A key metric in the data released by Wal Mart is not their upfront sales and profit. The recessionary KPI (key performance indicator) is a significant increase in same store sales of 6% (excluding fuel), yet the outcome of that increase in customers is a decrease in profit because the purchases are food.
[Keep an eye on this and we will likely see a similar increase in foot traffic at Aldis]
(VIA NBC) […] Walmart, which is the biggest grocer in the U.S. and often considered a bellwether for the overall economy, said more customers are turning to its stores, which are known for low prices, to fill their pantries and fridges. But they are skipping over general merchandise that they can live without.
Walmart said it now expects same-store sales in the U.S. to rise by about 6% in the second quarter, excluding fuel, as customers buy more food at its stores. That’s higher than the 4% to 5% increase that the company previously expected. However, that merchandise mix will weigh on the company. Groceries have lower profit margins than discretionary items, such as TVs and clothing.
“The increasing levels of food and fuel inflation are affecting how customers spend, and while we’ve made good progress clearing hardline categories, apparel in Walmart U.S. is requiring more markdown dollars,” CEO Doug McMillon said in a news release. (read more)
Discretionary spending is gone. Blue-collar and white-collar middle-class consumers are in a financial hunker down mode. We will see several tiers of socioeconomic strata start to shift down now. Stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods will become more of a luxury and indulgence.
Consumer confidence continues to drop:
(The Hill) – Consumer confidence slipped for the third straight month in July as sky-high prices dampened demand for products and services, according to a new survey.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, which tracks consumer attitudes and buying intentions, dropped from 98.4 percent last month to 95.7 percent in July, its lowest level since last year. (read more)
As the economic situation continues to unfold, new terminology will be adopted to hide and disguise reality. As we have just witnessed the White House redefine “recession” so too will they redefine “unemployment” to something like “transitional workers.”
We can expect to see government officials say something akin to, “our transitional workforce may expand for some time as our economy shifts.” Meaning unemployment may rise as the Green New Deal is implemented by executive fiat. This is how they operate.
We are in an era of great pretending. [ GO DEEP ] That is our problem. It’s not just what they are doing, it is our willingness to pretend they are not doing it. As long as denial remains a survival mechanism, because acceptance is just too painful to admit, no corrective action is possible.
Our economy is being intentionally guided into a declining status in order to bring forth the “transition” they desire.
We hate Walmart and have shopped at Aldi for decades and love it- still lots of bargains to be had. Now Lidl is entering the US market and rattling the cages of the major US chains. We will NEVER abandon our local butchers because you can’t beat the taste (and price) of local meats and poultry. If people would just wake up and realize that big AG and corporate grocery suck, and stop feeding their beast-perhaps things might change-
no offense but Im sure Aldi and Lidl are full of products from Big Ag
Of course they are, but I was referring to local meat producers.
Local butcher shops are the best and I’ve found some offering really good deals. A butcher shop steak is great and the most underrated thing at butcher shops? Their homemade…made in the shop….hot dogs!
Consider the energy cost of moving a single steer or hog to market–and it becomes readily apparent that a good local butcher is preferable to Big Ag for several reasons-
Use your local farmer’s market as much as possible for fresh produce. And try and buy pork, beef, chicken and turkey at source. We buy at source in rural Minnesota and the Dakotas, but flyover country offers many more possibilities.
One thing to look into is buying veal instead of beef. Historically, veal has been far more expensive in the US than Europe, and beef far more expensive in Europe than the US. As the American rancher’s costs increase, he knows that one way to manage them is to bring his cattle to market earlier in the season, which means slaughtering animals with far less weight than in years past. Try and find out when the calving season largely occurs in your region, and use these data as the baseline for planning.
By the way, there are precisely 12 Walmarts in the state of Wyoming, and Aldis is non-existent. And last time I looked, people weren’t starving in the Cowboy state/
All the farmers markets do here is sell crafts; very little food and what they do have costs more than Whole Foods. People here must live in another world or else they are delusional
Always depends on location. The upper midwest offers Amish, Mennonite, Hutterite farmers markets in large numbers.
Another thing that we do is shop at local mom and pops that rely heavily if not exclusively on local produce. We buy most of our jams and preserves in the Black Hills, on the outskirts of Spearfish, but we shop at this level all over the country.
If you like wine, your state may offer some pleasant surprises. We buy at source in Texas. but have found outstanding wines in the most unlikely of places all over the country.
As an added plus, if your friendly with your local butcher he may, for a fee, butcher venison for you from your successful hunt!
They do not exist where I live.
We buy a 1/4 side a couple times a year from a local farm. The meat is grass finished and delicious. We get ~140 lbs of various cuts & hamburger for $650.
I’ve avoided feedlot beef for decades. The cows are mortality ill and are slaughtered before they die. They’re pumped full of antibiotics and are crammed together standing in filth gorging on soy & corn. Not only is that unhealthy but I believe it’s cruel. We aren’t big pork eaters but purchase pastured and humanly slaughtered, no factory farmed. We raise our own chicken and I’m building a rabbitry.
Our garden is producing nicely after a slow start and the greenhouse is nearly done. It’s pretty cool eating a big salad or a plate of veggies you’re grown.
Yes they are. Personally, I won’t step foot in these two German owned stores who are taking business from my American, family owned Weiss Supermarkets. In my area the folks who shop at Aldi and Lidl are mostly woke, libs.
Aldi and Lidl shoppers in my area are mostly white would-be hipsters and white trash. It’s weird. I find both stores to be unpleasant with limited selection, but Lidl is worse than Aldi. I refuse to shop at either or Walmart – their grocery section never impressed me.
I understand your dislike of Aldi and Lidl but calling their customers ‘white trash’ sounds like Obama.
Ok how about people that show up on the people of Walmart website. BTW, I noticed you weren’t concerned about me saying hipsters. Seems like only certain people can’t be stereotyped huh?
Well, Obama is half white trash. His white mother lifted her skirt up for every black man who walked by – hence Obama
Lidl in Europe is great.
That’s the clientele at the stores near me. The “haves and the have nots”. The college professors, the immigrants and pretty much masks and birkenstocks are the garb. Odd combo, but reflective of our society.
Aldi in my county has closed old stores and moved into toney neighborhoods with new clean stores, and now competes with the Whole Foods and Trader Joes. They even have their version of 2 Buck Chuck wines. Their chocolate is the best in town.
They will have as I noted, Non-GMO and HFCS, but may have those bugs in the salty snacks!
I like Weiss too. Two of my sons have worked there. Their chicken salad is the best I’ve ever tasted. I primarily shop at BJs and fill in the gaps at Weiss.
Aldi recently moved in to our neighborhood. I checked it out. It seemed to have some decent prices but the store had a smell to it that didn’t make me want to go back. Seemed mostly to be Hispanic and young white Mom shoppers. Can’t say the clientele seemed woke.
Thanks for your report. Guess it’s a mixed bag.
The one I shop in Philly fits your description, too. Lidl about a mile away, pretty much the same demographics in general. Trader Joe does draw a much more noticeable woke crowd. As for Aldi, its understood going in to not be full service store, but the tradeoff is so worth it. Boxes of shredded wheat at $1.59, good Greek yogurt at $.59 a cup. Butter, $1.59. As a widow in very tenuous circumstances now, I really don’t have the luxury of shopping elsewhere, so I do hope folks can dispense with the preconceptions of who shops where and who should shop where.
You made an excellent point.
A small pension and an early social security retirement dictates where one shops and how much can be spent.
The Aldi around the corner from me is filthy. Went in once and walked right out.
Even before inflation hit 9% our many Aldi’s in St. Louis we’re doing a brisk business with folks like us who don’t believe in paying 2 or 3 times more for an item with a brand name. Now it’s nutzo. Do libs shop there? Of course-the masks are great giveaway!
lol, agree on masks. Understand choices we need to make. Since I have a local provider, I support them.
I shop at Weiss too. They have a lot of bargains.
That’s interesting! The Amish hire vans and a cargo trailer to take a bunch of them to the local Aldi-you would not believe how much they buy. Just depends on where we live, obviously
Interesting about the Amish, but not surprising since the German thread may appeal culrurally. I think you are right though. It’s demographics, and other choices.
Aldi’s actually makes a high percentage of their own products.
Big Euro Ag.
Less stuff like High Fructose Corn Syrup, and GMO veggies.
They do have standards but then, you should, as noted here a week or so ago, start looking at the label of Euro goods for the bogs in the contents.
Sounds exactly like the “denial” to which Sundance refers.
This is a great deal bigger than Walmart v. Corner grocery stores. In many parts of the country there are no small groceries any longer. And in a few short weeks people will be shopping wherever the shelves aren’t empty.
An avalanche is coming.
Not sure what ‘denial’ you’re referring to, but we’ve been stockpiling for 6 months and have a large storage cell full of shelf-stable items. My comment was in response to the statement from Sundance about foot traffic picking up at Aldi in the near future. We have good relationships with local producers for meat, eggs and produce–a blessing those in large cities do not have. Will be interesting to watch when the urban ‘food deserts’ are truly empty-I feel like the newsreels from Sri Lanka are actual trailers for life here in a few months-
We are in our early 80, with a very seldom use 2nd BR, so we turned one of the closets into an extra pantry, and filled it up also.
As for Aldi’s, most of their store brands are cheaper than Walmart’s store brand items. A good example is Splenda, the large bag , 9.7 oz at our Walmart, almost $8. Aldi’s store brand, which looks almost identical, same weight, same exact ingredient, $3.99. But Aldi’s National name brand items, tend to be a little higher than Walmart.
I’ve never heard of Aldi so they must be in larger cities. Their website says there’s nothing in my area but doesn’t say how far away they are. Everyone doesn’t have the same choices, you have to do what you can where you are.
Aldi is a low cost grocery, and targets areas where the real estate is lower. For example, they are not in Massachusetts, but are across the state line in NH where they can still attract both shoppers but pay less in rent.
Bring a quarter to get your shopping cart, which you get back when you return the cart. It’s a German thing.
Even though Aldi is lower cost, they also have lots of fun gourmet goodies at reasonable prices. Especially if you like German food. They rotate inventory seasonally so it is always changing.
Their German white sausage, in their deli section is delicious and is part of their regular stock. In Sept they have a German week and just before Easter is an Easter week. They add additional ‘German’ products during these 2 events.
Their cheeses are fabulous-you can buy triple creme French Brie, Old Amsterdam Gouda and Bellavitano for half the price at the local chain store–and its the SAME EXACT LABEL. Their Belgian chocolate chunks are as good as Callebaut and Guittard, at less than half the price. We triage our shopping–Aldi first, then the local discount chain and lastly, the large chain grocery store.
Thanks for all of that.
Bill Aldi is in MA.
i stand corrected. Not on the Northshore.
Aldi’s is in Massachusetts.
There’s one opening this spring in Westfield, MA
I live in a high priced real estate place and there are two Aldi’s here. It has to do with quality not price. I do not buy there at all; not my thing.
When my mom started shopping at Aldi 15 years or so ago I was not impressed in any way. Not so anymore. They’ve improved their store look and their quality is on par with most name brands. Plus, when I don’t like something I not only get the money back but can also get a replacement product. Not everything is good, but on average no one eating the food would be able to tell.
There is an Aldi on the Leominster/Lancaster line in Taxachusetts.
There’s one in Mt Pleasant, Texas but not in Texarkana.
My son shops there and says it’s fine.
Aldi and Lidl tend to be in the hip areas and cities.
Even when younger I never thought of St.Louis as hip, though we love living in the county and Missouri in general.
Very interesting localized info oldschool. Aldi’s in northern Alabama is located in lower income to middle income areas. In Huntsville alone you can go to a dingy one with shady looking customers or a much nicer one with average to well dressed customers. Be wary of expiration dates, some are way outside sell by dates. I’m not above going past dates on some products, but others…no way. We usually make Aldi’s the first stop on the resupply route before going on to restock at other stores.
I personally find very few things in Aldi that I eat. I am probably 70% organic…I can find more organics at Walmart than Aldi’s and at very good prices Sorry price and quality are king for me.
Bo I hope you are wrong because if you are right…..
“…people will be shopping wherever the shelves aren’t empty.”
Yup!
I agree!
My favorite brand is OS.
On Sale. 😃
Interesting story —
When I was starting out on my own-18 years old. All I had ever known was military grocery stores. I was clueless. And it was during–the Jimmy Carter years.
So I subscribed to Consumer Report magazine. It wasn’t corrupted yet and I read it from cover to cover every month.
Example I remember and refer to most is….fabric softener.
The one rated best—was Safeway brand! So that taught me that just because it has a store brand label..doesn’t mean it’s the best. I tried it–and used it for years.
Since then I have never turned away from trying a store brand to see if I like it.
Yes, I watched Walmart destroy the small town groceries near where I historically had my business,
and to boot they brought in their own contractors to build the place and didn’t use local labor. Never
stepped inside that store in a decade, ever.
In Oregon, the closest Walmart is an hour away and I smile every time I think about that. The
mom and pop local stores had a tough time with the Communists in Salem during the Covid
operation but we supported them and they survived.
I’m sufficiently stocked now I don’t need, need, to shop for at least six months and there’s a
whole ocean of fresh fish a short walk through the dunes. If the shelves go bare, which I doubt they
will, we’ll survive. Heck sometimes the fuel truck doesn’t make it for a few days. Rural folks
understand such matters.
Oh that sounds so nice- “a whole ocean of fresh fish”. (I am in Arizona where it’s been 112 off and on for weeks.)
About the only sea food native to Arizona are fossilized!
Kroger is among the suckiest of the total suck.
If you go to the Kroger website you will see an extensive PDF of the company’s ESG compliance program.
This is part of charging non vaxxed employees more for their monthly health care and cowtowing to Black Lives Matter.
Kroger sucks.
They are bad. They also pledged millions to BLM during the 2020 riots. Crappy company all the way around. WEF lover.
They are and CEO Rodney McMullen makes $12.5 M per year.
On Christmas Eve years ago, I slipped outside our close Kroger where I always shopped, and badly broke my arm.
Besides a parking lot full of people going in and out, no one stopped to help me right outside Kroger’s door. I even got a few disgusting looks from people who considered obviously I was drunk….or something.
But this…
No Kroger employee helped me either, not a one.
As a result, from that moment on I do not shop at that store, or any Kroger’s, which is why my Neighbourhood Walmart gets all my business.
Sounds par for the course. If I didn’t know better I’d think you’re in Columbus.
I hate what Kroger has become. I live in Cincinnati where Kroger began and is headquartered. We have some of the best Krogers in the nation. Most people here are loyal Krogers shoppers because we always have been and we want to support our hometown companies (also P&G). You hit the nail on the head. It is ALL about ESG. Except for the urban core, Cincinnati is still a pretty conservative town. Companies are terrified of ESG and the woke crowd. Moderates and conservatives here are called “Cincinnati Nice”. Being nice it turns out is a huge liability.
Millie, I’m two hours north near Columbus and love Cincinnati and know it well.
I like Jungle Jim’s and their owner is America First from what I have studied.
I think Kroger owns Harris Teeter. The last time I was in a Kroger, it was a nasty, dirty store with just basic selection.
I shop at Harris Teeters every week; they have a great selection of organic produce and products. They never enforced the mask mandates and the employees are really nice; can’t say that for their shoppers. Harris Teeters saved me during the covid restrictions here; otherwise I would have to drive 90 minutes to SC or Tennessee. Maybe it has to do with location but I cannot figure out how they found such nice employees because this is a lib area and the residents are nasty horrible human beings.
They do. They’re gonna ruin Harris Teeter.
Agreed, we go to Krogers for only two things. Soda’s, because they don’t limit when on sale, and barely for canning soup.
Just an FYI for you … You might want to check out who actually OWNS Aldi … here’s a hint, it’s Wal Mart Corp! I have heard (I don’t believe it has actually happened yet, but they are talking) that soon Lidl will also be a Wal Mart majority owned company. My wife is a British citizen, and when in England we shop at Aldi all the time. The only major difference (other than physical size of the stores, and parking lots – space is a very expensive commodity in the UK) is the name on the buildings!
Then Walmart will screw it up and it won’t be worthwhile shopping there anymore.
Your British wife must know then that Walmart owns part of ASDA and sits in their board.
This gives a history of sorts on Aldi ownership. Walmart doesn’t seem to be part of the picture. https://financialpilgrimage.com/who-owns-aldi/
I hope not, they are popping up all over here (SoCal). Everyone has a price though and globalists want to control the food. Walmart sure fits that bill especially since their brand stores aren’t doing so well. Very interesting, thank you for posting. I knew a German supermarket chain bought Trader Joe’s but didn’t know which one.
Aldi is as expensive as all Supermarkets now
Find them much less expensive than supermarkets here……..
I don’t even know who or what Aldi is? In what part of the country does one find it?
Not in my area either.
My sister in NC shops at Aldi in her town and says the prices are great.
She also shops at a Walmart Grocery. Nothing but food at that store. I have never seen/heard of Walmart Grocery before she told me.
They’re starting to pop up all over the place the last couple of years. Maybe not so much in rural areas? My daughter sometimes shops at one down in DC. She got 25 cent packs of hamburger and hot dog rolls at Aldi for her 4th of July BBQ.
My family and I have a routine for grocery shopping. It can be time consuming but it works for us and saves us some money: First stop is Aldi. Here in south-central KY Aldi is mostly filled with immigrants (Hispanic, Bosnian, Muslim, African, Haitian, etc…) but most of my staples can be purchased there and since it’s small it doesn’t take long to get in and out. Second stop is Meijer and if I still can’t find what I need I stop at Kroger (usually goat milk for the grand baby and a splurge on Boar’s Head meats).
Aldi is 20 percent cheaper than Great Value products. Taste better too.
You will see this ripple across store shelves.
Rail delays continue , up 231% in past 3 months as compared to a year ago.
Iowa Farm Bureau . com – 7/18/22
———————————–
The stained glass art above is the Fabian Socialist society , one of many ‘hidden hands’ like The Committee of 300 , that are behind the Davos crowd frontmen.
My thoughts….gotta get those containers off the ships–assuming the ships can get into port– and onto a train first?
As someone who works for the railroad, many grain trains have been sitting idle. I just brought one in that sat for about 5 days. Management blamed lack of crews.
Don’t worry! Little Petey Buttfudge is on it! What could possibly go wrong?/s
Anyone who actually PAYS for their goods and services KNOWS we’re in a recession. When you sleep and eat at the White House, take a government plane home every weekend, have someone to wipe your slobber and put on a fresh bib, how would you possibly know what your policies are doing TO people?
And it never effects Government employees. They never get laid off in bad times.
And the checks always seem to get bigger for them.
20% salary increase for Congress voted in earlier this year. This tells you how much inflation really is.
Inflation is higher than 20%, almost every food item I buy is up 30-40% minimum, materials are up 3-4 times (300-400%) Gas is still more than double what it was under Trump.
The largest raise I’ve ever gotten was 10% without changing jobs or trades!
These are the reasons why the state can get people to silence, jail or kill you.
“My butt’s been wiped!”
Congrats!
Food prices are still going up 25-40% a wack at the store. I’m seeing weekly increases on many items.
Local Walmart is over run with illegals pretty much everyday, used to be mostly just weekends. They have FULL carts and use the lanes the still have checkout help.
Aldi is right around the corner very rare to see them in there, said something to checkout lady at Wally about it. She said it is because they don’t want to bag their own purchase.
I disagree-where I live the seasonal workers and illegals go where the produce is best–and apparently Walmart (and Aldi) have better produce than our chain groceries. I have all the respect in the world for the seasonal/LEGAL immigrants who do the difficult work like harvesting vegetables, which Americans truly WILL NOT DO. They work 16 hour days in 90 degrees, doing backbreaking, manual labor. They have full carts because they have large families and tend to live with more than one family group in housing provided by the employers. The millions of illegals flooding the border is something entirely different, and inexcusable. Just my opinion.
Here there are open air vegetable/fruit stands that are staffed by Hispanics that is their place of choice.
Mine too, actually. I’ll take a farmers’ market over a grocery store ANY DAY-
I sold a lot of produce to farmers markets over the years. People who run farmers markets grow very little if any from what they sell at farmers markets. You would be shocked how much produce sold at farmers markets has been first run through large commercial packing houses.
Most of the farmer market produce is “culls” with blemishes and too overripe to ship to grocery stores. There is nothing wrong with it at all as far as I am concerned. Just a chance to make something out of what otherwise would be nothing.
Most of the farmer market produce is “culls”
The pinhooker bread and butter so to say.
What makes a “cull” is either too small, too blemished, too misshaped, too overripe. There is nothing wrong with the product. In fact, I personally prefer “culls” because most always better flavor. It is what people perceive to be “better” which makes farmers markets….. and I am one of them.
No problem with culls, most of my garden tomatoes would be classified as culls. Used to get culled peaches in Georgia by the box. They took them to the dump after Gerber stopped buying them for baby food. Gerber started buying peaches from Chyna cause they were cheaper.
How to poison your baby!
“Gerber started buying peaches from Chyna cause they were cheaper.”
They are cheaper because they don’t pay prisoners, and the same factory was making fire retardant earlier this morning.
Ditto her Edink! Besides, anyone who grows heirloom veggies knows that you give up uniformity and appearance for flavor and overall quality. Been a BOOM year for heirloom tomatoes.
Good to know. I never believed the honey they sell at farmers’ markets is local, always suspected they purchased honey in bulk, and repackaged it with a homemade label to make you think they have a bee hive in the back yard.
Soap too
Lol, can’t handle the “sting”.
I know of farmer market vendors who hire crews to take the stickers off the fruit they get from the packinghouses.
yes, you have to be extremely careful. Most honey is also diluted with water too.
I rather doubt that this applies to farmers markets largely featuring Amish stalls, which are ubiquitous in the upper midwest.
Yes, of course. Not all farmers markets are the same everywhere.
That is not the case at the farmer’s market I go to. Local farmers and fresh produce. They are neighbors and know each other. Best tomatoes ever!
There are no jobs an American will not do. There are jobs that hire immigrants so they can pay lower wages. All immigration has been bad for America and Americans. Including your noble immigrant vegetable pickers. Pay an American wage and you can hire Americans. Tobacco growers used to hire all the Americans they wanted to cut, stake, and hang tobacco. But they they paid enough guys would schedule their vacations at their regular job so they could work the tobacco fields for those 2 or 3 weeks.
Downside of that, is people won’t pay the cost for giving Americans a working salary. Food costs are high enough now, but add a salary required by an American, and food would be twice what it is now.
Priorities. $1000 for an ifone? NO Problem.
$100+for cable TV? I mean comeon man ya gotta watch 99 sports channels!
$80grand for a pickup truck of which the bed will never get scratched….
$10 for a sack of apples? That’s ROBBERY!
I have done just as you say and I have yet to have one finish the day. If only Americans were hired to do as you suggest, you would starve to death. Either it wouldn’t be available or you couldn’t afford it, that is what little would be available.
I agree Fangdog, there are very few Americans that can hang with laborious tasks. That is unless you bring them up like a football team and that takes more time and management than most farmers can afford. I wouldn’t hire a youngster these days for more than part time for the first 90 days to help them acclimate to the labor and the weather. It’s very difficult going from the couch/video games to ag.
Yes!
“There are no jobs an American will not do. ”
I agree. I put myself through college packing grapes in central CA. Yes, it was hot. Yes, you worked until all grapes picked that day were packed. You were also paid according to how many boxes per hour and the quality of grapes, including presentation, you packed. I was their second fastest and best packer. I made far more money packing grapes than I would have in any office job I might have had. I didn’t have to buy any ‘office clothes.’
Respectfully, I’ve worked with LEGAL, SEASONAL workers as a volunteer for decades, and I spent one summer in my youth in a large commercial greenhouse, and hiring AMERICAN workers has been nearly impossible for the entire time. When you can’t hire workers for an air-conditioned warehouse at $20/hour, why on earth would anyone take a back-breaking job bending over for 12 hours in 90 degrees for about $15/hr? Last weekend I was on a trail next to a huge kale field, and we watched the workers bending over and cutting off the lower leaves with knives, loading crates and then lifting the crates onto truck beds. It was 90 degrees in full sun and they were wearing jeans, long sleeved shirts and hats. Until it comes down to starvation or doing this kind of work, yes, there are plenty of jobs Americans will not do. And by the way, the farmers I know who hire these workers are honest people who are law-abiding and are regularly visited by government agencies. Unlike the local huge poultry processors who bring in illegal workers, exploit and threaten them and discard them when they are injured or killed. THESE are the people the US Chamber shills for-and they are vile. The open-borders uniparty owns all of it. Just my opinion-
I have hired thousands of seasonal workers over the years. I must say, you have the correct perspective as to what it really is. Anything else is pure bullshit and that goes for the ill-informed conservatives in the crowd.
My kids took Spanish for 8 years in school and they volunteered to work with the seasonal workers who wanted to learn English. It was a win-win situation. Most of them did not want to remain in the US and looked forward to going back to Mexico at the end of the season. Actually working with these people changed my perspective greatly, just as going to grad school with foreign students changed my kids’ perspective. The US allows these students in for advanced degrees, then in some cases won’t allow them to stay here and work. Its a complex issue that is not helped by blanket statements about people working and studying in the US.
Your just the person I have been looking for ,how do we know the difference between the seasonal and illegal ones?
” seasonal/LEGAL immigrants”
Those with the necessary documents.
I worked construction most of my life. Hard hot/cold dirty.
Long hours months at a time away from family.
I abhor the “American’s won’t do” BS!
Contractors brought in cheap labor because it’s CHEAP! Not better.
American’s don’t want to work for slave wages though many Americans want to pay slave wages!
Yep, working as an industrial carpenter’s apprentice in the 70’s, it was hot, dirty work. However, wages were good,
enough to pay for college and provide spending money during the school year. Of course that was union work.
Same in oil and gas. Hard work but decent wages, even during the Carter era of inflation.
point well taken
And they are always jabbering in their native tongue. I was out today and there was a muslim crew, mom in her scarf, dad in his sandals and at least six kids in tow. In the grocery store it was the Hispanics, at least w/them I recognize their language.
My local Walmart is much darker than before. Every other row of lights is off as electricity costs soar.
I shop at my smaller Neighbourhood Walmart, where I have become friends with everyone who works there. They are lovely people .
As of now, I’ve been told by them that their hours have been severely cut, and they are hurting because of it. So, for example, one friend who used to have three to four days has been reduced to one. As you can imagine, the self checkouts are overwhelmed with people whose carts are full to overflowing. No checkouts open. To describe standing in a line for those while customers struggle to first unload, then scan, then bag, is an annoyance beyond description.
If they gave a 5% decrease in my final bill, I could just about keep my blood pressure down. Alas, they do not.
We in this country have reached the stage that came during harder times we no doubt will face ourselves. In this house, no more “stuff”… make do and mend.
Do Walmart and other corporations support the abominable WEF and the destruction of the West? Does the Chamber of ” Commerce”? Walmart will not be the only corporation that’s start to see its quarterly reports with shrinking numbers.
Wondering how long it will before the corporate worm turns.
I think that turn may have started with oil and gas companies. They are speaking out more rather than apologizing for running fossil fuel companies.
Shame they did not start speaking up more before all the Green New Deal and “renewable” energy crud started to take off.
What is this “fossil fuel” you speak of?
There needs to be a movement to quit using that term, it is used by THEM to condemn.
The raw products are from the earth natural and refined to supply the well being and needs of the earth’s people.
Correct.
Amen, Edink! And thank you for your brilliant post.
Betsy, are you referring to the Walmart Marketplace stores? I believe they’re the smaller stores and they do seem nicer. I visited some in Vegas. I think. The memory is fading.
In Columbus, Ohio, Walmarts are the older model of superstores and usually located in areas that were OK 20-30 years ago but now are crappy neighborhoods.
Walmart has tried to expand out into the outer suburbs but they get “resisted” at city council or township trustee meetings with “concerned citizens” who usually belong to Kroger’s labor unions. And Kroger does powerful political lobbying efforts in Ohio.
Meijer is a big regional chain that is growing in Northern Ohio but stagnant in Central Ohio.
I look for Fresh Thyme to close stores and only the powerful backing of Amazon and Aldi will keep Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods afloat.
I’m in the grocery world. Love the industry. In fact I just read the Top 100 list of American grocery stores today.
Walmart has a strong presence in Mexico and I bet that expands as we further devolve into the BRICS/WEF divide.
I’m unfamiliar with anything called Walmart Marketplace. Here in my part of Texas the are known as Neighbourhood Walmarts.
Food mostly and pharmacy, with a few things like lightbulbs, bakeware, baby products, pet food, beer.
In other words just like their bigger stores but without the “stuff” from China. For us that’s all we need, and I never go to the big one further up the road… unless they are out of something I need, which is hardly ever. We also have an extremely excellent Sprouts close by, as well as Aldi.
Mexico is awesome!! Viva 🇲🇽 Yucatan! We have 12 Walmart’s and Chedruaris.
¡Estaremos bien a través de esta tragedia de los demócratas!
When I lived in Guadalajara one of my favorite stores was Novedades Berta. They had everything except food. It was one of the biggest 5 and dimes I’ve ever seen. Wish we had one here.
I’m wondering as the BRICS nations rapidly align themselves with a waiting list of applicants to join, if this scenario was foreseen by the WEF.
I mean, they can hardly call themselves “The World Economic Forum” now , can they…when the rest of the world is organizing as an economic power distinct from a totalitarian entity which intends to destroy instead of build.
WEF can’t stop this, but the question is, is do they want to?
No it won’t – they are financially toast with a higher debt to GDP than the US and they eat with wooden sticks
Good point!
Tony, i served on a Planning and Zoning Commission for 23 years, and worked hard to keep Walmart out of our community. When they come in, the convenience of parking in their lots leads to a rapid decline in the downtown mom and pops who support Little League, and other community activities of this kind. There is a reason why Walmarts are often located in country rather than municipal real estate. Take a good, hard look at where they are located at country seats, and you will see the pattern.
I’m indifferent about Walmart but just writing what usually happens where I live. Kroger is a villain just the same as Walmart or worse.
Walmart and sam’s. Luv are built in what was part of a huge farm when I was growing up. I despise what they did to that end of town
You do realize that Albrecht Distributing (Aldi) and Trader Joe’s are sister companies: One is Albrecht Sud and the other is Albrecht Nord (https://www.aicgs.org/2020/12/the-albrecht-brothers-and-the-rise-of-a-global-retail-behemoth/)
Same at my neighborhood Walmart. The staff has all had their hours cut and there are fewer checkers and fewer employees. The new hires are making $17 an hour but I don’t know how many hours they get. Cutting back all over.
Big Lots does that during the day.
We subsidize most of the Demonrat voters. They will never feel the pain.
Until the day the SNAP cards are not re-loaded ………
The day snaps are not reloaded will be when the stores have no food and everyone else is starving too.
Beg to differ: they will be reloaded even when there is little or nothing to buy.
Won’t the cards be reloaded when they get their passport/social credit square on their phones?
Walmart and Target took a big hit on the stock market today. What does that tell you? The middle and lower middle class people shop there and being that they are being squeezed by fuel costs and food cost, they have no money left over to pay for anything else. And it is only going to get worse.
I will go 20 miles out of my way to avoid WalMart, and I ain’t rich.
You and me both, pal-
well being retired you price shop,when i can pick up a can of peas & save 40 cents thats where we go. cherrios 3.49, walmart brand toasted 0’s 1.39 looks the same taste the same.i do wait for a cashier & i’m somebody with no patience.
When you are hungry, really hungry, you will eat anything, and you will go anywhere to get your food, especially if you have dependents.
I don’t like Walmart either.
Restaurants are taking a major hit. What used to cost me $15 for two now costs $35 for two. I cut my gasoline cost in half. I now fill-up from half tank instead of empty. I did the same with my grocery cost. I now go twice as often. I don’t know why, but my end 0f the month bank balance hasn’t yet reflected the changed habit?
Well if nothing else it makes you feel better, but as far as the gas goes it has an affect, you are not storing it for them, plus it does not go flat with the ethanol being put in it.
“I now fill-up from half tank instead of empty. I did the same with my grocery cost. I now go twice as often.”
Target in Baltimore was not very crowded the last time I was in there a few weeks ago.
Just like 2008 only this time it was willful.
It was willful then, but only a dry run by the 2030 crowd.
“Stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods will become more of a luxury and indulgence”.
Starting to see fewer cars in Publix parking lot also, of course that could be because in this area there are usually 2 miles apart sometimes less.
Humorous bit of virtue signalling/marketing on their part is every year they do a whole month spotlight deals/ads aimed toward Hispanics. Have yet to see any shopping there, in Miami a few but not to the north.
Hispandering over assimilation has been a huge part of our downfall.
Publix is expanding northward into the Upper South including Kentucky.
They ignored the CDC as far as offering vaccines to children.
They are buying or already own the centers they are in, one of first moves is to evict any stores that are competition such as subs or liquor.
Have friends that have retired from there very well off, the company has over a billion cash on hand. Here they are not quite as bad a neighbor as the Orlando rat.
Moved from Long Island to Fla. Gulf Coast a year ago. Love Publix, which costs a little more but has superb service and still a wide selection of things we actually buy. Costco fills in the gaps. Didn’t go to Wal-Mart back on the Island and won’t do it here.
Moved to FL west coast in 71 lived there 10 yrs, moved to east coast 41 yrs ago still here.
Excuse me, please “We are in an era of great pretending” should read “They are in an era of great pretending” Quite frankly I have my eyes wide open and I see exactly what is going on. I am not alone, either.
I hear you Joyce and you are correct, excepting that era’s are named after the overwhelming philosophy and not sides. We’ve been loosing the fight for some time so the title is correct. We pray the next era is named the Return to Intellectual Honesty.
So I guess it’s no more repelling mosquitos and bugs, but rather trying to attract them for the protein…All humor aside …I just bought an old tractor and bush hog…next, a one furrow plough…And I’m gonna increase next years garden size considerably…It appears it’s time to start getting back to the basics as much as my old age will permit, because it appears food could become a luxury in this country.
“As long as denial remains a survival mechanism, because acceptance is just too painful to admit, no corrective action is possible.”
I’m not sure what is meant by this statement. What exactly can we do to stop an illegitimate administration that is not answerable to voters since real voters didn’t place them in the position they occupy? They couldn’t care less what we think they are going to ram their green new deal right up the tailpipe and there isn’t a thing we can do to change it. We are not in charge and our elected representative are in on it as they, republicans and demonic rats, line their pockets with their ill gotten gains. So if anyone has some insight in exactly what can be done about this I’m all ears.
That is so true.
Had a conversation at a restaurant. Question asked what are my political leanings. Stated that there is the UniParty, one coin two sides, one fowl with the R-wing and D-wing. Always going in the same direction, only at different speeds.
Attempting to get people prepared for the coming shortages. Some think about it, some may even prepare. Most are cash strapped.
So many things that I have learned here at the Conservative TREE HOUSE, from Sundance and everyone else here.
As I said below ,this is about THEM not YOU.
And let’s not forget my skyrocketing … PG&E bill … water bill … trash collection bill … internet and cable bill … wireless bill. I’m getting SQUEEZED to death with costs I can’t control any further than I already have. I even have to do my laundry after 10pm to avoid PG&E’s rapist tier/time of day pricing
And auto, property insurance.
line item fees are eating up peoples money as well.
Property insurance rates in CA simply ASSUME your home will be immolated in the next Eco-arsonist … Homeless-arsonist …err, “global warming” conflagration.
If you can even GET insurance …
My cellphone carrier (AT&T) just upped my monthly charge 14 dollars – no explanation just we’re raising your plan cost – cancel if you don’t want that price.
Well here is two things you need to cut, {cable bill … wireless bill} My internet bill is 50 a month for life[TMOBILE High Speed Internet Gateway]. I have 2 flip phones that cost me $10 each every 4 months for 120min,which if I do not use rolls over[PagePlus.com], I do not use them as my computer.
For most people the cost of basics has risen way faster than income, something naturally has to give. And it is giving way fast.
I can’t remember ever getting 30-40% wage increase in a week, which is what I commonly see on food item increases with Joe Stalin’s crooked a$$ Commie Govt’ running the Clown show.
Hahaha, I went to Walmart yesterday for a few items…. they were all 30-40% Higher than last weeks prices (which already increased a few times since 2020).
These companies that were towing Biden’s line are communist liars as well.
Walmart ain’t cheap. They are a WEF member.
So did Costco CEO.
If anyone is looking for a deal, Costco sells an industrial sized Contadina straight tomato sauce 108 oz for $1.97.
You’ll want to doctor it up with aromatics and Italian herbs but if you need to feed a crowd cheaply or want to do some canning, there you go.
BUT BUT BUT Joe said it Ain’t So!! He lies?
Retailers do not adjust their revenue reports for inflation. If Walmart’s reported revenue only grew by 6%, it means their unit volume was actually down. They are clearly in recession already.
Even financially conservative and prudent people did not forecast double digit inflation and double digit losses on ‘conservative’ investments with still near zero interest on savings. The financial calculators can calculate but it doesn’t work if the assumptions of a just a few years ago get turned on their head. No choice but for people to go to their plan B.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I took a survival course. (I’m not sure if modern survival priorities have changed.):
First…build a shelter.
Second…find a source of water.
Third…start a fire.
Fourth…obtain food…forage and hunt.
Rinse and repeat.
I think that this is the same premise that you follow in a Recession which is leading into a Depression.
Yep, that’s what they taught us in Boy Scouts in the 60’s and we were tested in the wilderness. I still have the gear,
which now is part of survival gear. Main upgrade is adult-level weapons and tactical training, something they didn’t do
for kids outside of hunter safety.
Your course material loomed large in my decision about where to die. Survival without human products/services was part of it.
Thanks for the reminder.
Just let it be known, most of my shopping at Walmart is haunting the Clearance aisle and clearance racks in the Men’s department.
I don’t buy a lot there at full price,
I do that with Kohl’s.
Clearance, but only if I get an additional 30% off coupon in the mail. 😉
I buy cans of green beans to stretch the dog food, the pup loves them, but jeez, even they have sky rocketed. His canned food has gone out of sight, other brands tend to mess w/his digestive system. I bought a ton of it months back when it was on sale, but I worry when that runs out. I cut back to just evening meals of him getting a big spoonful of canned w/his dry. He will eat dry, and of course always get a taste or two of my food, he won’t starve by any means, I hope. The green beans might just become his primary alternative to mix w/the dry, maybe flavored rice. I don’t have the heart to change our routine of him getting “special” treats stirred in for his meals. He gets so excited.
FJB and FBO.
The dog’s food is one area we do have a concern with. Ours get dry mix, but it is a high quality blend, and the prices have shot through the roof, even in large volume bags. And due to the unprocessed nature of the food, it really can’t be stockpiled for long duration storage, and to vacuum bag it for long storage would cost far too much.
Fortunately, we do live in an area where there are a lot of deer. So if the yogurt fully hit the fan, the dogs would likely be getting very fresh meat eventually.
One idea is raw training, slowly getting them used to sustainable food products.
I’ve been doing this with my cat in case of SHTF and/or something happening to me
so she can survive in the forest as best possible. Cats are likely a bit easier but dogs can be trained too.
I had feral dogs hunting on my property in CA for decades. They survived fine.
It’s an interesting dynamic. My wife has suddenly found a new affinity for hitting Walmart which we usually avoid. Sample size of one, but consumer behavior is nothing if not predictable. We’ve also noticed that “rush hour” at King Soopers (Kroger) is not what it used to be, and also Sprouts’ parking lot is not as full. We were at a local upscale mall over the weekend…lots of people inside escaping the heat, but nobody carrying bags of stuff.
The mountain resort towns are like ghost towns the last few weekends we’ve been able to get away. The weather hasn’t been great, but the lack of traffic in Summit County on weekends is way down. Local businesses have started reporting a pretty steep decline in things like bookings and sales: https://www.summitdaily.com/news/mountain-towns-including-in-summit-county-experience-a-dip-in-business-over-the-summer/
I would feel bad for the mountain towns, except they went full Nazi with the Covid crap, so they deserve every bit of the backlash from consumers. They live and die on tourism, particularly the weekend warriors for whom a weekend in the mountains a luxury expense not a necessity. Nobody up there seems to get that there is a lot of resentment about Covid keeping people away, not just inflation.
hokkoda: Colorado’s mountain resort towns are infected with the Denver Disease and are also big takers of Gubmint funds (National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, USDA, Bureau of Indian Affairs, etc., which guarantees adherence to the Gubmint agenda.
Yep
Sundance, I seriously doubt if there is one visitor to this site with a “willingness to pretend they are not doing it.” The problem is that we are all impotent to do anything about it. Individually, and collectively. The only effective pushback is from the state attorneys general, who have stayed one outrageous EO after another in the federal courts, but their efforts are akin to playing whack-a-mole. Short of civil war, our only practical hope is that in 2025 Trump will reissue one of his last EO’s and begin firing the apparatchiks in DC in large numbers … very large numbers.
The treasonous cabal needs more than firing… they intentionally caused energy prices to spike resulting in inflation that will impoverish and starve people.
Trump is not giving speeches all over the Country because Trump is running for President 2024. Trump is preparing the People for what is about to take place. Treason is a very serious crime and the criminals are getting very nervous.
Bingo!
Shut down entire agencies. Everyone. No severance pay, no warning.
I think what Sundance said is not[us] but THEM. And yes civil war is a real possibility.
their are not cutting the population a billi0n souls, they are cutting to a billion souls.
Yeah, seven out of eight will be no more. Following the Georgia Guidestones it’s fifteen out of sixteen people will be no more.
We primarily buy our food at a small, employee-owned discount supermarket chain. It looks like the 1970s-1980s inside. But compared to the fancy grocery stores like Whole Paycheck, the prices are fair, the selection is better, and the employees are happier. And a good bit of the dairy and produce is locally sourced. We believe we are lucky and blessed to still have this.
Being a “discount” grocer, there is still good traffic there. But prices have seriously shot up. And shoppers are cutting back on luxury items. They still have steaks and better cuts of meat, but there are only 6-8 packages out at any one time, and the prices are very stiff. A moderate-sized porterhouse is now about $12/ea. So shoppers’ carts are increasingly filled with just essentials and generic brands.
Seeing this coming for a long time, we loaded up our deep freezer from a local butcher months ago, and have stocked very deep on canned goods and dry staples, at much lower prices, often during sales It’s enough to carry us for at least 6-8 months if the entire food delivery chain collapsed. And we are fully stocked on all the ‘essentials’ to protect it as well.
So our immediate food runs now are just what we need for a day or so at a time, similar to how our grandparents bought food. A hand cart.
We wouldn’t eat food from Walmart or Target if they offered it to us for free.
And we are concerned about several of our woke neighbors, who are generally decent (if brainwashed) people, who have no understanding of what has happened, and what is coming. And I suspect are completely unprepared for it.
Big sellers at Walmart and Tractor Supply are canning jars. When you realize that the only people buying new canning jars are people either expanding their canning or new customers doing canning, it indicates that people are conserving food in increasing amounts.
Everyone should be planning on a bigger garden for next year. Learn what grows good in your areas and grow as much of that food as possible.
My favorite prepper supply site recommends canning lids be bought in quantity nowto be used as barter when the SHTF.
Because of your post, I just went and looked out of curiosity. Yep, the jars are out of stock unless one wants to purchase 12. The listed price was about $13 — and then you click on the jar picture and the price is $34! That said, there are some great deals on #10 storage cans.
Your post caused me to remember the last crash and recession in the ’08-’12 period, because
my mother died during that time and I had to clean her place out. She was a master canner,
learning on the farm during the Depression.
No one, either at estate sales or advertised, was interested in her canning gear for any amount of money.
I finally gave it away. Quite an operation for someone. That’s another sign, based on your recount, one of many,
that this time things are different from the last recession. Very different.
So true! When my wife’s (huge canner) aunt passed a couple years back they found case’s and case’s of jars in the attic. No one wanted to bother bringing them down let alone taking them home. My wife jumped on it after the closest family passed. Now we get calls from relatives who wonder if we still have them….we do, full of food! We have so much that we expect many of our relatives will relocate here to eat…but I will need help with guard duty anyway..lol
When Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007, he had to overcome the objections of some members of the Bancroft family, who owned the paper and the Dow Jones: a Boston family that represented old money, very old money. We talk so much about the establishment – people like this are the establishment.
The Walton family now controls Wal-Mart. The world of Sam Walton is definitely not the world of his heirs. These billionaires loathe the common Americans that they depend upon.
May I submit that the huge flaw, perhaps the fatal flaw in American capitalism is exactly this – that the common people of America just produce and elevate snobs and elitists unable to recognize their luck? Schumpeter’s creative destruction does not capture this. Billionaires who loathe liberal democracy? Doom..
Adam Schiff is in panic and about to get his nuts cut. Adam Shiff is rather quickly becoming a man without a home.
May it be so.
I think I can find my bayonet….kinda rusty…..but it can be honed down where it’ll work on his sack if he wants to borrow it.
Like anyone in panic, they start to make mistakes. Schiff is becoming a liability to the Democrats.
I had NO idea Walmart is the largest US grocer.
I became friendly with a fellow timber framer from England who was traveling and working in the US. One day we went food shopping, and he was slack jawed at the fact that the cereal aisle was both sides and floor to ceiling with varieties. He just couldn’t believe his eyes. This was mid 90’s.
“ apparel in Walmart U.S. is requiring more markdown dollars”
Not a small thing for vendors.
It will be interesting to see what happens to LIDL and ALDI when the German economy crashes and burns this coming winter.
I guess I’m lucky where I live. We have Publix, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lidl, Aldi’s, Lowes Foods. There are three Wal Marts, several Food Lions plus small butchers. This is a mid sized city in NC.
How do I post a picture from the comment box?
Walmart says their sales are up 6% – but is that inflation adjusted? If not – and that appears to be the case – then sales are actually DOWN by at least 6%, meaning the recession is already here
btw, read that dementia joe will be signing an “executive order” banning the word “recession” and that the MSM is already on board
I never thought the day would come that we would shop at Walmart, but it has arrived. Not everything, but enough that it has become a routine stop. And we are falling into the same routine. We buy mainly food there because the prices are worth the trip. Also, we have bought some of their store brand items and they are just fine. My wife started stopping there as she was returning home from our daughter’s place. Daughter is a single mom and has to be at work very early in the morning. Her daughter needs someone to watch her as she is still very young, so the wife and I split the four days when a babysitter is needed. One or the other of us has to stop at Walmart before we come home (30 mile trip one-way). We probably save enough buying at Walmart to pay for the gas, so it’s a wash.
I’ll Bet most everyone on this site know who Dr. Gary North was (he died February this year).
His site is still up with a huge archive and his subscribers keep it open by searching the archive for things relevant to current events.
Here is one to look at that goes back to the collapse of MF Global under Obama-Dimm John Corzine.
https://www.garynorth.com/members/23745.cfm
While the FED gets ready to fight the last depression, remember that in 2011 they let the big guys “default” and your deposits were “re-hypothesized” into collateral for their derivative bets.
So the warning in the article is if you must trade, trade only hard assets
The woman in the article who looked around, saw what was going on (the mercantile who were supposed to act as middle men were not guaranteeing the transactions) and closed her cattle futures brokerage, said a hard asset is something you can stand in front of with an assault rifle.
Cattel.
Land.
A PAID FOR house.
A PAID FOR car.
Food in the freezer, or canned or non perishables on shelves in the basement.
Maybe that rifle and ammo.
The banks them selves are suspect right now, as they were in 2011.
If you have savings in an IRA or 401K, she says pay the penalty and get out.
If you have more savings than mortgage, or car loan, pay them off.
An FDIC account May buy you some time to move or withdraw money.
Little Farmer/Home banks in the country are better as are Credit Unions.
If you have a modern car that ‘communicates’ with the net, find out where the SIMM card is and take out the SIMM card, It has one just like your cell phone.
My son the mechanic has a hot turbo 4 stick shift something or other, and I asked him about being cut off and he told me that that as soon as he got it home he went under the dash and removed the SIMM card, the car still runs fine.
Where you can, buy and gather silver, non numismatic value, junk silver.
Don’t buy Gold as no one will be able to make change. You want to be able to buy groceries without buying the whole store.
The only tradable Gold is ‘Golder Bullets’.
I wonder how many of the big corporates are trying to hide their business downturns in order to avoid a recession before the Nov. vote. I think a lot of this is going on to try to protect the little kids in the WH.
As the satanic forces in the illigitimate reich starve, imprison, rape, burn & murder the innocent, interesting to see the comments here.
What “shoppers” look like.
Reminds me of the FBI, CIA, DOJ, etc. demeaning those smelly Walmart shoppers & missing their mark on the first attempted stolen election.
Nice………….really nice.
Even if you dislike a store, shopping there for only sales is a good strategy. Get your weekly flyers, plan your route and you’ll end up with a very nice variety of food stuffs at bargain prices.
If you have any asian markets, try them.
Walmart uses 80,000 CCP vendors for the crap they sell. You couldn’t pay me to shop at that place.
Spending is down? Clearly y’all don’t know my wife!