For many years, decades even, the Loblaws branded stores have almost been the darling of Canadian grocers. Their loyalty program unmatched, many flocking from Air Miles until that program was eventually ditched by Sobeys for Scene. PC points racked up like my dirty laundry on my floor, quickly and easily. For many, the PC family became a staple in their lives, ingrained in many aspects—groceries, prescriptions, hygiene items, clothing, housewares. The list goes on and on. Many people switched to Esso gas when they partnered with PC optimum. PC Money provided a points back debit option to go alongside their credit cards. Their World Elite Mastercard is one of the few without yearly fees. Eventually, many Canadians were encapsulated in an all PC-all the time mentality. Loblaws has also been trying vehemently to break into the health sphere more, even partnering with Getmaple to provide their own service.
When a company provides this many products and services for the lives of its consumers, and with ever-growing costs, this becomes not only a financial issue but a personal issue. Money flowing from Canadians to Loblaws has been a seemingly endless pool. Loblaws was beloved by many, until, of course… they weren’t.
The boycott is finding many Canadians almost by accident. As we google, “Loblaws/Superstore/etc” prices and wonder what exactly we’re getting in return for loyalty, the savings we thought we had from PC points diminish. My own personal hatred for Loblaws started to grow when I noticed a subtle – yet sneakily evil – change to the way the ordering system for PC Express displayed prices. Now, instead of showing the actual price of an item, their god-awful website displays the “sale” or “multi-buy” price as the main price. Uh, what? Multi-buy and “Insider” prices are already predatory at best—so this new change was absolutely gobsmacking to me. I was pissed. I’m being completely honest when I say that I found /r/loblawsisoutofcontrol when I googled, “sick of loblaws” directly after this sudden surge of anger when ordering groceries.
Loblaws can preach that this boycott is consumer ignorance to growing costs all they want. We know that prices across the board have risen, and yes, in some cases that includes everywhere, but what Loblaws needs to recognize is that we’re not just angry about inflation, and we’re not only angry about profiteering (which I 100% think they’re doing), we’re directly angry at them. The promise of low prices, high-quality, and good service has been replaced by a dystopian future of prison-like Loblaws stores, locks and coin-inserts on carts, 30% off rotten food, and the bitter memory of price-fixed bread. For the most part Canadians went easy on Loblaws when it came to the bread. We took our free gift card and moved on.
Assuming that people are only mad about prices is an oversimplification of the pushback that Loblaws is facing. Sobeys has always been more expensive, and yet we do not hear mass waves of people lobbying against them. As I said above, this boycott is deeply personal, and it involves those who loved Loblaws the most.
In a time when user attention on the internet is at an all time low, and actual action is even less-likely, Loblaws must realize that this level of reaction is not due to an inorganic wrangling of the pitchforking masses. Instead, this boycott happened because so many people have independently become fed up with the lies that we’ve been fed by Loblaws, no longer willing to chow down on 30% off rotten meat.
