Market Basket low on food but still have canned goods. see pics

[Don2222]

Says a lot about a company and how it treats both its customers and employees when the non-unionized employees take these drastic steps in support of the former CEO who they obviously respect . . . sadly I don't think this will end well for the employees or customers.

That is why there are unions, because being a good worker is never enough!

 

[branchburner]

What are Hannafords prices like?

Their sale prices are good, but many of the regular prices I figure to average around 20% higher than MB, give or take. That may be different in different areas. I don't know how that compares to Shaw's -- haven't been in one for years.

 

[jharkin]

Speaking of Shaws... I was in one today. The mrs called me at work with a list of things to pickup on the way home and the Shaws was the only convenient store along the way.

I will say that place used to be a ghost town with typically one lane open and no baggers. Today it was hopping, actual lines at the checkouts, kids bagging, etc at 5pm on a Tuesday. So at least some of the basket shoppers are there.

 

[btuser]

My mother works for Arthur S. in a non related capacity. I get to hear the dirt going way back.

1.) Arthur T has been screwing the remaining shareholders for the past 25+ years, through back door deals and cooking the books. He held on to a sister-in-law's votes and kept control but when she found out he was renting stores back from his brother-in-law she'd had enough.
2.) 4 years ago Arthur S. tried to sell his shares but was blocked by the board (controlled by his cousin) from doing so. He's wanted out ever since it was clear he wasn't wanted to help run the business. The rationale from Arthur T was "why should I pay for what I already own?" He figured why not let his cousin twist in the wind? Big mistake.
3.) Arthur T has been planning this for over a year: "He's using the sheep to do his dirty work for him and they're too stupid to see..."
4.) They have 8 standing offers for the chain.
5.) Arthur S is a saint. He feels real bad for people. You know, those people. People who work for him. People he gives jobs.

I could go on, but here's all you need to know about the real issue:

There's nothing more embarrassing than a billionaire who is forced to live like a multi-millionaire.


My interests are selfish. I want my supermarket back. They're significantly cheaper, I like their products, and without a doubt they're a better run business. No self-checkout blackmail. As far as the workers go I wish them luck and are rooting for Arthur T. He may be a snake on one side of the isle but that kind of loyalty is no smoke screen. If you can get a 18yr old kid to put down the phone and hold a sign in the rain, there's something there.

If they sell to another supermarket chain all the good stuff like higher wages, profit sharing, shift differential for Sundays/Holidays, and better health care will be GONE! How could another chain justify paying more at a different chain? They won't. That's what makes it such an attractive item. Plenty of costs to squeeze out. Higher prices, lower wages, and everybody's happy, right?

 

[BrotherBart]

I wish them luck and are rooting for Arthur T

Somehow that doesn't fit the rest of the post?

 

[btuser]

Somehow that doesn't fit the rest of the post?

I was quoting the mother who bored me.

 

[Don2222]

My mother works for Arthur S. in a non related capacity. I get to hear the dirt going way back.

1.) Arthur T has been screwing the remaining shareholders for the past 25+ years, through back door deals and cooking the books. He held on to a sister-in-law's votes and kept control but when she found out he was renting stores back from his brother-in-law she'd had enough.
2.) 4 years ago Arthur S. tried to sell his shares but was blocked by the board (controlled by his cousin) from doing so. He's wanted out ever since it was clear he wasn't wanted to help run the business. The rationale from Arthur T was "why should I pay for what I already own?" He figured why not let his cousin twist in the wind? Big mistake.
3.) Arthur T has been planning this for over a year: "He's using the sheep to do his dirty work for him and they're too stupid to see..."
4.) They have 8 standing offers for the chain.
5.) Arthur S is a saint. He feels real bad for people. You know, those people. People who work for him. People he gives jobs.

I could go on, but here's all you need to know about the real issue:

There's nothing more embarrassing than a billionaire who is forced to live like a multi-millionaire.


My interests are selfish. I want my supermarket back. They're significantly cheaper, I like their products, and without a doubt they're a better run business. No self-checkout blackmail. As far as the workers go I wish them luck and are rooting for Arthur T. He may be a snake on one side of the isle but that kind of loyalty is no smoke screen. If you can get a 18yr old kid to put down the phone and hold a sign in the rain, there's something there.

If they sell to another supermarket chain all the good stuff like higher wages, profit sharing, shift differential for Sundays/Holidays, and better health care will be GONE! How could another chain justify paying more at a different chain? They won't. That's what makes it such an attractive item. Plenty of costs to squeeze out. Higher prices, lower wages, and everybody's happy, right?

Thanks. this does help us understand the conflict. The big question here and maybe your mother knows?
Is Arthur S still willing to sell out to Arthur T ?

 

[branchburner]

I wanted a bag of rye flour yesterday, which for some reason isn't stocked at either my local Walmart or Hannaford, so I "crossed the picket line" for the first time since this started and went into the local MB. Not a single other customer... NOT ONE! And this in one of their super-stores, not a little one, normally loaded with people at 3 pm. The customer support for the employee-action is amazing.

Just one example of the price differences between stores: generic cream cheese at MB is $1.19, at Hannaford $1.39, and at Walmart $1.89. The poor pay more.

 

[jharkin]

Yesterday my wife tried the Hannafords for the weekly groceries. She didn't like it at all. Bad selection, bad prices - but just like my brief stop at Shaw's the other day full of obvious ex-Basket customers who couldn't find things.

Word is that Aldi is the only store with comparable prices but it doesn't seem very popular, supposedly you have to give them a deposit just to use a cart there???

So another one off the list. We might be forced to use Stop&Shop.


One thing we are really missing is Strega pasta sauce (as in the North End Italian restaurant Strega). Their Spicy marinara is the only jar sauce we have ever found I like better than my homemade. And Basket is the only store that stocks it

 

[Grisu]

Word is that Aldi is the only store with comparable prices but it doesn't seem very popular, supposedly you have to give them a deposit just to use a cart there???

Common in Germany, used by most grocery stores there. You put 1 Euro in a little box at the handle which will release the lock. When finished shopping bring the cart back to the stall, insert lock and get coin back. No (less) stray carts all over the parking lot threatening to put dents in customers' cars. Of course, also one less person to pay by ALDI. Just one of the reasons they are so cheap. Haven't been in an ALDI here yet but if it is anything like in Germany prices will be low but the shopping experience is more akin to Costco, just smaller package sizes.

Shopping in Aldi has become kind of a cult in Germany. Someone wrote a cookbook how to make full meals using ingredients bought exclusively at Aldi. Sounds easy but as Aldi has a limited selection of merchandise that can actually become quite tricky. Little tidbit: About 10 years ago Walmart pulled out of Germany after years of being in the red due to the tough competition by Aldi&Co.

Btw, Your Hannaford seems to be quite different than ours up here. Selection is usually pretty good. I shop there occasionally and usually find everything I am looking for. We have Pricechopper here, however, which is overall cheaper and therefore our usual destination.

 

[Don2222]

The 2 MB CEOs are really earning their 200K per month salary now! Their new instructions should fix everything in a jiffy!

See > (broken link removed to http://www.boston.com/business/2014/08/14/ceos-ask-market-basket-managers-remove-protest-signs-from-stores/Vqw17wuiuAqEyp8eMce5UP/story.html)

Market Basket store managers have been instructed by co-CEOs Felicia Thornton and James Gooch to remove posters and other signs supportive of the reinstatement of Arthur T. Demoulas and an ongoing customer boycott.

Artie T was in the stores so many times that he knew everyone by name! So anything about him would be part of the store department or layout right?

An email sent Thursday from the CEOs to store directors—which means general managers in Market Basket lingo—asked that the stores’ staff to: “Remove all signs, posters or written material and drawings that are posted or hanging in the store, storefront or any part of the store that is NOT: Product or price related...Providing information about store layout or department...(Or r)equired to be posted by Federal, State or Local government.”

On TV tonight a store manager was interviewed. All store managers signed a petition stating they would resign if Artie T was not reinstated! Therfore he said that email may not be followed as they see it! Maybe he did not see it. Emails get lost easy right?

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah but ya gotta try to guess his hearth.com ID now.

I get lost in all of this news. Who is the bad guy in this S hit T thing?

And am going to put this "Pine Mountain Logs are on aisle three." thread out of its misery pretty soon.

 

[BrotherBart]

Come to think of it.