# Get $25 From Loblaws



## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

You might want to give Loblaws your email address and participate in the free $25. The scumbags have been doing it to us for the last 14 years on the price of bread. I doubt it covers our costs but it is a nice gesture.
Would like to see a few employees doing the perp walk from this. If you want this behavior to stop, someone needs to do some time in jail. Fines won't do it.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/rep...ead-price-fixing-arrangement/article37392332/


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

I’m not sure this is a good thing for the anti-business, pro consumer faction. 

From my reading of the articles, and they don’t really say much, the price fixing was to keep the price of bread low. 

This would hurt the bakeries, but not the consumer. I expect you’ll soon see higher bread prices.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

I doubt Loblaws would be giving $25 to every Canadian if they were conspiring to keep the bread prices lower for those same Canadians.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Price fixing is illegal no matter who benefits. If you read the articles, bread is often sold as a lot leader. Doesn’t make sense for them to raise prices and sell it as a loss.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

what the hey....i'll take the dough!


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Just a Guy said:


> Price fixing is illegal no matter who benefits. If you read the articles, bread is often sold as a lot leader. Doesn’t make sense for them to raise prices and sell it as a loss.


but it makes a lot of sense to attempt to turn a loss leader into a profitable product. 

Anyway, I doubt we will ever know all the details, but $25 bucks is $25 bucks. I just wanted to let everyone know about it and how to apply.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Marketing loves these “rebates”, they often translate into increased sales.


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

jargey3000 said:


> what the hey....i'll take the dough!


When you wrote this, I was going to respond with my thoughts on how this would actually go down, but then I read the comments to the article that OptsyEagle referred to and I couldn't have said it much better than this person did.

____________________________________________
_
Here is how it will actually work.

The website:
LoblawCard.ca, in an attempt to reduce fraud and to detect "eligible customers" as it puts, will present a form asking too many questions. Such as full legal names, ID specifications, addresses, date of births, perhaps even SINs. May even require file uploads for proof.

Application:
More questions will result in fewer "card applicants". Their 3-6 million estimate is grossly misleading; depending on their "eligibility determination process", that figure could easily become 10K and citing privacy concerns, Loblaws will never reveal it.
Fewer questions will result in more fraudsters. They will come up with creative ways of getting hundreds of such cards. (Those cards could be sold on cardswap.ca afterwards.)

Redeeming:
Using the card will be another challenge. There will be strings attached, such as min purchase amounts, ID checks, signatures, ineligible goods and the like.
I, for one, will not even attempt._
____________________________________________

Hilarious comment. Yeah, that pretty well sums up how I think it will go down. I have bought bread from Loblaws for years and originally thought I would try and get this money, but after pondering for a while, I have decided against it.

ltr


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## Mookie (Feb 29, 2012)

Well, let's just wait and see how easy / difficult this ends up being. If it's too easy, then I can see fraudsters going to town on this. If it's too onerous, Loblaw's is likely to just end up with a bunch of annoyed customers...


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

My guess is that they pulled a Mulroney. 

Realized that something was going down with the Competition Bureau and decided to 'come clean', rat out the others, and thus avoid prosecution and perhaps fines. Plus get ahead of public opinion and perhaps blunt any public backlash. 

Let them eat cake!


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

either way...I'll take their bread!


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

^ Are you taking both bread and dough? The former needs dough to make and buy and the latter you need to register for - and if it actually works as ltr #8 has posted, what a PITA in getting that dough!


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## off.by.10 (Mar 16, 2014)

Mookie said:


> Well, let's just wait and see how easy / difficult this ends up being. If it's too easy, then I can see fraudsters going to town on this. If it's too onerous, Loblaw's is likely to just end up with a bunch of annoyed customers...


They could simply limit to one per address and mail them. That should make it fairly hard to obtain a bunch of them, short of stealing them from mailboxes. But yeah, we'll see indeed.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

....you're really on a roll there, beav......a pita bread roll....


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

I suspect it will be handled the same way the class action lawsuit regarding RAM price fixing was handled years ago. You just filled in some form acknowledging that you purchased some bread within this set timeframe and you get the gift card. No proof was required, but only one form per household.


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

Instead of the gift cards, why not just lower the price of bread for X number of years? That'd be much better for lower incomes who need it the most.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Mookie said:


> Well, let's just wait and see how easy / difficult this ends up being. If it's too easy, then I can see fraudsters going to town on this. If it's too onerous, Loblaw's is likely to just end up with a bunch of annoyed customers...


Yes. *If a scammer was quick and witted they would start sending Canadians phishing emails from Loblaws in January. So be on alert for it.*

We have no idea what info they will want. I am willing to give my name and address and pick a brand bread from a list, if asked, but make sure you don't give any more information then that, or a least nothing that you can't lie about.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

jargey3000 said:


> ....you're really on a roll there, beav......a pita bread roll....


 ...:biggrin: ... Loblaws is on my list of boycotted stores anyways. :loyal: :sentimental:


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

One can only wonder how much the Loblaw family of retail grocery stores, and Weston's the bakery, profited from this convenient arrangement over the years vs how much they will disgorge in fines, lawsuits, gift cards, legal fees, lost goodwill, etc.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Interesting today that Sobeys is officially denying involvement, with their public letter to Loblaws.

When I first read about this story, what perplexed me was Galen Weston's (CEO of Loblaws) assertion that it was an industry wide retail conspiracy. I mean, how many retailers sell bread. Think about all the grocery stores, convenience stores, department stores and I think some gas stations also sell bread. How do you get that many people in a room, to fix a price...and if you don't get them all, the one that stays honest, with the lowest price, starts to steal all the customers. I couldn't really see how this could be done.

Then I heard that Canada is served by two main commercial bakers. Weston and Canada bread. That is where the conspiracy could work and probably the only place. Keep in mind that Weston owns a lot of Loblaws, I believe, and hence where the connection to them probably takes place.

My guess. Sobeys and most other retailers are not involved. Why Galen Weston said they were is beyond me but my guess is that when he was questioning his corrupt employees, they said something like "everyone is doing it" and he believed these unethical idiots. This is just my opinion of course. I know Giant Tiger isn't involved because that was one of my main, goto stores for cheaper bread, over the last few years.

Anyway, my hopes for an industry wide gift card giveaway is probably not going to happen. Enjoy the one from Loblaws. I hope Sobeys sues them into the stone age.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

..D'oh ! ....


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

I doubt corporate lawyers would have allowed Galen to say what he did if it was not true given the consequences of libel litigation. Anything else would be the corporate faux pas of the year.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Competition bureau raided several retailers. I guess we'll see where the investigation goes.

Watch the movie 'The Informant!'. You don't necessarily need that many people to be involved for implement such a conspiracy. Many smaller retailers are more like price-takers. A convenience store just sells things at a premium to the grocery store.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

AltaRed said:


> I doubt corporate lawyers would have allowed Galen to say what he did if it was not true given the consequences of libel litigation. Anything else would be the corporate faux pas of the year.


Of course. I doubt Galen Weston would have said it if he didn't think it was true, either. Unfortuneately, all that does not make it true. It just means there are a lot of idiots at Loblaws, including the lawyers.

As I said, it would have been a very difficult thing to do in getting all the retailers on board to fix prices. For example, if the convenience stores were not involved, we would have just bought our bread there. The only way it could work is if the manufacturers of the bread were doing it.

My guess is this is a scam perpetrated by Weston and Canada Bread, with knowledge of it and complacency by Loblaws employees. Maybe Loblaws was even getting the lower price, but would have been the only retailer getting that price.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

My first reaction to this was to laugh. Collusion and price fixing for bread ? What a joke! Collusion and price fixing has been going on in the gasoline business for many years but they won't address that.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Mechanic said:


> My first reaction to this was to laugh. Collusion and price fixing for bread ? What a joke! Collusion and price fixing has been going on in the gasoline business for many years but they won't address that.


Most people believe the same thing on gasoline. There have been more investigations into gasoline pricing than any other commodity....with zero results. You have to understand gasoline prices before making such accusations. Price matching at the retail level is not at all collusion or price fixing. It is simply matching the competition.... just like what the telecoms just did on their 10Gb/month for $60 offer. If one company does it, the rest follow to be competitive. All of big integrateds, except Suncor, have gotten out of the retail gasoline business because there is not enough ROI compared to the rest of their business lines.

On the bread issue, I don't yet know where the conspiracy was but I suspect it was to keep wholesale levels low (forget retail pricing). Keeping low wholesale prices can be considered predatory pricing to keep other bakers out of the business (similar to dumping conspiracies).


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