We would all be better off with more competition, more choices and lower prices at our local grocery stores. Unfortunately, the proposed mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons would make already higher prices even worse.
Thank goodness the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the attorneys general of many states, including Washington and Colorado, have filed lawsuits to block the merger. The FTC’s preliminary case recently wrapped up in Portland on Sept. 17, the day after the Washington state attorney general’s case began in Seattle .
What’s at stake in these lawsuits? One of the most important freedoms in our American economy – being able to choose where we buy what we need.
We are all different. For one person their choice of a store may be driven by lower prices, someone else a better selection of products or the fact that the store is nearby or provides better service. In many cases, we might go to several different stores for different products. Regardless, at the end of the day, the key point is that there is a choice. And that’s what drives competition between different businesses. If one store does not give you what you need, you can simply take your business somewhere else.
But what happens when your choices get taken away? Competition is reduced, prices go up, stores shut down and workers are laid off. That’s not good for anyone. That is why this merger should be rejected. As union members of United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 , we are both proud that our local union has been a leader nationally in the opposition to this proposed merger since the day it was announced nearly two years ago.
The scale of the proposed mega merger is hard to overstate. Cincinnati-based Kroger is already the nation’s top traditional one-stop grocery chain with about 2,800 stores. Boise-based Albertsons is one of Kroger’s biggest competitors with about 2,200 stores. In Idaho and neighboring Washington, the Kroger brands are Fred Meyer and QFC. Albertsons goes either by Albertsons or Safeway banners since the massive 2015 merger when Albertsons bought Safeway. All combined, in Idaho and Washington there are over 350 Kroger and Albertsons stores.
If they were allowed to go through with the proposed merger, Kroger and Albertsons have said they would sell off 134 stores (124 in WA and 10 in ID), to another new company to create the appearance of avoiding a monopoly. That plan has so many holes in it we can’t go into all the details, so we’ll just highlight a few big ones. This company, called C&S Wholesale from the other side of the country in New Hampshire, is as you could correctly assume from their name, a wholesaler. They don’t have any experience running stores in Idaho or Washington. While they do have vast experience supplying products to retail stores, they have very little experience actually running them – if allowed to proceed they would go from under 30 nation-wide to over 550. And by the way, they have only run one retail pharmacy as opposed to the hundreds that they’d have to run after a merger.
Over the years we have seen a greater and greater concentration in the health care industry and the grocery industry. At every step, a merger here and a merger there, we were told we would have more choices and lower prices. But that usually doesn’t work out as promoted.
As residents of Idaho, and as essential workers who served our communities during the COVID pandemic, we saw first-hand how vulnerable our local areas are in our consolidated economy. Fewer places to get the things we need like food and medications would only put us all more at risk. The last thing our communities need is to become more dependent on just one company.
This proposed merger should be rejected. If you would like to tell Albertsons and Kroger CEOs to stop wasting time and money on a failed merger idea and get back to the business of running grocery stores, go to NoGroceryMerger.com and join thousands of others who have already signed our petition.
Carla Romagnano is a long-time union grocery store worker employed currently at a Safeway store in Coeur d’Alene and lives in the same town. Kaye Balk is a longtime union health care worker, working at Providence Sacred Heart in Spokane and is a resident of Post Falls. Both Carla and Kaye are leaders in their union, UFCW 3000, which has over 50,000 members in Washington, northeastern Oregon and northern Idaho.
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