Retailers and suppliers say it didn’t pay to offer products for everyone, and customers didn’t care that much when they stopped
The furniture retailer Malouf sells beds and bedding in a fraction of the colors it did a few years ago. Newell Brands, the Sharpie maker, has retired 50 types of Yankee Candle. Coca-Cola offers half as many drinks.
Covid slashed consumer choices as companies pared their offerings to ease clogs in the supply chain. The logistical mess is behind them. But many of the choices aren’t coming back.
Retailers and suppliers across industries—from groceries to health, beauty and furniture—have said that it didn’t pay to offer products for everyone, and consumers didn’t care that much when they stopped.
The response to COVID was the largest upward transfer of wealth in history. Monopolies? No corporate kings.
Yep and they’re still making record profits in the gift of “inflation” when it’s just permanent price gouging now that they have a publicly accepted excuse. How is it inflation when they’re making substantially more revenue year over year?
“Capitalism drives innovation”
I was unemployed before and through most of COVID. I have lost a great deal of fondness for material things. I don’t have a lot of opportunities to impress my peers so, “keeping up with the Joneses” is not a high priority.
I can’t be the only member of the millennial generation that sees the pursuit of wealth as sisyphean.
Covid slashed a lot of things on the consumer side.
I was just contemplating today about how many things I’ve purchased, just in the last few months, that have been defective. A pair of shoes, thermostats, blankets, and more. Since December I’ve had 2 somewhat expensive items where they would send me a replacement because the first item I received was defective, and it turns out the replacement has had the same issue. That’s never happened to me before, granted, this is obviously anecdotal.
And at the same time, it seems like they also slashed customer service not that most companies ever excelled at that to begin with. But even places like Amazon, which supposedly had top tier service, have fallen off significantly in that department.
So, here I am, yelling at the clouds, but I do wonder where it all ends.
Consumer choice in my vocabulary means that I can buy the same thing from different companies, so I, and other consumers, have the ability to “vote with our wallet”. I don’t care how many different colours you offer your thing, I care whether you are abusing a monopolistic market and if you hike prices I am able to buy from people who don’t.
Consumer choice was dead before the pandemic, and it wasn’t COVID that killed it, but unchecked mergers and acquisitions, and the US’ refusal to enforce basic antitrust law, twisting and breaking global markets.
Consumer choice in my vocabulary means that I can buy the same thing from different companies
Right, and recognizing as you do that articles like these are part of the grift, not a separate, objectvely written report by an entity helping us understand the world, is an important lesson for today’s citizen. One very few of us know. This article wants to reframe consumer choice as flavors and colors from a monopoly, not your correct definition.
Anyone interested in how that works in this article specifically that cannot see it is welcome to pm me, i love breaking down shit like this to the point i annoy people so beware tho
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