Patriot, I have had heartburn with the food for a long time. I remember when food tasted great, then it all went south ad fast, we no longer go to the fast Food joints. Milk shakes and malts were really great, took a while to make them , but the used real ice cream and milk. and then added real malt for the malts. I hope they can get it back the way it was.
When I was in Europe the food was great, and in Italy the lemon Ice was outstanding, found nothing like that here. And in Germany and UK I also enjoyed the food, and Switzerland I learned about cheeses, prior to that it was cheeseburgers and grilled cheese. LOL
Everyone has a scam going for sure. This really all needs to get cleaned up. The stores claim to use this to keep items in stock, but many times I have seen what sells well, they stopped carrying on the shelves, like they are programming you to accept something you do not want.
I have a theory of my own: Since most of these manufacturers are just out to make money on sales, it's not really about the food value, it's about the profit margin. On one hand we have the federal reserve bank constantly pumping the monetary system with fiat currency which lowers the value or purchasing power of the dollar. That's squeezing the profit margin which always gets laid on the back of the common guy just trying to provide for his family.
So, in this market they are constantly finding ways to cut corners and stretch the actual product. At some point, you really can't economize any more and then you have the CEO types who love to raid the very corporation they are swindling.
Everyone competes with tricks and gimmicks the instant a food product leaves the farmers hands. Even fast food joints which used to be sort of a great place to get fresh food went corporate where the corporation has it's on distribution system that ships out frozen prepared portions on a daily basis. Even the lettuce they put in the hamburgers has been sliced and washed with preservatives. Nothing is natural. As it happened over a long period of time the public has grown up and are quite used to eating their "soylent green". So much so in fact they would riot if deprived. A child today has no idea what wholesome natural food actually tastes like as they've never had it.
Our food industry in it's constant search for profits has been on a decades long race to the bottom in quality.
Perhaps one place worse is China where ethics are not really on people's minds. Gutter oil is a thing. Fake eggs, fake beer, even fake rice. Oh, and lets not forget milk additives that sickened thousands of vulnerable children or fake meat. Where they glue together scraps of meat to make a steak. OMG!!!
Patriot, appears nutrition was destroyed for longer shelf life. all and additives and preservatives if people researched the health effects they have on people, their would Be a uproar. Just today I heard on the televised news, being reported on baby food containing heavy metals. Now have them explain how that happened.
Longer shelf life and preserving the profit margin. I'd like to pretend that grocers are all about getting more and more profit margin but the fact is, profit margins have barely moved in my life time. Last I checked the profit margin was about 6% for grocers. Everything the grocer does at his end is just treading water to keep up with the ever shrinking purchasing power of the dollar. That's what inflation is really all about.
The stats are a bit complicated for a person like myself with no business education but I think I kind of get it. https://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_Profitability_Ratios.php?ind=1305
From other sites I've looked at it appears grocery stores kind of even out things by selling stuff like batteries at grossly overpriced rates. Sort of how gas stations barely make a living off of their main product but make a killing off of snacks and sodas.
When you go to a theater you'll notice how expensive popcorn and soda with other snacks is compared to actual cost you get outside the theater. It's not the movie they make the money off of, it's the snacks and sodas.
So, the quality of products really has less to do with grocery stores than manufacturing and distribution and more to do with profit margins. Stores will discontinue an item if they don't think they can make a profit off of it due to competing products that are manufactured using sketchy additives in an effort to stretch the actual product. A quality product will not be ordered by the corporation no matter how many customers demand it.
For welding I used to buy a rather inexpensive snap button Wrangler long sleeved denim shirt. It was a bit thick, snap buttons made it easy to take on and off and buttons didn't fall off due to weld sparks burning the threads used to fasten regular buttons. When the shirt became too damaged I'd just glue on more denim for the sleeves.
Walmart used to carry these for around $20.00. Then they stopped stocking them on the shelves. I tried ordering some through Walmart and have them shipped to the store. Walmart management claimed the shirts didn't sell so they stopped stocking them. So I went in and ordered five of them telling them I would be by to pick them up on my day off the following week. Got there to pick up my shirts and management claimed someone had come in, found my five shirts in stock and purchased all of them. I reordered and came back a week later again. Once more, MY shirts had been sold off. Someone was swooping on MY order. Management again claimed they couldn't just have it in stock without me ordering the shirts as they didn't sell. I go to a small western wear store and the shirts are there but marked up to $35.00. So, I went to a weld supply store and just purchased a fire resistant jacket for $40.00. I mean, if I'm going to get jacked up on pricing, might as well go for something worth the price.
Currently, our dollar which now has no backing at all has zero intrinsic value. It's worth nothing other than about 4 cents of it's original purchasing power. Being unhitched from gold and silver allows massive printing as well as digital inflation due to fractional lending.
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