Supermarkets

"Supermarkets, especially the big chains, routinely bleat the same old song about their tiny profit margins. Three percent is a number frequently mentioned.This to borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, is voodo economics. Most supermarkets managers are paid annual salaries approaching, and often reaching, six figures. The department heads and assistant managers are not far behind.In addition, many chains lavish incredible amounts of money on their managers in the form of profit-sharing. The manager of the store I patrol will retire at the age 38, very nearly a millionaire. Most of that money will be in the form of profit-sharing, fully vested after his twentieth year of work. Profit-sharing is just one of the tricks used to disguise supermarket chain income. Anything they can possibly pass off as an operating expense is subtracted from the profit column.The supermarket chains would like you to think the three percent figure simply represents the markup on a can of a soup or whatever, and many folks have fallen for that line. But it's not simply true. Some expensive items are moderately marked up 25 percent or so. Most are marked up more, over 40 percent. Some items, such as fancy cuts of meat, loose snack foods, and candies, are greatly marked up, sometimes on the order of several hundred percent. The store I patrol has bins containing loose candy that the customer may scoop into a plastic bag. Kids steal that candy by the double handful, but I've been told not to stop them. A single pound of candy, priced at about three and half bucks, pays for the entire bin load. Only one paying customer is needed to balance the thefts.Sometimes the profiteering is so heartless it hurts...My store is in a poor neighborhood, and many of our customers are alcoholics. Consequently, we sell a good bit more beer than average for our particular chain.Don't shed a tear for the poor supermarkets. A truck load of food every can be taken without putting a dent in their profit and loss status. These guys are raking in..." This is what security guard Andrew said.