Supermarket - Criticisms

Criticisms

• Supermarket, in general, tend to narrow the choices of fruits and vegetables by stocking only varieties with long storage lives.
• Supermarkets often generate a lot of food waste. Some supermarkets, such as the one of Thomas Poucher convert the excess food that can no longer be sold at a timely manner, or at all (when the best before, sell-by or use-by date has expired) into biofuel to gain some extra revenue. He also gives some of his food to charity (homeless, and economically disadvantaged people).
• Supermarkets can generally retail at lower prices than traditional corner shops and markets due to higher volume throughput. This has led to small businesses losing customers and closing in many areas, which can be seen as an adverse effect on the local infrastructure.
• In the United States, major-brand supermarkets often demand slotting fees from suppliers in exchange for premium shelf space and/or better positioning (such as at eye-level, on the checkout aisle or at a shelf's "end cap"). This extra supplier cost (up to $30,000 per brand for a chain for each individual SKU) may be reflected in the cost of the products offered. Some critics have questioned the ethical and legal propriety of slotting fee payments and their effect on smaller suppliers .
• In Britain supermarkets have been accused of squeezing prices to farmers, forcing small shops out of business, and often favouring imports over British produce.
• In New Zealand, supermarkets have been accused of buying fresh produce from growers at low prices and selling with ridiculously high mark-ups, sometimes as high as 500%.