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How Super AreSupermarkets?
Buying eweek’s groceries is tiring. You want to get it over and done with quickly, soyou head for the nearest supermarket, you find everything you need under oneroof, and you feel glad that those days of going in and out of different shopsin the high street are over. Supermarkets seem to be a big plus. There is adownside, though.
In the UK 90%of all the food people consume is bought at 5 different supermarket chains.This makes these companies extremely powerful, which lets them use their hugebuying power to squeeze small suppliers to get the best deal. Milk is a goodexample. Supermarkets like to use things like milk, which is the top of almosteveryone’s shopping list to attract customers. To offer the lowest pricepossible to the consumer, the supermarkets force dairy farmers to sell milk atless than the cost of production. Supermarkets guarantee their good profitswhile farmers are left struggling to make ends meet, and the taxpayer pays tosupport the system without even knowing it.
It would be niceif local grocers supported local agriculture. But for the big supermarkets thisjust doesn’t make sense. Supermarkets don’t want little farmers thinking theycan decide prices. So supermarkets have started a global search for thecheapest possible agricultural produce. In many supermarkets it is difficult tofind anything which is produced locally.
UK farmersused to grow a lot of apples. Not anymore. In 1999 36% of apples were imported.By 2015 the figure had risen to 80% and the domestic production of apples hadfallen by two thirds. The consumer might just be happy to get a reasonablypriced meal made up of foods from Thailand, Spain, Italy and Zambia, but weshould also bear in mind the Influence on local producers.
Then there’spackaging. Supermarkets like everything to be packed and wrapped so it can bepiled neatly on shelves. Supermarkets produce nearly 10 million tons of wastepackaging in the UK every year, of which less 5%is recycled. Some supermarketsmake sure that large recycling bins are obvious in their car parks, showingthat they are environment-friendly. But that is just an image.
When a newsupermarket is planned there are claims about the number of new jobs that willbe created. Unfortunately, the number of jobs lost in the area is larger thanthe number of new positions in the supermarket. On average each new supermarketleads to the loss of 276 jobs.
However, themodern world is all about shopping, and the freedom to buy whatever you what,so it would be impossible to stop people shopping at some particular kind ofshop. But some measures do need to be taken when small suppliers lose profits,local producers suffer, sea levels rise and jobs are lost, anyway, we can’tjust care about a free car park and special offers.
How Super AreSupermarkets?
Buying eweek’s groceries is tiring. You want to get it over and done with quickly, soyou head for the nearest supermarket, you find everything you need under oneroof, and you feel glad that those days of going in and out of different shopsin the high street are over. Supermarkets seem to be a big plus. There is adownside, though.
In the UK 90%of all the food people consume is bought at 5 different supermarket chains.This makes these companies extremely powerful, which lets them use their hugebuying power to squeeze small suppliers to get the best deal. Milk is a goodexample. Supermarkets like to use things like milk, which is the top of almosteveryone’s shopping list to attract customers. To offer the lowest pricepossible to the consumer, the supermarkets force dairy farmers to sell milk atless than the cost of production. Supermarkets guarantee their good profitswhile farmers are left struggling to make ends meet, and the taxpayer pays tosupport the system without even knowing it.
It would be niceif local grocers supported local agriculture. But for the big supermarkets thisjust doesn’t make sense. Supermarkets don’t want little farmers thinking theycan decide prices. So supermarkets have started a global search for thecheapest possible agricultural produce. In many supermarkets it is difficult tofind anything which is produced locally.
UK farmersused to grow a lot of apples. Not anymore. In 1999 36% of apples were imported.By 2015 the figure had risen to 80% and the domestic production of apples hadfallen by two thirds. The consumer might just be happy to get a reasonablypriced meal made up of foods from Thailand, Spain, Italy and Zambia, but weshould also bear in mind the Influence on local producers.
Then there’spackaging. Supermarkets like everything to be packed and wrapped so it can bepiled neatly on shelves. Supermarkets produce nearly 10 million tons of wastepackaging in the UK every year, of which less 5%is recycled. Some supermarketsmake sure that large recycling bins are obvious in their car parks, showingthat they are environment-friendly. But that is just an image.
When a newsupermarket is planned there are claims about the number of new jobs that willbe created. Unfortunately, the number of jobs lost in the area is larger thanthe number of new positions in the supermarket. On average each new supermarketleads to the loss of 276 jobs.
However, themodern world is all about shopping, and the freedom to buy whatever you what,so it would be impossible to stop people shopping at some particular kind ofshop. But some measures do need to be taken when small suppliers lose profits,local producers suffer, sea levels rise and jobs are lost, anyway, we can’tjust care about a free car park and special offers.
