One MNB reader had a good question about people’s varied reactions to shrinkflation:
How long have food retailers shown “unit pricing” on the shelf tag?
A long time. Good point. All the info is there to help people make intelligent buying decisions. One just has to look.
Responding to our stories about retailers testing small formats, one MNB reader wrote:
Store size seems to go in cycles with retailers trying downsizing when sales hit a wall. It never seems to work over the long term especially when the problem was not the stores size but because the chain lost its way with its customer base. WalMart has tried downsizing its supercenters and rolling out the neighborhood stores but the larger supercenters appear to be the most profitable and come back as the growth vehicle. The neighborhood stores work well in the south and southeast but never got any traction outside those regions.
Better ROI – which the bigger stores tend to have – doesn’t mean that smaller stores can’t work. It is all about having an eye on the bigger picture and aiming for sustained relationships with shoppers that are built on an understanding of lifetime customer value.
Reacting to this week’s decision by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to limit the fees that credit card companies can charge customers who fall behind on their bills, capping them at $8, one MNB reader wrote:
Any savings from this to the American people will be nominal. Folks should be putting this money into their credit card bills. The amount owed by all Americans on their credit cards, rose to a record $1.13 trillion last year.
And from another reader:
Another election year scheme? Interest rates for cards at 24% and data shows about 50% of users don’t know what their rate is? Average balance of $6k means about $90 a month? We always attack the symptom rather than the problem……which is a growing problem. When a political party’s loyalty overrides its commitment to the nation’s well-being, it jeopardizes the fundamental purpose of serving the public, potentially leading to policies and actions that prioritize partisan interests over the greater good. We all know that if it is reduced to $8 it will be a great political talking point, and we also know the banks will find some way for the ones paying their bills on time to fund it.
Maybe just a drop in the ocean. But some would argue better than tax cuts for corporations and the richest one percent of Americans.
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