Big versus small - should we care?

"Out of every dollar that is spent in a retail store in Australia 88c is spent at WWs or Coles." Melanie McCartney, Independent Australia

We all shop in supermarkets. I'm pretty sure it would be a very tiny minority of people who don't - those so far out in the country that they cannot, and those with a very determined social conscience. There are those that shop nowhere other than the supermarket, and those of us - the majority - who probably shop in a variety of different places. I, for example buy just about all of my groceries in the supermarket, and most of my meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, deli products including cheese, at the Queen Victoria Market. However, if I need something right now, or if there is something on a super special I will buy these items in the supermarket. I confess I do not shop at health food shops or farmer's markets, or small greengrocers or butchers in the shopping centres. At other times of my life - when I was more time poor I did most of my shopping in the supermarket. As a child and a young wife in London, I shopped in lots of little shops, with occasional forays into supermarkets - they did not exist where I lived until the mid 50s and in London there were not many nearby, and besides I worked in London's east end where the shopping was a whole lot cheaper than in Hampstead, where we lived.

Why am I thinking about this? Well it came up in a conversation with my daughter-in-law. I know I have touched on this before and I probably will again, but here are some of my current thoughts, stimulated by my own experience and by a few, mostly supermarket negative, articles on the net. Random ramblings really.

The lady in the picture at the top of the page is Irish and is called Catherine Cleary. She and her husband experimented by shopping only in small farmer's markets and similar places - mostly co-ops it seems to me - for a week and then a week in the supermarket - comparing at the end. It's quite interesting to read. I suppose as a general conclusion she said that the supermarkets were a bit cheaper although not as much as you would think and that generally the food was not as good. However, reading between the lines I don't think the cost comparison (disregarding quality) was quite fair, because I don't think she was buying what was 'on special' or even the cheapest on offer in the supermarket. And surely if you were trying to save money - those without much money - you would be buying cheap. I also found another similar article - Australian this time - by Richard Cornish of Good Food.com.au which compared specific products, but again I don't think the cost comparison was fair. For example they bought organic unhomogenised milk which is obviously pricier than your standard milk. I suppose to be fair they are comparing like with like but I think that this is sort of missing the point.

For why do most people shop in supermarkets?

Well convenience and time are obviously prime motivations. You can do everything in one place. Which is why those people who moan about supermarkets try to say they are not cheap because you expend money (fuel) and energy (battling with crowds) in going there. Do you not spend time and money going to farmer's markets and small businesses? In fact you spend rather more. A one stop shop is much more efficient than running all over the place looking for the best of this and the best of that. They're not always conveniently in the same place and even if they are in the same high street you have to walk up and down the street with no convenient trolley to put everything in. A bit exhausting. And it's all very well saying you should only buy stuff when you actually need it - like we used to - but when you don't have a lot of time this is not possible. Not to mention the fact that nowadays we have efficient refrigerators and freezers at home in which to store all those perishable foodstuffs. You couldn't do that when I was a child.

"It's easy, it's convenient. This is what I call the lowest common denominator in thinking." Mark Bouris

And the other reason for shopping in supermarkets is price, They are cheaper. Yes they are. And if you haven't got much money then you need to buy cheap. Yes you might get tempted to buy stuff you don't need - Aldi is the past master at this. And this is another argument the naysayers propose - they are not cheap because you buy more than you need. But that could happen at a farmer's market too or a small shop where you could be persuaded to buy the more expensive cut of meat because the shopkeeper is a good salesman. If you are not an efficient and sensible shopper I think it matters little where you shop. You can be just as stupid in a farmer's market as in a supermarket.

Mark Bouris had quite a rant about the evil supermarkets - his article is very representative of the general opinion. And yes Woolworths and Coles (and now Aldi) do have more than a fair share of the food pie - opinion seems to vary between 70-80% for the big two. And with this comes power - power to squeeze the suppliers, power to put small businesses out of business and power to change the way food is actually made or grown. They are big employers although the negative articles say they only have 43% of the retail employees and that small businesses have 57%. What does that mean though? Some of those small businesses might be supplying the supermarkets, or providing other services. And yes I know they exploit schoolkids, whom they employ until they reach the age at which they have to pay them more. But they do employ them. It's most likely a major source of employment for them. I don't think anyone else is treating schoolkid labour any better.

The Australian article which compared farmer's markets with supermarkets was quite interesting in its comments on quality. Almost unanimously the products they sourced from the farmer's market tasted better but they went off much quicker - after a few days. And given that farmer's markets are not open every day (once a week here in Eltham - we are luckier than most), this could be a problem. What do you do in between? The other thing they mentioned was that they never got any receipts - in one case their credit card was actually debited with $96 instead of the supposed $36, although they could not do anything about it because there was no receipt. Also many of the scales used were not accurate or 'professional'. They weighed things when they got home and found they had been 'done' sometimes. Of course not everyone in the market was dodgy - but be aware. And do they pay tax on their takings? No receipt, no tax declaration I would guess. No I don't think that is fair.

"A lot of kids will never know their butcher, their newsagent, their grocer. They won’t have the opportunity to speak to store owners in their community." Mark Bouris

One of the other things that the supermarket naysayers go on about is the impersonality of it all, and how one doesn't get to know the people. But again, interestingly one of those two comparison articles commented that in their farmer's markets and co-ops and small shops the service was not necessarily very friendly, and that the supermarkets on the whole were. I would certainly concur with the supermarket experience. Yes you can even chat to the butcher - there are butchers in there and you can chat to them. The deli people are actually pretty knowledgeable about their product if you ask. As are the fresh fruit and veg people and the people stacking the shelves will go to great lengths to help you find things. As to the checkout chicks - yes they are told to be friendly, but they seem to do it naturally and willingly. Our Scottish guests commented that the two things that struck them about Australia and Melbourne in particular of course, was the friendliness of the people - and they were talking about people they encountered in supermarkets as well as everywhere else. (The greenness of Melbourne was the other thing.). The staff in our local Aldi recognise you after a while and are happy to chat. They can do two things at once. Chat and scan. So rubbish to the theory that they are impersonal places. They are just a bigger local shop.

And finally a word about small food businesses. There are lots of small businesses making a mark and even getting their produce on the supermarket shelves. I've talked about some of them on this blog. And yet if they become super successful then they automatically become evil. Apple was a small business once, and now it's an evil empire. You just can't win.

And yes I know there is lots to be appalled about when it comes to supermarkets, and some of the practices that are involved in getting cheap, safe and reasonably, sometimes extremely, tasty food into your hands are questionable, but people are much more aware these days of environmental problems, food safety, food quality, production methods etc. Why are there so many gluten free products and health foods on the supermarket shelves, not to mention the niche things like Irrawarra bread. Not because the supermarkets are kind. But because they sell. So it's power of the people against the power of the supermarket. Protest and complain if you are unhappy. Don't buy. They'll soon respond.

I think it's a very middle-class privilege to be able to complain about supermarkets. If you are poor I imagine you are grateful.