The mayor’s office says it would be the first major U.S. city to enact such a plan.

    • @[email protected]
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      559 months ago

      Wal-mart regularly closes stores that try to unionize.

      Whole Foods is a division of Amazon, and their store decisions generally float around hurting labor until labor gets fed up.

      But that is only the pattern that both of those employers have shown repeatedly for years now so maybe I am prejudice against companies owned by multibillionaires.

      • @[email protected]
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        -479 months ago

        It sounds like you do have a prejudice against those store chains. Those stores were closed because there was an insanely stupid amount of theft.

        • DreamButt
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          439 months ago

          Funny how that’s the same excuse used by stores in my area that were trying to unionize. Weird that these two things always seem to align. It’s almost like monopolies are bad

            • @[email protected]
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              209 months ago

              How? If you have only 1 grocery store and you need to survive, then you must buy from that store.

              • @[email protected]
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                -219 months ago

                You’re skipping a few steps there lad, 1. There’s more than 1 store, they might not carry everything so you’ll have to go to another store, but that is the reality of mom and pop shops. 2. How is it that a lot of those stores died out in the first place? Because you purchased everything at the large cooperation, and when the mom and pop shops closed you blamed the large storechain WHOM YOU GAVE YOUR MONEY TO. It’s like none of you understand that every action has a consequence and there is no one to blame but yourself. It’s a business, ofcourse they want profit, and you let them to the detriment of the shops you pretend to care so much about. You made your choice, stop fucking complaining.

                • Flying Squid
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                  159 months ago

                  I don’t think you understand what a food desert is. Or what being poor is like. Especially when you seem to be suggesting that it’s poor people’s fault for being poor.

            • JackbyDev
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              9 months ago

              Oh my fucking god dude.

              FOOD DESERT

              By definition there is little to no choice for these people.

            • iByteABit [he/him]
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              09 months ago

              “Voting with your wallet” means fuck all when some people’s wallets are hundreds of thousands times bigger

          • @[email protected]
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            -99 months ago

            Their official statements etc. The one in Chicago hadn’t been turning a profit for 18 years due to theft.

            • @[email protected]
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              -19 months ago

              So you think they went “hey it’s only been 10 years, this theft problem is going to clear up any time…” ?? Change your username, you’re disgracing it.

        • @[email protected]
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          9 months ago

          You are screaming at a brick wall. Assume everyone you talk to here is a tankie or at least a commie.

          • JackbyDev
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            49 months ago

            Americans going to the government owned post office that isn’t profitable: Wow, I sure am glad that there is a way for me to send and receive mail, it’s a service everyone needs.

            Americans considering the government opening a grocery store that might not be profitable: This is totally unsustainable and there is too much stealing for this to exist. People do not deserve access to a conveniently located grocery store.

            • @[email protected]
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              19 months ago

              A lot of people do critize USPS, several years ago Republicans tried to privatize it but there was heavy push back. It’s not exactly hypocritical here.

              • JackbyDev
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                49 months ago

                Implying that a government opening a grocery store in an area because companies closed thiers being some sort of extremist commie take when the government already does this with things like libraries and postal offices and nobody bats an eye.

                  • JackbyDev
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                    29 months ago

                    You are screaming at a brick wall. Assume everyone you talk to here is a tankie or at least a commie.

          • @[email protected]
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            -49 months ago

            I always try to forgo people’s political stance and just debate them on issues as humans. Sucks that these particular humans ignore everything that doesn’t fit their agenda and they all have no fucking responsibility and claim innocence and blame everyone else. It’s pathetic.

            • @[email protected]
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              29 months ago

              If you actually debated people as humans maybe you’d have some empathy for the common people affected by this issue rather than bootlicking

              • @[email protected]
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                19 months ago

                Not selling something is usually less profitable than selling something, it’s not bootlicking to say there may be a reason so many stores closed.

        • Che Banana
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          229 months ago

          Bullshit. Those large stores come in to an area and drive out local competition, then when they don’t make the % to keep the shareholders happy they fold up and leave. Mom and pop shops are the backbone of communities and these pricks destroy that.

        • JackbyDev
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          199 months ago

          Does high crime in an area mean that people shouldn’t have access to stores that sell food?

          • rastilin
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            139 months ago

            Excellent point. If stealing is what keeps people fed, then the taxes that keep that store open are worth it. But also I think the reported rates of theft are wildly overstated, here in Australia we had our two largest stores basically admit they made up the whole “epidemic” so they’d have an excuse to raise prices.

          • neuropean
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            -59 months ago

            If businesses are operating at a loss they cannot sustainably remain open.

            • JackbyDev
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              89 months ago

              Do you believe every USPS office is profitable? No, many are not, but people need access to mail. Roads don’t generate a profit either. Government services shouldn’t need to be profitable.

            • @[email protected]
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              19 months ago

              Sorry guys, this grocery store isn’t profitable, guess you don’t really need access to food

              It’s almost like we should care more about people instead of profits

            • JackbyDev
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              59 months ago

              They definitely seemed to be implying the city shouldn’t do this in their top post, so no, not a straw man.

          • @[email protected]
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            -169 months ago

            Stop it! There’s no more straws left!

            No, it means they’ll have to get in a car and drive to the next location, hopefully without stealing from there too.

            • JackbyDev
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              109 months ago
              • Accused me of straw Manning
              • Proceeds to assume everyone has a car
            • Flying Squid
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              99 months ago

              And I guess the people who can’t afford a car should just die, right?

              • @[email protected]
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                -79 months ago

                Bus, walk, bike, if you cannot affort a car you’re likely not working enough so you have the time to use alternative modes of transport.

                • Flying Squid
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                  89 months ago

                  Where are you supposed to bike to when the nearest supermarket is 20 miles away?

                  And poor people often work 2 or 3 jobs. Again, you know nothing about being poor.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -59 months ago

                    Unless you live in bumfuck arkanses the next supermarket is not 20 miles away, and even then it likely isn’t.

                    Poor people work so many jobs that I see them sitting on their porch at 1pm on a fucking Tuesday.

              • JasSmith
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                -99 months ago

                Or, like, get on a bus. Or walk. Or cycle. Or get food delivered from any one of many cheap delivery options. Or even a food bank or church. Or neighbour. Or family. Or friends. You think people without a car who don’t have a supermarket next door just die? I can’t even imagine the level of learned helplessness you seem to possess.

                • Flying Squid
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                  9 months ago

                  Buses take money. And walk where? Bicycle where? You think they could just walk to the nearest supermarket? Do you not understand that there isn’t food available for miles? Do you really not understand what the term ‘food desert’ means?

                  And delivered? Do you really not understand what being poor means?

                  • JasSmith
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                    9 months ago

                    Buses take money.

                    So does food from the supermarket. That’s why we give poor people money. We should, IMHO, give them even more. Either way, with that money, they get on the bus.

                    Half of the world’s population walk miles for food and water. That’s certainly not a big ask on a bicycle. I commute six miles each way to work on a bike, every day. For millennia, humans roamed hundreds of miles on foot hunting for game. Yet you’re arguing someone today can’t cycle a few miles?? Lordy.

                    Delivery is often cheaper than the time and commute, so I’m not sure what you’re arguing there. Amazon offers free delivery, and you can buy every staple you need.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -79 months ago

                    Bused are cheap, walk to a store, bicycle to a store, I bike 12km to and from every day. But you’re conveniently ignoring every other argument the lad above made, so that shows your victim mentality.

                • JackbyDev
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                  69 months ago

                  Or … walk to the nearby city owned grocery store that the city is considering opening?

        • ThrowawayOnLemmy
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          129 months ago

          I keep hearing this excuse but I’ve yet to see any actual numbers or data to prove this.

        • neuropean
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          -79 months ago

          This is the e real reason, I don’t get why you’re being downvoted.

              • @[email protected]
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                39 months ago

                Some stores are higher than 1.4%, but it’s still in the low end of single digits, not like 15%. Raising prices a couple percent to compensate wouldn’t even be noticed.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -29 months ago

                  Does shrink include the cost of security, security measures, vandalism or injured employees? You have this one thing you think describes the whole thing and the reality is you’ve chosen your bad guy and you’re going to confirmation bias yourself there.

          • @[email protected]
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            -109 months ago

            Because wehh corporations wehh mom and pop shop (which they don’t go to because it’s inconvient) bla bla poor people. People like thinking they have a deeper understanding of something even if it’s objectively not true because it makes them feel intelligent, no matter how stupid it makes then look. The reason these stores closed is really simple, crime in low income areas caused these stores to not be profitable or simply not worth the endless hassle. I don’t even get why they’re mad though, they cry about mom and pop shops and when the large corporations leave and there is all the space for them they get mad the large corporations left. Idiotic.

            • @[email protected]
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              59 months ago

              So I’d like to chime in here as someone who lives in a low income food desert. The food desert isn’t because of theft. In fact, many chains have tried to open up here over the decades. The city government is so hostile towards them though, that these stores don’t even get to the opening stages. The city wants to charge these stores exorbitant fees for no reason. Charge 10x as much for electricity than the town with a smaller population 15minutes away. Is this everywhere, no, but it is in more places than you’d think.

              Let me guess, your response to that would be “Well just vote those people out! It’s your fault for keeping them in there!” And my response to that is, vote them out and replace them with who? No one has run against these people since they were first elected into office in the 1960’s. Oh sure we’ve tried to get people to turn against them, but they’ve stacked the system so it’s damn near impossible. The only thing we can do is wait until they die, which doesn’t seem to be any time soon.

              You remind me of this guy I’ve debated with who had this outlandish claim that “If CEO’s are paid less, then they’d work less.” But there’s no actual proof to that, and trust me, he looked. He then went on to say he’d rather be paid in company stock than cash. Like he’d legit forego minimum wage to be paid in 100% stock.

              So I’m going to say the same thing to you that I’ve said to him. You’ve been all up and down this thread blaming theft as the reason why food deserts are a thing, can you provide nonbiased studies proving that?