Government controlled food prices

There are 11 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 4,241 times. The latest Post () was by Splinter.

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    One of the first things they did was to reduce the number of products participating in Precios Cuidados.

    It was considered too a banana-sy thing.


    Now they are doing banana-sy things like this and giving financial help like Cristina did.

    Maybe it is just their campaign strategy, but it is working the opposite way on Macri's electorate. It may provide some relief, but still is not a solution since it is merely what the Ks had been doing.

    We've been in La Anonima/Vea and Dia this week. In La Anomina they were selling milk chocolate kitkats for 70 pesos which can be had in a kiosco round the corner for 36 pesos. Nescafe coffee in La Anonima/Vea has been 370 pesos for weeks yet in Dia it's only 174 pesos....a farcical difference which got me thinking.

    Are La Anonima/Vea being forced to sell items at inflated prices for some reason? It doen't make sense to me especially as the stores are always empty compared to Dia. It's as if they have no interest in competing even when it means losing customers.


    As for the controlled price on certain items. Is that not normal? It's always happened during my eleven years here.

    • Official Post
    Quote from Rice

    The thing that grabs my interest is that specific brands are on the list, rather than just categories, such as coffee, mate, milk, bread etc.

    I agree. These are one-to-one deals with the manufacturers, and not the industry as a whole.

    I remember reading that the government offers the 'deal' to several supermarkets, and they can decide or not if to sell at the proposed price.

    However, isn't it unfair to the small stores? Besides the fact that sometimes prices in supermarkets are so high compared to small stores, that there is little convenience in buying in supermarkets...


    Personally, we do limited shopping at the supermarket: toilet paper, Coke, beer, yeast, dishwasher products (not available elsewhere), detergents for clothes.


    Grocery shopping is cheaper and better quality in veggie stores (however, you have to shop around because some will put up a number if they hear a foreign accent), some paper products are cheaper in paper-specialty stores, same as cleaning products (such as to clean dishes), wine is cheaper (and better quality) at the wine shop paying cash, bread and bakery products I like them fresh anyway.


    ---


    At the time of writing, these are the participating supermarkets:

    Supermercados de la Asociación de Supermercados Unidos (ASU)


    Supermercados y Autoservicios Regionales de la Cámara Argentina de Supermercados (CAS) y la Federación Argentina de Supermercados y Autoservicios (FASA)

    • Official Post
    Quote from UK Man

    As for the controlled price on certain items. Is that not normal? It's always happened during my eleven years here.

    Precios Cuidados was introduced by Guillermo "El Pistolero" Moreno back in 2013 and in fact included over 500 products, not 64, unless I'm reading that wrong.

    I really don't remember controlled prices before then and I've been here since 2005.

    Back then they also instigated Mirar Para Cuidar, where groups of CFK's followers, presumably La Campora fanatics (Nazi Youth) were instructed to troll around shops to make sure the controls were being adhered to. A rather scary and Orwellian idea that seemed to fizzle out anyway.

    Also, Chinese supermarkets were exempt from the scheme or at least it was voluntary for them. Why was that then?

    This kind of government intervention therefore, has been tried before and solved absolutely nothing. In fact it simply meant that the prices were being subsidised by the government and we all know what they did with any deal they came up with. It went straight into their pockets.

    So Macri picks up a CFK idea, runs with it and it will surely blow up in his face come election time.

    Read this, if you can bear it:

    http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/…on-los-supermercados.html


    Oh, I forgot to mention that a 900mm bottle of sunflower oil in 2013 was $5, now it's $70.

    • Official Post

    See? Even Perón was doing it.

    I wonder if Mauri knows?



    Perón recorriendo con su equipo económico un supermercado controlando el cumplimiento de los precios máximos.

    Perón creó la Comisión contra el Agio y la Especulación (CAE), que fue lanzada en el discurso presidencial del 1º de julio de 1947.

    El surgimiento de esa comisión determinó el nombramiento de los inspectores distribuidos en los principales centros urbanos del país, que se analizaron los negocios controlando el cumplimiento de los precios máximos fijados por el gobierno y que no se produjera el desabastecimiento artificial de los artículos de la canasta familiar, especialmente comestibles y combustibles de uso doméstico, como el kerosene y el alcohol de quemar, de gran consumo en esos años. Estos inspectores generalmente fueron reclutados en la planta de empleados de empresas y organismos del Estado, fueron relevantes de sus funciones y asignaturas a la comisión, con el mismo régimen laboral y salarial.

    En 1952, el gobierno de Juan Domingo Perón lanzó un Plan de Estabilización, en el marco del Segundo Plan Quinquenal. El objetivo principal era la reducción de la inflación, y la recuperación del saldo positivo en la balanza comercial.