this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2026
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I still don't understand why people hate supermarkets so much. Yes food is expensive, it has nothing to do with supermarkets. They make one of the lowest profit margins in any industry (~3%). New York's government groceries will be heavily subsidized by taxpayers. You might be fine with that, but he could have just subsidized private groceries for the exact same effect and saved a ton of money (it just sound worse to do that).
Oh, I hate the Internet of Things, not supermarkets.
But making low profit margins doesn't mean they're not trying to run up costs as much as they can. And the whole concept of a supermarket is depedent on cars, and I definitely hate car dependency.
I remember living in a South American city and it was absolutely wild to walk a few blocks to gather everything I needed for the day--bakeries, butchers, roadside vegetable vendors....
You can still do this in many (most?) US cities (at least the ones I'm familiar with).
I rented a room in Boston once and I had to go to a single, medium-szed grocery store. I think rents can get too high to sell staples... But, yeah, if rents are low and you have foot traffic, of course you can pull it off. But you also need to have a substantial population that isn't driving to work every day and consequently passing 3 supermarkets on their way home.
I would bet my next paycheck that you absolutely can do it that way in Boston.
3 seconds on Google found me this (not a grocery store, more like a farmer's market with vendors): https://bostonpublicmarket.org/
Search things like "bakery Boston Mass" or "deli Boston Mass" or "Italian market Boston Mass" or "Polish market Boston Mass"....
And you will find places that sell various things and they're often found in the vicinity of one another.
Yeah, that would not be the "exact same effect."
And to like (at least) half of the people in this country, the thought of a private solution is the only acceptable one. It absolutely would not sound worse to them to do that, they've been tricked into thinking that's better for them.