The smash and grab of Kroger-Albertsons
Combined, my family has easily more than 60 years at Smith&#x27;s over 3 generations dating back to the 70s - my dad had more than 40 alone before they canned him. It is not an understatement to say I grew up in a grocery store.<p>Kroger has been a bit more ruthless in the last 5 years, and basically pulled an IBM in late 2019:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;10&#x2F;02&#x2F;kroger-to-lay-off-hundreds-amid-questions-about-its-turnaound-plan.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;2019&#x2F;10&#x2F;02&#x2F;kroger-to-lay-off-hundreds-a...</a><p>They called it &quot;middle management&quot; in press release but they fired tons of senior people in the stores that had been around a long time (anyone over 50 who&#x27;d been at the company more than 25 years was a good candidate). In any case - management at a grocery store might as well be a blue collar job in comparison to most any other white collar job. The severance package was decent - most got 9 months pay. Still, getting canned in your 50s from one of the only jobs you&#x27;ve ever known isn&#x27;t pleasant, but it didn&#x27;t surprise me. Management at the established grocery businesses. There was a lot of talk about The Bear in the restaurant industry - the grocery industry at the departmental management level and above is similar, albeit usually less ruthless and a lot more petty. Everyone gets written up a lot and their jobs hung over their head often. I think it&#x27;s probably gotten a bit better in the last decade though, partially as some of the old people have started to be replaced with college grads I suppose.<p>As for Safeway, I&#x27;ve been in the bay area since 2010 and I can&#x27;t really say I&#x27;d shed a tear to see Safeway under different management. I remember my introduction to Safeway when I went to buy eggs and bacon and was shocked to see it at $7&#x2F;package in 2010. I settled for the Jimmy Dean sausage at the time, because it was on sale. This simple introduction holds true -most Safeway prices are out of line with a reasonable price _unless_ things are on sale. That was not something that was true at Smith&#x27;s, or Winco, or even Raley&#x27;s (Nob Hill Foods) in general. Safeway even took over Andronico&#x27;s in the bay area and _raised_ prices even more - while reducing the product quality and selection. Compared to Whole Foods, prices are actually competitive on a day-to-day basis. The best thing Safeway has going for itself at this point is that is that it&#x27;s ubiquitous and it usually has self-checkout lanes (which is the only way to get in and out of a store in a reasonable amount of time anymore).<p>To sum it up - I think Kroger is on a path to trying to turn more profit at the expense of workers and consumers alike, but I don&#x27;t think Safeway can get much worse either. It&#x27;s going to be shit all the way down, you just hope it&#x27;s not the super smelly kind.