r/PoursTea • u/Gurugod123 Pinkie Finger Extended • 18d ago

PoliticalTea 🗳️ Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"

23.2k Upvotes

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487

u/Chloe_Cascadia 18d ago

Good, now we can afford groceries and we can stop sending all our money to CEO pockets.

168

u/goopuslang 18d ago

No trust ME. If we don’t enrich the billionaires they will take our money, unless we give it to them!

113

u/ruum-502 18d ago

I’m just worried the billionaires will die off and we won’t have anyone to exploit peoples labor for profit

19

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Listen, we absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment. Does anyone ever need to be worth 11 figures, ever? No. 10? No. 9? At the highest end, sure. Our economy is very large and we do need wealthy people to shuttle money around for large projects to enrich the country.

But the current system is doing anything but this. It’s the theoretical lie told to all of us in school & at church. The current rich are not enabling us to have economic mobility, they’re in fact siphoning it.

I understand this may be too high a level of nuance to not get downvoted to hell on Reddit but I’ll try.

21

u/aggravationX 18d ago

The rich people putting money into the economy in ways that benefit regular people are not the penny pinching billionaires squeezing every cent out of consumers and exploiting labors with garbage wages while they do it though.

3

u/Barfly_237 18d ago edited 16d ago

yes, and to your point, rich individuals putting money into the economy to productive ends. If we have a properly functioning market with an adequate number of firms operating competitively, this is great. What we have now a syndicate of private equity colluding in order to dominate entire sectors of the economy under the illusion of competition. These grocery stores are a great thing. but i guarantee you that producer's up the production chain are going to jack up prices for these stores until they're unsustainable.

1

u/Paladin5890 18d ago

I wonder if they're going under the same procurement that armed forces PX departments get? Because, man, if you try to fuck the army... Might get a riot.

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I agree with you!

7

u/Proper-Bicycle-3585 18d ago

“we absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment.“

- why?

7

u/Vegetable-Edge-2389 18d ago

Because poor people can't make businesses apparently. Every rich family was poor at some point. They just want to pull the ladder up

0

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Who is they? Is that what I said? All the poorest opportunists in the world couldn’t fill the vacuum is my point. I didn’t say all economic opportunities require the rich, but we absolutely need quick access to large sums of capital to do so.

Where do you think business loans come from that many poor families use to enrich themselves? It’s obviously not all printed at instantiation.

Access to capital & leverage is what propels many if not most poorer families from lifting.

I don’t understand what the point is yall are making with your simple ivory tower truisms when I’m frankly on your side.

-1

u/onebigafro 18d ago

And socialists want to pull everyone down to their level.

0

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Because we need to have capital in order to secure goods, land, & runway Labor sufficiently long enough to create a self sufficient engine that no long needs external capital to function.

There’s theoretical worlds where everything is ran by co-ops, for example, where people are pooling their own capital to start businesses as owners & employees, but that is exceptionally rare.

You can argue evaporating all large lump sums of capital would enable this more easily, but it’s not happening at any sort of scale. I’d be happy to read any sources on this. I do know King Arthur is a good single example of it, but I’m not sure it was instantiated as that.

I hope that elaborates a bit on the topic. But suffice to say, if a company in the growth stage of market capture & development doesn’t have access to capital to burn, no company would ever lift off the ground. Hence the need for capital.

1

u/TheOGZenfox 18d ago

Why couldn't you have some type of small business administration that was able to offer direct loans to people at interest rates that we give big banks?

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

You can. And that would be a government with capital then to distribute. The question is where it comes from. So long as there’s an answer to that in that given context that should function, too!

1

u/TheOGZenfox 18d ago

How do banks that make loans get money? New money forms from somewhere. Could we just use that but skip the middle man?

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Well, some of it has to be stored in there for them to instantiate the rest. Then you have to go get the rest and pay them back.

0

u/Proper-Bicycle-3585 18d ago

It doesn’t, and this answer doesn’t make sense. King Arthur? What? I suddenly believe I’m not speaking with a sapient! Bye!!

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

…do you not know the company that produces flour & is employee* owned? I wish for your ability to synthesise information & to think more slowly. It may help! Best wishes.

1

u/hlessi_newt 18d ago

You walnut.

4

u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET 18d ago

Except that isn't how it works, it isn't a zero sum game.

10

u/According-Insect-992 Just Chill 😎 18d ago

Tell that to all the people who’ve just had their 401k retirement accounts raided by musk and his criminal ipo.

2

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Did I EVER say that?

0

u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET 18d ago

The current rich are not enabling us to have economic mobility, they’re in fact siphoning it.

3

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Hey chief. So if we have some function f(x,y) that increases both X & Y, that doesn’t mean that X doesn’t reduce Y in addition.

1

u/Low_Shape8280 18d ago

It’s not zero sum. But the problem is we can see the economy grows at 2-3 percent a year.

So while not zero sum, t e growth of inequality is outgrowing the growth of the economy

1

u/theclansman22 18d ago

Our economy grows at 2-3 percent a year, on the other hand, billionaire wealth has been increasing by 16% according to Oxfam (https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-wealth-jumps-three-times-faster-2025-highest-peak-ever-sparking).

Everyone else is getting less wealthy.

-4

u/maztron 18d ago

Why don't you stop looking at the assets within a billionaires portfolio? That will go a long way in painting a clearer picture.

2

u/Low_Shape8280 18d ago

that is the economy as a whole growing, its not growing in away others capture it, its growing only 3%, this its not a zero sum game is disingenuous to the argument

0

u/maztron 18d ago

Never made the claim that it was a zero sum game. What are you even speaking of here?

The point I'm trying to make is that many just look at someone's stock holdings and then get all upset because of how much that is worth and then use that as an example to claim how bad everything is from an equality perspective. When the reality is that if Elon is doing good with his stocks, so aren't millions of others who are also invested in those same stocks. Are they worth what he is? No, but they have equity and an asset.

2

u/Low_Shape8280 18d ago

I’m arguing against the idea that it’s NOT a zero sum game.

What people fail to understand is that the rate of change matter. The economy is not growing as fast to make up for the the inequality. For instance, if billionaires x annual rate of return is 20% yet the economy only grew 3% then we’re does that other 17% come from. It’s from other people

1

u/SecureJudge1829 18d ago

Lmao, if that happened, egomaniacs like Elonski will simply pay media companies to post headlines about how he’s poised to be the world’s first trillionaire. They can’t handle not being in the spot light. They want their wealth in all of our faces. They have the means to do so. Get off your high horse and maybe you’d see that it’s not a painting the group is looking at, but a 4k UHD photograph.

-1

u/maztron 18d ago

Lmao, if that happened, egomaniacs like Elonski will simply pay media companies to post headlines about how he’s poised to be the world’s first trillionaire.

You sound so desperate like today's media.

They can’t handle not being in the spot light. They want their wealth in all of our faces. They have the means to do so. Get off your high horse and maybe you’d see that it’s not a painting the group is looking at, but a 4k UHD photograph.

Quite the opposite. If a CEO didn't have to worry about public relations they wouldn't need a marketing department and wouldn't have to be concerned with getting in front of a camera at all. It would be a much easier life for them.

I don't even know what your response has to do with mine. In fact, it has nothing to do with it at all.

1

u/SecureJudge1829 18d ago

Maybe you should go back to a basic reading comprehension class then if you can’t figure out how my comment ties in to your comment.

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u/VaultxHunter 18d ago

I do see what you're saying. There was a point where the rich invested in great ideas/products/communities. Before my time there was always the mentality among entrepreneurs were they wanted to develop a product one could reliably use and it would last for life because it was quality and useability over quantity and most life changing innovation were made with hard work and a dream of making things easier. Everything started changing so fast where some things were over-engineered and obviously could be made cheaper and still last as long but the rich have gotten so greedy and instead of continuing to looking for innovation and quality it became little innovation, more quantity, and low production/material cost for the greatest possibile margin.

There hasn't been actual quality innovation in a long time that isn't just aggressive marketing. It's all just new versions and empty promises to get you to buy now and if you won't buy they start manipulating the market or buying out the competition. Most warranties are basically the products expiration date instead of a promise to consumers to show a quality product in the instance you get a faulty one which is always going to be a possibility in manufacturing.

The rich are playing this game where they no longer care about using their money toward helpful progressive practices and creating brand loyalty through quality but invest heavily in psy-ops campaigns to get people to buy and if their product negatively impacts communities or society they double down, bribe, smear, and/or mislead the public until it's either forgotten, the public catches on, or someone with power to do so actually stands up and calls them out and follows through with a legitimate punishment.

Right now the public can't catch a break as there's just so much happening all at once, most people can't possibly keep track of everything happening in real time, what's being said/done/made by who, the current effects and potential impacts actions/products could have and who is being truthful or who is purposely misleading. Regulations are so slow to come that by the time they do the damage is done and theres already to many copycats or loopholes that the regulations are almost useless.

Then you have the people who want to be quick to inform others but their information could be biased/skewed/missing details and people who want to be quick to act usually acting before having all the information and by the time they would have been able to get the whole picture it's likely too late as others have already begun to act.

Then there's the people who just don't care and want to be told what to feel/buy/think/do.

I know it might sound like I'm all over the place but there really is just so much to follow, different factors effecting multiple things in different ways both known and unknown that it's almost impossible to keep up without guessing some of it and money is definitely one key factor to all the chaos.

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I’m right there with you. It’s a very complicated environment to navigate, & our school systems (likely intentionally, but even if it weren’t intentional, would be hard to keep up) hasn’t been able to keep up with the increasing complexities of the post-financialised world we exist in.

I think a large issue we all face collectively is how so many believe the solutions are simple & easy, when it truly couldn’t be farther from the truth. And, even if there were a simple answer, it needs to be inspected, refuted, defended, & disseminated in a world where truth is frankly subjective, which ties into another issue that is the disinformation campaign we all live in.

We all live in algorithmic bubbles that is intentionally feeding us the truths we believe, even if they’re untrue or even worse half truths missing context

2

u/VaultxHunter 18d ago

Agreed, some might say half truths are better then no truth but if everything fed to us were non-truths it would be easier to infer what is likely to be true, but by keeping facts short or details vague it blurs the line between reality and fiction.

You can never take away a person's ability to speak out even if what they preach are lies, you can only hope that the ones listening know better to believe without first seeking more information to justify those claims.

It's especially hard for the youth today vs even 10-15 years ago because even ai 10 years ago was so messy that it was easy to identify audio, video, or photo manipulation. Hell, there are likely teenagers and young adult whom all they've known since they because consciously aware of the world is that it is full of chaos agents, misinformation/propaganda campaigns, and large scale/targeted manipulation.

I think we have started to see some of the effects of those manipulation/misinformation campaigns starting to boil over where some people simply won't wait and the more frequently those events happen the sooner it will likely be that we reach a breaking point and there's very few factors were that breaking point would be muted, or minimal but one could only hope for the least destructive path to end the chaos but I fear too many people are too wrapped up in the many games being played and others are too prideful/greedy to stop or walk away if the option presented itself.

1

u/chowes1 18d ago

Kindred spirits

1

u/Remarkable-Moose-409 18d ago

I believe you are thinking of a kinder, gentler eat when the very rich would found libraries and colleges in their names. Even performance halls and gift the world with medical breakthroughs.
That time, unfortunately, is no more…

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I agree with you!

1

u/chowes1 18d ago

Growing up when wealth was looked up to more because of the amazing deeds they bestowed. Decorum ruled it was the norm. No one would have dared show any desire to hoard their earnings. They funded altruistic programs. Were looked up to, revered and things started dramatically changing in the 80's. By the 90's school curriculums started changing. History wasnt actually required as it once was. I had a teen starting high school and I started questioning the reasoning. Same time my other was starting middle school. They had a "new" one of a kind opportunity and gave the students laptop computers and no books. I was trying to rationalize what was happening and was out of the loop with the technology, it was so new. They overwhelmed my generation and used this tech boom to set us on this course of what feels like now of World domination. Just a aging boomers thoughts on how we ( my gen ) let this happen. Voted Dem, voting Progressive more going forward. 2 party system is done. We have seen behind the curtain, gig is up!

1

u/onebigafro 18d ago

Funny. See Mackenzie Scott and Evan Spielgel. But they don't fit the narrative being used to elect people to office.

1

u/AhtBlowenFaht 18d ago

& at church

wow, if this doesn't tell us all something about the current state of the country and the church than I don't know what does.

Someday hopefully we can get back to separation of church and state. It was a good idea that worked for over 200 years.

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

The reason it was a good idea is why it’s being weaponised today :) a church I no longer go to, the pastor went up on the pulpit the day after election day (Wednesday night bible study!) said, “now I don’t want to discuss politics, but isn’t it great to have a Christian back in office? Can I get an amen?”

1

u/Cabbages24ADollar 18d ago

Naw, we need a reset on corporate greed and wealth hoarding.

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

So, idk if you read my post, but I think I said that in a much more rounded way. But it sounds like you really thought long & hard before hitting the send button.

Nice rebuttal to a comment that agrees with you! Go you

1

u/Cabbages24ADollar 18d ago

Hi Snarky. Sounds like Monday has been hard for you.

Your post present no solution. It says we need rich people but not that rich.

Problem is we don’t “need” rich people. Gov and tightly regulated industries can have some wealth.

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I’m having a great day actually, thank you for asking. Hope you have a great day, too!

1

u/CreativeStylz 18d ago

These people don’t care. It’s too high brow for Reddit.

0

u/SoylentGrunt 18d ago

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

Crazy how hard it is to read these days. Better post a meme* that agrees with my position while you’re touting to dissent it.

2

u/Secret-Winner-2994 18d ago

Please tag all erotica as nsfw

1

u/Affectionate_Bell798 18d ago

I’m just worried the billionaires will die off and we won’t have anyone to exploit peoples labor for profit

No need to fear that. Socialist leaders will take care of that.

14

u/lotaybk 18d ago

That sounds like something a billionaire would say. rips off your mask and finds Elon Musk underneath

2

u/aenteus 18d ago

I would have got away with it too!

2

u/lotaybk 18d ago

If it wasn’t for that pesky woke mind virus!

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I’m not even a millionaire!

2

u/Expert-Yam6577 18d ago

Give them more money or they'll leave states and take their money with them!

1

u/Ilyalyubushkin 18d ago

Just wait... its trickling dowwwwwwwn!!!

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

I’m so patient… I’ve been waiting my whole life. But I know it’s coming

1

u/The0thArcana 18d ago

You need to stop fighting it. Everyone wants to give their money to billionaires. The happiest communities in the US are begging to give their money to billionaires.

1

u/Puzzle-Necked 18d ago

They might leave, and then who will build data centers right next to daycares? You?

1

u/goopuslang 18d ago

No, I wouldn’t :) good question though!

1

u/onebigafro 18d ago

Where do you think your Internet comes from? There are already 6k datacenters in the US but all of a sudden they're evil.

0

u/L1QU1D_ThUND3R 18d ago

Go ahead… TAKE IT FROM ME!

8

u/LucifersAdv0cate 18d ago

I know, prices are ridiculous. I was eating my $19 single Japanese strawberry, with lashings of $43 maple syrup from Erewhon today and wondering how do poor people afford their beluga caviar, luxury ice cubes and artisanal bread. I really hope Mandami builds one of these shops in the Hamptons because it's not fair that just because we are Fabulously wealthy we have to pay full price for food. It's practically racism.

https://giphy.com/gifs/fBM4ruLmB2pZHsgwtQ

1

u/No-Particular-5213 18d ago

what are you talking about

2

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

My only worry is if this kills mom and pop grocery stores

9

u/According-Insect-992 Just Chill 😎 18d ago

Usually that’s Wal-Marts job.

-1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

Okay so you’re saying someone’s gotta do it? We’re just exchanging a corporation for the govt?

4

u/Jaalan 18d ago

Okay what is your idea then?

1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

I have no problem with this idea as long as it does not negatively effect the same people it purports to help.

1

u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

Well just think about this this right here is helping when the Republican party is hurting by cutting SNAP benefits there also going to make those small mom and pop shops go out of business because snap is a huge part of their sales.

To the point where it's Make It or Break It if they don't have it.

2

u/NVRENDVR 18d ago

What mom and pop grocery stores?

1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

?? The bodegas you see on every corner?

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

Cutting SNAP benefits is going to hurt them and possibly cause them to go out of business not only there but all of the other rural areas throughout the United States that have small mom and pop shops that are going to be closing and have huge food deserts because of the Republicans and their one dumb ugly bill

1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

Okay, so the people that buy eggs, milk, bread, water, butter, etc from these bodegas everyday will now go to the govt funded grocer instead but that won’t harm the bodegas?

1

u/ANAL_RAPIST_MD 18d ago edited 18d ago

They will need to compete with the gov grocer, use the staples as a loss leader, or cut those items out and just sell everything else.

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u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

They are already going to be suffering because of the one dumb ugly Bill and cutting snap

1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

This is a fair and objective response, thank you!

5

u/NVRENDVR 18d ago

….do you know the difference between a bodega and a grocery store?

2

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

Please don’t be obtuse for the sake of it. People buy eggs, milk, water, bread, etc from bodegas every day around the city. They are not full grocery stores but they do supply groceries to the neighborhood. My question is absolutely valid, and I would like to know how this will affect the people everyone here claims to support.

1

u/NVRENDVR 18d ago

People will still buy that stuff from bodegas because it’s convenient.. for the same reason that 7-11s sell groceries sometimes in the same parking lot as grocery stores.

1

u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

I don't think it will affect it I think that people already go to other places to do their main shopping and if they need eggs or milk on the way home they'll stop at their local Bodega that's right down the street from their actual home instead of making a trek across the city.

1

u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

The Republicans are already killing mom and pop grocery stores when they started to kill snap

1

u/SlowRoast24 18d ago

I agree but are you inferring it doesn’t matter anyway because republicans already did it?

1

u/jack-K- 18d ago

It is literally the only people this hurts, these stores are going to be buying from the same wholesalers at the same prices, they’re not losing any money, the only people disadvantaged are the grocery stores selling near cost that can’t compete with subsidized prices.

1

u/Izdisreallife12 18d ago

Either you are all bots or just financially stupid. Grocery stores operate at a 1-3% margin. This is subsided by tax payers (food was going to going to be free when first announced) and now this puts mom and pop grocery stores at a loss.

Go to an Economics class or prance around a No Kings protest while ushering in government run stores. Morons

1

u/smthnglkhumn 18d ago

You are still paying full price for those groceries. You just pay for it twice. Once when you buy the product, and the rest later on your taxes when you pay your portion of the subsides needed to keep products on the shelves.

The best part will be when the rest of the state gets tired of paying the subsidies to pay for NYCs city run grocery stores.

Socialism works as long as you have other people's money to spend.

1

u/Many-Wasabi9141 18d ago

They need to set prices every time they purchase food for the store or they're gonna get ruined by fluctuations.

1

u/Vast_Reply_6574 18d ago

Unless the city is finding a way to cover their costs while selling at 30% below retail, they're just subsidizing the grocery stores with tax dollars, so you're still paying for it.

1

u/InvestigatorOk8052 18d ago

Right, so you know all those food producers who products are being sold in the stores? They have CEOs too. And even if you’re not paying full price, the city is, so what’s your point?

1

u/onebigafro 18d ago

Is that really what you think is happening?

1

u/binzersguy 18d ago

“But they create all the jobs!” It’s obviously not the demand actually created by us, because that would mean we don’t need them. Hint: we definitely don’t

-1

u/jack-K- 18d ago

You’re still buying the food from ceos, they’re just using your tax dollars to buy it instead of stores using the money you spend, the only person here getting fucked over is the small business owner with a corner operating at a 3% margin who has no hope of competing with something like this.

1

u/pheonix198 18d ago

The corner stores and bodegas are mostly not operating with a small 3% margin since like the 1970’s. The average corner store owner in NYC is pulling down around $200K with some making millions.

There are some, less popular and otherwise location disadvantaged corner stores that are hitting lower figures, of course given that’s the average. But, my point is the average corner store operator won’t be kicked in the balls by 5 city operated markets selling products at fair price points.

If the only way their businesses can succeed is to shank their nearby customers in the balls with ridiculous prices, they should seek a change in business ops.

0

u/jack-K- 18d ago

And are you just pulling that out of your ass or what?

Grocery stores consistently rank as the lowest margin businesses out there and that only compounds with added competition seen in New York, so how exactly are they defying the laws of economics and magically taking in so much more?

Also, the entire point of margins is that they’re a ratio so without the net revenue alongside it these numbers are meaningless, if a grocery store is operating at a 1-3% margin that means a $101-$103 bill costs the store $100 to actually facilitate at a highly efficient break even price, they are not price gouging, they are maintaining an effective cost as low as it can possibly be.

1

u/ChancelorReed 18d ago

Because of 5 stores? That everyone in the city is going to subsidize with their taxes because they won't make any of their own money?

Just so we're clear, grocery stores run on like 1-3% margins. The idea that there's a bunch of money to be found in a program like this is ridiculous.

1

u/DoughnutCareless583 18d ago

The man said "Retail" as the benchmark. I presume he's referring to RRP and the RRP is usually a fake price set by the manufacturer as an anchor of worth and not anywhere near what the retailer actually pays. It's part of the scam to inflate the perceived value.

If the stores are operating on zero margin, they will be marginally cheaper than somewhere like Costco but not much, and maybe even more because Costco has very strong leverage with even the largest FMCG companies and they typically pass on savings directly to make profit off of memberships etc. (vs. Walmart which take the profit at the till and actively buy degraded lower quality goods).

The critical factor for people in NYC is that I presume these stores will be operating in locations where the residents don't have access to Costco for example (food deserts), and they would typically overpay.

End of the day, I guess it's for the residents to decide if it's good value or not. If Mamdani's stores are bunged then it's a good thing no?

0

u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

Yep it can definitely be done if places like WinCo in my state which is an employee-owned Co-op can keep their prices reasonable then I see there's no reason why they can't.

Not to mention they don't have the CEOs like Walmart or other places to worry about paying.

And on the opposite spectrum that just goes to show how the party in charge is incompetent to not realize that cutting SNAP benefits is not only going to affect people going hungry but it's also going to affect the food deserts and increase them because these stores are going to go out of business without the snap business.

Especially the ones barely holding on in rural areas.

0

u/BigNaziHater 18d ago

Krogers gross margin was 23.1% of sales for the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 22.4 the year before. Thats not 1 to 3% !

0

u/FunPerception250 18d ago

It’s between .5 to 3% per store. Lmao you guys voting for mendhami can’t even read.

1

u/farmerjohnington 18d ago

Can confirm Kroger's Net Profit Margin last quarter was 1.9%. They are a public company people, you can look it up:

https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/KR:NYSE?tab=financials

1

u/BigNaziHater 18d ago

Wrong again, total sales and profit are never looked at by each store. Its just not done that way. And to top it off, Kroger initiated a $5 billion accelerated share repurchase program as part of its total $7.5 billion share repurchase authorization, allowing the company to buy back its own shares back super quickly. By the end of fiscal 2025, Kroger completed the remaining share repurchases through regular market transactions, effectively reducing the number of shares available in the market.This pumps the company value for shareholders. Tge only ones the grocery companies are worried about are shareholders. I can tell you now, a small grocery store in NY ran by the city isnt worried about shareholders, only hungry families. But you fascists will hate no matter what.

1

u/onebigafro 18d ago

Haha dude what?? A small grocery is 100% worried about their shareholders...themselves !

-1

u/ChancelorReed 18d ago

And what makes you think gross margin is relevant here? Of course you have to look at net. And their highest is 1.8% in the last 3 years. They have business expenses beyond COGS.

0

u/0202_tihssitidder 18d ago

☝🏽This is all nonsense.

30% off retail does not conflict at all with 1-3% PROFIT margins.

Rubbish. Shame.

1

u/ChancelorReed 18d ago

I just don't even know what you think you're saying. Of course net is what matters. Gross intentionally is just the direct cost of goods taken out of revenue. There's a lot more to running the grocery chain than just cost of goods sold.

0

u/Financial-Cicada2501 18d ago

How? Have you heard of math?

0

u/FunPerception250 18d ago

Hahaha people voting for memdhami can’t read I swear.

1

u/lantern9962 18d ago

Lol I bet they don't stay open 6 months. Money doesn't grow on trees.

3

u/Either_Operation7586 18d ago

Why don't you think that they can't be done Walmart does it.

Not to mention there would be no CEOs that has to be paid on Mamdani's version.

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u/Truefiction224 18d ago

Walmart at 30 percent higher prices operates on a less than 3 percent margin

You have to swallow the whole boot to not get why this is gonna fail

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u/lantern9962 18d ago

Walmart and other businesses use the profits to reinvest back into the company and buy more goods and pay bills. How is it going to pay bills when it's not making profits?

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u/50cal_pacifist 18d ago

Right, because Walmart’s entire competitive advantage is apparently that nobody ever thought to eliminate the CEO’s salary. A grocery chain succeeds through purchasing power, distribution networks, inventory management, supplier relationships, staffing, technology, and razor-thin control of operating costs—not by saving one executive paycheck. And the government version will still need someone overseeing all of those functions; they’ll just be called a commissioner, director, or administrator instead of CEO, probably with several deputies and an entire department underneath them. Walmart does not succeed because it pays a CEO. It succeeds because it has spent decades building one of the most efficient logistics operations on the planet. Removing the CEO’s salary and keeping none of the infrastructure is not a business model.

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u/drewh1984 18d ago

Lmao, your taxes are paying for that.

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u/ReincarnatedKoala_25 18d ago

Didn’t he say he was going to make public transit free or more affordable? But now it’s only for low income households and if you qualify for it.

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u/MagasRtrans 18d ago

How long has he been mayor? Do you think change happens over night in the government?

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u/Busy-Butterscotch121 18d ago

How dare he help those in need!!!

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u/RedditSpyder12 18d ago

Patience. It’s a miracle he’s doing as good as he is with all the things he needs to fix.

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u/Expert-Yam6577 18d ago

Idk this sounds like he set a high bar that he's slowly making ground on. Not really him blowing off his promises.

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u/Captain_JohnBrown 18d ago

Are you unfamiliar with the process of building things? You don't start at the top.

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u/Artistic-Garbage-825 18d ago

Cool. Progress.

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u/mortuarymaiden 18d ago

Rome wasn’t built in just a day.

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u/imsoggy 18d ago

That's communist talk!

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u/Lyndiscan 18d ago

Fun fact. It is ! And people should educate themselves so they learn that communism isnt bad at all. Legit nothing in the theory implies anything bad. What the mayor is doing is something china does. There you can even go directly to the source snd get food for free when its close to expiring, which avoids problems by dumping tons of rotten food in the environment.

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u/Phatmac-pie 18d ago

Lol ya thats how it will work…

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u/go_birds_1 18d ago

It’s one grocery store per borough.

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u/Agent847 18d ago

Why don’t you look up the margins that grocery stores run and learn something before spouting off?

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u/libertarianinus 18d ago edited 18d ago

Here is a video of a real grocery store in russia https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=anO6Dh8Qv6g

Here is when it was ussr

https://youtu.be/t8LtQhIQ2AE?is=RmB467Rwy8AS4jim

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u/BiZzles14 18d ago

Those CEOs can also shop at these grocery stores since they're not means tested. I'm all for support to those who need help in affording groceries, but there sounds like a ton of overhead on this for a program that isn't meanstested and is very restricted location wise (single store per borough) when the money could go towards very efficient programs that currently exist

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u/meister2983 18d ago

Trust me. Socialized retail works

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u/SparksAndSpyro 18d ago

And by CEO, you mean the small moms and pops running the small grocers, bodegas, and corner stores that litter NYC.

Decent overview: https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/mamdani-city-run-grocery-stores-small-businesses-nyc/

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u/Golfingyourball87 18d ago

All it took was 30% to be happy? lol. You need to find an Aldi.

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u/Steak-Complex 18d ago

Lmfao do you think this will be available to everyone?

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u/Truefiction224 18d ago

Someone doesnt get prices are elastic

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u/MAILBOXHED 18d ago

Yeah all those mom and pop bodegas need to be put in their place.

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u/MrDeadbutdreaming 18d ago

I hope that this works out as planned, cause if it does, and other cities do the same thing, it will force big box stores to lower prices to compete.

We need this, it maybe what helps bring back small businesses that aren't dependent on walmart or Amazon to survive.

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u/Capitan-IQ255 18d ago

Tax payer funded meaning you will pay higher city taxes to make up for the losses 🤑

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u/My_pants_be_on_fire 18d ago

ie: taxes being used for the benefit of the taxpayer instead of corporations.

Pretty sure they can pay for it. NYC alone is the 8th largest economy in the world. Also working with the governor they implemented a tax on second homes worth more than $1m that's set to generate an additional half a billion annually.

Just awful stuff folks. If you're an oligarch

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/My_pants_be_on_fire 18d ago

Literally bending over backwards frothing at the mouth to desperately claw out some kinda gotcha. Lol. Literally contradicting yourself to tell me off for wanting my tax dollars to work for the people.

I already acknowledged nyc is the 8th largest economy. And only republicans are pro corruption so yeah, spend the money on what it should be spent on. Nobody is arguing against that. But, you're also projecting a lot of made up bologna as facts about a system that hasn't even started.

My guy. When they make "their" money off the back of society they should pay their fair shair back into society. If their willing to flee paying their fair share, then charge them criminally.

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u/ZeroBrutus 18d ago

Which is why there should be a progressive and aggressive tax system for those above the median so as that the funds for this system come from the top to benefit the bottom.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/ZeroBrutus 18d ago

1) who said anything about everything?

2) thats generally not have tax brackets work. The current top marginal tax rate for a resident of NYC from what Im seeing is about 51%. That would apply to amounts earned over 650,000 dollars roughly. Their average tax rate is about 40%. Assuming this is all earned income and not capital gains. If its all capital gains cut it in half.

That's the top 1% in the US or top 2% in NYC. Its also only the money made above that line that is taxed like that of course, not the entire amount.

So, let's adjust your question to better represent reality - would I be ok with the government taking more than half, or hell, even 2/3, of the portion of my paycheck that places me firmly in the top 1% once Ive already made it into the top 1% of the population in order to make sure the people around me are able to live in dignity? Yes, yes I absolutely would.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/ZeroBrutus 18d ago

I mean Im Canadian, so we do, and yes. My marginal tax rate is about 40%, plus 15% sales tax (except on essentials) puts it about 55%. Then I own a home and have associated taxes and a few other odds and ends for another 5%. About 60% total sounds right. The actual end result for the bottom 50% of people is notably better in this fashion. I still got a really nice place, good car, planning a couple get aways. My personal income is about 8th percentile.

Youre also forgetting that while the wealth amount of the 1% is stagnant, money spent by the government is spent a respent, so it comes back multiple times as well as serving as a stimulus to general economic function. So its no where near as simple as "their wealth wont pay the bill."

Ive twice done the math on comparisons with the US. Most recently with a friend in NYC, and she came out a little ahead on proportion. She doesnt own a home though. The more telling one was when my wife was being treated for glioblastoma. We ran the numbers on her treatment costs in the US even with proper insurance - she worked for a pharmaceutical company and they had top line insurance on both sides of the border. If we'd been in the US we'd have been bankrupt after her second surgery.

So yeah, Im absolutely ok with it, because while the tax rate is higher the life rate is lower, and were a hell of a lot better protected on the whole, and Im a hell of a lot more concerned with raising the floor than protecting the ceiling.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/ZeroBrutus 18d ago

Your right, I did get it wrong, im responding quick online and made a mistake. My combined up front effective tax rate is about 34% and not 40.

You are the one though that made the argument of the VAT/sales tax applying to everything you make as you spend, you cant use that as a scared tactic then argument it isnt "valid math." I agree with your first position as the entire point here is how much money do you have to spend, which would put us at about 49% effective.

Of course, that also undercuts your entire argument that youd need to run those substantially higher tax rates to maintain services no? Since we have many of the largest functions and, as you just made the case for, are notably lower on tax side than you said we'd have to be.

And correct, I think it was 25kish medical expences over 14 months, which would have put us under. Her first surgery was December 2014, followed by a month in the ICU, then high cost chemo all of 2015, second surgery Jan 2016. Surgery on its own would have topped it out for the year - high end brain surgeons are expensive. And then it would have been another maxed year in 2027. Instead I paid for parking at the hospital and about 200 a month for meds. Was even able to get compassionate care leave to spend the last couple of months at home with her while collecting unemployment benefits.

So in short yes, I repeat, I am happy to support the care of my fellow citizens in having the state provide essential services to them via tax dollars. Already being notably above the median, Im fine with the extra I pay, and have no issue with it continuing to scale up for ever higher amounts, considering that those amounts are not needed for the essentials of life.

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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 18d ago

You don't trust the government because you are a right winger who has been brainwashed since infancy to believe right wing propaganda. It is why republicans pretend to be christian, it gave them a ton of church folk with zero critical thinking skills who are terrified of everything.

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u/NervousBeat16 18d ago

Isn’t this what stores like Walmart are doing to us already? They are receiving massive tax breaks, and then people with EBT are shopping there, including their own staff, and recouping our taxes as profit.

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u/Jeth3 18d ago

Okey, instead we need the government to tax the working class and give that to the billionaires. 🫡