Post AwuMmEFyGf1WiVPDNI by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) More posts by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
(DIR) Post #AwuKyEVowXhN4nPp0i by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:03:10Z
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"The 2002 merger of Foodtown into Woolworths (New Zealand) made New Zealand one of only three developed countries with merely two choices of supermarket – Foodstuffs (New World, Pak'nSave and Four Square) or Woolworths Australia (Countdown, Woolworths or Fresh Choice)."#GroceryActionGrouphttps://www.gag.nz/about-us20 years before that all those brands were independent chains, and there were more, like 3Guys and the legendary Big Fresh. Before they were allowed to merge into the duopoly.(1/2)
(DIR) Post #AwuMRZtibyfbkp9Myu by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:19:50Z
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I think it's time to reverse those mergers. To break up Foodstuffs and Woolworths like we broke up Telecom, with the brands returning to being independent chains, and the wholesalers owned by none of them. There may be a way to break those up too, so we don't replace duopoly with duopsony.(2/?)#PolicyNZ
(DIR) Post #AwuMeRxtPsAOurEyHI by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:22:12Z
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I'd go further though, and look at a total overhaul of trademark law. So that it's no longer possible for a business to be acquired by a larger business while continuing to use their branding, and the reputation it carries.(3/?)
(DIR) Post #AwuMmEFyGf1WiVPDNI by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:23:37Z
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The whole logic of trademarks is that it allows a vendor to uniquely identify their goods or services, whoever is reselling them. Allowing trademarks to be bought and sold like speculative commodities utterly defeats the purpose. By allowing a reseller of low quality to buy the brand name of a company know for selling high quality when they're in distress, then slap that brand on their own garbage.(4/?)
(DIR) Post #AwuNFNxNHYQjCObtOy by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:28:53Z
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This wouldn't be a problem if sellers of high quality made more money. But in an economy where people are in financial hardship and don't necessarily have time to shop around, that isn't the case.Low quality usually comes from cutting costs. Which allows both volumes and profit margins to be much higher compared to paying for quality inputs (both materials and skills). Especially when they're trying to keep their products and services affordable (eg co-ops and social enterprises).(5/?)
(DIR) Post #AwuNdy8OQSmILtUDA0 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:33:19Z
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So a business that tries to do the right thing, providing quality at reasonable prices, is likely to be operating with less reserves. Because they're not as profitable on paper, so they don't have as much profit to add a buffer, and they're less likely to attract VC funding from extractors. So they're more likely to end up in financial distress.(6/?)
(DIR) Post #AwuNuIL94MI7eVEgXQ by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:36:16Z
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Which is when the extractors swoop in, take over, and use the trusted trademark to sell people a bill of goods. It's fraudulent and it's shocking that it's legal. That needs to change.Coming back to the supermarket duopoly, the lack of competition would have become obvious much sooner if the Big 2 hadn't been able to buy other chains and continue to use their trademarks. If all the acquired stores has to rebrand to reflect the new owner.So trademark law needs tightening.(8/?)
(DIR) Post #AwuOMRCzgpcTGXqJbE by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:41:21Z
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Another thing I'd like to see is a legal protection for Exit to Community. The workers of a supermarket ought to have the legal right to form a co-op and purchase their workplace from its owner. Ideally, customers would get the second option on doing this, although it would be more difficult for them to identify and organise with each other.(9/?)#PolicyNZ #ExitToCommunity
(DIR) Post #AwuOi6COU47uTatIcS by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-06T23:45:16Z
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Not just in supermarkets, but in any business owned by a conglomerate, or that's part of a franchise. Rather than being an one-off business with owner-managers who work there day-to-day.This would be a safety valve against the series of mergers that led to the supermarket duopoly, and the various other monopoly arrangements that dominate our economy. As well as a way to encourage and protect workplace democracy.(10/10)
(DIR) Post #Awud7K1ZcJIXx9kdQO by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-07T02:26:42Z
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Coda:RIP Nosh and the various other specialty supermarket chains that have been and gone. Due to various anticompetitive practices the duopoly have mostly got away with.Honorable mention to all the specialty supermarkets run by organic co-ops, bulk bin chains like Bin Inn, and people selling imported and local ingredients for ethnic cuisine; Chinese, Indian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, etc. Farmers Markets too.I'm lucky to live in a city with a lot of these, and I try to shop them AMAP.
(DIR) Post #AwueeiVVi9ExObF39k by sumisu3@mastodon.nz
2025-08-07T02:43:54Z
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@strypey most meat and vegetables we buy from the Chinese grocery stores in Albany. Bit of a trek but the quality and variety is better. Just went to Bin Inn today to get some spices. Milk in glass bottles via the local butcher. Some stuff need to get from the duopoly but try to use them as seldom as possible. Amazes me these 20 years living here how few options there actually are to buy NZ grown produce other than through the duopoly.
(DIR) Post #AwxAPuaS6PaZMkSPdg by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-08T02:48:53Z
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@sumisu3 > how few options there actually are to buy NZ grown produce other than through the duopolyI doubt much of the produce in non-duopoly supermarkets and greengrocers is imported, beyond the obvious (bananas, pineapple, coconuts, stuff like that). But it would be really intriguing to do a deep dive into where the local stuff does come from, and how the suppliers make a living.Eg do they get penalized by the wholesale duopsony for selling to independents, or can they do both?
(DIR) Post #AwxBZO4nvjgrO1jicq by sumisu3@mastodon.nz
2025-08-08T02:55:07Z
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@strypey I’m just happy that I can get many Asian veggies that were basically non-existent in NZ when I moved here 20 years ago. It has changed so much. I’ve met some of the Korean farmers over the years as they delivered melons and radishes, and they are very proud of what they grow. Was fantastic to talk with them in those cases. I think the Chinese vegetables are also somewhat small scale local growers also. They seem to have direct relationships with the shops which is fantastic.
(DIR) Post #AwxBZP48FikMSEQhDU by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-08-08T03:00:50Z
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@sumisu3 > They seem to have direct relationships with the shops which is fantastic.More of this please. This is precisely why I asked;> do they get penalized by the wholesale duopsony for selling to independents, or can they do both?This might be another area for the Grocery Commissioner to investigate. Then either shame the duopsony (Woolworths and Foodstuffs in their role as wholesale buyers) into ending any discrimination - whether explicit or hidden - or get rules changed to ban it.
(DIR) Post #B0VmH0ZErzVZmVcp4y by hosford42@techhub.social
2025-11-22T18:08:29Z
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@strypey This is brilliant. Imagine if every company could be purchased by its employees or customers (or both), at any time, at a fair market value, wresting control (and the ability to extract wealth from the community) out of the hands of third parties and place ownership square in the hands of the true stakeholders, the people whose lives are impacted by the company, as opposed to merely their bank accounts via rent-seeking behavior.