We asked about how you think the new proposed FTC guidelines could affect the Kroger, Albertsons merger, and you said:
Tom Church, Chairman at Church Brothers Farms in Salinas, California
I know that many people in the produce industry think the merger would put too much buying power in fewer hands and that would put pressure on farm prices. My feeling is the cat is already out of the bag. Walmart and Costco already have a huge market share and the merger would put Kroger/Albertsons in a more competitive position. I think the business is stronger and better with bigger players. I have been in produce for over 50 years and with technology it has allowed us to do more and in less time. Some will do better than others but getting bigger through consolidation is natural. If it can happen it will happen.
Gene SirLouis, Fiera Foods
They are probably paid too much to find other positions. The big K will want to push them out so they can hire untrained people for nothing. And maybe the displaced cashiers don’t want to sell fish or meat or work in the bakery or stock shelves at night and maybe they can’t work those hours anyway. When they cut jobs, the point of it is to cut jobs. They just try to put a good face on it.
Anonymous
For over 35 years I held various middle and senior management positions starting with American Stores/Acme Markets and finally with Albertsons. Over those years the industry developed many innovations designed to improve the checkout experience, most significantly scanning and self-checkout. Each time when workers or their unions raised the fear that employees would be negatively impacted, we would assure them that such was not the case. We always said that any labor savings on the front end would go into improving the rest of the store and that no jobs or hours would be lost.
Initially that was true, but not for long! Fairly quickly after installation of the new system we began justifying the expense of the equipment by reducing the number of full time associates and cutting the hours of part timers. This happened in both our unionized and non-union stores. In the non-union stores the reduction in the FT/PT ratio and PT hours would be quick while in the union stores it would take time due to contract restrictions on the company. But over time the unionized stores would also be impacted.
I was and continue to be a supporter of workplace innovation. Scanning, self-checkout, warehouse automation, larger trailers and a host of other cost saving improvements have, over the years have been responsible for helping the industry continue to be able to deliver the highest quality food at the lowest possible prices to the American shopper. Companies like Kroger need to be honest with its employees and not pretend that labor saving innovations will not impact the workforce as they always do! Such innovations improve the customer experience and improve the company’s profits usually by reducing labor costs.
Don Mac Gregor
The deal will go through, but Kroger would probably have to sell some stores in the Chicago area, because there are so many Jewel and Mariano’s around. Maybe Tony’s and/or Cermak will buy some up. Who knows. Maybe Meijer could have stores in Chicago.
Chad D'Alessandro, Senior Manager | Regional Manager
Yes, it will be a negative impact. Most likely Walmart and Costco will succeed, as they should.
Andy Garcia III, Sales Leader and Key Account Manager
Who really knows at this point?
Michael Alberico, Supermarkets Professional
Who cares other than people who work at both companies and the poor people who own stock in these companies.
Michael Martin
I’m sure they’ll have to divest some stores, but I’d be shocked if this doesn’t go through.
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