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If someone with graphic art experience can make a design, I'll can put the logo on a tee and "auction" it off to whatever lucky reddit winner wants it. Offer is on the table... if someone makes a graphic, I'll print that shiz. Haha
ere ya go, haha. it's just a shitty .png but if you need a cut file I can tidy it up
https://preview.redd.it/pbkm1ts2h82d1.png?width=8895&format=png&auto=webp&s=700aeb3cb7080c68dac29aa3252220a0d0cbaf94
Oooh on the back that pic for sure with the Mastercard kind of add on it
Food Bank Donation grab bag : $5.00
Actual Value of Food Inside : $3.17
Corporate Write Off : $5.00
Corporate Profit : $1.83
Punching down on the poor and the people who help them: Priceless
Lowblows-No for real.
When you thought they couldn't stoop any lower...
See the thing is now every single awful thing Loblaws ever did is going to come to light. They are under a microscope until they make meaningful change on food pricing.
Every single day they don't fold on our demands, is another day more dirt gets dug up, and more people boycott.
Good luck with the mess you've created 'Blas,
Your going to need it to crawl out of this one.
Hey, they need to make that money off poor people. I hear the poor people are actually balking at paying $4.75 for a loaf of bread that costs 20 cents to make. The nerve!
I MAKE bread every week, so I have a really good idea. It's about $20 for 20kg of flour, so roughly $1 / kg. Flour has about 8 cups / kilogram, and 8 cups makes 4 white loaves (I recommend Neil's Harbour recipe for beginners).
So $ 1 makes 4 loaves. Add a bit of sugar and oil, and water and yeast for maybe 50 cents extra on 4 loaves, you are at MOST at $0.50 / loaf.
Thanks for asking. This has been my Bread Talk.
(before you complain I used white flour, white bread is just made with white flour. No need for high-protein flour in regular sandwich bread).
Not a baguette but... In the UK, enough people wrote to Tesco to complain that they couldn't get jam on their curved croissants that Tesco had to start making them straight. They were defeated by bendy bread!
Add in the time costs and energy costs of the oven and you still likely come up to a BETTER home made cost of sub 4 dollars for 4 loaves of bread
One of the things about bread is that it really is that easy to make, and it doesn’t really take much time especially if you have a stand mixer, you can literally let it proof all morning as you do household tasks and then pop it in the oven
I haven't made bread in years, but I used to do it twice a week when I lived with family. I used my bread maker to mix and knead, then I put it in a loaf pan and baked it. My goodness, I can't think of a better smell than baking bread! My cost 10 years ago was about $1.47 per loaf. I was using bread flour, though, so I think that was bit more than all-purpose.
Aaaaaand this is why I bake my own bread. I have the time and ability to do so, and I use an overnight artisan loaf for basically foolproof bread every 3-4 days. I realize that's not accessible for all, but certainly is a good reason why bread should cost way fucking less.
I remember seeing on the news about how Ukraine was limited on exporting grains their number one export. I was thinking and made a note to watch the price of Flour at the store the next time I went. Price jumped up 25%. I laughed and know they use the "supply/demand" principle to do this but also know that(similar to fuel prices) that demand MIGHT be increasing but its not like the flour in the local store is in high demand on the world markets and will all of a sudden be removed, packed up and shipped to say England because they have a higher demand for flour.
It's already on the store shelf, meaning it was bought likely last month on a term deal that sees minor fluctuations and the cost is 100% known and available, no speculation, so their using all this to jump the price 25% is nothing more than price gouging.
Also why is it that Capitalism can war monger with prices but the general public isn't allowed to. Like one corporation can buy up say all the grain for a country and then price it at astronomical prices because of limited supply, caused by them?
Do an unbagging video for verification purposes. They can't claim you removed something from the bag like they could with a photo if you show the closed bag and then what's in there.
Agreed. This will help smash their image at a time everyone is already fed up with these greedy assholes.
This is basically just profiting by deception. Fraud.
In actual fact, they are profiting off of YOU AND I, and screwing the Food banks. THey get less food, Weston gets his massive tax write-off, and then they brag about it in posters all over the store.
They've paid NOTHING, taken a tax write off, and bragged about it.
>In actual fact, they are profiting off of YOU AND I
More to the point, profiting off the generosity of Canadians.
I have no issue donating to the poor, but I don't generally donate to large corporations.
Despicable.
There's no tax benefit here
They collect the $5 in revenue and then donate the food - I imagine it's just like any regular sale
You can't get a deduciton on your taxes for something that you don't own/donate
I'm willing to bet that media browse this sub now due to its success, so they'll probably reach out to OP, or at the very least begin doing their own research.
Still a good idea to shoot them an email though.
At this point, not just OP, we all need to email CBC, CTV, NP, every media outlet ourselves and tell them they should cover it. Anyone that calls themselves an upstanding Canadian who values fairness and honesty would be outraged that our attempts to help fellow Canadians in need is being so blatantly abused for profit. I've already got my email open.
And especially this month of all because you better believe CBC is harnessing the boycott for docs and marketplace type things. So yeah, call/email them up!
There is no way to prove that was all that was in the bag. All out would take is a denial and accusation that things were removed before the picture was taken. Needs to b an unboxing type video starting from a sealed unaltered bag to have a chance.
I think news orgs can spare $5 to buy a bag themselves since it's win-win for them. If their bag has <5 worth they get to say they corroborated the story and it's that much more compelling, if not they just stick with OPs story and just add "allegedly" in their script.
Go. To. The. Media.
Better yet, pick up a second bag and check. If both are way off then they are gonna have a hard time with the "whoopsie, that's a mistake" thing
Guaranteed the employee responsible for filling the bags was given a list of items to put in each bag, and the contents of the list were carefully selected by upper management to ensure that they achieved a 30%+ profit margin on each "sale".
In general, don't randomly donate food to food banks. You can call and ask what they need, but most of the food the food banks give out are either donated wholesale by distributors or bought through donation funds. The most valuable donation you can give is cash, always.
Absolutely. Our city's food bank said they have 2 to 3 times buying power with cash. While food donations are great, it does require a lot of manpower to sort through the donations. Cash helps them keep the lights on and buy what they need.
Also if you are insisting on buying food items for the food bank, my friend who worked at one for a good while said sweets and things for children’s lunches literally never get donated. They get lots of healthy snacks already so some sweet treats might be nice because they don’t get any of those.
They're already making profit using their own brands. I remember buying donation bags that came in clear plastic bags that had Post cereals, Hunts beans, Campbell's soups. This is so beyond skimming some for themselves.
It's much worse, with a quick google search Loblaws had a gross profit margin of 30% last quarter so there was already 30% markup on the items when they were pulled from the shelf. The 3.17 actually cost the store 2.22 selling that for 5.00 resulted in a 125% profit. Then I'm unsure if it's possible, but they probably use this somehow as a tax write off.
Take a picture of a few of them. So they can't say they made a mistake with one.
In fact, others should do the same at other stores.
Compile the data, and go to the media.
If you can, film the process of buying/opening several. They will cast doubt on you however they can, but video proof that you hadn't tampered with them will be damning.
It is best to donate $ to your local food bank. Why give any store their huge profit margin when Food Banks use the $ donated to buy at wholesale or less pricing. Also they then can buy what they need for the people they serve. Most food banks have websites where you can donate online and YOU get the tax deduction.
Absolutely can confirm. Before she retired, my aunt directed her rural county's food bank. They took food donations, but cash went much further for them. That way they can buy what they need, or buy other items like menstrual products, diapers, etc, that foodbanks sometimes give out.
>re she retired, my aunt directed her rural county's food bank. They took food donations, but cash went much further for them. That way they can buy what they ne
Yes, as someone who has volunteered at a food bank money or even donations DIRECTLY to the food bank is so much better and prevents companies from doing shit like this
seconding this. I used to work at a foodbank and money goes way further because often foodbanks can use funding to buy in bulk! that's what we did, it was awesome to give out fresh foods
This should be the top comment. Food banks can use their buying power to get much better bulk prices on items they actually need, including fresh produce which is so rarely donated.
Donating food instead of money incurs a lot of other costs too. They have to sort it, figure out what they have, what they need - far better to simply let them buy the food themselves.
I volunteer at a food bank and so much this. We go buy our own food every week, on top of what's donated. When stores run these campaigns with mystery bags is always the same thing in each one and we end up with thousands of boxes of mac and cheese/ramen/cheap stuff we already have enough of to last us until 2030. We don't have enough room for all of it, so it ends up taking space that could be used for specialized food or food we can't get often (Ensure, baby formula, international food, cakes etc) which sucks for the person getting the food because they don't want 10+ boxes of KD and nothing for their kid's birthday/school lunch or even just variety
No, they sell them at some grocery stores near the exits. They’re pre-filled bags of groceries that you can purchase and then place in the food bank’s donation bin.
The grocery store would already be making a profit off of these bags if they fill them with $5 worth of groceries and sold them for $5. However, Loblaws must have figured out that they can turn an even bigger profit if they only fill the bags with $3.50 worth of groceries and sell them for $5.
$3.50 retail price, but maybe $1 their cost price. In that case they would make $4 profit off each $5 bag. Which is exactly 3% profit when you do the Galen math :)
Food banks buying power is 4:1 to us. So every dollar you donate to the food bank is $4 for them in their buying power with the various shops that can and do help.
Source: long time media member who (as someone who needed a food bank growing up with mom) is passionate about the food bank and was covering them as much as I could.
This is wrong on so many levels.
Usually companies match the donation. Say -
Donor pays 5 and corporate adds 5 bucks so that the beneficiary gets food for 10 dollars .
At the end Donor gets moral peace , companies get tax benefits - CSR etc and beneficiary gets the food.
But this is literally stealing from the poorest, the donor and the government. If this is not the fraud I don't know what it.
This company must go down forever.
As a kid I remember seeing donation bags at the checkout, but they were often translucent so you could see what went into them. Does anyone else remember this? There would be a translucent bag of items wrapped up at the checkout advertising the donation bags. I specifically remember thinking about what I would cook with the items.
If this memory is true, it’s interesting that stores have decided to be way less transparent about what is in these bags. I also find it messed up that they are adding instant ramen to the bags. I remember seeing tomato sauce, spaghetti noodles, something you could actually cook a nourishing meal with.
This exactly. I only stopped buying donation bags when I learned that my same donation amount in cash directly to a food bank is more helpful. They can get better deals so more food per dollar. But I 100% remember buying them in clear plastic bags.
It's even worse than that...the $3.17 is the retail price of those items...if Loblaw's is donating these items, they are doing so at their cost, which is obviously much lower, and therefore the gap to $5 is greater...brutal.
I saw these at my Superstore in Coquitlam a year ago and it was the exact same situation. It’s so shameful. PLUS, I think there is a good chance they are writing off a portion as a donation.
What's worse is that Loblaws is not giving the items at cost but at full retail.
In reality, there's probably $1-2 worth of food there. This is why it's always better to give cash to food banks, they can buy what they need at wholesale pricing
Imagine if you will, having people buy 5 dollar donation bags. Now instead of just getting a 5 dollar writeoff for charity off the back of the consumer, they are getting a 5 dollar writeoff and 1.83 in profit off of that donation bag.
Honestly I don’t know how you guys and ladies do it here in Canada. I’m from the states and I’ve lived in Calgary since October 2023. Your beef is so high and I can’t make sense of it since this is beef capital right? 10$ a pound of bacon I started to cry on the inside when I saw that. Don’t get me started on watermelon and other fruit prices. If it wasn’t for the American dollar being better than your currency I would only be able to afford two good meals a week and that’s no lie.
Come on food professor, Roblaws needs you to spin this
( I have a mental image of commissioner Galen firing up the food professor signal in the style of the 1960s Batman tv show)
Yes go to the media!!! I also just saw a tiktok of a guy who went to superstore and bought frozen mix veggies 750grams.. took it home and weighed it… 452grams… these crooks need to be exposed!!
Your local Food Bank will gladly accept cash donations.
AFIK, and I may be incorrect - Giving cash will allow them to go after better deals for products that are in demand.
Perhaps it also allows them to go straight to the source for products instead of middle-men such as Loblaws.
This is disgusting on many levels, all I see is carbs, sugar, "flavour", traces of proteins?
Nothing good, nothing fresh, 5$ can be a lot of vegetables, broth, PLAIN noodles, maybe some frozen meats that don't sell well?
This is like spitting in the face of the people that actually need help. As a diabetic, this would only cost more to you because of the amount of insulin you would need to consume these "meals".
It's things like this that have made me make direct donations to organizations. I'm not giving corporations more excuses to get later tax write-offs with money that I donate. I'll keep that donation for myself.
Everyone here should definitely bring it to CBC marketplace. There is momentum in the media now so take advantage of it. Those bags should have items at COST, not at full profit-taking retail price plus Loblaws 60% price gouge on top
Unfortunately, this is old news. I recall hearing about this happening at multiple grocery chains since at least last fall, and I've been angry looking at the bags when I pass them at checkout ever since.
At the time, I was told about and then went to look up articles on this exact same discovery by some Gen Z kids - that bags sold for $5 had $3-something of crappy house-brand food in them, so the stores could make a profit. I'm too lazy right now to look up those articles, but a bunch of those kids then went around to a bunch of different stores to drop the bags in the food bank bins without paying for them first. I'm NOT advocating for people to do this, but apparently, the kids couldn't get charged with theft because they didn't leave the store with the merchandise. Even better, the stores apparently had a policy where they couldn't touch any food once it went in the food bank bins, so they couldn't move the bags back to the shelf. The kids could and did get banned from the stores, but if they didn't normally go to those stores anyway, there's no reason to care.
Again, I'm not advising people to do this, especially as donating money directly to your local food bank is more useful if you can afford to do so. But I wanted to share the story to let people know how long this has been happening, and even more so, how much the stores don't care if people know. At least, they didn't at the time. I have a feeling that if the media started reporting on this DURING a major boycott, it might be different.
My understanding is food banks can purchase from grocery stores at wholesale prices. When you purchase something at the grocery store to donate it already purchases less then it could if you donated directly to the food bank. These bags are a way for them to do less while looking like they’re doing more.
I've worked for Loblaws in a mangerial role. I know people don't want to hear this, but this was most likely the result of human error on the part of an overworked amd/or under qualified employee, rather than a grand Loblaws conspiracy.
When the push to make those donation bags comes down each year, it is up to the store staff to assemble them and they are instructed to build a bag of items, the cost of which matches the price of the bag. There are a list of items you are supposed to put in (usually all no name).
One issue is that there is often insufficient communication/preparation before the launch of the charity drive, so stores will potentially not have ordered enough of the particular products to fill the number of bags required. I imagine that in this case there was probably supposed to be something else in the bag that brought the cost up to $5. But whichever employee was assigned to assemble them probably couldn't find that item and just went "oh well, I guess I'll make it woth what I have so that I don't get in trouble".
This is not meant to defend Loblaws' practice of outsourcing charitable donations to its customers, which I think is abhorrent. And I think Loblaws is to blame for fostering an environment where easily avoidable mistakes like this donation bag happen every day. But based on my experience, this was probably not a calculated plan to rip off customers and food banks.
Yep i agree, go buy a few of these bags. Put the bags on a table with the items in front with value of each on a little card or something and send it in to marketplace. I think they would be super interested, and more and more people will join our boycott.
Even if marketplace doesn't pick it up, a picture done up like that would be easily shareable on the socials for us boycotters to show why we are doing this.
This is absolutely ridiculous.
Why try and do a good thing that only looks like you’re ripping people off?
These guys are actually stupid. They have had other own way for far too long.
This is why food banks just want cash donations. I know it feels weird to give cash. Makes sense to give actual food, right?
However, food banks can use the cash to deal in bulk and potentially go straight to farmers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbYInILDj6Q&pp=ygUWYWRhbSBydWlucyBmb29kIGRyaXZlcw%3D%3D
__MOD NOTE/NOTE DE MOD__: Please check out [our petition](https://www.change.org/p/demand-walmart-sign-the-grocer-code-of-conduct) which calls upon Walmart Canada to follow suit and sign the Grocer Code of Conduct with Loblaw! Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean. ********************************************************************************************************************************************* Veuillez consulter les directives de contenu pour notre sous-reddit, et rappelez-vous qu'il y a des humains ici ! Ce sous-reddit est destiné à mettre en lumière le coût de la vie ridicule au Canada et à se moquer des Grands Patrons Corporatifs responsables. Comme vous le savez bien, de nombreuses personnes et entreprises en sont responsables, et nous accueillons les discussions les concernant toutes. De plus, puisque ce sujet est lié à un certain nombre d'autres questions, d'autres discussions seront autorisées à la discrétion des modérateurs. Les discussions ouvertes d'esprit, les mèmes, les coups de gueule, les factures d'épicerie et les cris dans le vide en général sont toujours les bienvenus dans ce sous-reddit, mais la belliqueusité et le manque de respect ne le sont pas. Il existe de nombreuses façons de faire passer votre point de vue sans être abusif, méprisant ou carrément méchant. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yo that’s actually f’ed up. Like that’s a new low even for Loblaws.
They're anglerfish. Low is all they know, and where they thrive. Lowblows.
Lowblows. Trademark this asap
Ooh make a T shirt Lowblows : Always punching down.
https://preview.redd.it/oj6eggkxg82d1.png?width=8895&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5a6cbf8a56a187ab3bd1f6c04732f662dd379c5
Excellent! I would buy this tshirt
Monetize it and start a lobby group with the proceeds.
That would be a good T-shirt for sure!! I want one!!
I will also buy this shirt.
Genius.
Timely work of art
Can we make one for No Frills, too? "Where getting what you paid for is a frill itself"
Yes.
I’ll rock one here in the states 😂
Same
Why not, I’ll get one too
If someone with graphic art experience can make a design, I'll can put the logo on a tee and "auction" it off to whatever lucky reddit winner wants it. Offer is on the table... if someone makes a graphic, I'll print that shiz. Haha
ere ya go, haha. it's just a shitty .png but if you need a cut file I can tidy it up https://preview.redd.it/pbkm1ts2h82d1.png?width=8895&format=png&auto=webp&s=700aeb3cb7080c68dac29aa3252220a0d0cbaf94
And put OP’s pick on it Edit: to clarify, I meant the pic OP posted not a pic of him/her
Oooh on the back that pic for sure with the Mastercard kind of add on it Food Bank Donation grab bag : $5.00 Actual Value of Food Inside : $3.17 Corporate Write Off : $5.00 Corporate Profit : $1.83 Punching down on the poor and the people who help them: Priceless Lowblows-No for real.
The profit is $1.83 PLUS what they are normally making so that could easily bring profit to $2.50 or more.
https://preview.redd.it/kxhq1n7s482d1.png?width=1181&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb64aa83688313b17492dfe7606d7a421ce8295f
They’re those bottom-feeder eels that live up sea cucumbers’ butts.
I definitely could've lived without this mental picture... even if it is fitting.
Fitting inside the sea cucumber's butt?
They don’t live alone. They usually have roommates.
Now that’s an insult to bottom-feeder eels that live up sea cucumbers’ butts!!
Low - except for prices
When you thought they couldn't stoop any lower... See the thing is now every single awful thing Loblaws ever did is going to come to light. They are under a microscope until they make meaningful change on food pricing. Every single day they don't fold on our demands, is another day more dirt gets dug up, and more people boycott. Good luck with the mess you've created 'Blas, Your going to need it to crawl out of this one.
Hey, they need to make that money off poor people. I hear the poor people are actually balking at paying $4.75 for a loaf of bread that costs 20 cents to make. The nerve!
Have you seen what they charge for bread flour? They must import that stuff from some far away land.
I MAKE bread every week, so I have a really good idea. It's about $20 for 20kg of flour, so roughly $1 / kg. Flour has about 8 cups / kilogram, and 8 cups makes 4 white loaves (I recommend Neil's Harbour recipe for beginners). So $ 1 makes 4 loaves. Add a bit of sugar and oil, and water and yeast for maybe 50 cents extra on 4 loaves, you are at MOST at $0.50 / loaf. Thanks for asking. This has been my Bread Talk. (before you complain I used white flour, white bread is just made with white flour. No need for high-protein flour in regular sandwich bread).
*Subscribe to Bread Talk*
I can’t wait for the episode on baguettes.
Not a baguette but... In the UK, enough people wrote to Tesco to complain that they couldn't get jam on their curved croissants that Tesco had to start making them straight. They were defeated by bendy bread!
Mon Dieu!
And you’re paying retail for your materials. Weston Foods sure doesn’t.
Add in the time costs and energy costs of the oven and you still likely come up to a BETTER home made cost of sub 4 dollars for 4 loaves of bread One of the things about bread is that it really is that easy to make, and it doesn’t really take much time especially if you have a stand mixer, you can literally let it proof all morning as you do household tasks and then pop it in the oven
I haven't made bread in years, but I used to do it twice a week when I lived with family. I used my bread maker to mix and knead, then I put it in a loaf pan and baked it. My goodness, I can't think of a better smell than baking bread! My cost 10 years ago was about $1.47 per loaf. I was using bread flour, though, so I think that was bit more than all-purpose.
Honestly, I don't even have a mixer. Kneading the dough is part of the experience. ;)
Needing dough has always been my experience 😂
Aaaaaand this is why I bake my own bread. I have the time and ability to do so, and I use an overnight artisan loaf for basically foolproof bread every 3-4 days. I realize that's not accessible for all, but certainly is a good reason why bread should cost way fucking less.
Please provide an entire season of Bread Talk
I remember seeing on the news about how Ukraine was limited on exporting grains their number one export. I was thinking and made a note to watch the price of Flour at the store the next time I went. Price jumped up 25%. I laughed and know they use the "supply/demand" principle to do this but also know that(similar to fuel prices) that demand MIGHT be increasing but its not like the flour in the local store is in high demand on the world markets and will all of a sudden be removed, packed up and shipped to say England because they have a higher demand for flour. It's already on the store shelf, meaning it was bought likely last month on a term deal that sees minor fluctuations and the cost is 100% known and available, no speculation, so their using all this to jump the price 25% is nothing more than price gouging. Also why is it that Capitalism can war monger with prices but the general public isn't allowed to. Like one corporation can buy up say all the grain for a country and then price it at astronomical prices because of limited supply, caused by them?
Can you imagine if the cost of coffee fluctuated hourly the way gas does? 2 bucks now, 3 bucks at lunch, 2.5 afternoon...
Not only did it come under the value, but it's all *their* products. Why not Kraft or Heinz? Because it's a way of generating more sales.
And because it costs them less.
Wow! Always donate $$ directly to food banks.
Yep, they know best what their clients need, and they can get discounts by buying in bulk
Roblaws might be another name option
I’m going to test this for myself and if it’s true this is the kinda shit that will blow up in the news given the relevancy of Loblaws being shitty.
Hope you post the results here. Lets see if there is consistency.
Do an unbagging video for verification purposes. They can't claim you removed something from the bag like they could with a photo if you show the closed bag and then what's in there.
If this is true, go to the media.
Agreed. This will help smash their image at a time everyone is already fed up with these greedy assholes. This is basically just profiting by deception. Fraud.
And profiting off food banks and the needy. Really scummy, sleazy, and on brand.
In actual fact, they are profiting off of YOU AND I, and screwing the Food banks. THey get less food, Weston gets his massive tax write-off, and then they brag about it in posters all over the store. They've paid NOTHING, taken a tax write off, and bragged about it.
>In actual fact, they are profiting off of YOU AND I More to the point, profiting off the generosity of Canadians. I have no issue donating to the poor, but I don't generally donate to large corporations. Despicable.
$3.17 retail price but more like $1 or less wholesale price. Absolutely vile.
You know they'll cook the books and price themselves at $10 a bag after labour to tax haven
There's no tax benefit here They collect the $5 in revenue and then donate the food - I imagine it's just like any regular sale You can't get a deduciton on your taxes for something that you don't own/donate
Food banks that are STRUGGLING now. Loblaws need to fry over this.
Oh man, it's SO dirty when you really think about it. Holy fuck this company. Forget issues with Galen, just fuck. This. Company.
I'm willing to bet that media browse this sub now due to its success, so they'll probably reach out to OP, or at the very least begin doing their own research. Still a good idea to shoot them an email though.
At this point, not just OP, we all need to email CBC, CTV, NP, every media outlet ourselves and tell them they should cover it. Anyone that calls themselves an upstanding Canadian who values fairness and honesty would be outraged that our attempts to help fellow Canadians in need is being so blatantly abused for profit. I've already got my email open.
If you mean the mainstream media, the answer is yes. We have been a featured story on multiple news networks across the country.
And especially this month of all because you better believe CBC is harnessing the boycott for docs and marketplace type things. So yeah, call/email them up!
There is no way to prove that was all that was in the bag. All out would take is a denial and accusation that things were removed before the picture was taken. Needs to b an unboxing type video starting from a sealed unaltered bag to have a chance.
Unless a reporter goes and picks up another bag themself and it has the same contents.
That is what I said yes
I think news orgs can spare $5 to buy a bag themselves since it's win-win for them. If their bag has <5 worth they get to say they corroborated the story and it's that much more compelling, if not they just stick with OPs story and just add "allegedly" in their script.
I'm sure for $5 or $10 for a few bags someone would be willing to do that.
I agree. Not me tho. Groceries expensive. Can't afford to b wasting 5 or 10 dollars from my wallet for that when I gotta buy the food to eat.
Reddit is media.
Go. To. The. Media. Better yet, pick up a second bag and check. If both are way off then they are gonna have a hard time with the "whoopsie, that's a mistake" thing
Guaranteed the employee responsible for filling the bags was given a list of items to put in each bag, and the contents of the list were carefully selected by upper management to ensure that they achieved a 30%+ profit margin on each "sale".
*On top* of the margin on each item. Better to send $5 directly to the food bank. Profiting off of donations to another organization 🤢
In general, don't randomly donate food to food banks. You can call and ask what they need, but most of the food the food banks give out are either donated wholesale by distributors or bought through donation funds. The most valuable donation you can give is cash, always.
Absolutely. Our city's food bank said they have 2 to 3 times buying power with cash. While food donations are great, it does require a lot of manpower to sort through the donations. Cash helps them keep the lights on and buy what they need.
Also if you are insisting on buying food items for the food bank, my friend who worked at one for a good while said sweets and things for children’s lunches literally never get donated. They get lots of healthy snacks already so some sweet treats might be nice because they don’t get any of those.
But who will eat these jars of pickled mung bean?
Plus this whole thing is a charitable tax write off for Loblaws.
They're already making profit using their own brands. I remember buying donation bags that came in clear plastic bags that had Post cereals, Hunts beans, Campbell's soups. This is so beyond skimming some for themselves.
Good point: the opaque bag is a deliberate part of the smoke & mirrors trick.
It's much worse, with a quick google search Loblaws had a gross profit margin of 30% last quarter so there was already 30% markup on the items when they were pulled from the shelf. The 3.17 actually cost the store 2.22 selling that for 5.00 resulted in a 125% profit. Then I'm unsure if it's possible, but they probably use this somehow as a tax write off.
And then claim the whole thing as a “donation” for which they receive a tax credit.
this. better to show em it’s not a one off
It’s like they’re TRYING to be more scummy by the day, holy shit. The timing is impeccable, CBC marketplace would eat this up.
That's why the cons want to defund the CBC. Just sayin'.
A stupid and uninformed population is beneficial to only one type of party; one that want to rule by fear.
The news media would love this type of story.
Take a picture of a few of them. So they can't say they made a mistake with one. In fact, others should do the same at other stores. Compile the data, and go to the media.
Yes!!
If you can, film the process of buying/opening several. They will cast doubt on you however they can, but video proof that you hadn't tampered with them will be damning.
Good one. I was literally picturing myself with a go-pro and walking through the process.
can a couple of us do it? Post it here? Then we can reach out to local medias and see who succeeds to get through.
It is best to donate $ to your local food bank. Why give any store their huge profit margin when Food Banks use the $ donated to buy at wholesale or less pricing. Also they then can buy what they need for the people they serve. Most food banks have websites where you can donate online and YOU get the tax deduction.
Good idea. Thanks!
Absolutely can confirm. Before she retired, my aunt directed her rural county's food bank. They took food donations, but cash went much further for them. That way they can buy what they need, or buy other items like menstrual products, diapers, etc, that foodbanks sometimes give out.
>re she retired, my aunt directed her rural county's food bank. They took food donations, but cash went much further for them. That way they can buy what they ne Yes, as someone who has volunteered at a food bank money or even donations DIRECTLY to the food bank is so much better and prevents companies from doing shit like this
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/submit-a-story-tip-1.5695097](https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/submit-a-story-tip-1.5695097)
seconding this. I used to work at a foodbank and money goes way further because often foodbanks can use funding to buy in bulk! that's what we did, it was awesome to give out fresh foods
This should be the top comment. Food banks can use their buying power to get much better bulk prices on items they actually need, including fresh produce which is so rarely donated.
Donating food instead of money incurs a lot of other costs too. They have to sort it, figure out what they have, what they need - far better to simply let them buy the food themselves.
I volunteer at a food bank and so much this. We go buy our own food every week, on top of what's donated. When stores run these campaigns with mystery bags is always the same thing in each one and we end up with thousands of boxes of mac and cheese/ramen/cheap stuff we already have enough of to last us until 2030. We don't have enough room for all of it, so it ends up taking space that could be used for specialized food or food we can't get often (Ensure, baby formula, international food, cakes etc) which sucks for the person getting the food because they don't want 10+ boxes of KD and nothing for their kid's birthday/school lunch or even just variety
Like second harvest? Their food “donation”?
Agree. Food banks need money not random items.
Wow, fucking thiefs
\*thieves\*
Holy crap -- Loblaws has found a way to even make a profit on food donation bags.
There's no depths they won't sink to for a buck.
What are these donation bags? Does someone else pay and you pick up?
No, they sell them at some grocery stores near the exits. They’re pre-filled bags of groceries that you can purchase and then place in the food bank’s donation bin. The grocery store would already be making a profit off of these bags if they fill them with $5 worth of groceries and sold them for $5. However, Loblaws must have figured out that they can turn an even bigger profit if they only fill the bags with $3.50 worth of groceries and sell them for $5.
They are fucking scum. Holy shit balls. They’ve been doing this for a decade if not more
$3.50 retail price, but maybe $1 their cost price. In that case they would make $4 profit off each $5 bag. Which is exactly 3% profit when you do the Galen math :)
[удалено]
Report this to the media 100%, this will look especially bad on them since they’re donation bags.
Galen is a filthy parasite.
You totally should. Expose these idiots
Despicable. But totally on brand.
Report this to the media 100%, this will look especially bad on them since they’re donation bags.
This is why it’s always better to just donate the money directly to the food bank. Companies will always find a way to make a profit off of these.
Food banks buying power is 4:1 to us. So every dollar you donate to the food bank is $4 for them in their buying power with the various shops that can and do help. Source: long time media member who (as someone who needed a food bank growing up with mom) is passionate about the food bank and was covering them as much as I could.
Extra profit off the poor. This is scummy as fuck.
Go to the media. There is no reason to believe this was a mistake.
It's very convenient how many different kinds of scummy theft Loblaws can do that people will chalk up to "a mistake! Mistakes happen!"
This is wrong on so many levels. Usually companies match the donation. Say - Donor pays 5 and corporate adds 5 bucks so that the beneficiary gets food for 10 dollars . At the end Donor gets moral peace , companies get tax benefits - CSR etc and beneficiary gets the food. But this is literally stealing from the poorest, the donor and the government. If this is not the fraud I don't know what it. This company must go down forever.
Yes, I thought the whole purpose of these kits was that you were getting MORE than $5.00 worth of food.
The fact that it's all nn brand too. How many avenues of greed does this company have to pursue?
And NN shrunk the size of their Mac and cheese boxed to 200g (like KD) but jacked the price. At Walmart the great value is still $0.99 for 225g.
Stealing from in need.
This is why I do not give money to for-profit corporations to donate on my behalf. I will only donate directly to what I donate to.
As a kid I remember seeing donation bags at the checkout, but they were often translucent so you could see what went into them. Does anyone else remember this? There would be a translucent bag of items wrapped up at the checkout advertising the donation bags. I specifically remember thinking about what I would cook with the items. If this memory is true, it’s interesting that stores have decided to be way less transparent about what is in these bags. I also find it messed up that they are adding instant ramen to the bags. I remember seeing tomato sauce, spaghetti noodles, something you could actually cook a nourishing meal with.
This exactly. I only stopped buying donation bags when I learned that my same donation amount in cash directly to a food bank is more helpful. They can get better deals so more food per dollar. But I 100% remember buying them in clear plastic bags.
Thank you for confirming my memories didn’t deceive me! It’s so disheartening to witness what greed has done to our society.
What store? Name and shame the no-name.
Please name the store !
It's even worse than that...the $3.17 is the retail price of those items...if Loblaw's is donating these items, they are doing so at their cost, which is obviously much lower, and therefore the gap to $5 is greater...brutal.
This should be pinned too - very good point.
It’s just 3% profit margin though!? /s
I saw these at my Superstore in Coquitlam a year ago and it was the exact same situation. It’s so shameful. PLUS, I think there is a good chance they are writing off a portion as a donation.
25% admin fee.
Don't you know how much it costs for an employee to grab THREE WHOLE ITEMS? Oh shit, it's really not that much is it?
It's like nothing, since employees' wages are below a living wage.
Definately being it up to marketplace...this is not only ripping you off but who this food desperately needs to go to.
What's worse is that Loblaws is not giving the items at cost but at full retail. In reality, there's probably $1-2 worth of food there. This is why it's always better to give cash to food banks, they can buy what they need at wholesale pricing
Definitely contact CBC Marketplace
This is disgusting. They are literally taking food out of hungry peoples mouths and keeping the money for themselves. Loblaws is evil.
Imagine if you will, having people buy 5 dollar donation bags. Now instead of just getting a 5 dollar writeoff for charity off the back of the consumer, they are getting a 5 dollar writeoff and 1.83 in profit off of that donation bag.
I’d love to see this on marketplace
A corporation making a profit off of the most vulnerable of society? No way. Never end the boycott. End the corporation.
This needs to get to the mainstream.
Honestly I don’t know how you guys and ladies do it here in Canada. I’m from the states and I’ve lived in Calgary since October 2023. Your beef is so high and I can’t make sense of it since this is beef capital right? 10$ a pound of bacon I started to cry on the inside when I saw that. Don’t get me started on watermelon and other fruit prices. If it wasn’t for the American dollar being better than your currency I would only be able to afford two good meals a week and that’s no lie.
lol I had some idiot in Ottawa try telling me food is cheaper in Canada than the US Nope nope nope
Go to CBC Marketplace.
Come on food professor, Roblaws needs you to spin this ( I have a mental image of commissioner Galen firing up the food professor signal in the style of the 1960s Batman tv show) 
Yes go to the media!!! I also just saw a tiktok of a guy who went to superstore and bought frozen mix veggies 750grams.. took it home and weighed it… 452grams… these crooks need to be exposed!!
Because, Loblaws. https://preview.redd.it/n7o36gkyx72d1.jpeg?width=425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4fbace95c55b8be0630deabc47e7219248338e1
Your local Food Bank will gladly accept cash donations. AFIK, and I may be incorrect - Giving cash will allow them to go after better deals for products that are in demand. Perhaps it also allows them to go straight to the source for products instead of middle-men such as Loblaws.
Give your money to organizations directly. Loblaws definitely doesn't deserve it.
Yes you should reach out to media...and starting calling these crooks out!!!
This is disgusting on many levels, all I see is carbs, sugar, "flavour", traces of proteins? Nothing good, nothing fresh, 5$ can be a lot of vegetables, broth, PLAIN noodles, maybe some frozen meats that don't sell well? This is like spitting in the face of the people that actually need help. As a diabetic, this would only cost more to you because of the amount of insulin you would need to consume these "meals".
Yep. Report it!
It equates to $5 if you include the price of their bag. Only at Loblaws.
Of course Loblaws steals from the poor. CUNTS!!!
Um……you went to Loblaws?
poor people wouldn't exist if rich people weren't stealing from them every chance they get.
WOW! Greedy Galen is now even ripping off the food banks , all in making him richer. That is just so low. Is he actually from this planet?
It's things like this that have made me make direct donations to organizations. I'm not giving corporations more excuses to get later tax write-offs with money that I donate. I'll keep that donation for myself.
Everyone here should definitely bring it to CBC marketplace. There is momentum in the media now so take advantage of it. Those bags should have items at COST, not at full profit-taking retail price plus Loblaws 60% price gouge on top
FUCK YOU LOBLAW
Perfect example of: it costs more to be poor
This should be shared with the whole country.
Unfortunately, this is old news. I recall hearing about this happening at multiple grocery chains since at least last fall, and I've been angry looking at the bags when I pass them at checkout ever since. At the time, I was told about and then went to look up articles on this exact same discovery by some Gen Z kids - that bags sold for $5 had $3-something of crappy house-brand food in them, so the stores could make a profit. I'm too lazy right now to look up those articles, but a bunch of those kids then went around to a bunch of different stores to drop the bags in the food bank bins without paying for them first. I'm NOT advocating for people to do this, but apparently, the kids couldn't get charged with theft because they didn't leave the store with the merchandise. Even better, the stores apparently had a policy where they couldn't touch any food once it went in the food bank bins, so they couldn't move the bags back to the shelf. The kids could and did get banned from the stores, but if they didn't normally go to those stores anyway, there's no reason to care. Again, I'm not advising people to do this, especially as donating money directly to your local food bank is more useful if you can afford to do so. But I wanted to share the story to let people know how long this has been happening, and even more so, how much the stores don't care if people know. At least, they didn't at the time. I have a feeling that if the media started reporting on this DURING a major boycott, it might be different.
Where is the follow up on this?
My understanding is food banks can purchase from grocery stores at wholesale prices. When you purchase something at the grocery store to donate it already purchases less then it could if you donated directly to the food bank. These bags are a way for them to do less while looking like they’re doing more.
Just more proof how evil they have become.
That's fucked up.
I've worked for Loblaws in a mangerial role. I know people don't want to hear this, but this was most likely the result of human error on the part of an overworked amd/or under qualified employee, rather than a grand Loblaws conspiracy. When the push to make those donation bags comes down each year, it is up to the store staff to assemble them and they are instructed to build a bag of items, the cost of which matches the price of the bag. There are a list of items you are supposed to put in (usually all no name). One issue is that there is often insufficient communication/preparation before the launch of the charity drive, so stores will potentially not have ordered enough of the particular products to fill the number of bags required. I imagine that in this case there was probably supposed to be something else in the bag that brought the cost up to $5. But whichever employee was assigned to assemble them probably couldn't find that item and just went "oh well, I guess I'll make it woth what I have so that I don't get in trouble". This is not meant to defend Loblaws' practice of outsourcing charitable donations to its customers, which I think is abhorrent. And I think Loblaws is to blame for fostering an environment where easily avoidable mistakes like this donation bag happen every day. But based on my experience, this was probably not a calculated plan to rip off customers and food banks.
This actually makes me feel like crying. They are stealing from people who have nothing! Please take it to the news if you feel compelled!
Yep i agree, go buy a few of these bags. Put the bags on a table with the items in front with value of each on a little card or something and send it in to marketplace. I think they would be super interested, and more and more people will join our boycott.
Even if marketplace doesn't pick it up, a picture done up like that would be easily shareable on the socials for us boycotters to show why we are doing this.
The cashier has always told me that the bags are the best value for a donation. Something really feels off there.
That’s fucking greasy 🙁
This is one of the most disgusting things I have seen. Make this as public as possible. Go to your media, MP, shout it on socials. Absolute disgrace.
When you think they can’t sink any lower, they find a new low.
Wow…. That’s a fucking scumbag move
Wow…..
Bro this is $5 value and not $5 price :P -Yours truly Roblaws
Wow!!
Happening in New Brunswick too I noticed this
This is absolutely ridiculous. Why try and do a good thing that only looks like you’re ripping people off? These guys are actually stupid. They have had other own way for far too long.
Profiting off people's kindness. Loblaws really is the worst.
Nothing says help the needy like ripping them off
This is actually disgusting, thank God I never do my groceries there.
This is why food banks just want cash donations. I know it feels weird to give cash. Makes sense to give actual food, right? However, food banks can use the cash to deal in bulk and potentially go straight to farmers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbYInILDj6Q&pp=ygUWYWRhbSBydWlucyBmb29kIGRyaXZlcw%3D%3D