From Our Print Edition

Buyer-seller battles have been going on forever. But a look at doing business in the Ukraine war zone adds sobering perspectives.

The battles over “greedflation” have been playing out over our last several issues, with buyers and sellers, as ever, blaming each other. Despite our progress with technology in this business over the years, we haven’t been able to find much peace when it comes to margins,  plotting, promotion, predatory pricing and other various vileness.

But the occasional fury that all this generates pales in comparison to the riveting narration of a Ukrainian frozen food CEO, who writes in this issue of planes strafing factories, ports blockaded, and power plants bombed so that food spoils from lack of refrigeration. (Page 11).

Read it, and my bet is you’ll feel thankful that for all its faults, you’re living in the United States. A land of strife, but one where your worst problem on any given day might be invoice deductions — not enemy attacks on your production facilities, stores and families.

Yes, we need to take our business problems seriously, and keep trying to find the elusive “win-win.” But here’s hoping we’ll stop to ponder how lucky we are, and perhaps find new impetus to work together with our trading partners toward finding peace.

Please forgive this digression, which just seems necessary now after having read of the difficulties in Ukraine.

We’ve been hearing plenty from our readers on both sides of the “greedflation” battle. As has been the case for many years, we are far more likely to hear from manufacturers than from retailers. It’s hard to know exactly why, or even get a good feel as to which side may be more at fault.

Both sides can easily point to earnings statements by CPGs and major retailers, showing how margins are increasing in the wake of inflation. There are some very practical rea- sons why that is happening, and some less than savory ones as well.

The federal government has, via lack of enforcement of existing laws, granted de facto permission for companies to compete unfairly.
There’s that old saw about the “golden rule of business” being “he who has the gold makes the rules.” Sadly, that’s been all too true.

We’ve been hearing that the federal government is once again looking at dusting off the Robinson-Patman Act. That’s only 40 or so years overdue, and it holds promise of leveling the playing field (war zone) somewhat. That would be welcome. Meanwhile, as our daily battles continue, say a prayer for our friends in Ukraine.

HELP US HONOR VETERANS

This November, Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer is planning a special section to honor veterans of the U.S. armed forces who work in our industry — retailer, manufacturer, broker or logistics provider. If you know a vet who served in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard, we would like to include them. Just shoot me an e-mail with some details, and I’ll take it from there. And if you are a vet, thank you for your service!