Canadians are so fed up with Loblaws, there’s a huge online space to rant about its “out of control” prices
Canadians who are fed up with Loblaws have created a sounding board on Reddit that lets shoppers vent about the grocery giant’s “out of control” prices.
The new online community is called “Loblaws is out of Control.” It has garnered over 7,500 subscribers as of Monday and is already in the top 10% of the largest communities on the platform.
It was created by Emily Johnson, a mental health and addictions worker based in Milton, Ontario, in November last year.
She says she created the community out of frustration from how high food prices affect Canadians.
“I saw a post on r/Ontario of an $85 holiday planter at a local Real Canadian Superstore. It was a bunch of sticks and some ribbon, and this somehow justified the ridiculous price tag,” she explained in a news release.
“Someone had commented, ‘Loblaws is out of control,’ and that inspired me to create the sub to call out this kind of practice.”
That post is one of many “outrageous” prices at Loblaws that Canadians shared last year. In fact, there were so many instances of this that Daily Hive has a whole roundup of wild stories about grocery prices.
The latest example came from the “Loblaws is out of Control” subreddit, where Canadians dragged the company for a “stupid” discount on canned beans.
What a great sale
byu/meringuedragon inloblawsisoutofcontrol
Johnson says the community got an influx of subscribers and visits last week. It may have resulted from Loblaws scrapping its 50% discount on expiring items recently, which outraged Canadian shoppers.
The public outcry caused the grocery giant to reconsider this decision and reinstate the discount last Friday.
While the subreddit is a place for ranting, there is still decorum users need to follow, including being respectful, staying on topic, no anti-immigrant rhetoric, and “no ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ nonsense.”
The community also features work from its users, including an app one person created to track grocery prices so shoppers can find the best deals possible.
Ultimately, Johnson wants to show people they’re not alone struggling through Canada’s cost of living crisis.
“As a person working with a highly vulnerable population, we are constantly fighting an uphill battle to support our clientele. I see daily how these outrageous prices in Canadian grocery stores are forcing people to go hungry while their stores are making record profits,” she said.
“I find that Loblaws is the most egregious, and you can see this through the many posts of crazy prices on our subreddit page. This gives people a place to vent their frustration and feel like they are not alone.”
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