To think pet food manufacturers are profiting massively

[Fleetheart]

Before the pandemic I always used to be able to buy 3 x cat food for special offer prices equivalent to £3.75 a box. Now there are no special offers, it’s £4.50 a box. This is a massive increase. Is it purina who are profiting here or is it our supermarkets? Either way it’s not really fair is it?

And what makes you think the fact there are no offers is unfair?

It's not just pet food, the cost of all food has gone up. This pandemic will see inflation everywhere.

Haven't supermarkets stopped a lot of offers so that shopping is simpler and quicker with all the restrictions? Offers were always loss leaders for big supermarkets.

So now I am paying 20% more for cat food. And so if that’s the same for all food, who is profiteering from this?

YABU. That’s the cost of pet food. That you can usually find it on offer is irrelevant.

When you can’t find it in offer, you need to pay full price.

You will find the supermarket and manufacturer 's costs have gone up massively too. PPE, protective screens etc don't come free.

I buy online in bulk from Zooplus and prices have stayed the same - there were a few difficulties in availability of stock when lockdown hit but now it's back to normal. I usually pay around £45 per month for four enormous Felix As Good As It Looks boxes (I have 3 cats).

It's not "profiteering" to charge full price.

I'm not sure you know what profiteering means. And I'm not sure why you think paying full price instead of being given a discount is an outrage.

Tesco profits expected to be up by £300million this year. We are all paying for that

@Lockheart, I guess my definition of profiteering is charging more when people are prevented from shopping around so easily by the current situation. But it’s true I can buy online from Zooplus. And that seems a good idea!

I think 'fair' isn't quite the right word to use. These are profit making companies you're talking about; they don't have a moral duty to be fair to customers. I agree it's annoying though.

@DappledOliveGroves; thanks for the tip. We too have three (fussy) cats and so it seems a lot more expensive. I always used to be careful to buy on offer.

If you aren't seeing any offers, you need to change your supermarket, or go to Zooplus, Farm Foods, Costco, Pets at Home etc, because the offers are still out there.

When you can’t find it in offer, you need to pay full price

In my experience, it's always on offer somewhere. I've had cats for over 20 years and have never paid 'full price' for catfood, because I stock up when it's on offer. Same for most canned food, toiletries, cleaning products, the lot.

Other retailers exist. How much profit should they be allowed to make according to you?

I just feel that Tesco in particular who have a motto of “every little helps”, and who position themselves as being on the side of the customer have shown that they’re not really. Maybe I am naive of course.

I love the way that people are allying themselves with the supermarkets just to be oppositional in AIBU

Is Tesco the only shop you can get to? I know it's the case in some remote areas, but otherwise, honestly, just go somewhere else.

We have access to all supermarkets fairly conveniently, so rotate round according to if there's something we like best from one particular shop, where there's a good offer, or where we are passing, and Tesco is the only shop that I've never got into because the one time I did try to go, as I was passing, the queue was the biggest queue I have seen during the whole of lockdown, so didn't bother.

@OP, I felt the same when all this started as my weekly / fortnightly deliveries are now startlingly costly. Usually I'm an ALDI shopper but now shielding which means I can't risk going.

What I've put it down to though is that now, committed only to online shopping once a fortnight, I only buy what's on my list. Nothing goes on the list which is non-essential. Yes it still adds up, but there's no spontaneity - which is essentially what the supermarkets love us to do - impulse buying is where the profits are made. They've got to make money somehow. It's tough, financially, for those of us who would usually have a much smaller shopping budget.

And you don't think people clearing the shelves everyday for a month straight with their idiotic panic buying causes shortages?

I just feel that Tesco in particular who have a motto of “every little helps”, and who position themselves as being on the side of the customer have shown that they’re not really

You really think this? Tesco only care about massive profits and aggressive pursuit of them. Getting the customer in the store and spending money is all they care about. They're the least customer friendly supermarket out there and offer the worst combination of quality and price. I don't understand why anyone uses them unless they literally have no other choice.

But all the supermarkets seem to have removed their offers and thereby increased their margin on products that people need to buy regularly. Is there one that hasn’t? I will go there instead. I have a feeling they are doing very well out of this pandemic at a cost to the consumer

Yes supermarkets profits may be up this year but a lot of that from people spending different. With restaurants ect closed people were eating more at home. Equally people who used to buy lunch out at the office are now eating at home.

Also what makes you think the costs haven’t increased for manufacturers?

@BarbaraofSeville yes you are right. I have been naive.

@2CatsAndCounting; that’s precisely my point - people are spending more in supermarkets; increased volume so no need to increase profit margin as well.

Supermarkeys have withdrawn offers becauee of bulk buying. At one point pet food was really low stock in most supermarkets.

I would be surprised if tesco is actually £300 million up. The suowrmarkets have spent a fortune on things and during the panic buying, it was the equivalent of their normal customers spending about an extra £10 per shop.

When offers are on, the supermarkets make very little on that item. Its there to draw you into the shop. They dont need to do that at the moment and they don't want to encourage bulk buying.

They are a business and there to make profit.