I have heard that the reason for the quality of veggies in the C&W duopoly being so ordinary is because they store them in cool rooms for an extended period of time. By having such large supply chains, not only is the handling cost doubled/tripled/quadrupled etc, but the profit motive of all links in the chain means that they don't throw anything out in order to make up for inefficiencies in their transport and storage logistics. This leads to lower quality produce.

Another indirect way C&W have a negative impact is to elbow out, outlast, buy out or undercut the smaller operators because of their size.

We should get smart and create more market gardens in and around our major cities. This will do a number of things: reduce the need for transportation of food, minimise the links in the chain and make it more efficient, get produce to market faster/fresher and enable smaller operators to be more competitive and abundant. This would be a much healthier situation for the whole country and industry.

The reason why NZ is doing better than us is because their primary producing industries are more sustainable than ours. Wakey, wakey Australia. It's time we got a whole lot smarter. It's probably time for a crisis too seeing as though crises seem to go before every major improvement in society.

High grocery prices in Australia? What rot!

You guys need to go back 50 years or so. You'd see that grocery prices were TWICE what we now pay (taking inflation into consideration). Go back to the 1930's and '40's - - - FOUR times as much.

We get it easy, really easy, in modern times in Australia. Ok, so things can sometimes be a bit cheaper in NZ, so what! Their overall wages are lower, which evens things out. Things are cheaper still in Thailand, so what! Their wages are lower, which evens things out. Stuff is even cheaper again in China, so what! Their wages are even lower still, which evens things out.

Our Aussie grocery prices are LOW, LOW, LOW. We have life delivered to us on a platter, yet still we're a nation of pampered whingers (some of us at least).

* forget the clever accounting*

So is that what it is eh Maxi. The shareholders would love to
know in that case, if there is money vanishing. Being public
companies, the managers would be in front of the ACCC and possibly
jail, really quickly! Tell us where it goes please.

Yup, margins are higher on meat and veggies, then on canned stuff
etc, as so much stuff is thrown out, out of date expired,
etc. That does not change the overall margin, for some products
are loss leaders, when on special.

Have you watched the public pick through those boxes of
veggies? Any little blemish and nobody wants it. Crazy stuff.

Master,

I don't know where you live but in the Hills in Perth I can pay between $12.99 and $8.99 a kilo for Red Capsicums. I do not need to tell you but its Coles and Woolies (in Mundaring to be exact) that have the higher price. Mundaring Woolies has the highest prices in the Perth Metro area - we know this from personal surveys.

I also have feedback from the UK, Germany France and Holland - the local prices ARE higher!

Been to a supermarket lately, Master?

Even the most basic of veggies, the humble spud, is $2-3/kg. Same with onions. A small bunch of parsley, $2.

Now, I can't remember what the prices were for these items 25 years ago, but I'll take a stab and say 29c/kg for spuds. That's 6-7 times as much today. There's no way my wage has gone up that much in that time.

Care to reconsider?

"Have you watched the public pick through those boxes of
veggies? Any little blemish and nobody wants it. Crazy stuff."

My parents emigrated to Australia from western Europe after the war and they have always made the most of all the food they have (ie put all ingredients into stews so that nothing's lost, anything on fruit trees that isn't eaten fresh is put into the pot to make jams and bottled) so I see the merit in this comment.

It begs the question: why aren't supermarkets setting up commercial links to on-sell those brusied bananas and apples to make other types of food (eg breads and cakes etc). As long as the fruit and veg haven't gone off, apart from the aesthetic "yuk" factor, what's the matter with recycling the product? It's just another example of waste in society which indirectly results in higher prices.