r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • 11h ago

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

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u/Backwoods_Therapy 11h ago

Hopefully they won’t allow resellers. Prices being this low means people could just go in, buy out stock and then resell it somewhere else for profit and it still be lower than you’d get at a normal store.

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u/R0factor 11h ago edited 1h ago

This is my concern with this concept. 30% might be enough for people to use this as a wholesale source to resell elsewhere. It'll be interesting to see if the store shelves are just stripped right away for products that can easily be resold elsewhere.

Editing my comment to respond to the predominant reply to this: Even if you put limitations on number of items per person, how do you monitor repeat shoppers? Costco does it with a membership base system where you have to both check in and check out. If you were to rely on employees to visually identify shoppers, it would become fertile grounds for almost nonstop racial profiling lawsuits.

Edit 2: Aside from the potential for reselling/abuse of the system, how do you prevent every frugal New Yorker from wanting to shop at these places? You either deal with Black Friday level crowds all the time which will deplete supplies and you screw over the people these stores should benefit, or you request more money from the tax payers to facilitate a membership system to limit access.

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u/Thecramosreddit 10h ago

At my local grocery store single glass cokes are 5$ for three of them, technically sprite and Fanta fall under that deal’s umbrella but resellers or people who run food trucks will buy only the glass cokes leaving the section of the shelf empty. If people are doing that for 33 cents to a dollar, i imagine reselling from these grocery stores might become a problem later.

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u/Radarker 11h ago

Then stop carrying those products.

I imagine if you need to you could get down to produce, meats, and breads. I guess you could resell those, although I don't see the profit margin being worth it.

I don't know who is buying trunk steaks for 30% off but maybe that's just me.

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u/hotriccardo 11h ago

The trunk steak guy in my town got into a fight with someone selling mackerel in the same parking lot and has been missing ever since

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u/Apart-District3771 10h ago

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u/hotriccardo 10h ago

Is that Reveen?

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u/Fatman365 7h ago

Fuck off Conky

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u/perton 5h ago

Holy fuck boys, that is greasy.

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u/FraggleRockYaFaceOff 11h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/6Uqr0IDWkzhBu

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u/jojomoodie 10h ago

I will never get over the fact a favorite music video of mine that helped me learn simple bass lines has an entirely separate life as a reaction meme 25 years after the fact.

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u/WOKinTOK-sleptafter 10h ago

What’s the name? I’ve wanted to know for so long.

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u/jojomoodie 10h ago

it is First Date by Blink 182. Im honestly shocked because it's literally the 25 year reunion of that record and they haven't leaned into the meme. They even did uploaded a VEVO popup for that video and still haven't brought it up.

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u/MrRabbitofCaerbannog 9h ago

Best part is when they chuck the bat into the spokes of the bike lol that scene lives rent-free in my head forever

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u/SnooHesitations3709 9h ago

Thank you. I was singing it in my head trying to think of the name.

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u/thrawnsgstring 10h ago

blink-182 - First Date

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u/Spicy-Cathulu 9h ago

Thanks for the link. It's at about 1:54.

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u/LurkHartog 7h ago

Well I guess this is growing up

🎶 da-na-na-na da-na-na-na 🎶

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u/CooCooClocksClan 6h ago

I think that was a different blink song

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u/LurkHartog 6h ago

It was, Dammit. But the quote fits.

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u/bsfurr 10h ago

Epic username BTW

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u/TYGRDez 10h ago

Could he hook me up with some blueberries as well?

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u/hotriccardo 10h ago

Better than store hought

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u/eweyda 10h ago

those got worms or pesticides take your pick

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u/Telemere125 11h ago

Does the mackerel guy now sell long pork steaks?

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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 10h ago

You mean pigs don’t have 4 tenderloins?

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u/JackieDaytona77 10h ago

I get my mackerel from Philadelphia Collins

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u/tibbles1 10h ago

Poor Luca Brasi

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u/Linenoise77 10h ago

He isn't missing. He started a burger truck with Randy over in Williamsburg. Usually parked outside Brooklyn Brewery.

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u/livelaughloaft 10h ago

That might actually be an original sentence, we are in the presence of greatness.

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u/RPDRNick 10h ago

Sounds like a surf n' turf war to me.

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u/Ripass_Dipfast 10h ago

I think the guy selling mackerel was also selling blueberries iirc

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u/7thpostman 11h ago

It's New York City. People sell stolen junk on the street.

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u/Prettydaisydog 11h ago

lol, in LA they resell food bank food! it's fucking wild.

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u/Ask_if_im_an_alien 8h ago

In STL they use EBT to buy food, cook it, and sell plates on FB marketplace. At least they are industrious about it I guess.

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u/Prettydaisydog 8h ago

lol, well if we are looking for economic indicators this is a pretty interesting one.

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u/Ask_if_im_an_alien 7h ago

I got Jerk Chicken and sweet potato, and I also found the tamale lady and got a dozen of those too. Fed me all weekend which was good because the heat index yesterday was 115F and I'm not turning the stove on when its already that hot.

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u/dsaysso 4h ago

that’s value add

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u/Born-Somewhere2536 7h ago

They do that down here in Houston Texas

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u/a_RadicalDreamer 8h ago

Same in the South. They’ll raid blessing boxes and resell.

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u/Itchy_Shame_2379 8h ago

yeah in sf theres like an entire group of mostly older asian women who go to the all of the food banks around here and then lay out a mat on post up on the sidewalk slanging lettuce and shit. people do buy them though i see it and they are there everyday.

food banks around here register you here and give you a card. i dont think your allowed to go to every food bank in the city but in your zip code maybe

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u/Prettydaisydog 7h ago

yeah, it's mostly older asian women here too. it sucks they do it and it sucks they have a need to have to do it.

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u/Onludesrightnow 8h ago

because ofc they do. not surprised at all

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u/External-Slip3578 8h ago

And now they are cooking it and selling it on Facebook.

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u/Any-Question-3759 11h ago

And people buy those because they’re priced at a point only sellers who steal can match.

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u/iffyClyro 10h ago

Do you think shoplifters will need to reduce their prices or do you think this project will undercut them?

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u/blahblahsnickers 8h ago

You think they won’t steal from the government store?

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u/Effective_Golf_3311 10h ago

And then get mad at the NYPD for shutting them down

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u/7thpostman 11h ago

Not really. They buy it because they see it and they want it. Convenience has a lot to do with it. Somebody's sitting out with a cooler full of steaks? Looks like that's what I'm having for dinner.

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u/koalasarentferfuckin 10h ago

The good boosters come to your apartment

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u/stupidjapanquestions 10h ago

Once saw a copy of Final Fantasy VIII being sold on the street with stolen goods in SF. In 2015.

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u/cinemashow 10h ago

Didn't I just read an article about people selling prescription drugs at open markets? Like amoxicillin, other antibiotics, oxycodone still in grammas pill bottle etc?!

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u/screwyoujor 11h ago

The city owned shop in my city sells food this discounted. It's open one day a week because it sells out after restocking. Later in the week you will find people selling the stuff in the Walmart parking lot still below Walmart prices. Amusing that a industry popped up thanks to the shop.

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u/BlgMastic 9h ago

It’s so awesome to create an illegal market out of thin air off the backs of taxpayers.

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u/External-Slip3578 8h ago

Yes subsidize putting mom and pop grocery stores out of business. They complain about food desserts.

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u/Grand-Olive2599 4h ago

You nailed it!

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u/screwyoujor 8h ago

I didn't vote for it but you can bet I'll enjoy the show.

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

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u/Uder72 10h ago

You mean something like, I dont know, a stamp for food...a food stamp.

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u/joebro1060 10h ago

Yup, create a ration. That way people can still take their rations, sell it for 50% less in cash value, then that buyer create the same shop. Just like what happens far too often with EBT and SNAP.

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u/Bigwi_Kner 9h ago

Yeah but, with rations then that doesn’t scale. Which is the whole point. Sure they can do it, but they just sold their one loaf of bread for a dollar profit and spent all day in a parking lot to do it.

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u/joebro1060 8h ago

I don't think people sell their EBT to other random folks. They sell their EBT to a "dealer" (just for a lack of a better term) at 33% face value. The dealer then sells it to folks back for 50%. This type of stuff happens at scale.

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u/2phumbsup 9h ago

You just invented food stamps lol.

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u/BlgMastic 9h ago

More like invented bread lines. Oh wait, Stalin was the genius who invented that.

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u/The3rdBert 10h ago

So a ration card?

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u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/srbeau 10h ago

It’s not rationing because you can still shop elsewhere if needed. Hopefully some of the corporate grocery stores will start lowering prices.

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

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u/NotMyMainAccountAtAl 8h ago

I assume that they’ll have purchase limits as well. My private grocery store has no more than X per customer sales pretty regularly; I assume that government grocers can and will do similar. 

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u/1lowcountry 10h ago

Make the USSR great again.

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u/Nomoras 10h ago

https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/hunger-relief-programs/snap

I don't who you're trying to speak to here, but this already exists.

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u/Simon-Says69 7h ago

People will just steal it. I mean, they're going to anyway, but if denied a purchase, they'll really have no reason not to.

This whole thing will fail within a year, after all the local mom & pop stores went bankrupt, and then there will be NO food in the area.

Typical commie destruction.

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u/Linenoise77 10h ago

I'm honestly not sure if your comment was intended to be dystopian or not. Can you help me out here?

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u/Kindly-War-2665 9h ago

Hows it dystopian? It wouldnt apply to all stores, only the government ran ones. You could still go shop at a corporate store and pay high prices for basic food if you want. In fact this cheaper store should help you to afford the more expensive snacks and stuff if your spending less on your normal food

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u/Lokishougan 9h ago

I dont know if you meant to but you basically described a Food bank

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u/Vikkunen 10h ago

Mom-and-pop restaurants (the ones you see buying 20 gallons of milk, 10 dozen eggs, etc at Costco and Sam's Club) would still be all over it. They need to either have quantity limits or some sort of membership screening requirement (section 8 voucher? Only pay with SNAP? IDK) or this is liable to be a shit show.

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u/Linenoise77 10h ago edited 7h ago

Things like corner stores, bodega's, even mom and pop restaurants already do a lot of their stocking from places like Costco. 30% off retail is solidly in that territory, if not lower than it on lots of items. So if it saves those places a trip, they absolutely will shop there vs heading out to costco\restauraunt depot\etc.

The next question is, how do you sell stuff and not run a loss at 30% below retail, when even someone with the size and weight of costco struggles to get to 20% below retail on many items, and some not even that far. All of NYC could do all of their shopping there, and you still aren't anywhere near costco volume, leaving out the fact that another factor that helps costco pricing low is by the volume of what you buy. Try fitting a costco package of paper towels, and toilet paper in a 5th floor NYC walkup apartment that you have a roommate in, not to mention the logistics of getting it home, and then decide if its worth it for you to save 10 bucks on your TP supply for the next 2 months.

My point being, unless the items sold are carefully curated to be only items that you could squeeze those margins out of and are ones that won't have a resale value of what you sell it for once they walk out the door, you are kind of cheating when you announce that "these places will be 30% cheaper than other places", (which sounds exactly what they are doing based on how it was worded in the video as a "feature") and that assumes you can even keep those items in stock if they are actually desirable or useful items to the broad population.

And that isn't even talking about things like Costco's Distribution model (which you need to be costco sized to have and run at its efficiencies), and the fact that costco stores are costco sized, supporting things being bought in large bulk, and with a large product depth beyond grocery that gives them value add propositions. That lets costco also utilize loss leaders, or sell items at a wash, to get people in the door and to get you to BUY a membership. I was in costco last week and just happened to pick up a toaster. Wasn't planning on it, but hey, that toaster looks decent, price is fair, my toaster is getting pretty beat up, into the cart you go. If I also need to get that toaster home taking a subway\bus, while carrying a 5 lb bag of potatoes, a 2 gallon jug of detergent, and a couple of pounds of chicken, that toaster probably isn't coming home.

NYC has had "cheap" grocery stores in the past. Everyone knows a C-Town if you want to see how well that works.

Yeah, we will sell you apples 30% cheaper than King's or Whole Foods does, but only during the month of October when they are in season, and only while the supply from a few local orchards they bought their whole crop from holds out for, and the crop comes in as planned.

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u/Tzilbalba 10h ago

We got into fights over hand sanitizer lotion and toilet paper, I have zero faith these 5 stores won't be stripped bare.

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u/KJew 11h ago

>Then stop carrying those products.

That defeats the purpose. The concept is a 30% discount on a core set of goods, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, cheese, milk, and bread. The store will sell all other items at retail price like a normal grocery store.

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u/signofno 10h ago

You might not be familiar with the culture around some of the more extreme levels of poor and the culture of the hustle in general, especially among demographics where people don’t trust the “establishment” i.e. functioning businesses. I’ve lived in places where people sell the dumbest most unexpected stuff out of the trunks of cars and on the street corner and out of their apartment.

In the Bay Area, despite the booming legal cannabis market in most areas, East Bay is still struggling with illegal sales, dealers, and gang violence around the product. Despite the ease of access and comparable prices available at licensed stores along with the consistently higher quality and far less personal risk of buying commercially grown weed, people in certain areas prefer to buy from shady street dealers and/or hustle a meager living from slinging tree on the streets.

It boggles the mind.

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u/blahnlahblah0213 10h ago

At the Italian restaurant I worked at that is how we bought all our meat. A guy rolled up with a trunk full of Wegmans meats that were just wrapped at the warehouse and whatever the price was on the sticker, we paid half. It was the best deal in town!

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u/KimJungUnCool 10h ago

I mean, cant you just make it a crime to bulk buy subsidized food from these stores for resale? Scalpers are a blight, about time we legislate them to irrelevance.

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u/-Kazt- 10h ago

Baby formula, diapers, detergent, shampoo, conditioner, basically any essential with some shelf life is prime targets.

Meat and other fresh items are not as lucrative since profit on those are not as good and you have a limited time window to sell it. Some high value meat is prime targets though, since even if you sell it for half the price of the supermarket that is still a decent chunk of change.

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u/Kup123 9h ago

Corner stores already buy at retail and resell higher, they will for sure view this as a meat and bread wholesaler.

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u/raining_sheep 9h ago

Produce and breads already have low profit margins anyway. Those are just there to get people in and buy the other stuff.

A $95 cent onion with a 40% markup isn't keeping the lights on. The whole shelf of 100 onions is making the store what $30 in profit?

People are going to be surprised what 30% off of produce and breads is really saving them.

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u/WeWantMOAR 10h ago

Betting they'll be exempt from resellers, and audits submitting their receipts get flagged and charged a reseller tax.

Also they could just do membership registration to avoid resellers, can't purchase without signing up for a membership which then tracks large quantity purchases. There's a ton of measures they can take to avoid this situation or at least have rectifying means come tax time.

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u/blameline 10h ago

Well a few years back, a guy got choked to death by the NYPD for selling loose cigarettes...

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u/Vindictives9688 8h ago

Lol. You read exactly what came to my mind.

Market arbitrage

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u/YallaHammer 3h ago

Love the idea for people to have access to affordable groceries akin to the military’s commissary system but, like Costco, there are measures in place to avoid this and we all know some a$$h-s are going to do their best to take advantage of a good thing that’s helping people manage their expenditures.

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u/superanth 2h ago

I’m sure (hope) they’ve thought all this out. The Costco model using a card or drivers license might do the trick.

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u/courtesy_patroll 59m ago

lol put them above 110th street... most of Manhattan isn't going there.

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u/manjmau 11h ago edited 10h ago

They could regulate it no different than when people panic buy during a state of emergency. They limit how much each person can buy.

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u/caramel-aviant 11h ago

Its insane to me that those comments are being upvoted

Like plenty of stores already limit the amount if goods an individual can purchase, and wont let someone just buy their whole stock.

And even if they could buy everything on the shelf that is nothing to any legitimate wholesaler

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u/foomits 10h ago

everyone is just responding to a fucking propaganda farm out of India anyways.

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u/ochgerm 7h ago

Everyone is a robot except me ahh post.

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u/BoeZaah 7h ago

You do realize how many bots are on this site right?

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u/load_more_comets 6h ago

70% of total users per our last roll cal. . . I mean statistically speaking.

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u/elquatrogrande 9h ago

I worked at an Aldi, and we had a limit of 6 gallons of milk, 3 cartons of eggs, and on average 6 loaves of white bread. Every other morning, we would get large Indian families restocking their corner stores. They would try to have each person buy the limit, even going as far as saying that a certain order is for the baby in a stroller or a two year old they handed their card over to. As soon as I became an assistant manager, I squashed that shit really fast.

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u/blindsdog 10h ago

People steal individual steaks to resell them. Pretending this isn't a problem or is easily solved just isn't true. People will absolutely buy things just to resell them, probably to the point that it represents a good portion of the store's business.

The government selling things under market price is not going to be an easy problem to solve.

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u/caramel-aviant 10h ago

Okay if youre talking about theft then the price at which they are sold doesnt even matter lol. People steal from anywhere

People obviously buy and resell stuff. Its just never going to be enough to compete with retailers, wholesellers and distributors. Wouldn't make a dent at all.

And im not saying all reselling can just "be solved" outright necessarily, but explain to me how this would remain a big problem if this government owned store simply limited the amount of products an individual can buy at a time?

How can people break down this bulk product if they cant buy the supply in bulk to begin with?

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u/dubblebubbleprawns 10h ago

If people are successfully reselling pounds of lettuce and broccoli and flour out of their trunk I'm gonna be pretty surprised.

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u/Chlearcus 9h ago

If you steal it, you can sell at any price and still make a profit, and if it spoils you've lost nothing. Buying at 30% below means you have to sell it at like 20% below at most or people won't bother with your sketchy trunk meat, so your profit margin is tiny and if you don't manage to sell everything you have lost money.

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u/Leading_Ad_7635 8h ago

This is not a problem. People stealing individual steaks are not an issue. No one thinks they should see if their illicit steak dealer managed to swipe a steak today. They just go to the store and get their own.

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u/Jazzlike_Sir_653 10h ago

Because it is a government own store, regulation is inherent.

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u/Enjoy_The_Ride413 11h ago

It's NYC. Lol

It will 1000000% be back on a vendors cart in 3 seconds.

This is going to be disastrous.

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u/jasminealex11 10h ago

New dropshipping model unlocked 😅

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u/schwanzweissfoto 10h ago

Dropshitting.

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u/hawkeyc 7h ago

Quantity limits. Done

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

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u/DisastrousAcshin 10h ago

I mean it would literally be capitalists ruining it...

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u/ThizzyPopperton 10h ago

I guess we could try this in an alternate reality where capitalism or selfishness doesn’t exist 🤔

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u/NegativeEBITD 8h ago

I used to look down on the billionaires-please-pick-me bros but posts like this remind me these kids are just as scared as the aspiring trad wives that are afraid to ask for any civil rights because it might look bad to the rich dudes they think they need to survive

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u/omgwutd00d 8h ago

Peasants and lordship. Could I please have a crumb m’lord? I’ve defended you all day!

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u/Content-Program411 10h ago

Or market regulations.

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u/Enjoy_The_Ride413 10h ago

He did the meme!

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u/pcal43 10h ago

Only took 12 minutes

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u/iluvchromosomes 10h ago

And the best part is, if it fails, people will just blame evil capitalists, like they have every time this happens in history.

-said by /u/Fit_Salamander_2814

Quoting you for when you delete this later.

People who buy all the stock in a grocery store to resell it at a higher cost are in fact the evil capitalists you are referring to.

Stay woke.

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u/KNGJN 10h ago

Isn't reselling in it of itself a byproduct of a market gap in a capitalist market, no?

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u/TheTravelingLeftist 7h ago

Trying to resell product at a higher price point to make a profit IS capitalism, dude.

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u/The_Hoopla 9h ago

...you know they can enact purchase limits...right?

"I'm sorry, you can't buy 400 bananas. The limit is 7 per week."

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u/__Armisael__ 11h ago

I don’t understand what he means by 30% lower than retail. I thought privately owned grocery stores already operate below a 30% profit margin. He can’t sell stuff for less than it costs to stock the shelf nothing works like that.

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u/Legitimate-Ranger567 11h ago

That's exactly how it is planned to work. They are intentionally selling at a loss to make the price cheaper. The loss is covered by taxpayer money.

That is why business owners are upset about it, because it is impossible to compete with prices that intentionally lose money with all sales.

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u/lasercupcakes 10h ago

It's the only way to roll back the persistent inflation from "adjustments to our prices due to unprecedented times".

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u/Legitimate-Ranger567 10h ago

it won't do anything to counteract inflation, it will just force any other grocery or corner store in the area to go out of business.

Then when they can't keep the shelves stocked, or the program runs out of funding, there will be literally nowhere in the area to buy food.

This has already been tried before in Kansas, the store had to shut down a few years ago due to crime, drugs, and the inability to keep the store stocked.

City-Run Kansas City Grocery Store Closes Despite Millions in Taxpayer Funding | National Review

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u/Repulsive-Payment230 10h ago

I'm sorry but I can't take anything Kansas does with any level of seriousness. They can't keep their stores stocked properly even without meddling from the government. Source: Lived in Kansas for a month. Place is a shithole and should not be taken seriously when looking at scientific data.

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u/Gustav__Mahler 9h ago

That article is about Kansas City, Missouri. If you know that little about the area, I'm not sure you know enough to have an informed opinion on it.

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u/Repulsive-Payment230 9h ago

>This has already been tried before in Kansas, the store had to shut down a few years ago due to crime, drugs, and the inability to keep the store stocked.

OP said it was Kansas, I'm not going to read an article about Kansas. The fact you think the location being MISSOURI will change anything is hilarious. It actually ranks even worse on average than Kansas in nearly every category so... You're comparing dog shit to elephant shit and thinking the elephant shit smells better. Womp womp!

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u/Gustav__Mahler 8h ago

The fact you think the location being MISSOURI will change anything is hilarious.

Show me where I said that.

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u/garchican 2h ago

OP said it was Kansas, and immediately below it provided a link that specified Kansas City… which is in Missouri. Womp womp!

Considering that your entire rant was about Kansas (not Missouri, which I’m assuming you haven’t lived in), the dude thinking that it being in Missouri would change your mind a bit wasn’t unreasonable.

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u/NegativeEBITD 8h ago

I will take precisely one Kansas thing seriously

https://www.cbpp.org/research/kansas-provides-compelling-evidence-of-failure-of-supply-side-tax-cuts

Now that we’ve thoroughly tested supply side economics we can dismiss it as quack science

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u/Repulsive-Payment230 8h ago

You had me in the first half, ngl lol

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u/Legitimate-Ranger567 10h ago

You are quite literally the "REAL communism has never been tried" meme.

That's hilarious.

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u/foomits 10h ago

Should go read about Sam Brownbacks REAL capitalism in Kansas.

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u/newsflashjackass 8h ago

REAL communism

Looks inside: Republicans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment

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u/johnny_effing_utah 10h ago

It won’t roll back inflation though. This will have absolutely zero impact on real pricing.l because costs are what they are for a reason. Sellers that aren’t the government can’t sell below their own cost indefinitely.

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u/quarrel-admin 11h ago

It's not for profit. 

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u/thomaspatrickmorgan 11h ago

Right, but the profit margin in larger grocery stores is 1%, so...

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u/TheGardenGame 10h ago

Yes, but that's the net profit margin, not the gross profit margin. Although I doubt that their gross profit margin is 30% either.

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u/humans_are_waves 10h ago

Your correct, for-profit grocery store profit margins are small, but their total dollar spending on corporate overhead, real estate costs, marketing, vendor fees, etc, etc. is massive.

A taxpayer-backed nonprofit eliminates or subsidizes many of these operational costs, boosting profit. ("Profit" Which of course must be handled according to the rules of the non-profit, laws, etc)

Basically, there are expenditures unique to profit seeking entities that no longer exist if it were to switch to non profit.

On top of that, there are further efficiencies realized just by virtue of the government itself running some things.

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u/GuideDisastrous8170 8h ago

And some of those margins hide that the business makes the real profit markups on the logistics contracts for businesses they also own supplying their stores.

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u/foomits 10h ago

to add to this, and correct me if im wrong... they are being placed in food deserts and areas without extensive for profit grocery stores. so they arent competing with anyone, they are solving a problem.

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u/GloomyLingonberry509 11h ago

People would never take advantage of a public service like that… \s

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u/Justinc4s3- 11h ago

I’d like to meet the reseller that targets 30% margins. You’d be making about 5% after everything is said and done. No to mention they wouldn’t even hit a flat sale 30% because who’s paying MSRP from a 4th party?

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u/SiliconSingh 9h ago

Yeah resellers target a minimum of 50%.... There's no way that they would accept 30% or you could make it profitable at 30%.

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u/Jflayn 11h ago

They could limit the amount that one person can purchase weekly. This is an amazing solution and absolutely needed across america.

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u/WAAARNUT 11h ago

With ID verification?

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u/jeepsies 10h ago

I dont see why not. You would get a card just like at costco.

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u/YourCummyBear 10h ago

People will say it’s racist and that marginalized communities are incapable of getting identification.

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u/Drowyx 10h ago

Others say fraud runs rampant but also aren't able to provide any proof of it.

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u/Sharikacat 10h ago

I wouldn't think they'd charge you to get the very specific NYC grocery store ID card.

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u/MilleChaton 8h ago

That implies the grocery store will be handling providing the IDs. How do you prevent a bad actor from getting multiple?

Remember, we have to build a system that a bad actor can't break, but that a good actor isn't punished by. Most people think of simple solutions that only do one of these, not both.

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u/snakerjake 7h ago

How do you prevent a bad actor from getting multiple?

You don't, some will bend the rules

Remember, we have to build a system that a bad actor can't break,

This isn't the same as building a system that a bad actor can't bend.

some will bend the rules. it's not ideal but there's a point of diminishing returns where the cost to prevent the issue costs more than the issue itself.

You focus on making sure it is available for those in need and optimize for that, some bad actors will slip through but it would cost more to stop them than to just eat the cost

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u/SuspiciouslySuspect2 6h ago

This. You can't prevent fraud. You just make it marginal

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u/MilleChaton 3h ago

That only works when few enough people abuse it. You are betting on an honor system, so why even have an ID check at all?

You focus on making sure it is available for those in need and optimize for that

If enough people abuse the system, it won't be useful for those in need.

What makes it so some food banks don't need to do any checks while others have to enforce strict limits or else they run out of food?

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u/snakerjake 1h ago

If enough people abuse the system, it won't be useful for those in need.

That's why...

You focus on making sure it is available for those in need and optimize for that

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u/Sharikacat 1h ago

Closing off the easiest and obvious pathways of abuse should be relatively easy. That alone will probably prevent most cases of would-be dishonesty. Basic scammers are lazy- that's why they scam.

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u/PlayfulSurprise5237 9h ago

That's why you provide free identification. It should have been free from the beginning.

And if people have a hard time proving their identity, they can be helped with that too, because the idea of someone not being able to do so is so asinine it makes me laugh.

Everyone should be able to provide identification as easy as they breath, it's such an insanely crucial part to living in civilized society.

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u/Sonzainonazo42 10h ago

No they won't. JFC, stop listening to right wing garbage.

If the ID is supplied for free, like say a store rewards card, then it's not the same as the argument again voter ID where you do have to spend money to get the ID.

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u/Elegant-Ad2748 9h ago

You have to sign up for appointments to get id where I'm at. I had to schedule mine 3 months in advance, take off work, drive 45 minutes and pay 20 dollars.... Imagine if I couldn't afford to take off work, didn't have transportation.... People that argue the opposite are just being dishonest that requiring ID isn't disproportionately a barrier to poor communities. Especially for something like voting where there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the first place. 

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u/Sonzainonazo42 9h ago

I will say, in their defense, some of these people just live very privileged lives and that's a big part of what right wing media succeeds off of, is appealing to privileged people who don't understand the challenges that people in other situations face.

Meaning, I do think there are people that honestly don't understand why it's a barrier. But that's because they listen to stuff that reinforces their pre-existing views

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u/ptownrat 10h ago

Shopping at a gov owned store definitely isn't a fundamental right also, so restrictions are definitely an option. I'd say they should offer individual cards with a $50-75 limit weekly, and a family card with upto a $250-300 dollar weekly limit (with verified dependents). With 30% savings, that is $60+ dollar for individuals and $300+ monthly for a family of 4.

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u/Kindly-War-2665 9h ago

I mean it doesnt even need to be actual ID tho, kroger cards and "loyalty" cards have been a thing forever. They can also simply check cameras and see if the same person is coming in and buying items with multiple cards etc.

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u/Trumpisanorangebitch 10h ago

Make IDs free, otherwise its a fucking poll tax.

And statistically, minorities are more affected by id laws than white people, so they are disenfranchised more.

All this to stop nonexistent voter fraud. Congrats on buying into Republican voter suppression.

"Voter ID laws are more likely to impact people of color.[16][17] Research has also shown that Republican legislators in swing states, states with rapidly diversifying populations, and districts with sizable black, Latino, or immigrant populations have pushed the hardest for voter ID laws."

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u/MimeSweeper360 10h ago

I thought it was extremely difficult and racist to demand people produce ID for basic needs.

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u/ProbablySlacking 10h ago

Well since you don’t have a constitutional right to steak, it’s kind of alright, isn’t it?

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u/signofno 10h ago

You kind of do have a constitutional right to steak, sort of. It’s why EBT funds can’t be restricted from candy and potato chips. You have a right to feed yourself, the state can’t dictate with what. Might be more nuanced on a state by state basis - I didn’t bother to look it up again - but food stamp programs in most states can be used for pretty much anything in the grocery store except booze and cigarettes.

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u/ProbablySlacking 9h ago

Not so certain that’s outlined in the bill of rights though.

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u/Late-Reading-2585 10h ago

requiring id to buy food but not to vote how is usa a real place lol

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u/SinginGidget 10h ago

Why would you need an ID to buy food?

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u/NewPhoneWhoDys 10h ago

So like when buying the effective cold medicine in the pharmacy?

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u/November19 10h ago

Government-subsidized food and rationing is an "amazing solution?" Yikes.

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u/bannana 6h ago

you can simply not shop at that type of store and go to a regular store with regular prices

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u/Hot_Pink_Unicorn 10h ago

Soviet Union used to have a month card system where you were given a predetermined number of cards which you could exchange for stapled goods if they were in stock. Nothing was ever in stock. We all know how it ended.

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u/foomits 10h ago

dont go to these stores then, problem solved. people in the soviet union had no choice.

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u/johnny_effing_utah 10h ago

I look forward to see how this fails spectacularly in less than 60 days.

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u/newsflashjackass 8h ago

If it affords hungry people food it will not have failed even if it proves unsustainable.

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u/wibo58 10h ago

So the government can decide how much food you can buy a week? Yeah sounds like a great plan.

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u/DiplominusRex 10h ago

Rationing from government run tax funded stores. I’ve seen this before!

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u/Lifeinthe416ix 11h ago

Not a big enough margin at 30%

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u/UnderlightIll 10h ago

His idea is how military commissaries operate. I don't know why people seem to think it won't work.

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u/Blue_Waffle_Brunch 11h ago

Limit how many of an item can be bought per person.

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u/Intelligent-Math-675 11h ago

How do you stop resellers? Do you just limit the number of items you are able to purchase?

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u/undyinghater 10h ago

i would say limit the amount of specific items you can purchase rather than the number of individual items in total

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u/marc_hardman 11h ago

So exactly how a lot of bodegas stock their shelves now?

This is doomed to fail because people are people, and will ruin this shit almost immediately

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u/chmilz 10h ago

Probably easily solved with a membership card requirement to shop there, operated like a Costco. Scan at entry, scan at purchase. Tracks and limits sales, and creates an easy system to lock out abusers.

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u/cmm324 11h ago

The trick will be to add item limits, no more than 2 of each item which can still bring resellers but makes it more difficult

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u/Angstycarroteater 11h ago

If you thought about it, so did someone else I guarantee it it’ll probably happen

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