The grocery store is where all of the pricing strategies we have reported on over the past two weeks—junk fees, price fixing, shrinkflation, personalization and data collection—come together. Every product’s placement, every advertisement, every coupon is a function of marketing wizardry and hardball tactics, in a bid for the eyes and wallets of consumers. And because everyone needs food to survive, grocery shoppers are a captive audience, and there’s no easy alternative for consumers.

For our June print issue, Jarod Facundo wrote about how every facet of the grocery business is optimized to increase profits and squeeze as much as possible from shoppers. This cutthroat dynamic has accelerated consolidation across the food and retail supply chain, and rapidly rising prices. You can read the full story here.

In case you missed it: Kalena Thomhave wrote about how credit card companies are creating a kind of double-inflation for consumers: once on goods, then again on the credit used to buy them with rising margins. Rising rates from the Fed to "curb inflation" and Supreme Court rulings enabling corporate deregulation empower credit card companies’ greed, and buy now pay later alternatives like Klarna or Afterpay facilitate irresponsible spending habits and offer little in the way of consumer protections.

You can read the full story here.

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