Dear Editor,
Over the last few months South Africans have been fortunate enough to benefit from the massive reduction in the global price of oil. Since the record peaks of petrol and diesel, there has been a huge reduction in the price of petrol.
Good news indeed. However as much of a relief as it may be, one wonders why the current situation has not filtered through to retailers.
In a recent Fin24 article by Theunis Strydom, Pick 'n Pay's financial director Dennis Cope states that food prices are determined by their suppliers and that due to other factors such as commodities, packaging and labour, food prices may not necessarily come down.
That may be true, but as I can imagine most South Africans will be asking, how come food prices increase dramatically when fuel costs increase? When Pick 'n Pay increases their prices on foods they blame it on the rising fuel costs, there is no mention of suppliers and their costs of packaging and labour?
If the cost of regularly transporting products such as milk, bread, meat, fruit and vegetables have come down, then surly someone out there is exploiting the consumer? Why don't major retailers put pressure on suppliers to lower their prices?
Why don't consumers boycott the major retailers in order for them to put pressure on their so called suppliers to lower their costs?
I'm sure that there is a better solution to providing consumers with information regarding the price of foods? Perhaps Mr Cope from Pick 'n Pay can explain why they charge suppliers for stocking products on their shelves as well as taking profit on goods sold.
Perhaps we as consumers should support our local butchery and the corner fruit and vegetable shop a lot more.
Dan Collins
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.