has anyone else noticed price rises at there local supermarkets. I’m in warrnambool and coles brand honey has gone from $11 to $13.50
2 Likes
Welcome to the .community @renee
It is possible that it is a routine price rise be it inflation, seasonal, or whatever; or equally likely Coles may have found it convenient to ‘adjust’ prices when we shoppers are happy to have products in our hands and do not worry as much about the prices as we would in normal times.
With the Coles web site down it is hard to check prices but the google cache shows a 1kg Coles honey at only $9.50. It would be interesting to know if that was the same product you have been paying $11 for, now at $13.50, and if that $9.50 price remains current or is ‘old data’.
A good question.
2 Likes
This is crazy, Madness.
1 Like
Yes, it isn’t true, but the rumour mill grinds on. Some like to deny that, but we’d be foolish to blind ourselves to what some people believe.
From Facebook:
There’s more at the link. The xenophobia is obvious. How long before someone does something foolish in reaction?
1 Like
We keep European honey bees. The drought reduced the amount of honey produced. The bush fires reduced number of bees producing. Some honey comes from overseas, so I am guessing that supply may have reduced too. Honey keeps for a LONG time (the honey in the pyramids was still viable), but supermarkets only stock enough for the usual sales cycle, bee keepers have sold their stockpiles due to demand.
There is also a price cycle, where demand is up, supply is down and the bee keepers need to earn a living too. There are also various price points with the type of honey. “Medicinal” honey - Manuka and variants sell for high prices. Manuka has bacterial properties that, when applied to skin ulcers, can clean up the infection better than the usual medicine, yet people buy it to eat.
Australian honey prices do fluctuate. However the big producers will even that out by using imports.
5 Likes
The latest email from Coles CEO.
WORKING TOGETHER TO GET THROUGH THIS
Dear XXXX,
As the situation around COVID-19 continues to develop, we know that you’ll have concerns around the impact to the community and the broader Australian economy. Coles is doing everything we can to support jobs and the economy through this challenging time, while also ensuring we can provide groceries for all Australians, particularly the vulnerable.
Donating an additional $1M a week to SecondBite and Foodbank
To give extra support to those who need it most right now, every week we’ll be donating additional food and household goods to the retail value of $1M to our charity partners SecondBite and Foodbank. These charities are focused on helping our most vulnerable communities during this challenging time, and this additional support will help boost our ongoing food donation program. Unfortunately, community centres are closing down making it more difficult to help those most at need.
We are employing 5,000+ more Australians and investing in our supply chain
To help us continue to offer the best possible service to customers during this busy time, we are recruiting an additional 5,000 casual team members to join our supermarkets across Australia. This will allow us to serve more customers and replenish shelves faster. We are also actively working with other major employers and our unions to find job opportunities if they have been recently been forced to reduce team numbers.
We have in the last week also opened three new pop-up distribution centres in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria to create more jobs in our supply chain network. These centres will speed up getting more stock to stores. We will also continue to push ahead with our investment plans.
New Coles Online Priority Service (COPS)
Coles Online is one of the world’s best and largest home delivery services and has been temporarily diverted to the Coles Online Priority Service (COPS), allowing us to focus on delivering food and grocery essentials to elderly and vulnerable members of the community, including retirement and nursing homes. We will shortly announce how customers can access COPS; please check www.coles.com.au for more details. We expect this to be available by the end of next week - but will keep you posted if we can do it sooner.
Extending the Coles Community Hour and access to everyday essentials
This week we will continue to offer Coles Community Hour from Monday to Friday in all supermarkets to improve access to essential groceries for the elderly and people living with disability.
Our supermarkets have temporarily changed their trading hours to open 7am to 8pm every day*, with the first hour of trade on weekdays exclusively for customers who hold a government-issued Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Companion Card, Seniors Card, Disability Card and Health Care Card^.
We continue to have limits across several essential products in-store. You can see these limits at any time here and we will keep you updated on limits as we monitor demand.
*where state laws allow ^these arrangements will be reviewed as necessary.
Health and safety in our stores remain a priority
While we already have very high standards for hygiene, we are spending an additional $1 million per week to extensively clean our stores. We are also increasing the number of security guards in our supermarkets to keep our customers and team members safe during this time of unprecedented demand.
Providing income to shareholders
On Friday we will be paying our interim dividend which will be returning over $400 million to shareholders. This will benefit millions of Australians either through direct shareholding, superannuation or index funds.
Working collaboratively with the Australian Government
We want to say thank you to all levels of government as we work together to keep all Australians safe and improve access to what our customers need. This includes the relaxation of restrictions to make it easier for us to deliver stock to our stores and get it onto shelves for customers.
Finally, we want to thank you for listening to the Prime Minister’s direction last week to be more considerate when shopping for food and groceries. We’re already seeing a difference in our stores; there’s enough for everyone if we buy only what we need.
Please continue to be kind to our team members who are doing the best they can. I would like to give them and our suppliers a big thank you!
Best wishes,
Steven Cain
Chief Executive Officer
Coles Group
Its rampant. I got a voice message on facebook messenger, from someone I dont know and have never heard of, who was starting to say “chinese… “ and I deleted it after that so no idea what was in the rest. The preamble said she was quoting a friend of hers who knew this or that… honestly, the lengths some people go to.
2 Likes
It feels like rationing might actually be something the government needs to do, because “stop it!” doesn’t seem to be working.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Scotty do an unscripted live press conference last night on the same subject. He spoke off the cuff, from notes and it seems from the heart. He clearly had had a very hard weekend with quite possibly little sleep. He may have misspoken a couple of times but did not get the message wrong. On the whole much better communication, more believable, more a human leader speaking to his people not a robot speaking at them. The non verbal signals were better too.
There wasn’t time to prepare a set speech but I wonder if his minders will tell him the truth, unless you can master the autocue (like Barack Obama for instance) you should ditch it altogether.
1 Like
I am getting reports from people who have been in a Coles or Woolies in the last day with mixed ‘progress’. One Woolies was reported as ‘almost normal, few empty holes in displays although not full, TP stocked, most people only buying what they probably need’. Another Woolies and a Coles in the same area remain poorly stocked with rude customers. But progress is progress.
A bit of well needed satiric humour about the experience
1 Like
Woolies charging $15.00 per kilo for mince. Saw lettuce for $6.40 last week, still no toilet paper. We will need all the help from Scomo to pay these elevated prices
1 Like
I’ve heard that some varieties of bread are in short supply on supermarket shelves, perhaps hoarders moving on from TP. Here is the answer to that!
1 Like
I printed one but it seems flat and tasteless - sort of like paper. What did I do wrong?
1 Like
The Centrelink queues sounds like an excellent way to spread the virus, especially when they all touch the door on the way in, then the stationery, chairs and sundry other items. Why can’t it be done online I wonder?
Oh, that’s right… our Government.
Do you still have to apply for loads of non-existent jobs per week in order to get paid?
1 Like
Some reports state the robodebt systems remain up and running 
Money in, good. Money out - eh?
3 Likes
We just received a letter from Centrelink for “our mum” who has recently moved into Aged Care. Unable to contact her, the letter offers to cut her pension off in 14days time. Aside from the government being aware of her change of status (accepting her into the aged care system in January) and whereabouts for the last two months,
“Unprecedented”?
Perhaps not in the same way as the current crisis, as the notice issue date is more than a week prior.
Chuckles.
Misread the application notes?
Not sure how close that is to on topic.
P.S.
local F&V, butcher etc have plenty of supplies of most products, eggs, chicken, and cabbage excepted. Not saying where just in case the good stuff goes next. Fresh root ginger seems to be popular with some, 5kg at a time, but we grow a bit locally too.
1 Like
I’ve been unable to get fresh or dried yeast for the last two weeks.
Is there a way of making bread without yeast or a dough starter @gordon?
.
3 Likes
Yes, I have seen many price rises too.
I read comments from the food industry saying that their buying costs are going up. Also, there is the question of supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, many choose to increase their selling prices accordingly (as did the toilet paper scalpers).
3 Likes
