med-mastodon.com is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Medical community on Mastodon

Administered by:

Server stats:

371
active users

#pricefixing

0 posts0 participants0 posts today

Billionaire Weston thieves will soon pay for stealing from average Canadians using their bread price fixing scam. "Some Canadian shoppers may soon receive cash from a class­action lawsuit that accused Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. of engaging in an industry­wide scheme to fix the price of bread. Ontario Superior Court Judge approved a $500­million settlement in the case on May 7" #pricefixing #stealing #theft #weston #loblaws #canada cbc.ca/news/business/judge-app

CBCOntario judge approves $500M settlement in Loblaw bread-fixing case | CBC NewsAn Ontario judge has approved a settlement in a class-action lawsuit that accused Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of engaging in an industry-wide scheme to fix the price of bread.

"This is just #pricefixing, with an app. The fact that they don't sit around a table and openly discuss pricing doesn't keep this from being price-fixing.
What's more, they admit it. A director at McCain said that "higher ups" forbade anyone in the company from competing on price…they'd "never seen margins this high in the history of the potato industry." Lamb Weston's CEO attributed a 111% increase in net income to "pricing actions.""

#Oligopolies #Inflation

pluralistic.net/2025/01/25/pot

pluralistic.netPluralistic: It’s not a crime if we do it with an app (25 Jan 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

"These companies have been hiking prices for years, but really started to turn the screws during the post-covid inflationary period. One of Schwenk's sources is Josh Saltzman, owner of the DC sports bar Ivy and Coney. Ten years ago, Saltzman charged $3 for fries; now it's $6 – and Saltzman's margins have declined. Saltzman has a limited number of suppliers, and they all get their potatoes from Big Potato, and they bundle those potato orders with their other supplies, making it effectively impossible for Saltzman to buy his potatoes from anyone else.

Big Potato controls 97% of the frozen potato market, and any sector that large and concentrated is going to be pretty cozy. The execs at these companies all meet at industry associations, lobbying bodies, and as they job-hop between companies in the cartel. But they don't have to rely on personal connections to rig the price of potatoes: they do it through a third-party data-broker called Potatotrac. Each cartel member sends all their commercially sensitive data – supply costs, pricing, sales figures – to Potatotrac, and then Potatotrac uses that data to give "advice" to the cartel members about "optimal pricing."

This is just price-fixing, with an app. The fact that they don't sit around a table and openly discuss pricing doesn't keep this from being price-fixing. What's more, they admit it. A director at McCain said that "higher ups" forbade anyone in the company from competing on price. A Lamb Weston exec described the arrangement as everyone "behaving themselves," chortling that they'd "never seen margins this high in the history of the potato industry." Lamb Weston's CEO attributed a 111% increase in net income to "pricing actions.""

pluralistic.net/2025/01/25/pot

pluralistic.netPluralistic: It’s not a crime if we do it with an app (25 Jan 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada. The suit claims they did it by using a piece of software called YieldStar.
#pricefixing #rent #lawsuit #Canada #News #Business
cbc.ca/news/business/rent-pric

Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada. The suit claims they did it by using a piece of software called YieldStar.
#pricefixing #rent #lawsuit #Canada #News #Business
cbc.ca/news/business/rent-pric

Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada. The suit claims they did it by using a piece of software called YieldStar.
#pricefixing #rent #lawsuit #Canada #News #Business
cbc.ca/news/business/rent-pric

Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada. The suit claims they did it by using a piece of software called YieldStar.
#pricefixing #rent #lawsuit #Canada #News #Business
cbc.ca/news/business/rent-pric

Why the Justice Department is suing a software company to stop landlords colluding on rents theconversation.com/robo-price

The Justice Department accused the company of selling software to landlords that collects nonpublic information from competing landlords and uses that combined information to make pricing recommendations.

That explains the price doubling a few years back. #collusion #pricefixing #Canada/US

"Two proposed class actions filed this week in U.S. District Court claim that four leading potato companies — McCain Foods, Cavendish Farms, Lamb Weston and J.R. Simplot — have privately swapped intel to inflate the price of frozen potato goods, like fries, hash browns and tater tots, over the last several years."
cbc.ca/news/world/potato-carte

CBCAlleged 'potato cartel' accused of conspiring to raise price of frozen fries, tater tots across U.S. | CBC NewsTwo proposed class actions filed this week in U.S. District Court claim that four leading potato companies — including two Canadian ones — have privately swapped intel to inflate the price of frozen potato goods like fries, hash browns and tater tots over the last several years.

Of all the reasons why your rent’s too high, did you have an algorithm-powered illegal cartel on your list?

Millions of people across the U.S. pay far more rent than they can reasonably afford. There’s a surprising factor driving up rental prices: landlords colluding with the help of technology, according to a new lawsuit #PriceFixing #rent #economy
buff.ly/48TTkLO

The ConversationRobo price-fixing: Why the Justice Department is suing a software company to stop landlords colluding on rentsRealPage, Inc. provides software that lets landlords keep rental prices high. The Justice Department cried foul on the price-fixing practice.
Continued thread

/1
Vancouver food bank feeling demand as Food Banks Canada reports doubling of users
bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-food-b

* many food bank users employed
* unable to keep up w. cost of living
* 6 y ago Greater Vancouver Food Bank had 6,500 clients
* today 15,000 people
* range f. families to seniors on fixed income who can’t keep up w. inflation
* Hunger Count: 30% food banks running out of food

British Columbia · Vancouver food bank feeling demand as Food Banks Canada reports doubling of usersMore than two million Canadians used a food bank in March of this year, compared to one million users in March of 2018, according to the Hunger Count report by Food Banks Canada.