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I also work for a supermarket chain and I think this article unfairly targets supermarkets.

The article talks about supermarkets not lowering prices when the manufacturer downsizes their products. We can't lower our prices because the manufacturers didn't lower their costs!

The article also talks about raising prices when the customer is less likely to notice, such as on slow-moving or infrequently purchased items. As the article states, supermarkets work off of a very slim profit margin. If we lower the price on items that many people buy (benefiting the most customers) we have to raise prices on something else. It costs us more money to stock a slow-moving item than it does to stock a fast-moving item because we have to pay the manufacturer for the product right away, but we don't get paid by the customer for it right away. If the customer wants that variety, they have to be willing to pay more for it.

Also, supermarkets have no control over the nutrit...(Read more of this comment)ion claims of the manufacturers. The law mandates that each item have a nutrition panel. We can't independently test nor enforce the validity of that information.

Also, many supermarkets won't take Internet coupons because of the MASSIVE fraud involved. It's easy for scam artists to take a coupon off the Internet, change the offer or the expiration date, print it out and present it to the supermarket. There's no way the supermarket would know that it's a doctored coupon. The supermarket gives the customer the discount, then tries to submit it to the manufacturer for reimbursement. If the manufacturer rejects it -- and they will if it's fraudulent -- the store is out the discount. Some of our stores have lost thousands of dollars because of fraudulent Internet coupons. Until the industry can come up with a fool-proof way of dealing with Internet coupons, it's just not feasible for our stores to honor them.

Finally, loyalty cards are an incredible benefit to our customers. Of course we reward our loyal customers. Many of our deepest discounts are not funded by the manufacturers -- the discounts come right out of our store owners' pockets. We don't want to give those discounts to every "cherry picker" who only comes to our store for the deals. We want to reward those who do their weekly shopping with us. It's no different than "frequent flyer" miles from airlines or "rewards" from credit cards. If you're good to us, we're good to you!(Show less of this comment)

I worked for a major supermarket. At that time 1,000 items had their prices increased on Friday and lowered on Monday.
Also manufactors pay for placement on shelves. Eyelevel is more costly then floor or top shelves.

Where I live and worked in an area where Foster Farm chickens were guaranteed fresh. After two days and the FF chicken, or parts has not sold and is still sitting in the case, they are pulled and the little weight, price stckers are covered with a new sticker with less of a price per pound. The new stickers also have the store's logo and not FF' eventhough the bag or plastic wrap does.