1st June 2023:

 

Maybe one day, the size of all foods and drinks will be reduced so much, that some bright spark might invent little pills that can be taken as an alternative to eating and drinking. Maybe all people will have smart-nasogastric tubes fitted, and they can be recharged via nutrition hubs in wellness centres. Maybe the smart tubes can also be used to fill their brains with the most fashionable magic bullets too. And ultimately if a person’s existence seems to them to be meaningless, they can have a final psychedelic brain reset,  followed by their ultimate dignity being fulfilled in a M.A.I.D. Pod…, final destination – the vital organ recycling centre.

26th January 2023:

A few recent observations in retail purgatory … well, at least one:

Tesco has been making some sort of noise about a “price freeze” until Easter. According to them 1000s of prices of goods will not be increased until after Easter. Etc etc.

On the pet food aisle, where I mainly reside six nights a week, there have been a few changes. The small merchandising department has rearranged the shelves, discontinued various products, and introduced plenty of new ones.

But a lot of rebranding by various pet food manufacturers has occurred. Rebranding is not unusual at this time of year. But at least one change seems to be significant somehow.

Last year, there was half an inch of column space here and there devoted to a price war between Tesco and a supplier.  A minor headline can probably be found somewhere saying that there was a Heinz baked bean shortage.

Tesco has some sort of pricing dispute with Heinz. Rather they had a dispute with the Mars group. Mars, best known for confectionary that supposedly helps a person work, rest and play, were increasing the cost of hundreds of products.. Chocolate, baked beans, soft drinks, pet food, and lots of other common items that are seen on shelves in all supermarkets, and other smaller stores of convenience.

For several weeks lots of items were unavailable on the pet food aisle. Initially, there were many empty shelves, then the merchandising department rearranged things drastically… well-known brands more or less disappeared from view (Pedigree, Whiskas etc). Eventually, after a couple of months or so, Tesco seemed to have come to some sort of compromise with Mars.

But I think the dispute goes deeper than that. I have no way of knowing. But the coffee machine in the canteen broke down and has still not been fixed. The eco-cardboard cups of tea and coffee could be manually transformed into a bland hot beverage with the aid of a cheapo plastic kettle made in China and allegedly stainless steel spoons, also made in China.

The machine has still not been fixed and restocked etc…

It just so happens that the company responsible for supplying the bad but convenient instant brews is Mars ( at least Mars used to be responsible for “Klix” machines, it seems that Lavazza bought out that part of the Mars empire a few years back, however, it seems that Lavazza have also been in dispute with retailers over “price hikes”)

I think something is going on behind the scenes a lot more significant than a dispute over “price hikes”. Various machines in the canteen have broken down and have never been repaired etc… There are giant fridges and freezers in a state of disrepair.

Regarding the “price freeze”… Some pet food brands have not only been rebranded but also resized. It might not be all that unusual, but it is well known that tooth-rotting confectionery has been getting smaller and smaller over the years etc…

Multipacks of Whiskas that have returned to the shelves used to contain 100g pouches of cat food, each of the pouches now weighs 85g.  The cost per kg has been hiked up quite considerably.   The prices of the multipacks have remained pretty much the same, “frozen” until Easter I suppose.  But there is a significant difference if a person buys a 40-pack etc. It is hardly a scandal. But if it is being done with cat food, I imagine 1000s of other products across the store might be going through a similar transformation.

It is not going to make the 9 o clock news, but it might be the tip of an iceberg waiting to melt, or whatever.