Tag: price increases

Walmart Warns It Will Be Forced To Raise Prices Due To Trade War

Via ZeroHedge

One of the reasons why the US economic response to Trump’s trade war with China had been lukewarm at best, is that US consumers had not been subject to any of the inflationary consequences of the escalating tariffs between Washington and Beijing. That, however, is about to change: overnight Walmart issued a warning in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that it may have to raise prices due to tariffs on Chinese imports, CNN Money reported.

“The immediate impact will be to raise prices on consumers and tax American business and manufacturers,” Walmart said, according to the CNN Money report.

The letter came two weeks after Walmart asked the Trump administration to walk back its plan to put tariffs on Christmas lights, shampoo, dog food, luggage, mattresses, handbags, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, cooking grills, cable cords and air conditioners.

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A 26% PRICE INCREASE THROUGH DECEPTION

I did my usual 7:00 am trek to Wal-Mart & Giant on Sunday morning to pick up the weekly food and various other daily living essentials. I go at 7:00 am to avoid the People of Wal-Mart, but I am still stuck with the Workers of Wal-Mart. I keep a bag of almonds in my drawer at work as a lunch time snack. Every couple weeks I purchase a new bag at Wal-Mart. They are pretty expensive from my viewpoint, but are relatively healthy as snacks go.

A bag cost $6.98. It had been this price for as long as I can remember. This week I saw the price was $6.58 and thought to myself, Wal-Mart really does lower prices. Then I picked up the bag. It was different. It seemed smaller, but I couldn’t tell for sure. I brought the new bag to work this morning and compared it to the old bag. The new bag was only 12 ounces, while the old bag was 16 ounces.

The reduction in price I thought I was getting actually was a 26% price increase. This is the underhanded, dastardly way corporations increase prices, without increasing the actual price on the shelf. They count on the fact that most Americans are clueless noobs who couldn’t calculate their way out of wet paper bag. This method of price increase is rampant across the country as the ounces in detergent are reduced, the ounces in potato chip bags are reduced, and the ounces of everything are reduced. This doesn’t even take into consideration the use of lower quality materials in food, clothing, electronics, appliances, etc. 

When the BLS declares inflation is running below 2%, you know it’s a lie. They aren’t capturing these deceptive corporate practices in their little computer models. The screwing will continue until morale improves.

 


WHAT WALGREEN’S RESULTS TELL ME

Walgreen’s stock is trading near a 52 week high and they keep reporting “strong” sales. The Wall Street shysters sell the story of a well run company when in reality their sales are $9 billion higher than 2010, but their net income is lower. I guess they are using the Amazon formula for success. Below are the press releases for the last two months. The MSM “journalist” just regurgitates the storyline they are told to perpetuate. Here is what I note from the data:

Pharmacy sales were up 14% in December and 6.7% in November, but the number of prescriptions filled (customers) was only up 7.8% and 2.6%. That means that prices for prescriptions SOARED by 6.2% and 4.1% over the last two months. You see the beauty of Obamacare in all its glory. You have more customers because they now get their prescriptions for “free” (you are footing the bill through taxes and higher national debt), and the increase in demand allows drug makers and retailers to jack up the prices. Ain’t crony capitalistic socialism grand?

It seems customers at the front end are few and far between, as traffic was up a miniscule 0.3% in December and FELL 3.3% in November. The company uses the weasel term “customer basket” increases to hide the fact that prices went up 2.3% in December and 4.1% in November. The four year old Walgreen’s near my house is like a ghost town. How they can afford to keep it operating is beyond me.

Walgreen’s results tell me everything I need to know about Obamacare. If you offer free shit to people, they’ll take it. The free shit is being funded by our tax dollars and accumulating debt for future generations. It is all being subsidized by the easy money being doled out by the Federal Reserve. And Yellen is worried about deflation as healthcare premiums, care, and drugs go sky high.

Welcome to Bizarro World 2015.

 

Walgreen Dec sales surge on more severe flu season

By Tess Stynes

Published: Jan 6, 2015 8:40 a.m. ET

Walgreen Boots Alliance Inc. said December sales, excluding newly opened or closed locations, rose 9.2%, benefiting from a calendar shift and an early start to what is expected to be a severe flu season.

Shares rose 2.7% to $76.49 in recent premarket trading as sales exceeded expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for growth of 5.5%.

Pharmacy sales, excluding newly opened or closed locations, rose 14%, topping analysts’ views for an increase of 7.5%. Prescriptions filled rose 7.8%. Calendar shifts had a positive impact of 2.1 percentage points on sales, while a higher incidence of flu had a positive impact of 1.2 percentage points.

Sales in the front of the store increased 2.6% on the same basis, slightly above analysts’ estimates for 2.5% growth. Customer traffic edged up 0.3% and basket-size rose 2.3%.

Total drugstore sales for December rose 10% to $7.92 billion.

 

Walgreen Nov sales rise more than expected

By Tess Stynes

Published: Dec 3, 2014 8:42 a.m. ET

Walgreen Co. reported its sales at existing locations rose a better-than-expected 4.5% in November, led by growth in its pharmacy business.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of 3.8%.

Walgreen said pharmacy sales improved 6.7%, exceeding analysts’ estimate for an increase of 5.3%. Prescriptions filled rose 2.6%. A calendar shift had a negative impact of two percentage points and generic drug introductions over the past year had a negative impact of 1.9 percentage points.

Pharmacy sales represented 65.2% of total sales during November.

In the front of the store, sales edged up 0.8%, below analysts’ projections of 1.2% during the month, as customer traffic declined 3.3%, mostly offsetting an increase in basket size of 4.1%.

Total drugstore sales rose 4.9% to $6.36 billion for the month.

For the three-month period ended Nov. 30, the drugstore chain operator reported total sales rose 6.8% to $19.59 billion, above analysts’ estimates for $19.34 billion. Sales, excluding newly opened or closed locations, improved 5.8%, including growth of 1.5% in the front of the store and 8.3% in the pharmacy section.

The company has been under pressure owing to a miscalculation in the pricing of generic prescription drugs. Walgreen also has been taking steps to achieve $1 billion in costs savings by the end of fiscal 2017 and to complete its deal to buy the rest of European drugstore company Alliance Boots GmbH.


OBAMACARE IN PICTURES

OUCH. YOU’RE GOING TO NEED A DOCTOR TO CURE OBAMACARE DISEASE. BUT IF YOU HAVE THE SILVER PLAN GET READY TO PAY