Loblaws boycott greedflation overcharging meat
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Report finds Loblaws is overcharging customers by selling underweighted meat

by Timothy Edward, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

A CBC investigation found that 80 Loblaws stores were weighing meat with packaging, increasing the price by an estimated 4% to 11%.

A CBC investigation found that Loblaws and other major grocery stores have been overcharging customers for meat by weighing the product with packaging, increasing the price by 4% to 11%.

Underweighted meat was sold at 80 Loblaws stores in Western Canada for an undisclosed period ending in Dec. 2023, according to CBC, who also discovered the same phenomenon in recent months at four stores in three provinces: two Loblaws locations, one Sobeys and one Walmart.

Federal regulations state that posted net weights for packaged food, and subsequent pricing, can’t factor in the packaging.

Terri Lee, who was a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspector for 24 years before her retirement in 2021, told the CBC that grocery stores have been overcharging customers by selling underweighted meat for years. Lawyer and consumer advocate Daniel Tsai said that even a small weight discrepancy could add up to millions of dollars in profit for grocery chains over time.

“There’s definitely a need here for some kind of rectification that consumers get compensated,” Tsai said.

Iris Griffin, a Manitoba woman who discovered that her local Loblaws was overcharging for meat, alerted the CFIA, which took the case to the grocery chain. A Loblaws representative has issued an apology, blaming “operational errors” for the problem and stating that the company is “refreshing” their in-store training.

“We apologize for these errors… We have robust internal processes and controls in place; however, they are subject to the occasional operational error. Even though 97% of our [2,400] stores were unaffected, any pricing issue that results in an overcharge is one too many.”

Report finds Loblaws is overcharging customers by selling underweighted meat

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