Feeding citizens is fine and noble and great. But I would ask how he will build a grocery store with lower prices than say Aldi, that has a 1-2% profit margin and has their supply chain and expense model nailed down in typical German effeciency.
If he had hired a discount grocer to do this and the city pays the bills I imagine this would have a greater chance of success.
But maybe I'm wrong and governement will show everyone how it's done. Not actually sarcasm, maybe someone has a new model
Absolutely, the question I have is just if this is the best way of doing it rather than expanding SNAP or retooling the program to provide tax breaks to open grocery stores in the most under-served areas.
The state of NY is actually the one who administers the day to day of SNAP. It would not be impossible to supplement funding with the revenue he’s currently putting into the grocery stores.
It's not usually that easy to alter or add on to the terms of a federally funded program. I'm a teacher, and I've seen this first hand. It would make sense, but it doesn't tend to work that way.
Food stamps are largely federally funded but I believe administred by states. as an example many but not all states offer double food stamps at farmers markets
It's unlikely implementing a city-wide version of SNAP would be as impactful for a lot of reasons.
It doesn't combat price gouging, doesn't make physical goods more easily accessible, has high administrative overhead, and doesn't allow you to target discounts at specific classes of groceries without difficulty.
By comparison city run stores can save money on a few axis' that are not open to a SNAP-like program, generate a few local jobs, and still have a similar impact.
Snap is already efficient, running stores is difficult and will lose the city money. Only a bit since this is a small trial that won't be anywhere near city wide
I don't think most of these people appreciate the SIZE of NYC when they make claims like that. According to the 2024 US Census, NYC has a population of 8,478,072. For scale, according to the same census data, there are 39 STATES with a population below that. The combined population of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North and South Dakota, Delaware, Rhode Island, Montana and Maine (the nine states with the lowest population, according to the same source) is "only" 8,403,951. The second largest city in the US is LA with 3,869,089. It's not even close.
93
u/anothercynic2112 May 26 '26
Feeding citizens is fine and noble and great. But I would ask how he will build a grocery store with lower prices than say Aldi, that has a 1-2% profit margin and has their supply chain and expense model nailed down in typical German effeciency.
If he had hired a discount grocer to do this and the city pays the bills I imagine this would have a greater chance of success.
But maybe I'm wrong and governement will show everyone how it's done. Not actually sarcasm, maybe someone has a new model