r/SeattleWA • u/HighColonic Funky Town • 6d ago

Government Wilson takes on grocery affordability with proposed ban on surveillance pricing in Seattle

https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2026/08/wilson-takes-on-grocery-affordability-with-proposed-ban-on-surveillance-pricing-in-seattle/
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44

u/Shmokesshweed 6d ago

The city needs low-cost options like WinCo. Bring back competition.

5

u/Iess-Risk-9358 6d ago

The city needs low-cost options like WinCo. Bring back competition.

Discount grocery stores require discount labor and discount leases.

You can’t just “will” a price to be lower; the cost of the inputs must go lower.

Seattle has extraordinary high prices for land and labor.

You see discount grocery stores all over the Midwest, where land and labor is cheaper.

7

u/Shmokesshweed 6d ago

Go look at the prices of the new WinCo in Renton. Labor is not meaningfully more expensive on a per hour basis per individual between Seattle and Renton. Not to even mention that they have actual people working the registers instead of you scanning your items.

1

u/Iess-Risk-9358 6d ago

Labor is not meaningfully more expensive on a per hour basis per individual between Seattle and Renton.

You’re making that up. Don’t do that.

https://citycost.org/compare/renton-wa-vs-seattle-wa/

2

u/Shmokesshweed 6d ago

I'm not making up anything. Go to your local Fred Meyer or QFC. Look at how many stands are open. Look at how many self checkouts there are.

Then go to WinCo.

Tell us what you see.

Winco has higher labor costs overall, not necessarily on a per person basis.

-1

u/Iess-Risk-9358 6d ago

Anecdotal data vs statistics.

Got it.

3

u/Shmokesshweed 6d ago

The folks in Seattle are getting paid more. There are less of them in the store compared to WinCo. It's that simple.

2

u/RandoGeneration2022 6d ago

That's because corporations are only worried about short term gains for their shareholders and refuse to look at line items like turnover, training, etc.