DeMoulas Market Basket protest (Boston, Westford: coupons, tax, sushi)

[atgss]

Originally Posted by rranger

I wish I'd joined this thread earlier, but I haven't been looking at City-Data for weeks. This Market Basket craziness has absolutely left me scratching my head ever since it started and - I guess - the only way I can sum it up is by saying "only in America".

Memo to Market Basket employees: In 99.9999% of the planet, a "labor action" is taken by employees who have a legitimate self-interest related to their own betterment, not the betterment of the CEO. Good lawd, do these people really believe that their check-out, stacking and bagging jobs are going to be significantly worse under the new management than under the old? Do they really expect to get some huge payout as a result of this? I seriously doubt it, and really wonder where any semblance of rational enlightened self-interest has gone.

Full disclosure: I've never shopped at a Market Basket, nor do I have any abiding desire to do so. I'm not one of those people who will drive five miles to save 5 cents on a gallon of gas. And, my experience is that the typical Market Basket shopper is precisely that kind of person.

YES! Read the facebook under "save Market Basket" page of many explanations to answer that question.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Wegman's is a haul, and not cheaper.

I'd like to know where to.

Yes, I can find stuff cheaply, but not the selection, and not all in one place. I'll be going to three places every weekend instead of one.

I guess it depends on what you buy. I find Wegman't to be very competetive. Definitely cheaper than Shaw's and S&S, and give or take between there, Hannaford and MB. I pretty much know what to buy where (I rotate from week to week). One thing it seems, is that Wegman's is cheaper on the higher end items and MB cheaper on the more generic stuff. Hannaford is somewhere in between. One major benefit to Wegman's is the large selection of organic stuff at a reasonable price (you're much better off there than Whole Foods).

[rranger]

Originally Posted by lol-its-good4U

YES! Read the facebook under "save Market Basket" page of many explanations to answer that question.

Don't have to read it, but thanks for confirming that they truly are as delusional as I thought.

[TAM88]

Originally Posted by lol-its-good4U

YES! Read the facebook under "save Market Basket" page of many explanations to answer that question.

Not one poster on that Facebook page (I just took 5 minutes to look through it) clearly articulated their cause and the reason why they have stopped working, imo. I also enjoyed the several people who commented that the politicians need to step in and get involved with this dispute.

I am wondering how long these workers who have walked off the job and are not getting paid can last? What happens if it takes another 5-6 weeks to get this resolved?

[GeoffD]

The only thing I can do is boycott the store. I don't want Arthur S, a former Radio Shack exec, and a former Albertsons exec to sell the chain to another huge grocery store chain or private equity firm. That would turn it into just another expensive grocery store. For my shopping cart, Market Basket is a good 20% to 30% cheaper than my local alternatives. I'm just acting according to my economic self-interest.

An example:
A dozen large white eggs are $1.59 at Market Basket. They're always more than $2.00 at Stop & Shop and Shaws.

[atgss]

Originally Posted by TAM88

Not one poster on that Facebook page (I just took 5 minutes to look through it) clearly articulated their cause and the reason why they have stopped working, imo. I also enjoyed the several people who commented that the politicians need to step in and get involved with this dispute.

I am wondering how long these workers who have walked off the job and are not getting paid can last? What happens if it takes another 5-6 weeks to get this resolved?

In kind:

Really? Did you actually read that page?

Well the facts are that they are working they punch in and when their end schedule time comes then punch out then they picket on their time or are coming in punching in and their managers are sending them out there to picket.

Artie T had the employees backs, now the employees have Artie T's back while Artie S and his mob are only interested in breaking that company up for greed and MB will be no more and new stores with higher prices will most likely happen - it's that simple if you agree or not of what the workers are doing.

By the way if you really read that FB page most of the customers have the employees and Artie T's backs and are not shopping there to back them up.

Another customer driven support on their own: Save ARTIE T CUSTOMER AD by Denise Walsh - GoFundMe

[mdovell]

"No court is going to order Market Basket to do something that its majority shareholders object to. The fact that the deal isn't done makes me more suspicious that Arthur T's offer was insufficient. The biggest accusation that Arthur T supporters can muster up is that they're going to sell the company, so all that is necessary for Arthur T to "prevail" is to offer a penny more than the company will get from a corporate suitor. Which leads to a very cynical suspicion: Perhaps Arthur T is hoping this strike will go on longer to bring the value of the company down, so he wouldn't have to pay as much."

While that is true actions like this are not specifically rare. Back in the late 1990's Microsoft tried to block other operating systems from being installed by fooling around with boot loaders. Eventually manufacturers blocked this because they could see a demand for non microsoft operating systems. But they would try to simply not do anything to the point where more attention would be against microsoft more then anything else.

Some of this also reminds me of a manager I had. Mike. Mike did not micromanage. His issue though was he could be in extremes. If we did well they'd be steak and lobster...for everyone. We're talking over 100 people here! If there was an accident he would be very angry. His temper eventually got the worst of him but his emotions had reasons behind them. His replacement was someone that micromanaged everything to the point where some could not do their work and would flip flop in what he wanted. I think the company probably screwed Mike over when they canned him but there was nothing we could do about it, certainly not on the scale of this.

I think the bottom line also comes down to this. If S has his way and wages go down and prices go up that might actually encourage other competitors to do the same. I rather not name names but I remember hearing what some coworkers were offered in another chain. Their hourly managers made as much as our cashiers. Their cashiers made just above minimum wage.

In terms of retail I hear good things about Costco, Publix, Ikea, Container Store but none of them have even remotely close the same number of employees that market basket has. I would argue that if S has his way that we would see more people on social services and thus it would everyone more money in New England. The differences are that large.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by mdovell

In terms of retail I hear good things about Costco, Publix, Ikea, Container Store but none of them have even remotely close the same number of employees that market basket has. I would argue that if S has his way that we would see more people on social services and thus it would everyone more money in New England. The differences are that large.

Market Basket has 71 stores and is a relatively small chain limited to eastern Mass and southern New Hampshire.

Publix has 1,077 stores.

The amount of money spent in grocery stores in eastern Mass and southern New Hampshire is going to be roughly the same whether Market Basket is in business or not. The grocery stores in the region are going to employ roughly the same headcount whether Market Basket is in business or not. You have the same volume of people at the cash registers. You need to do the same amount of shelf restocking. If Market Basket goes out of business, it's not going to particularly change the number of grocery store jobs. The people working at Market Basket stores won't be happy but somebody will need to be hired at the other stores to do all that work.

[David223]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The only thing I can do is boycott the store. I don't want Arthur S, a former Radio Shack exec, and a former Albertsons exec to sell the chain to another huge grocery store chain or private equity firm. That would turn it into just another expensive grocery store. For my shopping cart, Market Basket is a good 20% to 30% cheaper than my local alternatives. I'm just acting according to my economic self-interest.

An example:
A dozen large white eggs are $1.59 at Market Basket. They're always more than $2.00 at Stop & Shop and Shaws.

Aldi has large white eggs for $1.39

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by David223

Aldi has large white eggs for $1.39

I pay practically $4.00 for brown eggs sold by the side of the road but I am fussy about eggs.

This weekend I was in Maine and had to buy groceries. Hannaford's was new to me and it's fancy but to me it was over the top. I miss my simple, basic Market Basket. If I want frills and extras I can get them elsewhere. Hannaford's took forever, walking around, back and forth. There is so much non food and things that I didn't want.

Seems like Market Basket is a losing battle but I still won't go there. Those workers have shown great spirit and a sense of caring, things you don't see much in the business world. Maybe we'll eventually all cave in and go back, being ruled by the villain who has ruined the business and damaged many people's lives.