific theory of ‘fucking around and then finding out’.
Last week, all major online news outlets reported on the "Brown Onion Hack,” in which money-tight shoppers scan through their fruit and vegetables at the self-checkout as "brown onions" to save money. Foodstuffs spokesperson Stefan Herrick was quoted in each article, making sure that we all know that "It's important to clarify this isn't a hack—it's theft" and that shoppers caught doing it would be prosecuted.
Now, at the time, I already rolled my eyes to the very depths of the back of my head, as Supermarkets already engage in dodgy practices, such as land covenants, localised pricing, and the general duopoly of supermarkets controlling prices and kneecapping suppliers during a cost-of-living crisis.
But two days after this article was published, the next big supermarket headline came out…
Oh what a glorious chain of events those two days had, while they were bitching about us common folk doing a cheeky scan here and there, the commerce commission was cooking.
It’s easy to call our little hacks “theft” and try to scare us out of doing them with the strong arm of the law, instead of asking “Why do we need to do these hacks in the first place?”.
New Zealanders don’t trust Supermarkets because they’ve done everything to make themselves look as dodgy as possible. When you have complete control over the market, keep pulling dodgy “specials”, and continue to report record profits even during COVID and a cost of living crisis, the general population isn’t too sympathetic to a few capsicums being scanned through as brown onions.
I hope the Commerce Commission and the government do more to make sure the duopoly is disestablished and their shady dealings are punished. Until then, I, like many others, will be going home with a few kgs of “Brown Onions” for the foreseeable future.
Danz.
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