ACCC takes legal action against Woolworths and Coles over allegedly misleading pricing claims
ACCC is trying to make sure there's bargain integrity for consumers
ACCC Takes Legal Action against Woolworths and Coles
beltdrive on 23/09/2024 - 14:21
Last edited 23/09/2024 - 14:30 by 1 other user
Last edited 23/09/2024 - 14:30 by 1 other user
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Join the dots.There are common factors in parasitic corporate echelons. Employing foreign leeches at the top, for one.
Boycotting is the true sledgehammer here, and we can't do it. Jail time (starting with 10 yrs no parole) for CEOs is the next best thing.How about applying the blowtorch to the scum ripping us off with fuel prices, Ms ACCC? (LOL,gutless)
Employing foreign leeches at the top
I thought Amanda Bardwell grew up in Brisbane…
and Leah Weckert in Adelaide.
The CEO of Optus & Woolies were both foreigners. Same origin. NBN started with a foreigner. (plenty more examples) They have zero skin in the game outside personal wealth.
@Protractor: Brad Banducci came to Australia in 1988, he attened university in Australia and worked for Woolies group from 2011. Pretty sure he considers himself and Aussie.
@Protractor: Dudes enitre working career seems to be in Australia he has lived here for 36 years likley has wife and kids here, I doubt he is heading back to South Africa anytime soon.
@Protractor: Not sure what your point is lots of people working in Aus come from different countries. Are you suggesting that to be a CEO of a large organisation or to hold any senior managmenet position you should be born in Australia?
Optus for one is not even an Australian company.
By no means am I sugesting thay these CEO's are deserving of any great accolades but to suggest that somone that has come to Australia as a young person studied and then worked here their enitre career has no skin in the game seems odd.
You don't win friends with (word) salad
The govt will never go hard on Colesworh:
- They employ too many people.
- Too many superfunds and mum and dad investors have money invested with them.
- There really isnt anywhere else the majority of the population can buy food. Cant have starving people.
- Their lobbyists in Canberra are too powerful and can crush political careers and post-politics careers.
As much as I hate myself for doing this …. +1 Sadly you are right.
The government isn’t here to serve and protect the population; it's here to protect the interests of its true employers and sponsors - corporations, mega funds and ultra-wealthy individuals.
The only reason Colesworth is in the spotlight is to temporarily appease the public, quieting complaints and avoiding any minor disruptions before the next political cycle. Colesworth might face a fine, perhaps around $20 million, some negative press, and a few minor policy adjustments. After that, they’ll continue raking in billions. Think of it as a voluntary tip to the government’s pocket, thank you for your support, move on, business as usual.
This is a smoke & mirrors pre-election stunt. When they go after petrol price gouging, they'll have my attention
They could split them up and we'd suddenly have 5 supermarket chains.
Everyone wins including investors who now have a share in two companies that have growth potential.
If you force them to break up then only the last dot point is relevant. You can only have 1 store per 50000 population, I'll leave it to others to work out the exact nature of how to do it, but breaking them up is absolutely feasible.
A nice bit of xenophobia to end the day with
Yep, totals agree.
Clearly you mean Banducci
The new Woolies CEO is copping it directly in her face about his legacy.
There's xenophobes, and then again there's whole societies who perfected and profited (still do) from it.
We can do better.
Woolies and Coles asked to pay $3B each to the Gov't.
Next week: Gov't handed out extra money to low income people.
Not bad
JV, you are seriously unhinged. It's truly pathetic.
The Labor Party literally just burnt a shiitelode of political capital by putting the CFMEU into administration.
And you're here sprouting literal rubbish about money being given to the CFMEU? Crikey, mate. You need to go out and touch grass.
crikey, mate. You need to go out and touch grass.
but then he can't work on his post count
They burned no capital at all.
The clowns from that union will just go and join another equally corrupt union and still keep voting for Lab anyway.
@infinite: You have literally zero idea regarding this situation if you are ignorant enough to suggest they didn't burn capital. Sit down.
@ThithLord: You have literally zero idea regarding this situation if you are ignorant enough to suggest they did burn capital. Sit down.
Even the LNP hands out brown paper bags. They have no moral compass. Hence the Adani green light.
Next week: Gov't handed out extra money to low income people.
The week after :govt handouts lead to record inflation and yet another interest rate hike.
They should hand it out in coles and whoolies gift cards
Add it to the pile of the 50 other inquiries, actions and so forth going on.
There was a hearing back in April in the senate, claims of price manipulation, land banking and all sorts of anti-competitive stuff came out. 5 months on, nothing has changed. It's a duopoly, until we make sure the conditions for competition open up they won't change. I can't see this being more than the $50m max fine and that'll just be a cost of doing business for them.
Colesworths are laughing all the way to the bank with this.
We know the current govt is just going turn around and hand those company fines it extracts out of Colesworths directly to lifelong welfare bludgers - who will in turn then immediately hit up Colesworths for ciggies, booze and junk food with the increase in welfare benefits they get gifted.
Nothing ever happens
Let me remind us that 1/3 pillars of Australia's retirement system (superannuation) relies on the benevolent big corporations continuously increasing profits.
According to the link, not only is superannuation communism, but it's "unmitigated fascism" and Marxism as well.
Oh, and what a good opportunity for the senator to being up vaccine mandates as well, because of course he did.
Thanks for the cooker link, mrdean
[Superannuation] is unmitigated fascism, communism, and Marxism
Wow, really makes you think
Gerrard Rennick, holy mouth-breather
You guys really need to stop blowing all your negs by mid afternoon.
Because reasonable people aren't in power.
if you keep voting for the same 2 parties,nothing will change.I have decided I am no longer doing that.
Voting system is gamed through preferences to keep the majors in power. There's also fraud involved during elections in key seats.
@mrdean: Rubbish, ppl who do homework on preferences can mitigate the rot. But that requires a work ethic
I have decided I am no longer doing that.
So you are voting Greens/Teals 🤣🤣🤣
@brendanm: as opposed to quantitative easing which is free money for the wealthy
dont hear much from QE proponents after it definitely didnt put us in this inflationary environment huh
@beltdrive: We are already taxed. There is currently not enough money, let alone enough for the greens "free money for everyone". Where is the "free money for everyone" coming from?
@beltdrive: We
couldshould charge what our resources are really worth for a start. Fancy paying a premium for domestic gas while we gift the shit to the corporate & military invaders like the yanks.
People don't just want gas they need it. Make them pay it's value . We should be paying a third of the energy prices we are forced to.We should be paying a third of the energy prices we are forced to.
We aren't though, because of the green taxes and failed policies the people you keep voting for are enacting………..
And you are reasonable?
Nothing will change. You won't see cheaper groceries.
Literally the ONLY way to get Colesworth to lower their prices is for everyone to stop shopping there. There's no other way.
Colesworth won’t give a shit. They dont care about fines, they dont pay fines… consumers pay the fines through Colesworth just raising prices to cover the cost of the fines…
The buck stops with the CEO. Mandatory jail time required for price gouging.
Woolworths do care and have made an approach to the ACCC.-
Woolies Offer The ACCC A Vintage Blue Mufasa Ooshie If They Ease Up With This Price Gouging Stuff
Would've though electric and gas companies were a better target but easier to go for the low hanging fruit in supermarkets.
electric and gas companies were a better target
Government is reducing supply and forcing the price rises there…
Govt relies on the crumbs the Yanks (who own our gas) fling our way. Both sides of our govt are up to their guts in fluffing others to usurp our sovereignty.
Actually, Australia owns its gas…. Both off shore and onshore…
Australia controls and produces it's own onshore & offshore gas.
Why do you keep inventing stories about the Americans ?
@infinite: Just google ExonMobil tax dodge Australia.
At least Coles and Woolies actaully pay tax on their earnings.
@infinite: Australia neither controls nor produces gas.
If you owned a car, would you let an uber driver use it for 5 years and only pay you if they make a profit after paying themselves a wage and subtracting the cost of fuel?
They decide what their wage is. They can use it on the weekends for road trips. They can give their friends free rides.
They will also wash it at their cousins place after they are done and deduct the amount they paid from the amount they pay you.
There might be nothing left to pay you after 5 years. Are you controling or producing anything in this situation where the uber driver makes all the decisions?
Australia neither controls nor produces gas.
We absolutely produce and control our own gas.
Aldi has the same pricing practice as Coles and Woolworths but the ACCC didn't include them.
Example:
500g Pork Mince has been $3.99 for over a year. From memory, for approximately the month of August 2024 it increased to $4.69 and now has a "New Low Price" of $4.29.That doesn’t say it’s ‘cheaper.’
Meat is a commodity and prices change change every day at sale yards. They also change between pens.
All food is a commodity. And Aldi like the other 2 would also have fixed purchasing agrements with suppliers.
Alsi gets a lot of free love but they as bad as the other 2.
Aldi are nowhere near as bad as the other 2 in terms of specials though. Whenever they get stock of the large Moconna coffee types they will always sell them at around $19.50. The majors have them at the standard price of around $28 with occasional specials dropping it down to around $18.50 in order to undercut Aldi's normal price. They may even try to organise the specials to coincide with Aldi getting stock.
But Aldi are also pretty clever (or just as bad as the other 2) in other ways. The smaller Moccona jars they sell are a slightly difference size to the standard ones sold at the other 2. They do this also with Nuttelex margarine, they stock a slightly different size to the standard ones so the price appears to be cheaper at Aldi, but when you comparise size/weights you are basically paying the same per gram.
Because Aldi uses warm lighting and not cool lighting. Erowhon costs significantly more Colesworth but you don't see anyone going after them because they use warm lighting.
Twenty years too late.
Class Action! Yes!
People should be seriously looking for other places to buy their food. It's not just the price gouging and deceptive tactics… but most of the 'food' they sell is ultra processed and very bad for your health. The candy aisles are the largest at my local, including 'health candy' like protein bars. Their 'fresh' produce is on life support and they seem more interested in selling you vitamins, beauty products, cheap appliances and alcohol than they are in selling you stuff you can safely eat. How much overpriced crap do you throw into the trolley as you do the rounds? Avoid.
What's candy?
Its like nose candy, but for your mouth hole.
Like where? Those who have backyard can grow some of their own food. But for most people, there isn't really much alternatives to Coles and Woolworths, price wise and location wise. IGA and inner suburbs farmer market don't really have cheaper meat, fruits, and veggies. Sure, few produces can be cheaper at certain times, but not all the times. Harris farm, likewise, only the specials are usually cheaper. ALDI is still competitive but the gap is closer now. After taking account the discounted gift card, bonus points, member discounts, convenience, etc, it's somewhat still better to shop at Coles/Woolworths. So it's not only them, everybody else also want to price gouge and almost no one wants to compete with cheaper prices.
Do you really believe cheap is good when it comes to food?
This is a major problem with the way people think about these things. We've got it backwards.
And yes, growing whatever food one can in their local community is hard, but it is also rewarding.
What are you talking about? So do you think food price is currently not high enough? But my point is not about that anyway.
And my definition of "cheap" is of course the best price for the quality, aka 'best value".
Couldn’t agree more. Fresh produce was never good at Cole’s or Woolies but has been a steep slope downhill since covid. Quality and range of fruit and veg gone down. Butcher counters disappeared, quality of packaged meat rubbish also. Aisles now packed with health lab rubbish.
Buy at your local market if you have the option
Colesworth has been ripping us out day in day out for decades and we have let them do that. It is high time that we stomp down on these evil corporates for good once and for all but unfortunately that can only be done by the Government but they would never do it. Its clear as water that they have indeed price gouged and have colluded with each other to keep the prices high. If you are coming to me with the statement that then why are other supermarkets not considerably cheap well everyone wants to have a piece of the profit pie(It is incredibly easy to fool Australian Consumers) and another fact is that Colesworth have immense control and influence over all the major suppliers and distributors across Australia. Its Colesworth who decide at what price the suppliers should sell it to others which ensures that they can always keep the prices high and not allow any competition to cut them on prices.
well everyone wants to have a piece of the profit pie
There you go. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Coles and Woolworths have colluded with each other to keep the prices high. Everybody else wants to do it too, from ALDI to your local farmers.
The market is broken at the fundamental level, the duopoly is just a symptom.
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Maybe they should have read ACCC laws on Misleading price comparisons…
If they were on OzBargain more often, they'd know…